Exclusive Interview with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Part 1: Hyping the Hypernaturals!

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Cosmic Book News fan fave scribes Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are doing some great universe-building for BOOM! Studios in their creator-owned sci-fi opus, The Hypernaturals.

And, as just recently announced, the duo will also soon be spinning tales of the classic crew of the former ABC program Battlestar Galactica for Dynamite Entertainment.

In the first of a two-part exclusive interview with CBN Managing Editor Byron Brewer, Abnett and Lanning (answering, as usual, collectively as DnA) delve deep into the Hypernaturals series and characters and drop hints at what may be coming in future issues.

CosmicBookNews: With The Hypernaturals, it has been shown on the cover of #7 that there is a gang of super-powered opponents facing our heroes in a seeming homage to Dave Cockrum’s Uncanny X-Men #100 cover. Who are these villains, our heroes’ new Masters of Evil equivalent?

DnA: Funny you should pick up on that. We were actually referencing an Avengers King-Size special cover by John Buscema, which itself referenced an earlier Avengers vs. X-Men cover, which was inspired by a classic Kirby Avengers cover for issue #15 which introduced the Masters of Evil, which must have inspired the X-Men #100 cover, so you nailed it on both fronts! The exact nature and identity of this mysterious group of villains will be revealed in upcoming issues but comparing them to the Masters of Evil is a good call as they appear to have been assembled by none other than Sublime himself.

CBN: What can you tell us about THE Chernovski?

DnA: Only that his story and ultimate fate will play a huge part in helping the Hypernaturals understand the true nature and scale of the threat they face.

CBN: Does Clone 45 having restorative powers mean Clone 46 of the Centennial Iteration is dead? When will we learn the fate of that team from the Free Comic Book Day offering?

DnA: The fact that Clone 45 can now access the Sequence again would indeed point to the demise of his successor. But it could also be an indication of how wrong things have become in the Quantinuum. The fate of the Centennial Iteration is at the heart of the mystery that will play out in the upcoming issues.

CBN: I love the flashbacks at the beginning of each book. Will this continue and will these always lead to story in the “present” as they have seemed to and will any of these characters enter the modern tale as vets?

DnA: We have deliberately structured the stories to include the six-page flashbacks because this device gives an opportunity to expand and develop the history and detail of the universe we’re creating in Hypernaturals. Each of these flashbacks adds an extra dimension to the ongoing story and creates depth and substance to the world-building we’re attempting. In developing this history and the characters therein, certain characters and stories have cropped up that we’d love to explore further, either in the ongoing’s storyline or maybe in separate tales of their own.

CBN: After this arc ends in issue #12, as it has been announced, do you already have plans for what is next for our crew?

DnA: Plans are currently being hatched and developed as to where we go from the end of this arc; stay tuned for more info …

(Editor’s Note: In Part 2 of our interview, DnA discuss what readers can look forward to when Dynamite debuts a new Battlestar Galactica comic book in 2013.)