Arcana To Debut Graeme Base’s Breather Graphic Novel

Arcana Comics is excited to release the newest project from award winning writer and artist Graeme Base (Animalia, The Eleventh Hour,The Water Hole). The epic graphic novel, BREATHER, created by Graeme Base, written by Sean Patrick O’Reilly (Mighty Mighty Monsters, Clockwork Girl) and illustrated by Asta Gunn (Fafnir the Dragon), is available NOW in Diamond Previews’ February issue for an April Release.

On the distant planet of Otarius, invaders from the Birshh Dynasty have captured and enslaved the native Otarans. Pushed on by the ruthless Governor, timid Dr. Bjrork conducts horrific experiments to create a superior breed of slave. Years later, Birshh-Otaran hybrids are raised in captivity, dependent on ‘breathers’ – life-saving gasmasks that filter the Otarian air they, as hybrids, cannot tolerate. Two siblings, Dhrmmn and Lilli, strive to prove worthy of the Dynasty, to earn privileges for their half-breed kind.

When asked about the graphic novel adaptation, Graeme Base stated, “The idea was inspired by the true story of how the Australian Government took Aboriginal children from their families in the 1950s-thru-70s in order to ‘educate’ them into the ways of the Colonial British mindset. This idea morphed into the concept of the invading Birshh Colonists and the indigenous Otarians… I could never have done this myself – the aesthetic of comic-book art is so different to my natural style – but I am deeply pleased that the story has been told and grateful to those who labored to bring it to life. I look forward enthusiastically to seeing what the comic-book reading public (and perhaps some older readers of my self-written-and-illustrated books) make of it!”