Since Morte is a one shot, I can’t talk about much of the book without spoiling it. I can say that on the first two or three pages you learn that a mass-extinction event has occurred on Earth.

The story is a day in the life of a person who believes he is the only human to have survived that event.

Put another way, it’s not a story about how you physically survive the apocalypse, but how you psychologically survive it.

The idea came to me on a plane ride home from New York Comic Con. I had flown up with the team, but few home on my own. So I was sitting on a plane, brain battery in the red, reading a copy of New Scientist I bought at Hudson News.

One news item hit my brain and created an image.

I simply wrote the beats that seemed to follow that image.

It was fun, as it’s not how I usually write, but I think my complete lack of energy created a unique flow that got me through the first 75% of the story. It was only stopping to eat when snacks were served that I made the big revelation.

My protagonist hadn’t spoken.

Well, who would he speak to? Everyone else is dead. I immediately thought… I’m this far. Can I finish this thing without dialogue or narration?

I did. And then I started thinking about what kind of artist I needed to approach to tell this story the way it needed to be told to achieve the goal I was going for once I “knew” what the story was. Most of the work I’ve done in comics has been for a specific artist already decided on before I start. So this one was a new and unique experience.

The first artist I reached out to with this idea was D.A. Bishop because I adored his “Of Stone” books about an ogre king and the world he lives in. I knew that if he liked it, his specific style would bring about things I hoped for in the comic, but that can not actually be written (especially if you don’t have dialogue!).

Thankfully, he agreed and started thinking of how to approach the book. He said he could (and DID!) wake up earlier than normal so he could draw one panel a day of the story. And very steadily he produced this comic gorgeously.

One thing I didn’t mention about “Of Stone.” D.A. illustrated it of course. But he also wrote it.

If you’ve read (or when you do read) Morte, you’ll notice an extraordinarily important moment in the story. I mentioned in the script that we needed to do something important at this spot. I didn’t know exactly what, but I gave him a few options. Writer that he is, D.A. offered an option that I hadn’t considered… and it was the exact perfect thing that needed to happen there.

I’m proud of all the comics I’ve had a hand in creating. But I do believe Morte is the most unique story I’ve ever told.