About 
Hello BC readers, it’s been a while. I’ve been off working on comics (The Freeze Vol 1 trade from Image Comics/Top Cow is in stores now…) but after
Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Michael Letto, R.E.M. Comics, Ryan Colucci, Spokelane, Zsombor Huszka
The Average Human Wastes 22 Years Of Their Life… Sleeping
Ryan Colucci writes for Bleeding Cool:
We spend a third of our lives sleeping. That's 191,625 hours. Or close to twenty-two years. And we probably waste just as much time feeling tired. How many of us have spent the night tossing and turning? Restless nights, which turn into unproductive days?
What if I told you it was possible to never feel sluggish again? To never need a nap or rest? Never have to 'relax.'
The graphic novel R.E.M. came from my own research into sleep. Ever since I was a child, I have always hated going to sleep. I couldn't understand why we were wasting hours that we could be doing other, more fun things. It manifested itself when I was in college. I struggled with bouts of insomnia, something I never really told anyone. Sometimes I would go days without rest, through the sports and the weight lifting and rigorous course load, knowing that ultimately the fall from that would be epic. And it was.
It was around then that I had remembered a segment on a news broadcast from when I was a kid. It was about a chair that looked like a futuristic salon hair dryer, and it supposedly allowed someone to get a full night's sleep in a half hour or so. I started to search for this thing – and apparently I was truly crazy, because nothing like that ever aired on a news broadcast. So maybe my ten-year old self dreamt it. But it set me on a path of research into such a thing. I contacted everyone who was renowned in the world of sleep research and they all basically told me the same thing: you're off your rocker. I'm not talking about a few emails here and there, but several over the course of years.
When people would find out what I was researching they would always say how interesting it was and that it would make a great story or movie. I always wrote them off, because for me it was real life. It was something I was striving for.
Well, enough people told me to do it that one day I found myself sitting down and outlining the story.
Over the last three years we worked on creating the graphic novel and in September of last year our Kickstarter campaign for printing costs took off and we crushed our goal – enabling us to print the book in a really high-end hardcover with silk interior pages. I am a little biased, but I think it is beautiful.
At its core, R.E.M. is really a love story. But it's definitely not your typical kind of love story. It's a science fiction tale wrapped in a film noir. If you enjoy a challenging story, I hope you'll check us out.
Anyone can read the first 30 pages on the website (http://www.remchair.com). Go on and give it a shot. You can also see a prequel of the story as a short film on the same website; although it is a lot cooler if you watch it after having read the book.
And if you like what you see and want to know what else is coming from us, follow us:
And no, I have not yet created this sleep chair. But I have not given up my research or quest.
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