Whitley Strieber's
Beyond Communion
by Whitley Strieber, Martin Powell, var. illustrators
Whitley Strieber's Beyond Communion
Written by Martin Powell and Whitley Strieber
Illustrated by Shane White, Jim Royal
Cover Art by Steve Neill
Published by Caliber Comics (#1-1997, #2-1997)
Caliber Comics
Presents...
Beyond Communion
Whitley Strieber has met the Visitors.
He knows what They look like.
He knows how it feels to be touched by Them.
He may even know why They are here.
Are you ready for the Truth...?
Whitley's Strieber's Beyond Communion - A True Story
Beginning in September 1997 Caliber Comics is proud to bring to the comic audience the continuation of best-selling author Whitley Strieber's Communion saga which has now resulted in four books selling over 20 million copies combined worldwide! This is the series which began today's popular fascination with alien abduction and has inspired countless people to speak out concerning their own unexplained experiences. Now it comes to comics, and this isn’t merely a retelling of the novel, but a continuation of this amazing true story.
“I think Beyond Communion has the potential to truly reach out past the typical comic audience and bring a whole, new kind of reader into comic stores,” said Managing Editor James Pruett. “There is a whole sub-culture outside the comic market who would be interested in picking this comic up and, perhaps for the first time, walk into a comic store seeking out Beyond Communion and, once there, find other worthwhile titles on the stands that might peek their interest.”
Beyond Communion is an on-going series which will be written by Eisner-nominated writer Martin Powell, illustrated by Shane White and Jim Royal, with covers by SFX artist Steve Neill, and everything goes directly through Whitley Strieber who oversees production and provides the plots, as well as the inspiration.
“Beyond Communion has everyone in the office excited as we all foresee the possibilities of a true mainstream crossover with various forms of readership. As a matter of fact, Jim Royal, the inker, personally called me up out-of-the-blue and asked for the job. He had heard that we might be doing this as a comic, from where I don't know because it wasn't confirmed yet, and said that he had to do this book. So with that kind of excitement from the creative team, you can only imagine how good the finished product will look!” said Pruett.
Beyond Communion is an on-going series beginning September
1997 featuring 32 pgs., black and white format, retailing for
$2.95.
Copyright © 1997 Caliber Comics
 mock-up of #3 cover about the delay)
|
Whitley Strieber's Beyond Communion #3 (planned release date of January 1999 passed without explanation) by Whitley Strieber, Martin Powell, Shane White and Steve Neil, Based on the best-selling books by Whitley Strieber! With the publications of Communion, Transformation, Breakthrough, and The Secret School, the whole world has been fascinated by Whitley Strieber's strange and eerie encounters with alien beings. Now, with this comic book series, authentically approved by Strieber, his true adventures into the unknown are continued as he faces the death of a friend, a jeering group of skeptics, and the possible truth behind his strange abductions. If you haven't jumped on board yet, now's your chance to read the story that has already produced a movie and captivated over 20 million readers worldwide! |
 #4 cover art |
Whitley Strieber's Beyond Communion
#4 (release suspended - see above) (Creators) Martin Powell, Laurence Campbell, Larry Shuput and Whitley Strieber Secluded in his country cabin, UFO abductee Whitley Strieber seeks isolation amid the sudden storm of popularity and infamy created by his nonfiction books. Finally the best-selling author has become suspicious of at least part of the truth behind his own alien contact, a truth almost too powerful for him to accept. This comic book series is authentically approved by Strieber himself. B&W, 32 |
Interview With the Scripter, Martin Powell
Caliber Comics Interview with series writer Martin Powell
Cal: The subtitle for Beyond Communion reads “A True Story”. Can you explain that?
Powell: What we're dealing with here is a series of personal UFO abduction experiences which Whitley Strieber has described having happened to him. I'm translating them to the comic book format. But this is Whitley's story.
Cal: I'm sure almost everyone has at least seen the cover of his book, Communion, with that eerie smiling alien face. It was a New York Times best-seller. But he was already a successful author before that, right?
