Posted in: Comics | Tagged: boom, Comics, sam humphries, ultimates

Sam Humphries Is A Depraved Individual

Published Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:30:08 -0500

Jeffrey Whitelaw attended ECCC for Bleeding Cool. And met some lovely people.

Creator of the moment Sam Humphries is a very busy boy. After coming out of nowhere last year with the one shot Our Love is Real his name has been everywhere.

Our Love Is Real is a futuristic story set five years after the AIDS vaccine. It's largely a story about people who like to fuck things. Things most people wouldn't normally consider fucking. For those of us with damaged brains, it was like manna from heaven. What sets it apart is that Humphries is a very compelling storyteller. I bought the book for a laugh, and put it down with my mind blown.

Humphries brought out the book independently, and it immediately sold out. Image Comics put out a new edition, and Humphries began receiving offers from everywhere. I stopped by his table on Sunday to find out about that book, Higher Earth, and the new stuff he has coming out. I left with a copy of Fanboys vs. Zombies, and it was even better than I hoped it would be.

Jeff Whitelaw: I wanted to ask you about Higher Earth. Can you tell me a little bit about it?

Sam Humphries: Absolutely. Higher Earth is a sci-fi revenge story, it comes out May 9th. It is a story that takes place in the distant future on an empire that crosses over multiple earths, and parallel time lines.

JW: And it's an ongoing, right?

SH: It is an ongoing that is absolutely correct.

JW: Do you have an end in mind?

SH: I do, I absolutely have an end in mind.

JW: I'm always curious to find out if creators know where the book is going.

SH: Yeah, yeah. Well, the two main characters, Rex and Heidi, are both seeking revenge. They're going to carve their way across a hundred different earths together. They both want revenge for different reasons. So, I absolutely know where they're coming from, and where they're going, and I have an end in mind, and I'm psyched to get it out there.

JW: How many issues do you think?

SH: It depends. A lot of it depends on sales, and the marketplace, if I have to abbreviate it, or not. I'd love to do maybe twenty or thirty issues.

JW: Are you working on anything else right now?

SH: I am absolutely working on other things right now. I'm working on Fanboys vs. Zombies. First issue comes out first Wednesday in April, so in a couple days. It's about a zombie apocalypse that happens at a comic book convention. First issue's one dollar, and I'm working on John Carter: The Gods of Mars for Marvel with Ramon Perez, first issue came out a couple weeks ago. Gorgeous book, they knocked it out of the park. And I'm doing Higher Earth, also one dollar issue, from boom. Then I'm doing Ultimates for Marvel , co-writing with Jonathan Hickman.

JW: What's it like working with Hickman?

SH: It's fantastic, the dude knows what he's doing. It's great to work with him, and be able to talk about script and storytelling with him, and talk about character. You know, everything from the little moments to the big, talking about themes, and all those large principles. It's a huge opportunity to be able to eat his brain and steal all his secrets.

JW: Our Love is Real was amazing.

SH: Thank you. You read it, and you're still talking to me.

JW: I loved it. It was probably one of the most depraved things I've ever read.

SH: Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.

JW: I was kind of hoping you'd make that into an ongoing.

SH: It's definitely an open ended world where there's a lot of stories, a lot of background, a lot of other things going on in that world we could touch on for twenty-two pages.

JW: Do you actually have ideas? Do you want to go back there?

SH: Absolutely. I have ideas for other stories in that world, for other one shots to an ongoing, just right now my schedule's way too busy. But it's a book very near and dear to my heart.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!