Opinion

O'Connor: Comics series shows Houston in an ugly future

'After Twilight' Graphic Novel Series-Published By Nu-Classic Publishing, Houston Tx 'After Twilight' Graphic Novel Series-Published By Nu-Classic Publishing, Houston Tx Photo: After Twilight Photo: After Twilight Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close O'Connor: Comics series shows Houston in an ugly future 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The year is 2022. Texas is at war with the federal government and has established a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the state.

Yeah, I know. And this is different - how?

Gary L. Watson has heard that one before. Many times before. In fact, it's the No. 1 thing people say about his dystopian series of six comic books, "After Twilight," set in Houston.

No. 2, probably, is questioning the title. No, the comic books have nothing to do with vampires and werewolves. They germinated long before the "Twilight" phenomenon caught on, and they take their name from a quotation from the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas that reads, in part, "As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged."

In Watson's Houston, the Lone Star on the state flag has been replaced by a cross. Law enforcement officers drag "offenders" off to "camp" for the slightest moral breach. In the center of the story are Jen, a librarian forced to burn books, and her resistance-activist sister, Zoe. There is a villain, the enforcer Sgt. Streetman. And there is the leader of the Underground, known to the world as Jesse. (The strong female figures underline the expectation that women would fare very badly in this world.)

The four comics out so far - the fifth is due soon - explore themes of extremism and oppression, the role of faith and the complications of mixing church with state.

Oh, and there's kapow violence and blood and enough not-safe-for-work nudity to make any 13-year-old boy very, very, very happy.

"We wanted to deal with social and political issues in a way that was enjoyable on a surface level, but you can still find references to deeper content," says Watson, who wrote the books with Richard P. Alvarez and Sandra E. Yates. The art is by Douglas Brown. The group initially worried that the material would grow outdated but soon realized that world and national events would continue to make the story relevant. Unfortunately.

If the books read like a screenplay, it's because they are.

Back in the '90s, Watson was reading a lot about religious extremism as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan. He decided to see what would happen if he overlaid a Taliban-like structure onto an American Christian theocracy. "What if they got what they wanted?" he asked.

In 2004, Watson, Alvarez and Yates made a half-hour film of the story with a Houston cast and crew, which they later expanded into a feature-length screenplay. A feature film is still the ultimate dream.

"It's not anti-Christian. It's not anti-religion. It's a story about extremism," Watson says. And it's true - the books include kind, tolerant Christian characters to balance out the intolerant ones. A Christian comics website (raise your hand if you knew that was a thing), R-Squared Comicz, just gave the series a recommendation for reminding people of faith that faith can be taken too far.

There are nice touches of Houston throughout the books. An important scene at the corner of Main and Franklin downtown had to be reimagined to incorporate the light rail line when that was put in place. And the skyline looks pretty sweet for dystopia.

This series is a first for Watson. His film company, Roadster Productions, usually does films for fundraising, marketing, commercials or documentaries. The offices are in the too, too cool Spring Street Studios warehouse in the First Ward art district just north of downtown.

Watson wanted to be a cartoonist when he was a boy, but by his teen years he had already discovered film. Now a trim 60, he's still looking for new projects.

The books are self-published and self-distributed, a daunting workload. They set up booths at comics conferences and cold-call comics stores. Best of all is a trailer they play at conventions that interlaces real news events, such as Gov. Rick Perry's prayer rally at Reliant Stadium, with the events of the books. There's an active Facebook page and a website at aftertwilightcomics.com. "I actually get to communicate with people who write about the books," he explains.

Although the odds are against an independent project, they've had some success getting books into stores across Texas and in several states, including both coasts. (Locally, they're at Bedrock City stores, Third Planet and 8th Dimension.)

"We appreciate the support of the local comics stores," Watson says.

Does the story have to end with No. 6? Not necessarily. "There is an ending that is not finite," is all he will say.

But first, there's that dream of making it a movie.

kyrie.oconnor@chron.com

KYRIE O'CONNOR