A new superhero 'Emerges' in InterPop's The Abyss #1

What if I told you there was a superhero universe in which the readers decided what characters got featured in solo titles?

That Marvel and DC readers' Twitter fantasy exists in InterPop's Emergents Universe. The webcomic publisher is the creator of the superhero-centric city of Culverton, what InterPop calls a reflection of contemporary society that's also a love letter to the superhero genre.

Culverton has social media superhero superstars, there's a market that trades in superhero futures, and superhero stans/chasers. Culverton also has the EFL, the Emergent Fighting League, a professional wrestling-like enterprise except with super-powered combatants who use their powers to fight one another instead of traditional crime-fighting.

InterPop likes to say its universe has all the best parts of superhero comics which are featured in Emergents Presents, an anthology title featuring its roster of characters. And as we say, its readers have a say in what characters from the series get featured in solo titles.

InterPop readers' first choice is the red-cloaked The Abyss, who will star in The Abyss #1, the first solo title to … well, emerge from Emergents Presents.

Written by John Rozum, illustrated by Cliff Richards, colored by Chris Sotomayor, and lettered by Carlos Mangual, with variant covers by Lucas Meyer and Jason Masters, The Abyss #1 will be available for purchase at interpopcomics.com on May 25 and then will be free to read on June 1.

"When the Abyss finds out that his greatest enemy and nefarious crime lord, the Hat, is staging a breakout from a high-security Emergents prison, he takes matters into his own hands," reads InterPop's description. "The Abyss has shadows and magic on his side, but will that measure up against the Hat's powerful Emergent henchmen? Thanks to your votes, skeletal super villain Memento Mori returns from Emergents Presents #1 to get revenge with his gravestone bullets. Can the Abyss take down the Hat's team in time to prevent Culverton's most notorious criminals from escaping?"

"Right from our initial launch, our mysterious man in a red cloak has been the fan-favorite character with our readers," says group editor Rachel Gluckstern. "John Rozum and Cliff Richards have taken a guy with no face nor name and made him an intriguing figure who's both relatable and an enigma. I'm so grateful to this whole team who took an early risk with InterPop, and who are now about to embark on this mystical adventure!"

"Being in at the beginning is a rare privilege, and I've truly been enjoying building up our corner of the Emergents Universe," adds writer John Rozum. "I can't thank InterPop enough for inviting me to do this, and for being a company full of people so enthusiastic for the world they are creating and sharing. It's been a really great experience and I look forward to working with them for as long as possible. While the Abyss may be shrouded in mystery, my enthusiasm for him is not."

Check out that preview of The Abyss #1:

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I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.