Powell: Absolutely. He'd written both The Wolfen and The Hunger long before Communion. All three books have also been made into movies.
Cal: How did you meet Whitley?
Powell: I've been interested in UFOs for a long time and I attended a convention back in 1993. I met and became friends with a man who also knew Whitley and [he] introduced us.
Cal: How did this project come about?
Powell: Well, after a few conversations, Whitley and I became good friends. I sent him a bundle of comics and graphic novels that I'd written, and I suggested that he should think of doing a comic book about his own weird experiences. He really liked the idea and asked me to write it for him, based on his books and journal material.
Cal: UFO abductees are all the rage now, mainly thanks to The X Files and movies like Independence Day. Do you think Whitley's books have had an influence in all this?
Powell: Oh, absolutely. I'm confident that there would be no X-Files if Whitley hadn't written those books. It was a brave thing for him to do. Here you have an extremely successful best-selling author who decided to risk his entire career and professional credibility by admitting to having these strange episodes in his life, totally opening himself up to public ridicule and worse. I suspect that Whitley sometimes wishes he'd kept quiet, but he feels that his books helps other people with similar troubles. I'm sure that's true.
Cal: Hollywood make-up and special effects artist Steve Neill is doing the covers for the comic book. Will these be painted covers?
Powell: He may do that later on, but the first four issues are photo covers created by Steve. He actually sculpted full-size alien models and posed them in some very dramatic, and very disturbing, scenes. Very eerie stuff
Cal: Do you believe in UFOs?
Powell: That's a tricky question. I definitely believe that there's something in our skies that defies rational explanation. Whether or not they are spacecraft from another planet, though, is a very different and separate question that I certainly can't answer. I have a feeling though, to paraphrase Shakespeare, that the answer is not in the stars but in ourselves.
Cal: You sound as if you're speaking from experience. Have you ever seen a UFO?
Powell: If you mean if I've ever seen something weird in the sky that I couldn't recognize, actually I have. Many times. I think that most people have, if you were to ask them. In fact, when my wife and I first moved here to South Florida we were walking to the ocean one warm sunny morning when both of us saw this large black triangular aircraft gliding soundlessly at a low attitude over the downtown area.
Cal: Could it have been the Stealth Fighter?
Powell: Well, it was absolutely not the stealth fighter that we're all so familiar with now. There are military bases all over the region, I suspect that what we saw was actually some sort of highly advanced experimental aircraft.. .but why would the pilot fly such a thing over a heavily populated area? All I know is that it sure was an eerie few minutes while we were watching it.
Cal: Did you report it?
Powell: Of course, not. The government says UFOs don't exist, remember?(laughter) I did check the newspapers the next day, but there was no mention of the thing. Many people must have seen it, though. It was visible for at least several minutes. Then, a couple months ago I looked out our bedroom window and saw this bizarre orange globe, very low in the sky, floating over the neighborhood. I was shocked. I knew it wasn't the blimp, which I'd seen at night many times before. My wife saw it, too, and the UFO made the national news the next day. So, I guess I'm not the only one who's crazy.
Cal: Will Whitley be contributing to the comic book himself'
Powell: I hope so. He plans to at least write some back-up material, most likely his own commentary on the scenes that I will play out in the comic. We'll be including personal photos from Whitley, occasional interviews with him, and a very interesting letters column. Also, Steve Neill's alien paintings and sculptures will make guest appearances.
Cal: Whitley Strieber has now written four books about his alien experiences, including Communion, Transformation, Breakthrough, and The Secret School. What is your opinion regarding his experiences? Do you believe him?
Powell: Whitley is a personal friend. I take everything he says very seriously. But, I'm going out on a limb here...the answer is, yes. I'm convinced that something very unusual has happened, and is still happening, to Whitley, something that cannot be explained by medical, psychological, or technical science.
Cal: So, you believe that he's been abducted by aliens?
Powell: I'm not at all sure that these experiences have anything to do with visitors from other worlds, and neither is Whitley. He's never claimed that he was "abducted by aliens". He doesn't know what is happening to him, and thousands of others are having the same experiences with the same eerie scenarios.
