With 2000 AD Prog 2432, a new prequel series of Scarlet Traces has begun. Empire of Blood turns our attention back to the time between the conclusion of H.G. Wells famous 1898 novel The War of the Worlds and the first series of its fictional comic continuation, featuring a British Empire turbocharged by Martian technology.
For co-creators Ian Edginton and D’Israeli Scarlet Traces holds a significant place in their partnership, not least because it is – among all the series and stories they have worked on together (Kingdom of the Wicked, Leviathan, Stickleback, Helium) – their longest collaborative work.
As Scarlet Traces: Empire of Blood takes us back to the invasion’s aftermath, the creators reflect on beginnings – and on questions about the place of the prequel and the future of the series itself.
DEAN SIMONS: It’s been four years since we last saw Scarlet Traces in the prog. Why the long absence? What can you tell us about this new serial?
IAN EDGINTON: We were just busy working on other projects. Also, getting a twenty-part series up and running from concept to completion takes a while! The new series is set directly after the end of H.G. Wells‘ novel, The War of the Worlds, and just before our first Scarlet Traces series. We see how the one dovetails into the other.
SIMONS: This new series is a prequel to Scarlet Traces (itself a sequel to H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds). Why did you guys choose now to turn the clock back? Is it a lingering idea from the early days?
EDGINTON: It’s an idea that we’d always had. That area between the end of Wells’ novel and the start of Scarlet Traces, which is set decades after the UK has wholeheartedly embraced the reverse-engineered Martian technology, changing the country and the world as we know it. We wanted to answer the question: how did they get there from here?
SIMONS: What is the enduring appeal of The War of the Worlds to you both?
D’ISRAELI: I think that fictional universe, especially as expanded on by Ian, has become a sort of playground for us, which we can populate with various elements from the pop culture of our youth. There’ll be some kind of love letter to the fictional worlds of Gerry Anderson, for example, in all the stories from The Great Game onwards.
Empire of Blood is a slightly different beast from the last decade’s Scarlet Traces stories, in that it’s mostly straight-Victorian settings and technology; for me that’s been a nostalgic return to the mindset I was in when I was working on the War of the Worlds adaptation back -what, twenty years ago – in 2005.
EDGINTON: On the surface, it’s a simple idea, an alien invasion trope that we’ve seen countless times, but back then, it was something terrifying and new. I had the initial idea back in my teens: What happened to the Martian technology after the war? It stuck with me for years. It was only as I got older that I realised how many more facets there were to it. For me, there are two threads that hold the appeal: the first is how the invasion and its aftermath affected ordinary people.
It’s like the difference between Star Wars and Andor. One is the big story, the broad strokes, the other is about the countless ordinary people on the ground at the sharp end enduring the horror of it all.
It wasn’t just an attack by an enemy from overseas but from another world. What does that do to your mindset, especially given the status of the British Empire at the time? It was vast and seemingly unassailable yet in the space of a few days it was brought to its knees by an overwhelming and enigmatic enemy. It’s in telling those stories that I find the appeal.
SIMONS: Scarlet Traces is possibly your longest ongoing collaboration, emerging not far into your professional partnership and has been on quite a journey. Does it hold a special place for you guys? Are there significant memories associated with the project?
EDGINTON: It’s more than just a working relationship by now, Matt [Brooker, aka D’Israeli] and I are good friends. We’ve been through a lot together over the years. It was fun to go back and revisit the early days of Scarlet Traces, take a saunter through that world again!
D’ISRAELI: It’s been funny, in that, quietly, over the last decade, Scarlet Traces has become the biggest, longest-running project I’ve ever worked on. Looking back on it now, it really seems like my big magnum opus, the thing I’ll be best remembered for.
Scarlet Traces always represented a massive change of gear for me anyway; I’d had a period of about seven years prior to starting on it, where I’d been a kind of supporting technician, working mostly as an inker or colourist. Scarlet Traces marked the point where I switched back to being an artist in my own right, as well as properly getting to grips with digital art. Although I’d produced professional comics digitally prior to that, the first page of Scarlet Traces is actually my first-ever page of full-colour digital comic art. It was also really the beginning of my relationship with 2000 AD as an artist.
There’s also the fact that Scarlet Traces was in the planning stages for so long; it existed as an outline with sketches by me for the better part of a decade, going from publisher to publisher, before it finally got taken up by Cool Beans in the year 2000, so it feels a bit like the neglected child that finally came into their own. For several years after it was first published, I’d have a moment of “how do you know about that?” every time anyone mentioned Scarlet Traces to me!
SIMONS: The last series ended on somewhat of a major cliffhanger – among which, revelations about the “martians”. Will the prequel tie into the major cliffhanger of the main series or will it be a standalone arc?
EDGINTON: No, this series just fits in neatly between War of the Worlds and Scarlet Traces. We have already been talking about picking up where the last series left off though.
SIMONS: Will there be more than one prequel series? It seems this one is broadly Earth-centric. Will we see things from the Venusian perspective down the line?
EDGINTON: No, this is it. It’s a specific tale we wanted to tell, and now we’re done. Or are we?
SIMONS: Is there much period research required for this prequel? Does Scarlet Traces overall need much period research to get the tone, or has it reached a point where you are both free to invent?
EDGINTON: We do research up to a point, but don’t let it get in the way of the story. The aim is to keep it entertaining and fun.
D’ISRAELI: From my perspective, it was quite easy, as I have lots of references from both the original Scarlet Traces and the later 2000 AD series Stickleback, which is set in the same period and still lies around. Drawing late-Victorian stuff feels like putting on a pair of comfy old slippers at this point!
2000 AD Prog 2432 featuring the first instalment of Empire of Blood plus the three collections of Scarlet Traces thus far are available now from the 2000 AD webshop in print and digital. The print edition of Prog 2432 will be available in the US from July 2 in the March Prog Pack (Previews code MAR251585).
