As the glaring outline of the Sun was starting to project its immensity on Axel, the memory of those round, juicy fruits helped him save his life.
The year is 2125: human beings drag their lives within Data Earth (DE), a global virtual network that has practically overcome and substituted each and every form of human physical and spiritual experience. In order to maintain DE, our planet requires an immense and continuous flow of power, that relies solely on solar energy. For this reason, humans have established a colony on Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, where they work around the clock to harvest energy for the benefit of an ever-starving Earth.
However, an unexpected micro-meteoroids shower severely damages the Mercurian “sun-factory”, threatening the very functioning of DE. The dust has not yet settled, when a mysterious creature saves the life of 3 Mercurian colonists and bring them to Earth.
Main Characters:
Axel: what is a blind sound engineer doing on Mercury? Axel has no idea, but he’s sensitive, brave and probably in love with Julia. All he wants is to return to Mercury, where he can live his quiet, subdued life while leaving most of his fellow humans behind.
Julia: our heroine has a secret to hide. Before taking refuge on Mercury, she was part of an underground organisation which intended to wake up the humankind from its slumber induced by an over-reliance on technology. Now she is back on Earth to fulfil her mission.
M07: Planet Mercury’s seventh son is one not to mess with. He is very vocal, stubborn and…a teenager. He marvels at wonders of the Earth such as gravity, insects and the Sun – which he has never seen before. After a while, his body struggles to adapt to the new surroundings, so all he wants to do is go home, to Mercury.
The creature: she never says a word throughout the story. Nobody knows where she is coming from. She is closer to us than what we think she is.
Secondary Characters:
Chief Yi Feng: Big shot at the International Space Agency (ISA), that in 2125 is a commercial organization in control of DATA EARTH (DE) and the entire solar energy grid that is the only power supply of DE.
Prof. George Temple: Professor of Anthropology of New Harvard University. He discovered the T sequences in the heterocromatic DNA (only sequence that link Homo Sapiens to all other species of Homo). A world-famous scholar, whose only objectives in life are to get his ego bigger than anyone else.
Gao Raj Anand: Head of the T.I.N. (Technology Is Nothing), a subversive group that wants to free humanity from the “oppression” of Data Earth. Gao dies 15 years before the facts of GENU, but his inflated ego still lives somewhere in the cloud…
Creative Team:
• Alex Franquelli (writer): Alex is a London (UK)-based freelance journalist and writer who focuses on experimental music and East Asian politics. After writing a book on Mongolia, he started working for The Walt Disney Company, for which he designed packaging for Pixar, Lucasfilm and obviously Disney.Portfolio at this location.
• Tommaso Todesca, MBA (writer): finance professional and author. Tommaso lives in Los Angeles. He has self-published his first graphic novel “Sciehce and Faith”, which is now being published in Italy by “NPE Edizioni” (Nicola Pesce), scheduled for mid-2020.
• Giulio Tomassy, Ph.D. (writer): neuroscientist with a passion for science fiction. After years of publishing his scientific work in journals such as Science and Nature, Giulio now wonders if he will ever find editors willing to publish his comics! He is from Rome, Italy, but he lives and works in “sunny” Boston, Massachusetts.
• Aleksandra Fastovets (artist): based in Kiev, Aleksandra is one of the star artists of the “Tomatofarm” Agency. She worked on a Lion King book for Disney, on the Lion King comic book for Dark Horse, and on the materials for Pixar’s book. She was also several times in international magazines and books (a recent example being the graphic anthology #hardcover).
About Author
