Hamish Steele Reveals DeadEndia: Divine Order Cover: Exclusive
Earlier this year, Netflix announced that the second season from Dead End: Paranormal Park-The an adaptation that has been in the works for a long time the supernatural comic series by Hamish Steele DeadEndia—would be his lastThis leaves the story of Barney, Norma and their friends in Phoenix Parks unfinished. But now fans will see at least one version of this story come to an end with the release of the finale DeadEndia Graphic novel.
io9 is proud to exclusively reveal the first look at the final cover The divine orderthe highlight entry in the DeadEndia Series. Written and illustrated by Steele himself, The divine order Barney, Norma, Pugsley and all their friends face the greatest threat a young adult can face: complications in their love lives. Oh, and something like the possible end of the universe as they know it. Two equally important things! Check out the full cover below.
Learn more about Steele’s bringing process DeadEndia come to an end – especially in the wake of Paranormal parkio9’s brief conclusion: io9 recently spoke to the author via email to find out how the show’s development influenced his original work on the series and how important it remains to focus on the story a young trans hero at a time trans people are subjected to repeated threats for their livelihood around the world.
James Whitbrook, io9: What was it like going back there as a creative? DeadEndia after dead end ultimately ended up on Netflix?
Hamish Steele: It doesn’t actually feel like a return, but more like a sequel. I’ve been working on it DeadEndia And dead end at the same time for over ten years. If anything, the new book feels more like the conclusion of a major chapter in my life. It’s sad, but I’m also happy with everything. Obviously I would have liked to have done more with the series and I’m definitely open to doing more DeadEndia Books in the future or things set in the same world… but for now I’m happy to at least be able to finish it in book form. Not everyone gets this chance.
io9: What lessons do you think you learned from your creative time? dead end you have brought this to perfectionDeadEndia Trilogy? Were there any story threads that you changed based on audience reaction?dead end?
Steele: I think book fans tend to be a little quieter on the internet than series fans. And of course Netflix gave us a much larger platform, so there was a lot more of it. This made it much clearer to me what people liked about the series. I was really pleased to see how balanced all of the fan art and cosplay was – people seem to like the four main characters pretty equally. But in the books, these characters were never as balanced in terms of playing time as they were in the series. For example, if you read book one, Courtney isn’t the focus at all. They don’t even appear in half the chapters. But Courtney was so popular on the TV show that I made sure Book 3 gave the character a good ending. In a way, they’re kind of the heart of the entire series.
When I was writing Book 3, I definitely found it a lot easier to write the characters’ voices. I could hear the actors in my head whenever I wrote. But really, Book 3 is the ending I always imagined when I started the series all those years ago.
io9: We’re both from the UK, just like you very I am aware that the public and political landscape surrounding trans people’s livelihoods and trans people in the media seems more repressive and aggressive than it has in a very, very long time – not just here, but around the world. What does it mean to you as a queer person to see the reaction to Barney and the excitement surrounding his own relationship with his gender identity — and not just what that meant and when in the animated show? dead end came out first, but now you’re going back to the version of the character you originally imagined him to be DeadEndia at the moment?
Steele: When I first created Barney in 2011-2012, I really didn’t think much of him being trans. I wanted the cast to reflect my friend group, and it was a given that this character was transgender. It just made sense and was never meant to be the most interesting or important part of him. DeadEndia started as a webcomic on Tumblr and was so authentic that it wasn’t even particularly unique in that landscape.
When the Netflix show was introduced in 2018, it really felt like a character like Barney was long overdue. We have not received any backlash from the company. I was preparing for the worst, having had bad experiences pushing for queer representation in other shows I’ve developed, but it was a no-brainer. I naively believed that the show would be released in a world that was even more accepting than the one in which we introduced the show.
But when the series came out in 2021, it was so obvious how wrong I was. I’m tired of being patient with transphobes at this point. I used to want to teach them, but every day when I see the absolute worst trend of bigotry in the world, it becomes clear that they have no interest in learning. And in this climate, I think Barney feels more important than he ever should be. I’ve had countless messages and conversations with readers who tell me he saved their lives or helped them talk to their family about being transgender. And I also love talking to cis and straight fans who love Barney. It’s a good reminder that the hate you see online comes from a tiny, loud, lonely and sad minority who want to make everyone miserable the way they are.
I think when it comes to summarizing Barney’s story in Book 3, the most radical thing you can do is just watch him win. I don’t want to give anything away, but the book doesn’t address trans anxiety, dysphoria or anything like that. Seeing a transsexual win, grow old, and live happily ever after…that is unfortunately still uncommon in the media and a reality that many transphobes try to deny.
i09: You have several other projects in the works at the moment, for example Croc and RollThe webtoon rollout of , and you’ve previously hinted at more potential TV work in your future. What kind of stories do you want to tell next?
Steele: Yes! Croc and Roll was a fun return to my webcomic roots. Likewise before DeadEndiaI used to do a lot of adult comedies, like my book Pantheon. I have a few book and exhibition presentations in this space that I would like to share. But after that DeadEndia Finally, I’m diving headfirst into my next series of graphic novels aimed at a similar age group. I can’t say much, but once again there will be a diverse cast in a world full of monsters, but in some ways it couldn’t be more different. It will also be the first series I’ve started since receiving my autism diagnosis and I’ll be exploring the concept of an autistic superhero. So keep an eye out for this in the coming years!
DeadEndia: The Divine Order will go on sale on April 23, 2024 – find out how to pre-order Here And Here.
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