One Astronaut Versus Death in ‘World Reader’ by Jeff Loveness and Juan Doe

The Universe is a lonely place. Especially for an astronaut traveling to dead worlds and investigating what killed their populations. That's the mission facing Sarah, the protagonist of World Reader, a new sci-fi series written by Jeff Loveness with art by Juan Doe. And it's more than just that. Sarah's trying to discover the cause of death of all these planets in the hope of keeping Earth from being the next to die, and it looks like Death itself may be on her heels.

Here's what Loveness has to say about his inspiration for the series:

When Mike Marts and AfterShock offered me my first creator-owned series, I tried to pitch the biggest idea I could think of. Mike and the AfterShock team were completely on board and helped foster it from the beginning. I couldn't have asked for a more open and exciting creative experience. I've always loved big, existential sci-fi that takes a swing at the Universe. Films like Tarkovsky's Solaris and 2001, mixed with modern ones like Contact and Arrival and Ray Bradbury sci-fi were huge huge influences on this story. AfterShock gave me the freedom to combine spirituality, sci-fi, and horror with Cosmogony and Apocalypse narratives in every issue. We've got a psychic astronaut traveling to dead worlds, talking to space ghosts and trying to figure out what's killing life across the Universe... should have something fun and weird for everybody.

World Reader #1 comes out April 19.

Here's the official word from AfterShock:

Meet Sarah, an astronaut traveling from dead planet to dead planet, talking to the ghosts of the dead worlds...as she fights to discover the secret that’s killing the universe.  But Death doesn't give up its secrets so easily, and as Death hunts her from planet to planet, Sarah struggles to maintain the trust of her crew and her own sanity in the endless ocean of lives. Every world has a story, and if she can find the secret tying them all together, she can save Earth from being the next world to die.

From GROOT and JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE writer Jeff Loveness and AMERICAN MONSTER, ANIMOSITY: THE RISE artist Juan Doe, comes the chilling, epic new series that will be sure to appeal to fans of THE ARRIVAL, INTERSTELLAR, and THE EXPANSE.