IPI Comics is very excited to announce the acquisition of a 4-issue (20 pages each) comic series entitled Rocket Science, conceptualised and written by UK-based Paul Cornell, and art (pencil/art/color) by Australia-based Michel Gerencir. The editor will be announced soon.
“This has been a long-time coming,” said Gerry Huntman, Managing Director IPI Comics, “but it was worth it. Paul has come up with a fantastic story, ticking the boxes for characterisation and story, and Michel is the story’s perfect match. We very much look forward to starting this project soon, and seeing readers wowed.”
Kayla Watson is a junior engineer at a near-future NASA that’s been stripped of most of its power, all the finance having been channelled to billionaires’ space companies. The billionaires have been offered a prize for getting to Mars: land rights.
She’s disgusted, but helpless. Until she discovers a new drive system.
She puts together a rag-tag team of discarded space jockeys and goes on the run.
It’s a story about fighting for hope, for rationality, for experts in the face of ignorance. It’s for everyone who loved Project Hail Mary, Apollo 13, Interstellar. Kayla’s going to find a way to launch a bolted-together space capsule and beat the bad guys to Mars. For all mankind.
About Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell has written episodes of Elementary, Doctor Who (‘Father’s Day’ and ‘Human Nature’) and many other TV series. He’s worked for every major comics company, including his creator-owned series Saucer Country (now TV optioned), I Walk With Monsters, The Modern Frankenstein and This Damned Band, and runs for Marvel and DC on Batman and Robin, Wolverine and Young Avengers. He’s the writer of the Lychford rural fantasy novellas. He’s won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, an Eagle Award for his comics, a Hugo Award for his podcast and shares in a Writer’s Guild Award for his Doctor Who and the Grand Prix Nova and Scribe awards for the audio series Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Firewall. He’s also the winner of the Terrance Dicks Award for lifetime achievement in Doctor Who writing. He’s the co-host of Hammer House of Podcast and Telefantasy Time Jump and the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Cosmic Lighthouse Comics. His latest book is the SF novella Rosebud and his latest graphic novel is Who Killed Nessie?
About Michel Gerencir
Michel Gerencir is a Brisbane (Australia)-based artist, writer, and public nuisance. He emerged three decades ago from the mildewy bosom of an old stump, holding a pencil, and opinions.
Michel has been drawing and writing comics since high school, self-publishing in various online galleries as early as 2009. He has a long freelance career, creating illustrations and short comics for a steady rotation of regular commissioners, as well as enjoying larger contract-based projects.
Michel’s comic work has been published by Blackhouse Comics & IPI Comics (Soundstrike, artist, 2019), Petrie Press (Trichophily, artist/writer, 2018; Rx Coffee, artist/writer, 2020), and the edutainment webcomic Oh Joy Sex Toy (Primal Noise, artist/writer, 2023).
When he isn’t scrunched up around his iPad, Michel can be found frustrating over the same row of a crochet project for several business days, or distractedly holding an open book and staring into the middle distance.
Rocket Science will be developed through two Kickstarter campaigns, the first pre-launching late in 2026 (two issues for each), and following that, will be released in 2028 as a regular comic run through Lunar Distribution, globally. If you want to get the latest updates for this upcoming title, please subscribe to us here.
