Arcadia's Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer On Their New BOOM! Studios Series

Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer's Arcadia, out next month from BOOM! Studios, is a different kind of post-apocalyptic story than many readers will be used to.

There's technology and government still functional (albeit radically changed), and things like international espionage is still an issue -- in fact, more than it was before most of the world was killed.

Here's the official pitch: When 99% of humankind is wiped out by a pandemic, four billion people are "saved" by being digitized at the brink of death and uploaded into Arcadia, a utopian simulation in the cloud. But when Arcadia begins to rapidly deplete the energy resources upon which the handful of survivors in the real world (aka "The Meat") depends, how long will The Meat be able—and willing—to help?

Today is final order cutoff for the thought-provoking and entertaining new series, so ComicBook.com sat down with Paknadel and Pfeiffer to get the lowdown on Arcadia in time for readers to have their retailers order copies in.

You can see the solicitation information below the interview.

How did this book come to BOOM!?

Alex Paknadel: Indirectly! I actually sent it to Will Dennis first of all, and he dug it enough to send it to Matt Gagnon and Bryce Carlson at BOOM!, which suited me down to the ground because I love the way they do things. One day I get an email out of the blue asking me to hop on Skype and before I know it I'm talking to Bryce and Matt in Los Angeles. I live in a quiet little corner of England, so I got some serious swagger points from my wife for that one. "Sorry hon, I have to take this. It's the guys in LA." Anyway, they told me they were giving me my shot and I spent the next week or so doing the Snoopy happy dance around my apartment. After that I was introduced to my groovy editors Jasmine Amiri and Eric Harburn, who in turn introduced me to Virginia's own Eric Scott Pfeiffer. The rest is still unfolding history. It's been great so far.

In the context of post-apocalypse stories, this one is interesting in that those who are physically still alive seem comparably comfortable, so it's less a survival story and more a cultural one. Was that intentional?

Paknadel: I had a long chat with Mike Carey about this a while ago and we agreed that a lot of post-apocalyptic stories are actually about wish-fulfilment; "Home Alone" on a planetary scale if you will. The rule of law is removed and the hero gets to, you know, play golf with Faberge eggs or whatever. With Arcadia, what I'm trying to do is depict an ongoing apocalypse, if you know what I mean. The world we've seen so far is relatively comfortable, but that's just the data center in Alaska. Once we open this world up in the second arc you're going to see how people actually live in the real world, and it's far from comfortable. It's a world utterly devoid of hope, and that makes it a very dangerous place to live.

Should we read anything into the fact that a third party candidate wins the presidency once most of the population is dead?

Paknadel: Good spot! Yes, absolutely. It occurred to me that with so few people left alive they'd all kind of become survivalists by default, right? Everyone would be thrown back on their own resources and ingenuity, so it's logical that their choice of government would reflect that. Big government got the world through the peak of the crisis after a fashion, but it also diverted vast quantities of the planet's resources into the maintenance and upkeep of Arcadia. That bipartisan decision threw a wrench into the two-arty system, so now the real world's turning to extreme candidates like Gomez. Any parallels with the European political landscape after the crash of '08 are purely coincidental, I'm sure.

What went into creating the look and feel of the book?

Eric Scott Pfeiffer: After reading the script I immediately took note of how everything operates in opposing halves. You have life vs. death, rich vs. poor, simulation vs. reality, Arcadian life vs. the desolate pandemic aftermath. By having these themes take root in the visuals you're really able to keep the reader engaged. Every scene is so much different than the next that it can be a real thrill to not only create but to also read, so I'm trying to exploit that opportunity as much as I can. The split nature of Arcadia also makes its way into the character designs. Coral, in particular, has some style choices that I thought she would make given her circumstance which also reflects her position in the story and her relation to her present and former life.

In terms of architecture there are many visual cues as well that signify themes in the story. For instance, I wanted the reveal scene of Arcadian Los Angeles to feel futuristically spectacular while also feeling a bit claustrophobic so it has this strong overhanging feature that makes the city feel overbearing and inescapable.

It's funny because I feel like the instinct is to compare anything like this to The Matrix, but this almost feels more like the cloud-based life forms from Transmetropolitan to me. Were there any particular influences while you were developing the property?

Paknadel: Sure! The biggest single influence was probably Adam Curtis' BBC documentary series "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace," which is just this brilliant, blistering assault on cyber-utopianism. Then there were the later novels of J.G. Ballard, who understood humanity's complex and libidinal relationship with technology very well indeed.

