With LYNX – Volume 1, writer Samuel Sattin launches a bold new entry in the VIZ Originals line — a kinetic, character‑driven sci‑fi adventure built on teamwork, transformation, and high‑stakes emotion. Partnering with artist tokitokoro, Sattin crafts a world that feels both expansive and intimate, packed with the kind of visual dynamism and narrative heart that define modern manga‑inspired storytelling. Recently, we sat down with Sattin to explore how LYNX came to life and what readers can expect from this electrifying first volume.
Osamu Tezuka’s ‘UNICO: AWAKENING’
GVN: Thank you for sharing some of your time again, Samuel. Before we chat about LYNX, the last time we spoke was back in 2022 about your adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s ‘UNICO: AWAKENING,’ which was winding down its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. How pleased were you with the results?
SAMUEL: Enormously pleased, not to mention grateful. You see, the UNICO: AWAKENING Kickstarter also kickstarted a new phase of life for me…an awakening in my own right. Though I’ve been writing since I was a kid, I really started to try and do it professionally beginning in 2007–nearly twenty years ago. As I’m sure many writers can tell you, it can be trying, chipping away in the mines. UNICO: AWAKENING is a rare jewel that jostled loose. From there, it ended up drawing the eye of Scholastic, where it is now an eight book series in the making. This also facilitated my move to Japan, where I continue to work with Tezuka Productions. I couldn’t be more thankful.
LYNX, VOLUME 1
GVN: So, let’s jump right into your latest project. LYNX feels both wildly imaginative and tightly engineered. What was the earliest idea for this world, and how did you and tokitokoro begin shaping its core concept?
SAMUEL: Everything I work on begins with an image, or a dream. I’m one of those vivid dreamers, and for better and worse I often remember what I see. For LYNX in particular, I got hung up on a cold metropolis haunted by creatures that looked like angels, that maybe were angels, but the kind whose heaven you would not want to visit. From there, I put a few words to paper. By the time I found toki, whose work stole my eye the second I saw it in 2021, I had decided that the world we needed to build had to be filled with snow. This led to creating New Borealis, and the identity behind it as refuge built in the wake of a new ice age. And moreover, it led to the creation of Lynx Takuma, a woman grieving over the mysterious loss of her wife, and who encounters a creature who wears her face.
Toki’s art in particular shaped the process from the moment we began working together, taking on a very stylish and moody noir feel that would also contain moments of levity. And moreover, it filled the city of New Borealis with the kind of hidden details that sleuths can’t help but pore over.
Balancing Sci-Fi, Myth, and Action
GVN: The series blends sci‑fi, myth, and kinetic action. How did you balance those elements while building an imaginative universe that feels fresh but instantly readable?
SAMUEL: In the case of LYNX, we have a frosted over city, New Borealis, seeded by massive generators. Humanity has been reinvented there, not just technologically, but spiritually. A mysterious technology known as the Qual can enhance human, and non human, biology, but the repercussions for doing so may have not yet come back home to roost. In the meanwhile, creatures known as Angels are stalking the streets in search of prey, and leaving behind feathers lodged in their victim’s brains.
Tying all of those elements together requires working closely with toki and our editor Julia at Viz. On my end as a writer, what I can say is that although I work hard to create worlds that feel lived in, places are only as interesting as the characters that inhabit them. Though LYNX takes place in a big, new world, the story is hers, and hers alone. That’s what provides both balance and imbalance as the tale unfolds.
Collaborating with Tokitokoro
GVN: Your collaboration with tokitokoro is central to the book’s identity. How did your creative dialogue evolve as the project took shape, and what surprised you most about their visual interpretation?
SAMUEL: If I were to say that toki is a brilliant artist I’d be admitting to a poor vocabulary. Because toki isn’t just a brilliant artist. toki is a brilliant symbologist. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface in LYNX that might not be apparent upon a first, second, or third read. And I think all of that is the result of how the creative dialogue between myself and toki evolved. What started as an exploration of certain, more hemmed in themes because something far more expansive. Rather than reject each other’s ideas as they came, we incorporated them, and the story became more complete and meaningful as a result. In a way, it’s almost like we’re solving a puzzle in which each individual piece can feasibly fit into two different places. Such is the nature of this collaboration.
Developing the Characters of Lynx
GVN: The characters in LYNX carry emotional weight beneath the spectacle (you can NEVER go wrong with a crime-fighting talking cat). What guided your approach to developing them, and how did you ensure their arcs stayed grounded amid the high‑concept storytelling?
