As if starting his first ongoing Image Comics series and a new miniseries with Mad Cave Studios wasn't enough to keep him busy, writer Curt Pires also launched three new ComiXology series this Summer. The Indigo Children author is teaming up with artist Luca Casalanguida to chronicle the violent, high-stakes family drama of the rich and powerful in Money, while Pires and Darryl Knickrehm throw readers into a dystopian cyberspace where nothing is as it seems in Simulation Theory. Pires' third new series is the second arc of his and Pierluigi Minotti's Lost Falls, a surreal detective story set in a small town plagued by a mysterious evil entity.
In an interview with CBR, Pires discussed the influences behind his new series, what the future has in store for the heroes of these stories, and what else the prolific creator has in store for fans. Pires and Comixology also shared previews of Lost Falls Season 2 #2, which is due out on Sept. 12, and Money #3, which is due out on Sept. 19.
CBR: Since we last spoke, you have released the last issue of the first arc of Indigo Children and launched three books with Comixology. How have these busy months been treating you?
Curt Pires: It's cool. We've been working on all these books for a while, so it's nice to finally get them out there -- specifically, the Comixology ones. [I] have been working on them since probably early 2022 and started development on them even earlier than that -- probably 2021. So it's cool to get the books out, and people seem to be digging them.
Did you always plan to launch Simulation Theory, Money, and the second season of Lost Falls together?
That was Comixology's idea. They wanted to launch some stuff around San Diego. We had those three books and some other books we're working on. Those were the furthest along, so they approached me with the idea of releasing them all at once.
Simulation Theory pairs really well with your other series You've Been Cancelled. How did those two projects inform each other?
They definitely almost share a universe. I feel like Simulation Theory is probably later [on] in this timeline than You've Been Cancelled, but they're both science fiction about decay and the broken world we live in and moving that forward in time. I think that they definitely share a lot of DNA. And I think, in general, my taste in science fiction is grounded and a bit gritty because I feel like so much science fiction is hard to connect with, and the prose can be very purple.
If you lose the human element and grounded stakes, as a reader, I find you lose me. So I think primarily, when I'm creating this stuff, I'm thinking of what I enjoy and trying to put my spin on that. So, they both share this grounded sci-fi DNA and themes that weigh on my mind.
At the end of Simulation Theory #2, Ash is in a dire situation. What can you tease about where she'll end up and what else you have in store for her in the rest of the series?
As we go on, we'll see more of the different areas within the simulation and meet more of the main players in this drama. It's interesting because I feel like Simulation Theory is playing with some heavy ideas, but the story structure of it is very much akin to a classical detective narrative like The Long Goodbye or something of that nature. I think you can expect to see more of the textures of that stuff as well as the big, fun, sci-fi stuff.
There's some James Cameron in the DNA of this one, too. There [are] a few moments in Issues #3 and #4 [where] I was thinking of Cameron a lot. I was thinking about James Cameron a lot when I was making this one because he's the master of spectacle-based sci-fi. [For] all the big action stuff, I was thinking a lot about Aliens and even Avatar. I know there's this big culture war thing [about] Avatar not being relevant, but there's such a spectacle to that stuff. And I wanted to try to bring that to the page. That's why, even when I was picking the artist, I knew I wanted a Clean Line artist, almost in the French tradition of Moebius. I'm trying to make a sci-fi comic that I would want to read myself. So it's just really pulling from all these different influences.
Since you mentioned Moebius, I did want to ask about the opening page of Simulation Theory #1 and the cover of Issue #2. Is that a conscious homage to the beginning of The Incal?
I think it's a subconscious homage. Whether I fully thought it out or not, that's definitely the DNA.
You mention thinking of Simulation Theory as a detective story, which, of course, brings to mind the second season of Lost Falls, which seems primed to be even wilder than the first arc. How do the new characters you've introduced impact your approach to the new arc?
It's presented a challenge because we've added a bunch more characters to the mix. But I think what was interesting about these characters is the sort of ability to take this story in new directions. In the first arc, we had almost a more traditional story structure where it was this mystery, and then there was the high school component of it, which is kind of soapy -- the same stuff you get in Twin Peaks or Riverdale. I was interested in building a new mystery puzzle box and exploring some new things. It's a broader canvas.
