A UFO cult descends into madness in Ahoy Comics’ new The Forgotten Divine, which just launched on Kickstarter. For the past eight years, Ahoy Comics has brought readers some of the best titles on the stands today. The publisher has now launched “Ahoy Select,” a new line of high-quality, direct-to-consumer books, and The Forgotten Divine is going to be another winner.
The Forgotten Divine is the brainchild of writer Mark Russell and artist Russ Braun. Russell, who has spent the past decade amassing credits on titles such as The Flintstones and the award-winning Snagglepuss: Exit Stage Left, is known for his quirky and thought-provoking stories. In addition to winning a GLAAD Award for Snagglepuss, Russell has been nominated for other industry awards as well. Russ Braun is a 30-year veteran of comics and animation, and has lent his artistic talents to books such as Swamp Thing and Jack Of Hearts.
Now, these two amazing creators are bringing fans a nightmarish vision of alien contact with The Forgotten Divine. Ahoy Comics has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the book, featuring some truly out of this world rewards, including signed copies, as well as schwag featuring the publisher’s characters. Fans eager for a first look at The Forgotten Divine are in luck, as Ahoy has provided ScreenRant with an excerpt of this soon-to-be modern classic.
Ahoy Comics’ Launches a New Imprint With The Forgotten Divine
Ahoy Comics’ Kickstarter for The Forgotten Divine is now live. The Forgotten Divine is rooted in a very real world phenomenon: UFO cults. Ahoy’s solicitation for The Forgotten Divine reads as follows:
Meet Rodney Coleman, an unhoused veteran whose sleep is haunted by dreams of a faraway planet. (At least, he thinks they’re dreams.) Soon Coleman connects with others plagued by dreams of the same world and finds himself at the head of a UFO cult. The group’s shared effort to understand their visions is heartfelt at first—but over time it descends into unreality, conspiracy, paranoia, violence, and conceivably… revelation.
In the preview pages, shared here, readers get their first glimpse at “The Revelants,” seemingly random people who are having shared dreams of aliens and other worlds. Slowly, they begin to come together, and realize that something is about to happen, something that may change the course of human history.
Both Russell and Braun were excited to bring The Forgotten Divine to readers. Russell had this to say about the book:
THE FORGOTTEN DIVINE is about why people join cults, assign meaning to mysteries, and find comfort in their own persecution…I feel like we can all either relate to these characters or see someone we know in them. We’re all looking for our Forgotten Divine.”
Likewise, Braun was excited to draw The Forgotten Divine, which he called “challenging.” Of his collaborator Russell, Braun said:
The subtleties involved in the storytelling required a lot of thought; the slow evolution, ramp up, and ultimate impact is a testament to Mark’s writing. Visually, we got to put some stuff out there that hasn’t been seen before and that’s always a blast for me. We took some risks, but I think AHOY, Mark, and I are known for that and it definitely paid off.
Tom Peyer, Editor-in-Chief for Ahoy Comics, shared Braun and Russell’s enthusiasm for The Forgotten Divine, stating:
Mark thinks deeply, and his ideas are often challenging and original. But for me it’s his command of character that really puts his stories over the top.
The preview pages, with their aura of mystery and dread, confirm Russell, Braun and Peyer’s belief in the book.
UFO Cults Are Real, and The Forgotten Divine Gets to the Heart of Them
The Forgotten Divine Promises to be a UFO Story Unlike Any Other
Cults, especially those centered around UFOs and alien contact, are very much real, and The Forgotten Divine is a fascinating look into this unique world. Groups such as Heaven’s Gate, who committed mass suicide in 1997, dominated the news cycle of their day and continue to live in infamy. News reports and pundits speculated on why people join such cults, and arrived at no easy answers. The Forgotten Divine may not answer the question either, but it promises a deep and nuanced examination of this curious phenomenon.
The Forgotten Divine then takes it a step further by asking if the aliens at the center of the cult are actually real.
The Forgotten Divine then takes it a step further by asking if the aliens at the center of the cult are actually real. The book explores not only a person’s motivations for joining a UFO cult, but the impacts such groups have on their members. The Revelants know something has happened to them, and they also know bad things are on the horizon. This ticking time bomb of an alien threat lies at the center of Ahoy’s new The Forgotten Divine.