Jeff Smith unloaded a dump truck of information about his upcoming RASL series in an interview with Van Jensen:
First of all, I have to stress that it’s not for the same audience as Bone. It’s a little bit more grown up. I don’t think there’s going to be anything pornographic in it or anything like that. I’m picturing more, you know, adult entertainment. It’s science fiction, so I’ve been describing it as Blade Runner meets Jason Bourne, so that gives you the flavor of it. And the story idea is, well, I’m very interested in science. That’s what I read when I’m trying to relax. I’ll read Brian Greene or Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking. I love physics and I’ve always been really interested in certain parts of physics that get to the extreme edges of what we know and what we can theorize about.
And one of the things we theorize is that there are other dimensions. That’s what RASL is. He’s a dimension jumper. He’ll steal art. He’s an art thief. So, if you have enough money, I mean stupid money, like Bill Gates money, and you want your own original Picasso to hang in your living room, you can pay RASL and he’ll strap these giant engines on his shoulders—this special suit he’s invented—and he’ll step through the dimensions. It uses thermal magnetic power to bend reality so he can step into another dimension.
This week’s Publisher’s Weekly Comics Week also features a good interview with Kazu Kibuishi about his new all-ages book Amulet; a preview of Frederik Peeters’ Blue Pills; a look at Mike Mignola’s plans for 2008; and news about an upcoming comics symposium in March.
