The publisher will publish Weetago War Loss Book 1, an Indigenous horror epic by Richard Van Camp and Christopher Shye, described as “an Indigenous twist on a Walking Dead-style tale, deeply rooted in Dene lore” and “a new take on the apocalyptic zombie/monster tale, based on stories passed down for hundreds of years.”
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“Never call their names out loud unless there is snow on the ground. The more they eat, the hungrier they become, and they starve.”
“It’s the Native American walking dead!”
They were meant to remain in peace, strewn with severed limbs and frozen beneath the permafrost, but, as always, industrial greed has dug them up once again. Now the most feared of them all, Weetago, has returned, using his powers to summon back Naacho, a man-eating giant once banished by the Dene gods.
In the aftermath of Weetago’s attack, a respected hero known as the Childfinder, fighting to preserve his humanity, a mother, her young son, and a band of desperate prisoners form an uneasy alliance to survive the horrors of the now-awakened Weetago.
From award-winning and bestselling Tlicho Dene author Richard Van Camp and visionary illustrator Christopher Shy, ROTH is the first graphic novel in the Wheetago War series.
Van Camp said in a statement.
Ross is essentially a story about parenthood and what you’ll do to save your family when you’re a monster of incredible power, but you’re also faced with an even more powerful monster and have to fight yourself to retain your humanity.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to embrace and share the traditions and teachings passed down to me by Elders including Henry and Eileen Beaver and the late George Blondin.
This has been an amazing year of collaboration. Seeing new artwork from Christopher every day has made it feel like Christmas never stops. I’ve been a huge fan of his work ever since I read the Pathfinder graphic novels, and I’ve wanted to work with Alexander & Renegade for about a decade now, so it’s been a dream come true that we all got to collaborate together.
I am excited to see what readers think when they get their hands on ROTH and its upcoming sequel, All Out War.
Shai added:
Finding the style I wanted in Ross wasn’t easy. Understanding Weetago is about immersing yourself in a primeval world: looking at Aboriginal artefacts, listening to snippets of recordings of stories and chants that Richard sent me to set the mood, and directing Weetago’s shriek-like cries.
We all talked about how we wanted to portray the creature and his relationship to the men, the boy, and Ross’s look, and he went through dozens of concepts until he found one that I felt would capture Ross’ unique look.
Months of storyboards, sketches, and dozens of color concepts, all of which were worked on again and again, some discarded, and sections redrawn countless times as the story evolved, condensed, and focused. We used the same process as preparing a long-running comic book or TV series: we created a bible of core story, characters, and world before getting to work on the details of fully realizing Richard’s story on the physical page.
Editor Alexander Finbow said:
“When Richard first proposed the Weetago series to me, I was hooked. Combining the traditional Dene tales, full of warnings that corporations ignore today, with a horror comic book depicting what would happen if the terrors of Weetago returned to our world makes for a fascinating and unique story.
Christopher’s iterative approach to illustration allowed me to watch Weetago take shape in real life as he illustrated the book, while also incorporating portraits of members of the Dene community as characters in the story. This book is a beautiful nightmare, a horror story filled with monsters, but one grounded in love and working together to survive a nightmare.”
Ahead of release, check out our exclusive preview of Wheetago War Roth Book 1 here:
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