I'm smiling as I write this. I'm actually in the middle of
writing the next story arc to NON-HUMANS right now. There
was no guarantee we were going to get here a few years back
when Whilce and I began to develop this project. It's been a
trippy ride that started with me running around Los Angeles,
camera in hand, looking for iconic locations that would still be
around in our fictional L.A. of 2041. I had the easy job. Whilce
had the heavy lifting. He had to stare at the blank page to bring
it all to life through the magic of his brilliant art, world building
and imagination. We talked about just dropping Hong Kong on
top of present L.A. to give it an overcrowded look, but that
wasn't quite right. Then Whilce had the idea we went with, of
these huge monolithic structures that separated the humans
from the Non-Humans. It was a wonderful piece of the puzzle
because it was visual, political and cultural all in one stroke. I
still remember seeing the first sketch of Buddy-The-Bear--our
local fuzzy drug dealer that's become a favorite character.
And Medic, a former medical dummy that was to become the
first Non-Human detective on the police force. Whilce initially
struggled with his design of Medic but now he draws him with
a confidence as if he's been drawing him all his life. Watching
Whilce bring all these characters to life has been such a treat
for me. I had wanted to work with him for such a long time. We
developed this dream together and now finally have the collected
trade to hold in our grubby hands. And all in the knowing that
as good as this book is, the best is yet to come.
It also needs to be said that none of this would've come
to pass at all were it not for the brilliance of a talented young
writer, Noah Dorsey. He originally brought me this wonderful
idea of toys sparking to life upon the return of a NASA space
probe that we were able to develop into the wondrous NON-
HUMANS tale that awaits your consideration.
I've written enough of these things now to realize when a
project really feels like it's come together, creatively. My wish
is that Whilce and I can continue to bring these NON-HUMANS
stories to life together for a good long time. Creation is a
fragile thing--and when its really working it's something that's
worth preserving and protecting. I hope you come to enjoy this
story even half as much as we enjoyed putting it together for
you.
Glen Brunswick - August 2013
FOREWORD
