Artist and storyteller Mark Wheatley has announced the highly anticipated return of his fanzine, Nucleus. Wheatley has been teasing the project on social media for months and has now revealed details about Nucleus X, the tenth issue of the fanzine, which is published by Insight Studios. A celebration of art, comics, and stories, Nucleus X will also feature an illustrated poem by industry icon Neil Gaiman. It will start seeking backers on Kickstarter in mid-August.
Described as “an immersive experience that will captivate enthusiasts of Wheatley’s work,” it will come in at least two volumes that span over 100 pages, and will be housed in a special box. It will contain detailed illustrated fantasy and science fiction stories, the return of comic characters in new graphic stories, and portfolios that showcase Wheatley’s illustrations for works by pulp giants Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The fanzine also features illustrated reviews of notable books by Andre Norton and Robert A. Heinlein and an exploration of films that have inspired Wheatley. Additional content includes a music CD of theme songs Wheatley recorded for his comics and graphic novels over the years.
Gaiman penned a multi-page poem that Wheatley originally illustrated for another project and has been repainted exclusively for Nucleus.
“Neil’s piece turned out to be sad, joyful, beautiful, terrifying, and gut-wrenchingly emotional. This is everything the world has come to expect from Neil’s work,” Wheatley said. “When Neil agreed to allow me to use ‘And There Was Joy’ in Nucleus X, I had to extend the page size to fit the new format. And once I started painting around the edges, I ended up stripping everything back to my original roughs and research, resulting in essentially new paintings.”
Nucleus X also features collaborations with two other creators. Gary Henry, one of Wheatley’s original assistant editors on early issues of Nucleus, contributed a fantastical story that is accompanied by Wheatley’s painted art. Finally, Marc Hempel and Wheatley joined together to introduce the new MARS comic.
“We will be offering some early bird specials. I believe in rewarding my longtime fans,” Wheatley said about the Kickstarter campaign. Updates and exclusive launch notifications will be announced on MarkWheatleyGallery.com.
