Interview with Ben Mauro
Dear HUXLEY fan,
While the long development of transposing the graphic masterpiece onto physical pages is on-going, we’d like to share an exclusive interview with world-renowned art director, Ben Mauro. Working on the next steps in building HUXLEY into a global franchise, from expanding its universe with the prequels, such as The Oracle, as well as exploring new media both digital and physical, Ben delves into the evolution of HUXLEY, his creative influences, and his current motivations and undertakings in expanding the dystopian sci-fi universe.
What was your motivation behind bringing HUXLEY into a printed form for the very first time, and what does it mean to you?
The nearly decade-long journey bringing HUXLEY into printed form is incredibly meaningful to me, it’s an opportunity to take the world I’ve painstakingly built in digital form and share it in a tangible, lasting medium at long last. There’s something powerful about holding a story in your hands, feeling the weight of the pages, and seeing the art come to life in print. This really adds a new layer of connection with the audience and solidifies HUXLEY as more than just a digital experience—it becomes a piece of art that readers can collect, share, and cherish for years to come all around the world. Many fans, colleagues, friends and family appreciate the tactile experience of reading a physical book, and I wanted to give them that opportunity at long last. On a personal level, it ’s a first big step attempting to follow in the footsteps of many of my art heroes Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Juan Gimenez and Moebius, whose artwork and stories have inspired me throughout the years. Growing up reading AKIRA, Metabarons, Moebius, Ghost in the Shell, Nausicaa and other legendary mangas and graphic novels from artists I admire, there is just something special to that experience and just a personal life goal to follow in the footsteps of my heroes to finally be able to do the same.
The decision to move from digital to worldwide published editions was also motivated by a desire to reach a broader audience and create a lasting legacy for the HUXLEY series that will take on a new life of its own in bookstores, offices, studios, libraries and wherever it may find itself in the world. Additionally, transitioning to print helps bridge the gap between long-time fans and new readers who may discover the story in bookstores or through word of mouth of the book being on shelves next to their favorite graphic novels and artbooks. It’s about expanding HUXLEY’s reach and creating a more immersive, multifaceted way for readers to experience the universe.
What works does this project involve and are there any new challenges that you haven’t experienced before?
The graphic novel contains all six original single-issue books combined into a singular graphic novel of the entire story similar to how AKIRA and Watchmen were originally released in smaller single issues initially then combined into the bigger volumes we see now. It involved adapting the digital layout of the graphic novels for print, updating the interior graphic design and creating an official cover of the collected works that I felt represented the book and also had a powerful branding for the series visually on the shelf and in the hand for readers. The printing/proofing process was also quite an undertaking, learning how to translate the digital art to the printed page as faithfully as possible and understanding some of the color limitations of CMYK to what I originally painted. Balancing values, color, saturation and details to achieve the original intent of the story moments as best we could was quite a learning experience!
What are you currently working on, and what follows next?
Currently, I am deep into finalizing HUXLEY: The Oracle along with the next two prequel books that delves into the origins of MAX and other pivotal events and new characters in the HUXLEY universe before the graphic novel HUXLEY story begins. With the universe expanding I also started to work with more of a team to help adapt and expand the world, so I am excited to share the incredible work we all did to bring the next story to life in stunning detail in The Oracle.
Following its release, the next two prequel books are in varying stages of completion to expand this vast universe and lay the foundation of the first trilogy of stories in the HUXLEY IP. This includes building out the lore, developing new characters, and expanding into other media such as animated shorts, films, TV series, game adaptations and toys where possible (these take time). The goal is to keep growing the universe in ways that captivate current fans and welcome new readers to experience this unique, decade in the making sci-fi series. Created by an artist with over +15 years of experience contributing to beloved franchises such as Halo, Call of Duty, The Hobbit, ELYSIUM, Chappie, Valerian and more, the series brings together a passion for storytelling and immersive world-building.
Thank you for all of you for supporting Ben and his decade-long endeavour in creating a truly lasting sci-fi franchise. We look forward to share more personal insights and stories from Ben in our future updates.
The Volume team