Cal: Do you doubt the existence of extraterrestrial life?
Powell: Not at all. Now that we know that life probably existed on Mars, and
that life may be thriving now on Jupiter's moon Europa, we shouldn't be too
surprised about such things. I know there are many UFO debunkers, but I seriously
doubt if many of them have actually looked into these things as deeply as I
have. Clearly something very strange is going on. Maybe we'll understand it
someday. I hope so.
© 1997 Caliber
Comics
Whitley Strieber Biography by Caliber Comics
Whitley Strieber is the author of many best-selling novels and works of nonfiction, and has made three movies. Among his best known novels are The Wolfen which was made into a film with Albert Finney and Gregory Hines, and The Hunger which was made into a film with David Bowie, Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve. The Hunger is on many ten-best lists among the best horror films of all time. He has also written other bestsellers, including Billy, Catmagic and Majestic.
He is the author of the award-winning children's book, Wolf of Shadows, and two works of speculative fiction with James Kunetka, Warday about the dangers of limited nuclear war and Nature's End, a prophetic 1985 novel about life in the early twenty-first century.
Mr. Strieber is best known for his nonfiction works about unusual experiences that appear to involve alien contact. The first of these books, Communion, details experiences he had in 1985 that he could not explain, and chronicles his effort to find a sensible explanation. Communion has sold over ten million copies worldwide and has been made into a film with Christopher Walken playing Whitley. It is one of the best selling books of modern times. He has also written Transformation, a follow-up to Communion, that has sold four million books worldwide, and Breakthrough, a chronicle of a group of multiple-witness encounters that took place between 1989 and 1995.
His latest book on the subject, The Secret School, was published in January of 1997. In this book, he explores the relationship between the close encounter experience and childhood, using the medium of his own memories.
The four books, taken together, represent the largest selling and best known chronicle of the paranormal ever published. His novel, Majestic, with three million copies in print worldwide, is the largest-selling book on the Roswell Incident, the apparent UFO crash that occurred at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
Mr. Strieber has taken every medical and psychological test possible to find a disease or mental condition that might account for his apparent contacts. He has passed three independently administered lie detector tests and an extensive voice-stress test administered without his knowledge. He still does not know what happened to him, only that it is not explainable, and uses his books to remind readers that the whole issue of the origin of the experience is still very much in question.
© 1997 Caliber
Comics
Prototype of Beyond Communion
A prototype of Beyond Communion illustrated by Steve Neill was first
shown to the public at Steve Neill's “The Art of Dreamland” workshop
held November 5, 1995 at the UFO Expo West in San Francisco. Steve
Neill is an artist and special effects producer who created many of the
alien figures on the tv program SIGHTINGS and the NBC special, Confirmation.
Neill ultimately made the cover art for the Beyond Communion comics that
were published.
Neill's artwork for the prototype of Beyond Communion was rendered in
chalk
on black paper (unlike the actual comic produced later, which used traditional
pen and ink on a white paper base). The prototype was several pages in length.
“In January of 1995,” Steve explained, “I was contacted by Whitley
Strieber because a mutual friend had sent him some samples of my illustrations.
Martin Powell was the mutual friend and he is a professional writer for comics.
He has a high interest in the subject and had collected my art in the past which
is how we became friends. Martin and I often talked about the concept of doing
a comic on the abduction experience, one day he approached Whitley about it
and he agreed to do it. The comic is now being published by Caliber Comics and
will be released in August of '97.”
“Whitley just called me up one day because he was looking at my art and
saw in some of the images' things he had never quit shared with the public before.
Things that were in Breakthrough, that I hadn't read because it was not
in release at the time. Since then we've spent allot of good times together
sharing our thoughts about the Visitors, life and the very nature of existence
He is truly one of the greatest pioneers of the cosmic frontier who woke millions
from a sleep of a million years!”
Regrettably, some time after Steve Neill had lent his talent to several Strieber related projects, including the cover art for the limited edition collection of Whitley Strieber's short stories Evenings With Demons, there was a falling-out in their relationship over a proposed television series; see Video section of this website for details.