All of the literary references and nods to writers like Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, and Cormac McCarthy are a lot of fun. How directly did their work influence Lost Falls?
The beginning of the second volume was basically [me] wanting to do something a bit like All the Pretty Horses, which is probably my favorite Cormac McCarthy novel. I think that was interesting because it lets me tell this self-contained Western story in a way that feeds into the larger mystery. I really love that Western sequence at the beginning there. The other stuff is totally referential, and I think [it] works within the context of the story because the story is such a sprawling mystery and goes in such strange directions. It feels right to pay homage to Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace. I think a brain soup I was just thrown out there, and all this stuff somehow ends up in [the comic].
What can you tell fans about the engine that's briefly revealed in Issue #2?
The engine ties into how Isaac and his people got there. As we progress through the second story, we'll see how they think they can use the engine to get home. It becomes this sort of ethical question. They want to go home, but we saw how bad things can go with that. So they have to make a moral decision of what to do. That creates a new plot thread. That element is really science fiction.
Of all your recent books, Money feels the most grounded, even though it feels like you're gearing up to take it to some outlandish places. What kind of research did you do to put together this alternative history of the world featuring the Illuminati?
It's more based on research about people with extreme wealth and the different pies they have their hands in. The Illuminati stuff is just genre-based storytelling I'm engaging with. It's not based on any specific conspiracy theory. I didn't really want to pull too much from that because I think a lot of these conspiracy theories about people around the world are problematic because a lot of these theories are grounded in eugenics and antisemitism, so I didn't want to pull from that.
But I was pulling from current events, political events, and the intersection of wealth and power in politics. A lot of what I'm concerned and anxious about is the way people with extreme wealth control our world and manipulate governments. That's a lot of what this book is about in the background. In the foreground, I was interested in doing a Game of Thrones or Succession type [of story], where the plot velocity comes from people betraying each other, and there's this big mystery of who did the big bad thing at the end of Issue #1.
What makes the book really good and, in my opinion, worth people's time -- and, to be honest, the best of these three books -- is the narrative structure, [which is] this Rashomon thing where each issue has a different one of these families, and through the mosaic and puzzle, we tell the full story. I'm really happy with that one. Luca [Casalanguida] is amazing. One of the best artists I've worked with, and Mark [Dale] has done a great job coloring him, and Hassan [Otsmane-Elhaou- as well. They really did a bang-up job.
Money #2 gives readers a look at the alarming dynamic between the brother and sister of the Rothschilds. What did you want to explore with their incestuous dynamic?
That's obviously one of the big swings that Game of Thrones takes is that one relationship. I find that sort of relationship in the context of these big power plays and these families interesting because there's something medieval about it. Obviously, Game of Thrones is pulling from real life where you have these kings and queens in medieval times who think the purity of their bloodline is so potent that they can only fuck each other. I was pulling from that and the drama it added. This is a big secret between them.
It also makes the relationship more explosive -- what they'll do to protect that secret, and we see at the end of Issue #2. They will go far to protect this thing that's very important to them. [It's] such a shock and an interesting plotline. That was something that's pulled from the Game of Thrones influence. People were really horny for Game of Thrones, and no one likes to say it, but that's some of the element they like about these programs -- horny sexual stuff. I thought putting that into this would be interesting.
What else can fans look forward to from you and your collaborators?
We've got a bunch of these trades of the Comixology books coming out. The first book I did with Luca, New America, is coming out in trade paperback. Memoria is coming in trade. It's a detective thing I did with Sunando C. It's Only Teenage Wasteland is out. Indigo Children's First trade's done. We've got five or six trades out this fall, which is kind of crazy. So those are all coming out, and I'm happy with how they turned out. I think they're nice packages for people to read. Beyond that, [I'm] starting [to] wrap up a bunch of books and slowly starting on some new books. Some will be with some new collaborators, and some will be with the old favorites, so it's an interesting period.
Money, Simulation Theory, and Lost Falls are available on Comixology.