From Shocktillyoudrop.com
Greg McLean, known for his Australian horror films Wolf Creek and Rogue has been delving into other forms of media with his new comic book, Dark Axis.
Dark Axis follows a look into a Alternate World War 2 timeline. Following a battle-hardened veteran, Sgt. Bryce, is given a cushy mission to scout a mountain valley. Only problem is, he's given a squad of useless recruits for the job. After finding a treasure map on a dead SS deserter, Bryce leads his squad to a hidden German facility, full of incredible machines and advanced technology. It appears completely deserted, but when one of his squad vanishes, ripped apart by 'something lurking in the shadows, Bryce realizes too late - they're not alone.
"The genesis of the project was a movie treatment I wrote and then teamed up with another screenwriter [Chris Wheeler] to develop," McLean tells Shock. "I really wanted to see this kind of story told; a World War II mash-up with Nazi super-villains, monsters, Mecha War machines and cigar chompin' heroes - but done in a very realistic style, a la Saving Private Ryan which had just come out. And because of that I had a group of talented artists designing monsters, sequences and machines which naturally fed into us making DARK AXIS the first publishing project for a company I established called DIEZELPUNK. And the essence of that company is creating an outlet for the kinds of stories I'm interested in; largely Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror based material. You know, the fun stuff!"
For McLean, whose background is in art, the realm of comic books and kick-starting a publishing company is a natural fit for the director.
"It's a great way to take huge story ideas with amazing visuals and get them out there into the world," he adds, "and it's incredibly satisfying seeing all the hard work and care that goes into creating these things finally out there on the shelves. It was put together by a tiny group of passionate people which I think shows in the work and the quality of the storytelling - which beside the idea, is the most important thing for us. We're committed to putting out one or two really unique and well crafted series per year so we're pumped with the next projects on our comics slate. So, as well as working on all the movie projects it's a shaping up to be a busy 2012!"
Here is a looks at the first 4 issue covers:
