The Future of Comics Storytelling? AWA Studios and Its Upshot Universe
A quick overview of the new publisher and an overview of all two dozen of its titles thus far
AWA Studios may be one of the newest comic-book publishers out there on the market, but it’s already more than made a name for itself – particularly when it had more or less predicted just what a pandemic would look and feel like in the modern world, replete with all of the political ramifications that we are continuing to see fall out, both nationally and internationally.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. The company, founded by Chief Creative Officer Axel Alonso (the former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics), Chief Executive Officer Bill Jemas (Marvel’s former chief operating officer and publisher), and Board Chair Jonathan Miller (a “corporate legend” who has experience with News Corp, Advancit Capital, and the Fandom juggernaut), has been putting out books since March 2020 – just in time for covid-19 to descend upon the globe, disrupting the comics industry (along with nearly everything else, of course). But disruption is precisely what AWA has always had in mind; at the center of its publishing strategy is the Upshot Universe, which is simultaneously meant to serve as both a shared universe for a whole swath of different storytellers to play within and as a collection of quirky creator-owned titles that have no obligation to reference the events of any other book. Think of it, then, as a sort of cross between the Marvel Universe and Vertigo, the former DC imprint that served as a heady potpourri of esoteric properties – Upshot can be as far-reaching or as intimate as a particular narrative needs it to be.
The common throughline connecting almost all of AWA’s various output is the emphasis on adult-oriented – and, typically, high-quality – content; whether a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, a comedic sci-fi yarn set in an alien emergency room, or a one-night-stand romantic fling becoming a stalker horror-esque tale, there is very little that screams conventional (even AWA’s Mafia outing has supernatural underpinnings). There’s even less that features that standard comic-book trope, superheroes – and on those few occasions when the costumed folk do turn up, it’s with a slightly different frame on the tried-and-true formula, such as with E-Ratic, which sees its 15-year-old, single-parented superhero get his electricity-based powers for only 10 minutes a day.
The other commonality underpinning the entirety of the Upshot Universe is the publisher’s approach to all of its stories, whether part of the shared backdrop or one-off endeavors: each title is released as a miniseries (anywhere from four to six issues), with multiple installments possible should the narrative warrant it and the sales justify it. AWA Studios refers to these different limited series as seasons of a television show, and part of the appeal in structuring everything in this way is the insistence on never shipping a book late (not to mention the constant influx of first issues, which tend to catch consumers’ eyes more easily and, thus, make comic-shop owners more inclined to carry the product). Thus far, only two titles have seen multiple volumes – The Resistance, the main anchor of the shared superhero universe, and Year Zero, the aforementioned zombie tale that takes a global perspective on the human race’s possible demise – but it seems likely more will join their ranks, and probably sooner rather than later. (Yes, a good assortment of AWA’s work absolutely deserves a continuation, but others are better left as singular chapters, mostly due to their stories having simply reached their natural conclusions.)
Let’s return to The Resistance, the flagship title of the Upshot Universe and the title that single-handedly predicted our 2020 lives. Penned by famed scribe J. Michael Straczynski (the creator of Babylon 5, co-creator of Sense8, and the writer of many big-ticket Marvel and DC comics), it tells the story of a global pandemic that kills 400 million people within the span of a single month before suddenly – and suspiciously – stopping. In the plague’s aftermath, it is quickly revealed that some 5% of its survivors, which total roughly 20 million individuals worldwide, develop superpowers of one sort or another, forcing a beleaguered planet to contend with their existence – and the possibility that they could remake the socio-political order as they see fit (read: more equitably). It helps fuel the rise of nationalistic, fascistic leaders across the world, most prominently in America, and it also invites the question of whether these Reborns, as they’re called, may be playing some role in the disease’s improbable pause – and, therefore, in its possible return. Resistance, put simply, is nothing less than a grand sandbox for other, future creators to play in, and the potentialities seem to be pretty wide open.
So wide open, in fact, that there have already been, over the course of the past year-and-a-half, a number of spin-offs or tie-ins. The majority of these have been supplied by Straczynski himself: after the inaugural miniseries, which ran from March to September 2020, there was the Resistance: Reborns one-shot, which began life as a webcomic in June and July ’20 before migrating to the printed page in January ’21; the second volume, officially subtitled The Resistance: Uprising, which sees the third of its six issues land this week; and, most recently, the Moths mini, which just began its run this month and which takes place concurrently with the events of the original book (though Joe says that this latest title can stand on its own, without the knowledge of preceding events). The only installment to be helmed by another individual thus far is E-Ratic, written and illustrated by Kaare Andrews, which takes a decidedly more light-hearted approach to the shared world; whereas Resistance labors to systematically deconstruct superhero tropes and conventions, this five-issue series joyously embraces and works to perpetuate them. At the very least, it provides a diversity even within the confines of an overarching narrative.