SAMUEL: LYNX is a lot of things, but overall, it’s a crime story. And I think that crime stories need to be grounded in some way or another because crime itself is grounding. I imagine that when you’re dealing with anything beyond petty theft, anything that involves blood and pain, your job as a detective becomes a lot more difficult. It also might come along with gallows humor, vice, and curiosity. You kind of have to make the most out of living in the muck. You have to find glory in it. You also have to take a lot of showers.
In my eyes, this is why in a city like New Borealis, while being confronted with the impossible, the characters in LYNX are able to keep two feet on the ground (or four, in Skua’s case). Because what they’re dealing with is immediate.
The Art of Tokitokoro
GVN: Tokitokoro’s art is dynamic, expressive, and packed with motion. How did the visual style influence your writing rhythms, pacing, or scene construction?
SAMUEL: As I alluded to earlier, toki’s visual style is one that employs a kind of cryptography. There’s a lot to be mined in their work, a lot you might not see upon first glance. When I construct scenes for them, I do so knowing that toki will find a way to get to the emotional subtext visually. They pick up on the subtext in my own writing as well, so that the tone of any given scene syncs up nicely. And as I began to understand how toki draws, I began to write to suit their storytelling. As we go chapter by chapter, and I am able to see roughs come in before the script itself is finished, I have the rare ability to attune myself to where a script is going in real time.
VIZ Originals
GVN: LYNX arrives via VIZ Originals, a line that pushes creator‑owned, manga‑inspired storytelling. How did working within that imprint shape the project creatively or structurally?
SAMUEL: Well, principally speaking, working with our editor Julia Patrick has been a fantastic experience. What’s great about working with an editor like Julia, and a publisher like Viz, is that you really do feel the demand of making a story function across multiple levels. As I see it, one of the reasons readers find themselves so absorbed in manga worldwide is because the stories themselves that rise through the ranks in the manga industry are considered from multiple angles, and improved in a myriad of ways prior to being okayed to cross the finish line. The art has to be pushed to its limit. The story needs to work on multiple levels. There’s an expectation of followthrough and rigor that you don’t necessarily see from all other quadrants of American comics. I receive that kind of editorial direction over at Scholastic as well, and feel as if I’m currently in a very good place creatively as a result.
Additionally, I should say that I grew up reading Viz books. They’ve truly done the work, practically establishing manga’s foothold in the US. For me, to be able to work with them called for vertical leaps of joy.
The Future of Lynx
GVN: Volume 1 sets the stage for something much larger. Without spoiling anything, what thematic or narrative directions excite you most as LYNX continues to evolve?
SAMUEL: What’s great about LYNX is that it’s a book in some ways about evolution that continues to evolve as we progress. I’m excited in particular for readers to learn more about what the Angels are. But I’m even more excited for what’s revealed at the end of book 1 to take root, and show how Lynx’s world, both inner and external, try to reason with it. LYNX is also a book about moving forward through grief, and coming to terms with things you didn’t know lurked deep inside you, so I would expect more revelations to come that will bring the story in unexpected directions. There will also be more of that sassy talking cat, and creatures you have yet to encounter.
Thoughts on Upcoming Tezuka Documentary
GVN: Thank you once again for your kind attention, Samuel. Before we go, we should also mention the highly anticipated upcoming Tezuka documentary (TEZUKA! God of Manga) and the Tezuka centennial. With your close association with Tezuka’s work, what would you want fans who might not be as familiar with Tezuka’s legacy to gain from these exciting events?
SAMUEL: Whenever I have a chance to tell someone to read something new, I enthusiastically tell them to read Osamu Tezuka. Now there’s a documentary coming soon, one which I participated in, that I really think can help explain why, from the mouths of luminaries who were touched by Tezuka-sensei’s vision. With the centennial approaching, there’s a swelling tide of creativity rising to regard the God of Manga and everything he left behind. I would thus say to fans that now is the time to remember that the future is nothing without the past.
Our thanks to Samuel Sattin for taking us inside the emotional engine powering LYNX – Volume 1. This debut showcases the depth of emotion behind the spectacle, telling a story about connection, identity, and the meaningful bonds that drive transformation. The unique artistry of Tokitokoro brings this narrative to life. It’s evident that LYNX is just beginning its journey, and today’s conversation highlights the careful intention guiding each step forward. You can visit the TEZUKA! God of Manga Kickstarter.
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.
