The spooky season keeps delivering for comic book fans as Vault Comics announced the October 2023 release of Beyond Real.
Beyond Real sees Zack Kaplan return to Vault after his recent celebrated series Mindset, joined by a slate of phenomenal artists including Fabiana Mascolo, Toni Fejzula, Vincenzo Riccardi, Dennis Menheere, Jorge Corona, and Liana Kangas. Each issue of this cerebral and ambitious series will see these artists working in tandem, handing off scenes back and forth to each other as part of the narrative structure of this mind-bending story about simulation theory, the creative spirit, and the struggle for self-determination.
The series follows the struggling artist June following a severe accident which leaves her boyfriend in a coma and causes her to experience bizarre visual phenomena. When she discovers that the world she considers “reality” may in fact be a computer simulation, she must set out on a perilous journey through metaphysical layers of the simulation to reach the true creator and save her love from death.
In a press release from Vault Comics, Zack Kaplan said, “Simulation Theory, this odd but engaging idea that we are all living inside a sort of computer simulation, has grown in popularity in the last decade amongst scientists and the public alike. But we often think of this concept in very digital, robotic terms. With Beyond Real, we turn simulation theory on its head, and imagine the layers of life’s simulation in the most artistic and astonishing of ways. It’s a dark Neil Gaiman-esque adventure series into the unknown, it’s a thoughtful and complex character drama about navigating creativity, at times inspiring and unsettling, and it’s a love letter to artists and creatives everywhere. We’re in an inflection point for creators right now, and it’s never been more important to appreciate the challenges they face and respect their profound contributions to our experience in this little world.”
