Mark Russell's new graphic novel explores the strange comfort of cults

AHOY Comics is launching its first Kickstarter, and it's doing so with a project that sounds right in Mark Russell's wheelhouse: a satirical science fiction drama about UFO cults, conspiracy thinking, and the human need to find meaning in the unknown.

The Forgotten Divine, written by Mark Russell and illustrated by Russ Braun, follows Rodney Coleman, an unhoused veteran haunted by recurring dreams of a distant world. When he discovers others having the same visions, the group bands together in search of answers. What begins as a sincere quest for understanding gradually spirals into paranoia, unreality, violence, and perhaps something even stranger still.

Russell describes the book as a story about "why people join cults, assign meaning to mysteries, and find comfort in their own persecution." Given his track record on books like The Flintstones, Second Coming, Superman: Space Age, and (one of my all-time faves) God Is Disappointed in You, that combination of social satire and genuine human curiosity is especially promising.

AHOY has launched the campaign with exclusive covers, publisher-only goodies, and other Kickstarter perks. In the meantime, we were given an exclusive preview of some pages from the book.

Previously:

• Comic writer and satirist Mark Russell is looking to massacre your Thanksgiving
• CEREAL is the grimdark reimagining of breakfast mascots I never knew I needed
• Toxie meets his maker as Fred Harper channels Lloyd Kaufman in tribute variant cover