Next Page

Following the opening act, I wanted to present a splash page. In this case, I chose a view of the twin cities of Zenith and Tartarus. They are separated by the River Styx and joined by the Erebus Bridge (both are visible in the center of page).

When I originally wrote the script to The Dark Fringe, my primary inspirations were Fritz Lang's incredible film "Metropolis" (1926), the noir literature and movies of the 30's and 40's, and mythology (particularily Greek mythology). Strangely enough, I had seen "Blade Runner", but I don't believe it impressed me as much as the 1984 re-release of "Metropolis".

There have been some who read the series and assumed it took place in the 1940's (or thereabouts). It doesn't, though it won't be until a few pages later that one begins to be clued in to the nebulous time frame. Though we see Zeppelins in the sky and people drive old style automobiles, on page 17 and 18 of this issue we will see Allen Stone using a computer!

Interestingly, I completed writing The Dark Fringe in and around 1986, a few years before the original "Batman" movie was released. In describing the time frame of that film, the term "retro-futuristic" was coined. I'm comfortable using that term to describe the setting of The Dark Fringe, though I never thought of that term! ;-)