The Massive-Verse Just Got Bigger With The Announcement Of Multi-Media Project ‘NO/ONE’ Featuring Patton Oswalt

by Olly MacNamee

Writers Kyle Higgins (Radiant Black, Nightwing), Brian Buccellato (Chicken Devil, Detective Comics), and artist Geraldo Borges (Nightwing) bring Massive-Verse something a little different in 2023 with the announcement of new series NO/ONE from Image Comics. A ten issue “true crime”-style superhero drama set in the same shared universe as Radiant Black, Rogue Sun, Radiant Red, The Dead Lucky, Radiant Pink, Inferno Girl Red, and C.O.W.L. and coming March 2023.

What makes it different though is the accompanying podcast, Who Is NO/ONE? A monthly podcast starring Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That) and Patton Oswalt (Minor Threats, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.) as Pittsburgh Ledger reporters Julia Paige and Teddy Barstow.

“Higgins’ “Black Market Narrative” will produce the audio series with Higgins in the director’s chair, esteemed sound supervisor Matthew E. Taylor (Star Trek: Discovery, Mythic Quest, Barry) to supervise, C.O.W.L. co-creator and Black Market Narrative editor, Alec Siegel, to sound edit, Emmy-award winning composer Kristopher Carter (Batman Beyond, Spectacular Spider-Man) to score the audio series, and there will be mixing in Dolby Atmos for spatial audio on supported platforms. NO/ONE colorist and esteemed poster artist Mark Englert will create exclusive episode posters each month, which will also be released as a line of “podcast variant” covers.”

Furthermore, NO/ONE will also feature an interactive, alternate reality game (ARG) narrative across in-universe social media accounts, websites, and other audio/visual elements. Just follow these social media accounts for more: @000no_one, @TheDropPL, and subscribe to: http://the-drop.info, http://edgenews.info.

“The Richard Roe murders shocked the city of Pittsburgh. In the months since, the killings have sparked a dangerous political movement, copycat killers, and a masked vigilante who’s still determined to hold the powerful accountable. Not a symbol. Not a hero. They could be anyone. They’re NO/ONE.”

Ex-sound engineer Higgins spoke exclusively with io9:

“In 2011, I quit my job as a sound editor to write Batman, Nightwing, and Deathstroke for DC Comics. Now, twelve years later, I could not be more excited to return to old roots for my next series in the Massive-Verse. Brian, Geraldo and I—along with a host of wonderful collaborators—will be exploring the issues of our times across the mediums of our times, the news, political, and entertainment cycles that dominate so much of our lives. This is our ultra-contemporary take on an urban vigilante. Similar to Radiant Black, we’re excited to push the boundaries on what a modern superhero experience can be.”

Buccellato added:

“I’m excited for people to get a chance to dive into our cross-media comic experience because NO/ONE is not just a grounded superhero crime story. I’ve worked in comics for close to 30 years and I can safely say that this series is unlike anything I’ve been a part of before. The world building, allegory and multimedia experience bring a new level of immersion to not only superheroes but the very ideas of accountability and vigilantism within modern society.”

Also speaking with io9 Borges said:

“I’ve been very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my childhood heroes, characters like Batman and Wolverine, for almost 20 years. But now, I have a chance to build something from scratch and tell a modern, original story with Kyle and Brian. NO/ONE is both a true crime story, with a great mystery, as well as something much more. I’m pushing my art in a direction I’ve never done before in comics—I have no words to describe how excited I am for people to see what we’ve built.”