Connect with us
AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 - A unique tale of violence and beauty
AfterShock

Comic Books

AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 – A unique tale of violence and beauty

A bittersweet apocalyptic story seen through the eyes of two siblings who must face the tragic journey of the refugee as their only chance of survival.

Press Release

AfterShock Preview: The year is 2084 and the world has changed. Wracked by calamities and crawling with monsters, the last remaining members of the human race face a dangerous existence.

And now Earth has been sent a message from the deepest reaches of space: A dark countdown to the extinction of all humanity. But there is hope – five thousand children will be rescued on extinction day by these mysterious message-senders.

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

This is the journey of little Hototo, one of the lucky five thousand children who will be taken from Earth to live a better life in the stars – but only if his teenage sister, Tala, can safely deliver him to the nearest Beacon before time runs out.

WE LIVE is a world of violence and beauty, a unique tale of the apocalypse as told by the Miranda Brothers, that invites both dread and hope.

We Live #1
Writers
: Roy Miranda & Inaki Miranda
Artist: Inaki Miranda
Colorist: Eva de la Cruz
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover: Inaki Miranda
Incentive Cover: Dustin Nguyen
$4.99 / 32 pages / Color
On Sale 10.14.2020

AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 - A unique tale of violence and beauty AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 - A unique tale of violence and beauty AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 - A unique tale of violence and beauty AfterShock Preview: We Live #1 - A unique tale of violence and beauty

INAKI MIRANDA ON WHAT THE BOOK’S ABOUT AND WHY HE’S EXCITED FOR IT TO BE RELEASED:

“WE LIVE is a bittersweet apocalyptic story seen through the eyes of two kids, two siblings, Hototo (5 years old) and Tala (13), who must face the tragic journey of the refugee as their only chance of survival.

It’s the year 2084. A third of humanity has survived a wave of cataclysms that have reconfigured the face of the planet. Colossal earthquakes, mega hurricanes, the rise of sea levels, a World War for the occupation of the last habitable areas, a terrible virus that turns humans into “molders”- zombie like creatures. Nature itself has mutated, new fantastic animal species have appeared. There are areas where humans simply can’t live. In other words, Earth is a place terribly hostile to humans. This new nature is pushing for our extinction.

It is at this point when we receive a dark message from outer space: Humans must accept their imminent and total extinction. We are about to suffer a new and more powerful attack from nature, and this time it will be definitive.

But they give us hope. They will rescue five thousand children. They send us five thousand rescue bracelets and they place nine Extraction Beacons around the world, with a countdown. They will rescue every child wearing a bracelet that is present at the Extraction Beacon when the countdown reaches zero.

We are five days away from Extraction Day when we start the story. We follow the journey of the two siblings from their home to the distant Extraction Beacon.

What Hototo doesn’t know is what his salvation implies. If they survive and succeed in reaching the Extraction Beacon in time, that will also mean that he will lose his sister Tala forever, since she doesn’t wear a bracelet and must stay on Earth.

The weight of the journey falls upon Tala. She will risk everything to save his little brother, keeping him unaware of the real tragedy that’s unfolding.

I’m very excited for the release of this book, the whole team is. Roy, Eva (colorist) and I have poured so much love and hard work into this book. And at the same time there’s a weird feeling dancing in my head, because destiny has placed WE LIVE’s launch in the middle of an unprecedented moment in history that is very close to this story. We, humans, are living through a unique collective tragic experience with the current pandemic situation.

This is joined by another equally dangerous global event: climate change. It’s impossible to not harbor an apocalyptic fear under such a cluster of global events.

We are living a moment where we can’t think in future mode, there are too many variables in the game. Our present feels a lot like walking through fog. And in the middle of all this, we also harbor a powerful human emotion and the sentiment of fighting the adversities; keep walking, surviving, thriving.

The icing on the cake to all these parallelisms with our story is the news that hit us last week about the Pentagon’s declassification of three UFO videos. They admit that they are real. When we read the news, my brother and I both said “Wow, we left nothing out”.

I’d love this book to be experienced as a parallel read, in some magical way, to all the adversities that we are going through right now. I’d love for Tala and Hototo’s journey to turn into a part of the readers’ own journey as well. That’s the magic of storytelling, it’s all about the metaphors that we can recreate and the emotions that we can extrapolate into our own lives.”

INAKI MIRANDA ON PULLING DOUBLE DUTY AS WRITER AND ARTIST AND HIS APPROACH TO THE ART:

“Yes, I am (writer and artist), and it’s something that I’ve been aiming towards since practically the start of my career, but never felt it was the right moment to really jump into it. I’ve been extremely patient with this, because of how much I respect the art of writing.

