A sneak peek at The Horizon Experiment’s connecting variant covers reveals stunning artwork by Eisner Award-winning artist Tula Lotay, highlighting the original protagonists from the series of five one-shots.
Led by award-winning creator Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian, Infidel) and editor Will Dennis (Gideon Falls, Y: The Last Man), The Horizon Experiment features all-star talent from across entertainment re-envisioning popular genre fare and iconic characters through a diverse lens for the comic book series. The debut issue, The Horizon Experiment: The Manchurian, written by Pichetshote and illustrated by superstar artists Terry and Rachel Dodson (Adventureman, Harley Quinn), hits shelves in September.
Lotay is known for not only her gorgeous cover art, but also for her groundbreaking work in comics, film and editorial illustration, including being the artist on Image Comics’ Supreme: Blue Rose, written by Warren Ellis. She won an Eisner Award in 2023 for her work on comic book series Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder for Best Digital Comic alongside writer Scott Snyder, and in 2024 for SOMNA: A Bedtime Story for Best New Series alongside co-creator Becky Cloonan, which were also edited by Dennis, a frequent co-collaborator.
“It’s rare to be asked to work on a series of connecting covers for different books with such incredible varied stories. That had my interest peaked straight away,” said Lotay. “But working with Pornsak and Will at the helm meant I needed to do this project. I love them both and the idea behind The Horizon Experiment is brilliant! The stories are so good—it made working on this set of covers a pleasure. Really proud of how it came out and to be involved in such a wonderful project.”
“Working with Tula is one of the great joys of my career,” said Dennis. “Not only is her art always surprising, impactful and fresh, but also her enthusiasm for the work and love of comics always comes first. Beyond her love of comics, though, is her profound love for people and her drive to make the world a better place. She’s done amazing work behind the scenes for years to lift up new creators, so it made perfect sense for her to be a part of this special project.”
Added Pichetshote: “I’ve been friends with Tula for a long time, so I’ve been jealous of her as she wins award after award, and then I’ve been jealous again of everyone who gets to work with her, so asking her to do our variant covers was one of those bucket list no-brainers. But honestly, seeing her covers together like this as a unit reminded me why I was doing this in the first place. Each cover is so distinct, so unique, so stylish, and yet, set side by side, they don’t compete for space; they strengthen each other. That was in my head during the inception of The Horizon Experiment, but I had forgotten that aspect until I saw what Tula did.”
The Horizon Experiment series kicks off on September 25 with The Manchurian, a scintillating thriller full of secrets and scandal, featuring a Chinese super spy inspired by James Bond. Future issues include a horror tale led by a female Muslim exorcist The Horizon Experiment: The Sacred Damned (by Sabir Pirzada and Michael Walsh), East African werewolf horror The Horizon Experiment: Moon Dogs (by Tananarive Due and Kelsey Ramsey), “Evil Dead for blerds” horror-comedy The Horizon Experiment: Motherfu*kin’ Monsters (by J. Holtham and Michael Lee Harris), and “reverse Indiana Jones” action-adventure The Horizon Experiment: Finders / Keepers (by Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridge). The five issues will be released on a monthly basis, starting in September.
