Calexit Possibly the Most Timely Comic Coming Out

In times of stress, people often turn to entertainment to escape but also to cope. There haven’t been a lot of comics, though, tackling the struggles that come with the current political environment. Black Mask wants to change that in May with the launch of Calexit, a science fiction comic about California becoming its own country after “a fascist, autocratic President took over the United States” and “California refused to be ruled”.

What if that President lost California, the sixth largest economy on Earth, by nearly 2-to-1… a margin of almost 3 1/2 million votes? What if the day after that President took power, the largest mass demonstration in history occurred, and the state with the largest turnout was California?

It’s written by Matteo Pizzolo (Godkiller, Young Terrorists), co-founder of Black Mask and creator of the Occupy Comics project, and illustrated by Amancay Nahuelpan (Robocop, Young Terrorists). It will launch at the end of May, with two variant covers. It can be preordered from comic shops with Diamond codes MAR17 1398 and MAR17 1399.

Here are more excerpts from the press release. I’m excited to see how this book comes out, since they’re promising a comic about

resisting oppression, punching Nazis, protecting each other, kicking ass, and demanding liberty for all.

The ongoing series tells the story of Jamil, a 25-year old courier (aka smuggler), and Zora, a 27-year old leader in the Pacific Coast Sister Cities Resistance, who escape together from a prison camp in Occupied Los Angeles, where martial law has been in place for the past year — ever since America’s demagogue President signed an executive order to deport all immigrants, and California responded by proclaiming itself a Sanctuary State. Each issue of Calexit will also include non-fiction material about local sustainability and grassroots campaigning for 2018 elections.

“I can’t think of a time when confronting the status quo with progressive, political art has been more important,” said Brett Gurewitz, co-founder of Black Mask. “Black Mask Studios has consistently focused on stories that are both entertaining and have a real message driving them. With Occupy Comics, we published stories devoted to the goals and themes of the Occupy movement. Since then, we published stories about living under a fascist state (Godkiller), about fighting celebrity politicians (Young Terrorists) and gentrification (The Dregs). We’ve published the 2017 GLAAD nominee Kim & Kim, and the creators of the breakout hit Black have donated proceeds to Black Lives Matter. The fact that the comic market is supporting brave voices like these is a real testament to comics’ crucial role in our national and international cultural dialogue.”