Everything beyond the Resistance-verse has, so far, remained separate from one another, though Chief Creative Officer Axel Alonso keeps teasing that such connections may, indeed, sprout up at some point in the future. But whether or not this intertwined scenario comes to pass, the individual tales more than speak for themselves; perhaps the best way to sum up these creator-owned adventures is to invoke a comparison with HBO’s original programming, with a particular emphasis on The Sopranos, Westworld, and, to a lesser extent, Game of Thrones – substantive and attention-grabbing allusions, indeed. Though science fiction technically is the most populated genre of AWA’s offerings, the company’s output is clearly most dominated by another, crime, thanks to its early succession of releases and the mission statement that they unmistakably established for the Upshot Universe (it also doesn’t hurt that crime is actually one of Alonso’s favorite genres). Given all this, it should come as no surprise that the storytelling format is plumbed to some pretty versatile results:
Archangel 8, one of the most conventional of all the AWA books, combines a taut crime tale with a Punisher-esque quest by God’s archangels to wage war against Satan’s forces on Earth.
Old Haunts follows three older made men, on the cusp of their improbable retirement, who end up having a Shining-esque spectral visitation from their sordid pasts.
Devil’s Highway reads, just as writer Benjamin Percy intended, as a comic-book version of a David Fincher film, exploring the dark and twisted serial-killer underworld of interstate trucking.
Bad Mother is something of a play on Liam Neeson’s Taken franchise, just with a normal, suburban, overweight soccer mom instead of a highly trained ex-spec ops estranged father going after her abducted teenage daughter.
Grendel, Kentucky is a 1971 retelling of the Old English epic Beowulf, replete with marijuana farmers and all-girl biker gangs, and all the assorted grindhouse sensibilities that come with the change in setting.
A survey of the publisher’s science-fiction titles is similarly illustrative:
ET-ER, which is webcomic-only for the time being, can’t help but remind you of The Venture Bros. a bit, just with a story set within a terrestrial hospital that dispenses interstellar medicine.
American Ronin, written by the legendary Peter Milligan, tackles a familiar dystopian near-future with an impressive amount of philosophy and psychology (and action, but of course).
Byte-Sized approaches ‘80s-era children’s cinema, including Batteries Not Included and practically everything Steven Spielberg, in the form of five endearing robots who befriend a young family on Christmas Eve.
Redemption is a refreshingly gender-flipped take on two traditionally male-dominated yarns: the post-apocalyptic and Old West sub-genres. The result feels like a cross between Mad Max: Fury Road and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, with just a touch of Westworld thrown in for good measure.
Mann’s World is a rather pedestrian tale of human survival on an alien world, with a group of smug vacationers having to fend off a seemingly never-ending parade of dangers that originate from both the environment and their fellow man.
Chariot comes straight out of the Stranger Things world of retro synthwave storytelling, following an indebted individual and his artificial intelligence-powered super-car.
Marjorie Finnigan, Temporal Criminal can only be described as a Garth Ennis creation: lewd, funny, and completely over-the-top. Oh, yeah – it also involves a time-travelling bandit and her assistant, a literal talking head.
Finally, AWA’s four remaining entries make up an eclectic bunch, consisting of what could best be loosely described as horror:
Hotell is a surreal, Twilight Zone-esque horror anthology that can easily be labelled an instant comics classic.
Red Border tries hard to brew a provocative cauldron, mixing Hostel with the Mexican border and a pinch of contemporary American politics, but its results are limited, at best.
Year Zero acts as a much-needed shot in the arm for the zombie formula, telling extremely personal and culturally authentic stories on a truly global scale. (Its second volume, however, plays it a little more safely.)
Casual Fling seemingly starts off as a romance tale, but it’s actually something of a thriller set in the world of stalking, blackmail, and espionage.
When taken in total, there is absolutely no mistaking the sheer ambition, creative pedigree, and potential future clout that AWA Studios and its Upshot Universe have already, after a short 15 months and nearly two dozen miniseries, demonstrated. That there is already a legacy cemented for itself, no matter what may ultimately befall the nascent company, is impressive; that the comic-book sky seems truly to be the limit is astonishing.
Here’s looking forward to the next year-and-a-half of avant garde storytelling.