A Blade Runner meets Rocky story for the ages
LOS ANGELES 02/16/2022 — In a future world of robots, extinct humans have been brought back to life—but will they earn their place in society, or will have to fight for it? The forthcoming Image/Top Cow sci-fi mini series—Metal Society by Zack Kaplan (Port of Earth, Eclipse), Guilherme Balbi, Marco Lesko, and Troy Peteri—explores just that with a side of MMA-Style sport fights.
In Metal Society, the creators take readers on an inverted future, where evolved robots resurrect humans for manual labor. But, a tribalistic cultural clash breaks out, causing a fearless human fighter and a frustrated, displaced robot to square off in a public fight of epic stakes.
“While our own technology, our politics, and our world are changing faster than ever, sadly our society seems to be responding with aggression and hostility. We’re resorting to tribalism and we’re allowing our differences to be aired out publicly for entertainment value," said Kaplan. "I’ve always been inspired by great robot stories that remind us of our own experience, and I thought that by exploring this Rocky-style fight drama in a futuristic robot-ruled world—this charged robot vs human culture clash, and the 'human' fighters that get pulled into these public battles—we might just learn something about our own humanity and our social conflicts today.”
Paired with newcomer artist Guilherme Balbi, they created a rich world in which readers can suspend disbelief and put themselves into the story. Balbi commented, "Creating a new world is always a big challenge, and even getting bigger because everything with 'robots' is even more difficult, but that's exactly what makes this world so special. There are many details, wires, and many, many gears. I try to get a lot of inspiration from movies and references, and mix with the things I like. Understanding Zack's vision for this project was very important to take another step in my growth as an artist, but in this work I took flight."
Kaplan added: “I'm thrilled to be doing another hard sci-fi series with Top Cow, and if you are not familiar with impressive artist newcomer Guilherme Balbi and incredibly talented colorist Marco Lesko, well, get ready, because they are an awe-inspiring duo that just energizes and brings life to each and every page of this comic."
"Zack Kaplan is one of my favorite writers to work with," said Matt Hawkins of Colossus and Think Tank and President at Top Cow. "And this is, in my humble opinion, his best work yet. Metal Society, artificial intelligence, robots... what more could you want?"
See if the human or robot will reign supreme in Metal Society when it lands in comic shops on Wednesday, May 5.
Metal Society will also be available for purchase across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Comixology, and Google Play.
ABOUT TOP COW PRODUCTIONS
Top Cow Productions, Inc. (http://www.topcow.com), a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Currently, Silvestri and Matt Hawkins publish a line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The TNT Witchblade TV series was one of the first indie comics to be adapted for cable networks. The cult classic Japanese anime Witchblade and the two The Darkness video games for XBOX 360 and PS3 are all based on Top Cow properties.
PUBLICITY CONTACT:
Lisa Wu, PR & Marketing Consultant
Top Cow Productions
lisaywu@topcow.com
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