Broken Frontier

Sal Abbinanti talks about resuming the publication of Atomika: God Is Red through his own company, Mercury Comics.

Who says Gods don’t wander the earth? For sure, Atomika is one deity that has done a lot of wandering over the years. Once upon a time the first book released through the long-defunct Speakeasy Comics, Atomika: God Is Red became a self-published book through creator Sal Abbinanti’s Mercury Comics. While the series was billed as a twelve-issue maxi-series, publication stalled around the midway point, but the story picked up again last month with the release of Atomika: God Is Red #8.

The comic series can be qualified as a cross between Thor and New Gods on a Russian blueprint. “Atomika is the second son of Mother Russia and represents the technology of the Soviet Union,” says Abbinanti  as he recaps the story in a nutshell. “All mythos religion has been abolished and Atomika has been created to be the God of 20th century.  The dying Gods of Russia are now battling Atomika for the worship of the Russian people, because they don’t like to give up their power.”

Nothing much has changed between the first seven issues and number eight. “As with the previous installments, the second half of the series will also sport many great covers, by the likes of Travis Charest, Claudio Castellini, Simon Bisley, Glen Fabry and Astonishing X-men artist Simone Bianchi. There is a new colorist starting on issue #9 though. His name is Simone Peruzzi  and has done work for  Marvel on X-Men, Wolverine and many other books. Simone is a tremendously talented guy and brings a new scope of color to the series.”

If nothing’s changed, then what caused the long layoff between the seventh and eight issues? Abbinanti says it’s all about better positioning it in the market and getting people warmed up for it before he put it into stores again. “I've been printing the book on my own and bringing it to comic conventions and festivals.  I wanted to really get the word out and solicit through Diamond this time around, and now I have issues 8-12 in the can and can offer retailers solid shipping dates on each of the remaining five issues.”

“The God is Red story arc was always intended to wrap up at issue 12-13 After that I have an Atomika annual in the works; it’s called ‘USSA’ and it tells the story of how  the US lost the war to Atomika and the Soviet Union. It has covers by Bill Sienkiewicz and Arthur Suydam covers.”

Following those five issues and the first Atomika Annual, people can expect a new trade collecting issues 7 to 12, as well as an Absolute Atomika hardcover, packaging the entire series in an oversized deluxe format, reminiscent of DC Comics’ Absolute editions.

For more information on Atomika, a beautiful cover gallery and more, check  www.mercurycomics.com.