Also, I’ve been scheming stories with my brother Roy, waiting for the right opportunity to appear. Luckily, AfterShock has opened the door for us with this book (and we are very very thankful for that!). Roy and I feed each other with a lot of creative energy and have real fun scheming and writing stories together. I know WE LIVE is the start of a long and productive ride… more creations and stories are coming!

The difference regarding my approach to the art, being now also on the writer seat, is that I find I can open more visual paths that would be more restricted otherwise. I can think more intuitively on the visual end, its rhythms, landscapes, environments, etc. I’ve always thought that the comic industry should experiment more with flipping the process, approaching the creation phase more like I think happens in video games creation, where the visual inspiration feeds the story and the world building; allowing visuals to exist without the previous and sometimes limiting weight of a closed story.

The energy that an artist brings to the table when he/she draws fueled only by personal needs and inspirations without any specific script restraints has a different power. When you are writing it’s almost impossible to apply the same visual energy that you apply when you are drawing; because just as it happens with writing, that you make countless intuitive decisions while telling a story, the same occurs with drawing.

So, when you are able to play simultaneously on both ends, you can afford to create “postcards” first and then write the story organically around them.”

INAKI MIRANDA ON IF HE AND HIS BROTHER HAVE ANY SORT OF SIBLING RIVALRY:

“We both want to be right all the time!”

ROY MIRANDA ON SOME OF HIS INSPIRATIONS BEHIND THE PROJECT:

“The first and most evident that comes to my mind is Hazao Miyazaki’s universe. We Live drinks a lot from that fountain. The two main characters are a clear homage to his creations.

The Tomb of the Butterflies, from Ghibli, again.

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

Also, films like Landscape in the Mist, by Theo Angelopoulos; Wim Wenders’ Kings of the Road, and Alice in the Cities. We Live has the heart of a road movie.

Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Just grains of salt from all of these and more that I’m sure I’m leaving behind, have shaped We Live in some way or another.”

ROY MIRANDA ON (3) REASONS WHY COMIC BOOK READERS SHOULD ADD THIS TITLE TO THEIR PULL LIST:

“1- WE LIVE is a story about defeat. It talks about a human race that has accepted its own extinction. Imagine what it‘s like to begin an adventure in that emotional state…

2- We have combined two great human conflicts like desperate migration and the consequences of climate change, and we have placed them on the shoulders of two innocent kids. That right there is a fabulous blend of fairy dust and powder in the pockets of imagination.

3- We’ve got two main characters with a very special relationship ( brother and sister) that will be showing us the most beautiful and most painful sides of survival.”

ROY MIRANDA ON ANY CREATORS HE WOULD LOVE TO WORK WITH BUT HAS YET TO:

“Of course, many. Both, my brother and I have a big bucket list for that. Joe Madureira, Chris Bachalo, Frank Miller, Jiro Taniguchi, Juanjo Guarnido, Jim Lee, Joe Quesada, Humberto Ramos, Frank Quitely and a big etc. Also in some sort of parallel dream dimension: Quentin Tarantino and Hazao Miyazaki.

I would love to work with artists that can fall in love with each dialogue, each character… that are willing to elevate the stories in that magical moment where you need to see how they come alive.

Truth is, working with my brother is something unique. Our mutual trust allows us to write while he visually sketches the scenes; and to bring creative sparks together in every new line that we trace on the story.”

Join the AIPT Patreon

Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:

  • ❌ Remove all ads on the website
  • 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
  • 📗 Access to our monthly book club
  • 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
  • 💥 And more!
Sign up today
Comments

In Case You Missed It

WWE SmackDown preview, full card: March 1, 2024 WWE SmackDown preview, full card: March 1, 2024

WWE SmackDown preview, full card: March 1, 2024

Pro Wrestling

AEW Dynamite preview, full card: February 28, 2024 AEW Dynamite preview, full card: February 28, 2024

AEW Dynamite preview, full card: February 28, 2024

Pro Wrestling

'Universal Monsters: Frankenstein' coming August 2024 'Universal Monsters: Frankenstein' coming August 2024

‘Universal Monsters: Frankenstein’ coming August 2024

Comic Books

AEW Rampage preview, full card: March 1, 2024 AEW Rampage preview, full card: March 1, 2024

AEW Rampage preview, full card: March 1, 2024

Pro Wrestling

Connect
Newsletter Signup