Kevin's Watch

Following on the heels of their announcement about the planned publication of an original comic book story written by Orson Scott Card that takes place in the universe popularized by his Hugo and Nebula winning novels Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead, Marvel Comics and the Dabel Brothers have released additional details about the story due to the overwhelming response they’ve received from readers and media.

The story, entitled Gold Bug, begins just after the Formic Wars (also known as the “Bugger Wars”), when Andrew “Ender” Wiggin arrives in a colony ship on one of the former formic worlds as the new governor.

The story follows a former pilot named Sel Menach, a xenobiologist who has spent the bulk of his life after the war in the fledgling colony working with the terrestrial plants the colonists brought along, learning to protect them from parasites and helping them to adapt to the climate patterns of the new world. Eventually, he is elected governor, until a replacement arrives – Ender Wiggin.

Due to the technical aspects of relativistic space travel, fourteen-year-old Ender finds himself in charge of a colony that has existed for decades without him, and many of the younger colonists resent the fact that the Fleet has sent a “mere child” to be their governor. But the older generation, comprised of former pilots and ships’ officers who fought under Ender’s command during the war, ensures that the younger colonists know that this is the mind who made everything possible.

Upon Ender’s arrival, Sel realizes that there is still much to learn about the rest of the planet, and obtains permission from Ender to explore past the reaches of the colony and see what lies beyond in the cold reaches of the south. But what Sel finds in his journey is something that may change the way the formics are understood by human scientists… and something that may give him a lifetime of new frontiers to explore.

“Part of the reason the Enderverse stories are so beloved is because they offer more than just great science fiction,” said Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Productions. “Orson Scott Card has used books like Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead as a platform to explore some fascinating concepts, and ‘Gold Bug’ is very much in the spirit of offering a fresh new perspective on the evolution of an unnatural sort of creature that is quite useful as a tool, but unable to survive on its own when it’s abandoned by its masters.”

"I thought I was just writing a good adventure story with an interesting character," said Mr. Card, "but it got away from me a little."

Gold Bug will be produced by Dabel Brothers Productions and published by Marvel Comics as a bonus story in the back of the hardcover edition of the comic book adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s The Tales of Alvin Maker: Red Prophet, available at bookstores and comic book retailers in North America in the summer of 2007. The story will be written by Orson Scott Card, scripted by Jake Black (Wyrms, TMNT, Smallville) and drawn by Jin Han, a conceptual artist personally hand-picked by Mr. Card. Currently, the Dabel Brothers are also planning to adapt additional short stories that will take place in the Enderverse; details will be released as they become available.

“I’m a huge fan of Mr. Card’s novels, and Ender’s Game in particular,” said Jin Han while hard at work laying out the pages. “The story of The Gold Bug offers an intriguing look into the ongoing saga of Ender Wiggin, and Mr. Card continues to build upon an already legendary framework. He’s found an exciting and innovative way of telling this new story from the Enderverse, and it’s been an absolute thrill to be a part of it all! I’m very pleased to be working alongside Mr. Card in bringing the world of Ender Wiggin to life in an illustrated format, and I’m sure the fans will enjoy what we have in store for them!"

“I’m excited to be working on the Enderverse with Mr. Card and the Dabel Brothers after all the fun we’ve had with Wyrms,” added adapter Jake Black, “and I hope that readers will enjoy reading the story as much as I’ve enjoyed scripting it!”

The Dabel Brothers also produce two other comic books adapted from the writing of New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card: the aforementioned The Tales of Alvin Maker: Red Prophet, which is a fantasy story set in an alternate history of the American frontier where folk magic actually works, and Wyrms, an epic story about a girl named Patience on a world where survivors from a spaceship crash have long since formed their own unique society. Patience is a child of prophecy, with a unique tie to a creature called Unwyrm, and she embarks on a quest that will result in her either becoming Unwyrm’s mate or destroying him entirely.