I think in most science fiction scenarios, it's easy to think that people living in an idyllic, virtual reality would have very few class issues. Here, though, that's part of the story. What motivated introducing that element into the story?

Paknadel: My own offended sense of fair play, if I'm honest. There's a wonderful Gil Scott-Heron poem called Whitey on the Moon in which the great man highlights the absurdity of sending people into space at enormous cost while here on Earth, millions of people can't afford basic medical care. That was the '70s of course, but what we have now is a situation where we're expected to get excited about Oculus Rift when businesses in London are cementing metal spikes into their doorways to deter homeless people. Things are pretty messed up these days and we all know it. If the Daredevil TV show can summon the balls to discuss gentrification and widening inequality then so can the rest of us.

We get a pretty big revelation about Pepper near the end of the first issue. Can you talk about what's motivating him, and why he seems to be lying to almost everyone around?

Paknadel: Family is what motivates him. Like most people in the real world, Lee Pepper has family in Arcadia. However, because he's chief of operations at the Alaskan data center he can defy the strict communications embargo between the two worlds and get in touch with his wife and kids whenever he wants. He's watching his kids grow up in Arcadia and they're struggling for various reasons, and his wife Sam doesn't seem to be too happy with the Beverly Hills surgeon she's living with. This surgeon erases and replaces Arcadians' traumatic memories for money and he's very good at it, but he's a pretty crappy husband and father. Lee sees this guy screwing up so he intervenes, breaking a dozen laws by reaching out and making contact with his troubled daughter Coral in Arcadia. He wants to protect his family, but the best place to do that is on the outside with the living when all he wants is to die and be uploaded. This surgeon guy is another barrier to that happening, and he's someone Lee knows very, VERY well.

Obviously we've got a very interesting villain (...?) who shows up on the last few pages as well. Can you tell us about the dangers that are coming down the line in the series?

Paknadel: Thank you! I can't give too much away, but I can tell you that while the real world and the inhabitants of Arcadia suspect each other of shady practices, the real threat is going to come from within. Pride and myopic self-interest are going to push both worlds to the brink. As for villains, let's just say nobody's the villain in their own story and leave it at that for now.

Aesthetically, what did you guys want to do to make this new threat stand out from the rest of the characters in Arcadia?

Pfeiffer: I really went with Alex's description so it's really his imagination coming to the forefront with this entity more so than my own. A whirlwind of sand taking on multiple shapes is inherently difficult to draw so my main concern with that last scene was keeping it legible enough for the reader to understand what they were looking at while also keeping it horrific and threatening. The first issue really just gives you a taste of it so hopefully I'll be able to dive in with more detail later on in the series.

There's a threat from outside, too; people in the physical world have issues with the power drain, and the plague continues to be a looming threat even if it doesn't seem like an immediate one. In a world that seems very divided between the digital and physical worlds, will there be differing perspectives on which of the threats to handle, and how?

Paknadel: Absolutely, and the tragedy as I see it is that both sides fail to recognize their interdependency. They're both equally committed to showing the other side who's boss, which just digs them deeper into their respective holes. The real world's need for a serum to cure the virus is desperate but they resent the resources they have to commit to keeping Arcadia ticking over. The Arcadians on the other hand are uncomfortable with the idea of being bound by the material constraints of the real world. They want to become these radiant post-human angels, so they refuse to listen whenever anyone reminds them that someone has to foot the bill before that can happen.

Arcadia #1
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Author: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Eric Scott Pfeiffer
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: Matt Taylor
BOOM! 10 Years Incentive Cover: Frazer Irving
Incentive Cover: Eric Scott Pfeiffer
Format: Standard comic size, 32 pages, full color
On sale: May 6, 2015
Final Order Cutoff Date: April 13, 2015
Synopsis:
What's to Love: Our long tradition of breaking new talent—like Rafael Albuquerque (The Savage Brothers, American Vampire), Emma Rios (Hexed, Pretty Deadly), and Declan Shalvey (28 Days Later, Moon Knight)—continues with the debut of Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer, two new creators whose extensive world-building in the sci-fi thriller Arcadia evokes comparisons to epics like Game of Thrones, The Matrix, and Astro City.
What It Is: When 99% of humankind is wiped out by a pandemic, four billion people are "saved" by being digitized at the brink of death and uploaded into Arcadia, a utopian simulation in the cloud. But when Arcadia begins to rapidly deplete the energy resources upon which the handful of survivors in the real world (aka "The Meat") depends, how long will The Meat be able—and willing—to help? Featuring the first of five connecting covers by Matt Taylor.
Diamond Order Code: MAR151040

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