Here in our world, Scorpio Season is that most enchanted part of the year when it’s always Daylight Savings Time demon time regardless of what the clock says. But the situation’s a bit different on the Earth of Starsigns, Copper Bottle’s new monthly comic series from writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Megan Levins. Gizmodo has your first look today.
Everyone’s relationship to astrology is different, and often has less to do with how they feel about their signs as opposed to how people react when learning them. For Rana Fawaaz — the young Arab American Brooklynite at the centre of Starsigns — being a Taurus is just one facet of her identity, as is her being a caterer. But unlike her food service gig, which is straightforward, the significance of her being born under a fixed, Venus-ruled sign is more complicated to suss out because so much of it is intangible and deeply personal, and it’s unclear just how much faith Rana put in astrology before the events of this tale about what happens to the world when the zodiac’s constellation somehow fall to Earth. After the stars crash land right into Rana’s life and take human form, though, she can’t deny that there really may be something to everyone’s horoscopes beyond wishful, projective thinking. Check out the cover and a page preview to the first issue below as well as some words from Ahmed.
Speaking to Gizmodo, Ahmed (who identifies as “very much a Libra”) said that the concepts at work in Starsigns are things he’s long been intrigued by, and wanted to use as a means of telling interlocking stories about people better understanding who they are. “Outside of the question of belief I’ve always been fascinated by the iconography around the western zodiac — all of these little ‘stories’ arranged in a wheel, used in turn to tell people stories about themselves,” Ahmed told Gizmodo. “So this is actually project that has been percolating a long time. And in pairing with the absolutely BRILLIANT artist Megan Levens I’ve finally been able make it a reality!”
In addition to Ahmed and Levens, Starsigns’ creative team also includes colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick, letterer Shawn Lee, and Heather Antos. The first issue of Starsigns is now available to read for free at Copper Bottle.