Broken Frontier

Kade is back and, from the looks of it, stronger than ever. The son of the Black Sun firmly holds the hilt of his sword as he prepares to strike down on any demons crossing his path in Kade: Sun of Perdition, a new mini series debuting today from Arcana Studio.

Kade first appeared in 2004 in a five-issue mini series simply titled Kade, later collected by Arcana in the Kade: Identity trade paperback. For those who missed out on the character’s first go-round, Sean O’Reilly, his creator and writer of his stories, steps in to take you through an introduction to Kade and his world.

“Kade is the gothic demon hunter who doesn’t feel, but always hurts,” O’Reilly begins. “During the Black Sun, under the Eye of God, angels may fall to Earth.  These Fallen Angels have left the grace of God and act without consequence, many trying to spite their Creator.  Fallen Angels are able to possess the anemic spirits of those who are morally corrupt, using them as their demonic servants. 

“Kade is the ageless balance that tips the dark scale back towards the light, as he hunts the demons and the Fallen Angels.  However, Angels are immortal and cannot be killed… only banished.  Kade must find the Fallen Angel’s ‘real name’ and scribe this name onto the Angel’s flesh. It is then that the immortal is cast back to the Abyss—back to wait for the next Black Sun…

As the title of the newest mini series, Kade: Sun of Perdition, suggests, that time has come—there is a new Black Sun on the horizon and the Beast from the Abyss has escaped, two events that, according to O’Reilly, “can lead to a literal Hell on Earth.”

The story in Sun of Perdition takes place 1000 years later than the events that occurred in the original Identity limited series. O’Reilly says that “those events will be monumental in the [new series]. It’s a great place for someone to jump on, and will be a something we are hoping will serve as a solid platform for future stories.”

One of the reasons the mini is such a good jump-on point is that it tells the definitive take on Kade’s origin. “The idea came to me in 1997 and didn’t get published until 2004,” O’Reilly adds as he explains why his character’s origin wasn’t depicted right out of the gate. “Kade’s true origin was not depicted properly in 2004 for one simple reason: I felt I was going to be lucky to get a single issue out and didn’t want to lose my shirt, so I simply created the best comic book that I could at that time. 

“Over two years later I now have a much greater knowledge of this industry, and have many more resources and skill sets that allow me to develop the story the way I originally wanted it to [be told]. The story is longer, has way more scope and has the look that I wanted long ago.  So, now I’m in a process of taking what I’ve already published, as I am proud of it, and blending it in and updating it to where I really want Kade’s story to go.”

As readers will discover while reading the first issue of the new mini series, the influence of Christianity is very apparent. “There are definite allegories and even specific events that happen from the Book of John and the Bible.  Kade is fighting a war and hunting demons in our world and the average person doesn’t even know this is happening.

“Ultimately, Kade fights demons from across the world and throughout time and Sun of Perdition focuses on Christian beliefs in the European Dark Ages.  However, the demon hunting mythos is based on an amalgamated theology that I’ve created from various sources. And in the next series, [titled] Shiva’s Sun, Kade will be fighting the Fallen during India’s Golden Age.”

Next to Kade, readers will also see the appearance of another Arcana mainstay—Ezra. “She is the yin to Kade’s yang,” O’Reilly goes on to explain her role in the story. “Like Kade, Ezra is a Child of the Black Sun and has been bestowed special gifts besides being ageless.  She has been the emotional support for Kade and has always been there for him when he’s confused about his role in the world.  As you can imagine, trying to hunt demons for thousands of years is physically and emotionally draining, and Ezra’s the type of person who can have you going on for eternity.  She really has allowed Kade to go on this journey.

“Also, there will be two MAJOR developments in their relationship… one which I’m sure people will expect, and the other I don’t think they will.”

To beef up his story, O’Reilly has brought in a bevy of artists: Stjepan Sejic on interiors and Ben Templesmith, Liam Sharp, Nat Jones and Ashley Wood on covers. “With the current story arc of Kade taking place in Europe’s Dark Ages, I wanted someone who’s done work in a Dark Ages setting…so I went to Templesmith, Sharp and the others, because these guys know what it takes to do Dark Ages covers. 

The person really bringing a unique feel to the series is the relatively new Sejic, who’s visualising the story rather differently than your regular pencilled, inked and panelised comic. “Stjepan is incredible and most of his work is done digitally for Kade,” O’Reilly says of his artist, who landed the job after submitting a Kade piece which the Arcana publisher says was simply incredible. “Stjepan might be the most talented artist I’ve met and does absolutely everything from murals to digital painting to pencils. He’s been an absolute soldier on this project and I can’t say enough about him as an artist, a person and as a friend.”

Indeed, it made O’Reilly feel great that Arcana was the first publisher to feature Sejic’ work, as he’s now starting to get noticed by other companies. “Top Cow saw what we were doing on Kade and got him on one of their biggest books for the year, Darkness vs. Wolverine (released earlier this month – ed). Stjepan is on fire right now and he’ll also be on Shiva’s Sun.”

Before that, of course, three more issues of Kade: Sun of Peridition are coming out. Arcana also has a Kade video game in production, but O’Reilly remained pretty tight-lipped about it. “I can’t even say yet [which game studio] is working on the game, but it’s a major company and they are from India.  I’m hoping to release this information next year.”

“As well, Arcana has its line of digital comic books coming out before Christmas and in 2007, we’ll [have] a full line of busts. Kade’s is already completed and we are literally working on one for 100 Girls' Sylvia right now.”

Kade: Sun of Perdition #1 hits stores today, August 30. Also out from Arcana this week are Ezra: Evoked Emotions #1  and Dragon’s Lair #1, which reprints the original MVC’s Dragon’s Lair #1-3 with a new cover by Don Bluth.