Considering how large a footprint his movies have left in pop culture, it’s surprising that Ridley Scott hasn’t ventured into comics before. Or not. He’s always zagged when people expected a zig. Perhaps now is just the right time. The legendary director has teamed his Scott Free production company with Mechanical Cake to create original graphic novels. And they plan to be epic. As in, the first graphic novel to be solicited in March 2025 is completed, 100 pages long, and it’s part 1 of 8.
It’s unclear if they’ll have a new name for the imprint or carry both logos. Though he’s known for his world-building, it’s also unclear if Scott will be writing the books. Editor-in-chief Dave Elliott, co-founder of Radical Comics, has recruited some top-tier artists to bring the visions to life, including (so far) Bill Sienkiewicz, Chris Weston, Dan Panosian, Brian Rood, Hendry Prasetya, and Eko Puteh.
If you remember Radical Comics, Elliott knows how to put together graphic novels that catch film studio interest. Dwayne Johnson’s Hercules started out as a Radical graphic novel. The line-up from this new imprint seems tailor-made for adaptation elsewhere. If you think I’m jumping to a conclusion, notice that the Mechanical Cake website has each book’s logo framed by a television screen. So far, Mechanical Cake CEO Jesse Negron has announced three series.
The first book, Modville, is described as “…a Sci-Fi/Southern Gothic crime drama involving AI humans (‘mods’) in future New Orleans.” Prsasetya and Puteh do the art.
That book will be followed by Hyde, a twist on Robert Louis Stevenson. Edward Hyde did not die. Instead, he fled underground to continue Dr. Jekyll’s work, testing on unsuspecting London citizens. (To be honest, it’s similar to one of the mazes at last year’s Halloween Horror Nights, but there Jekyll and Hyde had fled to Paris.)
Finally, Scott turns his imagination to Christmas lore with Nick. “A foundational Yule war story,” Nick promises to go deep with Norse legends. If that sounds a bit like the backstory for Violent Night, we’ll see.
Tom Moran, Senior VP Development & Production at Scott Free and overseer of the joint venture with Mechanical Cake added, “Ridley and Tony Scott are known as great filmmakers (Alien, Blade Runner, Top Gun, True Romance) but few people realize their shared first true love of painting and art is what drove both of them into filmmaking. For the first time in Scott Free’s history, we are excitedly diving into comics as a new way to explore art and storytelling.”
Scott vouched, “Mechanical Cake is a terrific company. They understand the art of graphic novels. As an artist and painter, these projects are exciting to me, and I look forward to collaborating with Jesse, Tom, Dave, and the Mechanical Cake team.”
Call this guarded excitement. The announced creators involved have done some terrific work. That they didn’t even announce this company until they had their first book done says they know how to treat comic readers. Hopefully, Scott can have his mechanical cake and eat it, too.
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