Henry has a problem. No, it’s not the fact that he’s a thief, although that gives him a whole other bag of problems. It’s reality, time, and the slippery nature of it that’s currently vexing Henry in the trippy, gritty Comixology Originals series Endless. From the creative minds of writer Curt Pires, artist Jacoby Salcedo, colorist Mark Dale, letterer Micah Myers, Endless follows Henry as he attempts to grapple with the wherefores and whys of the endless list of predicaments he finds himself in across the time-space continuum.
I spoke with Curt Pires recently about the conceit of Endless, what we can expect later in the series, what creative muscles Endless allows him to flex, and the endless possibilities of Endless.
Endless is one of the most novel approaches to multiverse storytelling I’ve seen in a while and is definitely worth a look if you love tales of “what if?”
FreakSugar: For folks interested in the comic, what is the conceit of Endless?
Curt Pires: A man becomes unstuck in space and time, and is cycled through a seemingly ENDLESS sequence of parallel lives in the multiverse.
FS: The nature of Endless seems like it would have the potential to have a large cast. What can you tell us about the characters we’ll meet?
CP: We have some recurring characters but mainly it’s a new cast for every issue, built around Henry and the different lives he leads.
FS: Writing an alternate reality story seems like it would have its fun and challenges. What has been your experience writing Endless?
CP: I’ve loved the freedom it gives me to tell all sorts of stories in all sorts of genres. We’ve got some hard and weird heavy metal-esque sci fi stuff in issue three–more slice of life stuff in 2 and 4, and a cyberpunk detective story in #5. So, it sort of runs a wide gamut.
FS: How has writing Endless been different than other books you’ve written? What kind of muscles has it allowed you to flex?
CP: Having frankly minimal continuity to manage as each issue is basically a reset makes it a lot easier, frankly. There’s stuff that does continue across the issues, and definitely some major pay offs in issue five, but mostly the challenge is telling compelling done in one story in every issue.
FS: What are some of YOUR favorite alternate reality tales? Why do you think we’re drawn to these types of stories?
CP: I loved Grant Morrison’s Multiversity–that’s obviously a big influence on this. Loved the way Warren Ellis and John Cassaday tackled the multiverse in Planetary. Deadpool and Wolverine had fun with it, too.
FS: What are YOU reading right now?
CP: I read a lot of older stuff to almost study and reverse engineer what works for it. But of the stuff that’s coming out–loving what DSTLRY is doing White Boat and Spectregraph are standouts as is The Blood Brothers Mother. Lots of stuff at image. Standstill was fun. I’m excited for the DC Absolute Universe stuff–I think that’s going to get people into comic shops in a big way. And I’m really digging the Comixology Orignals stuff–Groupies out in the fall looks stellar.
FS: Are there any other projects coming down the pike you’d like to discuss?
CP: Tons of new books at various companies to be announced in the coming months.
FS: Is there anything you can tease about what we can expect next in the series?
CP: Who are the binary twins? And what do they know about what’s happening to Henry? They’re in issue two. That’s a hint.
FS: If you had one final pitch to get folks interested in checking out Endless, what would it be?
CP: Great stories drawn by amazing artists. You can drop in and check out any issue! Free to read with Amazon Prime.
Endless #3 is out now from Comixology Originals.