Popcorn punk band Fall Out Boy has conquered the charts and MTV with ease. Now the quartet is hopping into comics with Fall Out Toy Works, a five-issue miniseries that re-engineers Pinocchio and Pygmalion for pop culture.
Using his band's recent tune "Tiffany Blews" as a point of departure, Fall Out Boy bassist, singer and lyricist Pete Wentz worked with designers Darren Romanelli and Jeff Krelitz to conceive the comic's story of a futuristic toymaker hoping to build the perfect female droid. Wentz then signed on Bulletproof Monk scribe Brett Lewis and artist Sam Basri to give an old story new flesh.
"The idea of manufactured love, that something nonhuman could be taught human love, is at the core of some of the greatest narratives of all time," Wentz told Wired.com in an e-mail interview about Fall Out Toy Works, out Tuesday from Image Comics. "And this is a world where proof that technology can move faster than the morality or laws that are supposed to control it exists. Even when things are created with the best of intentions, they can be used in the worst ways depending on who controls them. Or if they find a way to control themselves."
More issues of Fall Out Toy Works arrive in 2010, as does a motion comic from Double Barrel Motion Labs featuring the band's music and voiceovers from Wentz and lead vocalist Patrick Stump. The multiple dimensions of the project are what attracted Wentz, who admitted that he's somewhat new to the comics game.
"I'll be honest, I'm not a huge comics guy," Wentz confessed, although he says he grew up with Wolverine and Daredevil. "I liked the 'What If' series with The Watcher. I liked the one where Superman died. I also have all three of the first Star Wars comics."
What drew Wentz back to comics was not the format itself, but its ability to blend seamlessly with other media. He's not alone: From Disney's acquisition of Marvel to the rise of motion comics and onward into the future, graphic novels dominate pop culture like never before.
"I'm sure people smell money," Wentz said of the comics gold rush, especially now that they "have seen a couple of really great comic movies. Of course, there have been some terrible ones as well. But what I like about this project is that it's not just meant to be a comic, but a world. From the music to the animation to the comic to the microsite, I like the idea that art can be cohesive across mediums."
Image courtesy Image Comics
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