Cody White
On April 17, 2019, AHOY Comics will debut PLANET OF THE NERDS #1 by writer Paul Constant, artists Alan Robinson and Randy Elliott, colorist Felipe Sobreiro, letterer Rob Steen and cover artist David Nakayama.
Three high school jocks in the 1980s are accidentally frozen by an experimental cryogenics device, only to be revived in the computer-driven, superhero movie-loving world of 2019–an era ruled by nerds! PLUS! A backup series explores the characters’ origins. EXTRA! Prose and pictures by the finest talents in and out of comics.
Comic Watch sat down with author Paul Constant to discuss this exciting new series from the next wave of books from Ahoy!
Comic Watch: A number of us here at Comic Watch really enjoyed this first issue because it clicks. Not all of us were bullied, but some were, and we all can connect with the massive differences between the acceptance of nerd-culture when we were growing up and today. You mention in the Editor’s Notes that your experience with your bully, McGurk, was in the 1960s. Why the shift to placing Alvin and his bullies in the 1980s?
First, I’m so thrilled that the story clicked with you and your fellow Comic Watchers. That’s really all a writer could ask for. Thank you!
Second, that Editor’s Note was actually written by AHOY’s intrepid editor-in-chief Tom Peyer, but I just as easily could have written it; I think it really speaks to the universality of bullying. Just as Tom was tormented by McGurk in the 1960s, I had my own McGurks when I was in high school in the 1990s, and I bet most of the people reading this can recall their own experiences being McGurked in high school.
I chose the 1980s for the launching pad of the book because that whole decade was kind of the Battle of Gettysburg of the nerd-v-jock wars. The jocks at the center of the story certainly fill the role that we’ve seen in hundreds of films and TV shows from the 1980s: Chad is the aggro alpha-male, Steve is the good-looking everydude with a heart of gold, Drew is the black friend who always hangs around but doesn’t get much of a speaking part. And their campaign of terror against Alvin, the comic-book-loving science nerd, was practically the plot of every 1980s high school movie.
But when the three jocks get frozen in a freak cryogenics accident in Alvin’s lab and are accidentally thawed out in our modern hyper-nerdy age, it gives us a great opportunity to compare the status quo from the 1980s with the modern-day status quo, to see how far we’ve come and where we’ve fallen behind. The jock-vs-nerd dynamic is very different now, as our jocks learn as they try to fight back against modern-day nerds, and their stereotypical roles will change and expand into something very different.
Comic Watch: I can’t help but notice that the coloring shifts dramatically from the 1980s to 2019. The future appears washed out compared to our antagonists. What is the reasoning there?
We’re so thrilled to have Felipe Sobreiro coloring this series, because he understands that coloring isn’t a special effect—it’s a thematic and storytelling device just as important as Alan Robinson’s art. Alan does fabulous work creating this world and populating it with characters who have unique facial expressions and body language. But Felipe’s coloring helps cue us in to the interior lives of the characters in a way that amplifies and adds to Alan’s incredible illustration.
The coloring choice at the end of the issue serves several purposes: first, it highlights the jocks’ separation from the present, making them seem more distinct and apart. Second, it helps illustrate how uncertain and different the world feels to the boys as they wake up in a strange time. And then it also demonstrates the way that we feel about our own pasts. I know a lot of people who seem to recall their youth in vivid full color and regard the present as the serious, black-and-white reality—like the Wizard of Oz in reverse.
In future issues as the boys adjust to the present day, the coloring will change and adapt to that situation. But that doesn’t mean Felipe is done experimenting in the book—he’s doing amazing, innovative work on the backup stories, too.
Comic Watch: Speaking of antagonists, Chad clearly is channeling Donald Gibb in Revenge of the Nerds, but Drew and Steve seem something like unwitting accomplices. Is it possible that Alvin isn’t the protagonist in this series? His short story following the main one certainly at least paints him as problematic in many ways.
The protagonist of the book will become apparent as the series goes on, but it’s designed to keep you guessing at this point. I really think of Nerds as an ensemble piece, in which each character gets at least one chance to stand in the spotlight.
That’s nowhere more evident than in the backup stories illustrated by Randy Elliott. Each issue’s backup story will focus on a different character in the book. I want every single character in this book to surprise the reader. Randy is the perfect artist to get us inside these character’s heads for those deeper dives. He’s got a great alternative-comics vibe to his work that helps the reader shift gears and prepare for a more intimate character piece.
Comic Watch: Will we be seeing more of our past characters? Alvin and Jenny in particular seem potential casualties to the pace of the narration.
You absolutely will see more of the past characters, and you’ll see more of them in ways that will surprise and maybe delight you. While the boys have missed nearly four decades of their lives, Jenny and Alvin have lived every single day of those decades. We’re going to see what happens when those two very different perspectives collide.
Comic Watch: This story has the feel of something that may have been percolating for a long time. When did you first get the idea to create this world and execute this fantasy? And if it has been thought of for a while, what prompted you to do this particular story now?
The idea for this story has been in my head for I think a decade now. There was no one moment of inspiration, but once I had the concept for a kind of reverse Back to the Future, or an Idiocracy set in the present day, everything snapped into place pretty soon after.
As to why now, I think there’s a little bit of synchronicity at play here. Most importantly, AHOY Comics happened. I don’t know if Planet of the Nerds could have been published anywhere else. AHOY is putting out wildly creative, and wildly funny, comics in a fun format. As soon as I pitched the story to Tom and publisher Hart Seely, they got it, and they gave me the tools to succeed, connecting me with Alan and Felipe and Randy.
But I’m glad it took ten years for the idea to land on the page. That distance between the 1980s and today has gotten bigger, and the differences between the two times has gotten clearer. Nerd culture has really exploded in the last ten years, which makes the book’s central conflict even more heightened. The distance that the jocks travel forward in time is a now little bit longer than the trip to the past that Marty McFly took in Back to the Future, which seems like the perfect gap for a time travel story that explores social expectations.
Comic Watch: Do you have any other projects in mind for the future? Ahoy’s future seems pretty bright to me!
I will work with AHOY for as long as they’ll have me, and I’m thrilled that they really seem to be catching on with the comics-reading public. Just speaking as a fan, I’m drooling over Mark Russell and Richard Pace’s Second Coming, which I think will be a huge hit. I love that AHOY is publishing some of my all-time favorite creators like Ann Nocenti and Mark Waid, and I’m so grateful that it’s giving first-time creators like myself a shot. I think that’s the perfect balance for a publisher.
I have a few projects in the planning that I can’t discuss yet, but I’m very excited that starting next month I’ll have a five-issue backup in AHOY’s Hashtag Danger series. It’s titled Snelson, it’s illustrated by Fred Harper with a great, expressive, Bill Sienkiewicz vibe, and it’s about a stand-up comedian from the 1990s who is bitter and desperate to reclaim his relevance in the present day. I think Snelson makes for an interesting thematic pairing with Planet of the Nerds—kind of a comedic pas de deux of toxic masculinity.
And now check out this special sneak peek at Planet of the Nerds #1 from Ahoy Comics!
