There's been all this talk of upstate New York seceding from the state, but what if it were the borough of Brooklyn that broke away?
That's the premise of a new comic universe where the anthropomorphized borough chooses to literally tear itself away from New York, its bridges collapsing and its tunnels flooding. In "New Brooklyn," a series announced this week that debuts in March on the LINE Webtoon website, Brooklyn and its residents return to the bartering system of yore and farming for subsistence.
Keeping the inhabitants of New Brooklyn safe are three superheroes, the creations of five Brooklyn-based artists and writers.
There's the Red Hook. Artist Dean Haspiel's character, named after the neighborhood, made his first appearance online in 2013, in a preview published by the Brooklyn literary arts website Trip City. The Red Hook is a master thief bequeathed against his wishes with extraordinary, heroic powers. Haspiel, who has worked for DC, Marvel, and Archie Comics over the years, and who won an Emmy for designing the opening sequence of HBO's "Bored to Death," draws on his 18 years living in Brooklyn as inspiration.
There's the Purple Heart, a member of the U.S. Navy who returns to Brooklyn ready to live a peaceful life, only to be selected as New Brooklyn's "cosmic guardian." Haspiel created the Purple Heart with comic book writer Vito Delsante and illustrator Ricardo Venâncio.
And there's the Brooklynite, a Brooklyn cartoonist accidentally irradiated with superpowers in the fallout of a battle between two super-humans. The Brooklynite fights crime while chronicling his adventures in a comic book series. He's the creation of Shamus Beale and Seth Kushner, the latter of whom died earlier this year of cancer.
Haspiel and Kushner, a Brooklyn native, created "New Brooklyn" together, Haspiel told the Daily News. Having already developed their heroes separately, they conceived a sentient borough that would meld their two stories together.
Dean Haspiel will be a panelist on LINE Webtoon’s “The Future of Comics” panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. in room 1A21.
