Last month, we took a first look at Comixology Originals’ “The Whisper War,” created by Marc Guggenheim with artwork by Sedat Oezgan. This title followed the previous success of Guggenheim’s futuristic Comixology Original series, “The Adventures of Ulysses Monarch.” Once again, he captivates readers with his compelling storytelling and the masterful visuals crafted by the talented Mr. Oezgan.
Years ago, civil war raged across the Shattered Realm. The conflict claimed one-third of the population of the planet Imprimata. No one knows what the war was fought over. No one knows who the winning side was.
And no one remembers…anything.
Heard only through whispers, the past begins to reveal itself.
Now, in the capital city of Apperax, a murder has been committed. There are no suspects. No forensics. No theories. So when former Carabinieri cop Axel Jindari is brought out of retirement to investigate the murder, the only thing he has to go on is his intuition—and a nagging sense of déjà vu. Working alongside Officer Seeva Dessin, this murder will unravel everything he knows to be true—and maybe even history itself!
Issue #1 was released on February 10th, and we are proud to share this exclusive peek at some of Sedat’s art processes, accompanied by his personal insights into the creation of “The Whisper War.”
PAGE LAYOUTS
Back in 2023, when I received the script for Issue #01 of The Whisper War, I was stuck in
customs at Newark Airport, waiting to be processed. Since I was incredibly excited, I
started reading the script right away. From the get-go, I was bursting with ideas. Marc
established so much world-building within the first five pages that I could see the whole
thing playing out like a movie in my head.As a matter of fact, the first few pages look almost exactly the same on paper as they did
in my imagination. I knew right away that, in order to do Marc’s writing justice, I couldn’tjust bring my “A game”—I had to come up with something like an “AAA+ game,” so to speak. The visuals needed to be compelling and match Marc’s terrific world-building.
That’s why every panel on page one needed to be as unique as possible. I wanted to show
the variety and diversity of this universe. For example, in panel two you’ll see a gigantic
futuristic city being bombed, while elsewhere a ragtag army is being blown to pieces by a
massive explosion in a strange mushroom forest. At the same time, I needed to make sure
that the soldiers we see in the last two panels were as different from one another as
possible in terms of their weapons and outfits.
When I talked to Marc about this, I explained that if you look at modern armies from
different countries, you’ll notice that—even though we live in a technologically advanced
world—not every army is equally equipped, and their uniforms can vary greatly. For
instance, if you compare the U.S. Army to militias in certain parts of the world, you’ll
immediately see that their levels of sophistication are vastly different.
Designing the Cover
For the cover, I knew I had to come up with something that would grab the viewer’s
attention while also capturing their imagination. The biggest challenge when creating a
cover for a creator-owned project is that you’re not working with a globally recognized
property like Batman or Spider-Man. With those characters, you can simply place them in a familiar situation and it will immediately resonate with readers. With a new story and new characters, however, you have to create a visual language that intrigues the reader enough to make them open the book and start reading.
This is something I learned from the late master of movie posters, Drew Struzan. Back
when there was no YouTube or mobile phones, movie posters were what made us think, I
need to see this film. They were so compelling and imagination-grabbing that you wanted
to find out what was happening in that story. Obviously, I’m not comparing myself to Drew, but this is the biggest lesson I took away from his incredible work.
FINDING THE RIGHT OUTFIT
Finding the right outfit for our protagonist was a completely different challenge in itself. His look needed to feel futuristic without becoming corny or boring, which is difficult when trying to avoid familiar sci-fi tropes. I offered Marc several different ideas, and in the end we agreed that outfit number three was the perfect fit.
As a side note to anyone reading this: when you create a character for a new comic series, you always want to make sure that the character is instantly recognizable—even as a silhouette. If that’s the case, you’ve done a good job.
Marc Guggenheim and Sedat Oezgen Announce The Whisper War
A Futuristic Sci-Fi Murder Mystery Set in the World of the Shattered Realm
The Whisper War Issue #1 by Marc Guggenheim and Sedat Oezgen is now available digitally from Comixology Originals.
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 60 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove headfirst over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 21-year-old young man with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
