Exclusive: Vault Comics & White Noise Announce Partnership for Four New Comic Series

Vault Comics hit the ground running just shy of two years ago, and the upstart publisher has no intentions of slowing down. With Dan Watters and Val Rodrigues’ Deep Roots #1 already on shelves, Paste can exclusively share that Vault has signed a four-series deal with White Noise, the British comic collective made up of Watters, Ryan O’Sullivan, Alex Paknadel and Ram V. In addition to Deep Roots, Watters will soon helm Lucifer as part of DC Comics’ Sandman Universe line; O’Sullivan is the author of Void Trip at Image Comics; Paknadel scripted Arcadia, one of Paste’s favorite sci-fi comics of all time; and Ram V is the architect of Paradiso, the first collection of which hits stands this week.

“Though the White Noise/Vault books run the gauntlet from historical to speculative to meta-fiction, the fact that each of us was independently invited to cast our flicker on the Vault’s interior walls speaks volumes about the synergy between the entities, and the kind of stories we wish to create,” Watters said in a statement. “These are four books for dark days and long nights, for unpacking our pasts and dreaming of futures.”

If it seems unusual to announce this partnership after the debut title has already hit stands, the timing speaks to the unusual circumstances behind the move. “I sent in the pitch that would eventually get picked up for publication,” Ram V explained. “You can imagine my surprise when I found out that the rest of the White Noise crew all had books in the pipeline at Vault. To me, that said two things; firstly, it meant that Vault’s editorial taste and the kind of things that we want to do at White Noise had synergy. Secondly, the fact that everyone had titles picked up only reinforced the idea that we are a studio that focuses on producing good, thoughtful work before anything else and I’m glad that it is apparent to a publisher like Vault.”

“There was no foreknowledge and no coordination, so the whole relationship just feels really serendipitous to us,” Paknadel added. “We’re all very excited to be working with a company that makes stronger and stronger statements with each book.”

“It came as a surprise that the rest of White Noise all had books coming out at Vault,” O’Sullivan echoed. “Although, we all have similar tastes, a penchant for genre comics and enjoy working with new publishers—so it’s probably not all that surprising in retrospect.”

Joining Deep Roots in the Vault/White Noise partnership will be Fearscape, Friendo and These Savage Shores, and readers can find full creative teams, descriptions and cover art below. Stay tuned to Paste throughout the summer and fall for more about these and other upcoming Vault launches.

Deep Roots #1 Variant Cover Art by Val Rodrigues

Deep Roots
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Val Rodrigues
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Designer: Tim Daniel
Release Date: April 25, 2018
Roots, once suffocating under cement, tear through the streets of London to throttle buildings. Vegetable homunculi hold up banks with automatic weapons. There is a green and blooming world beyond our own, fighting back against the human pollutant. We will launch a rescue mission to this Otherworld. But it is cruel and unknowable, and should we become tangled in its vines, more than cities will fall. From Dan Watters (Limbo, The Shadow, Assassin’s Creed) and Val Rodrigues comes a story of two worlds, of myth and man, of science and fiction, and the roots they share.

Fearscape #1 Cover Art by Andrea Mutti

Fearscape
Writer: Ryan O’Sullivan
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Colorist: Vladimir Popov
Designer: Tim Daniel
Release Date: August 2018
The Fearscape is a world beyond our own, populated by manifestations of our worst fears. Once per generation, The Muse travels to Earth, discovers our greatest Storyteller, and takes them with her to the Fearscape to battle these fear-creatures on our behalf. All has been well for eons, until The Muse encounters Henry Henry—a plagiarist with delusions of literary grandeur. Mistaking him for our greatest Storyteller, she ushers him into the Fearscape. Doom follows.

Friendo #1 Variant Cover Art by Martin Simmonds

Friendo
Writer: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Martin Simmonds
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Designer: Tim Daniel.
Release Date: September 2018
Leo wasn’t allowed toys as a kid, but now that he’s all grown up he’s going to take yours. He used to play by the rules, but then governments and corporations set fire to the rules and still expected him to behave. He probably would have if it hadn’t been for his new friend Jerry. See, Jerry isn’t human; he’s a personalised marketing VR…and he’s malfunctioning. Unhinged ultraviolence from Alex Paknadel (Arcadia) and Martin Simmonds (Punks Not Dead).

These Savage Shores #1 Cover Art by Sumit Kumar

These Savage Shores
Writer: Ram V
Artist: Sumit Kumar
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Designer: Tim Daniel
Release Date: October 2018
Two centuries after the first European ship sailed to the Malabar Coast and made landfall at Calicut, The East India Company seeks to secure its future along the lucrative Silk Route, in the year 1766. An old evil now sails aboard a company ship, hoping to make a home in this new found land. But he will soon find that the ground along the Indus is an ancient one with daemons and legends far older than himself.

Along These Savage Shores, where the days are scorched and the nights are full of teeth.