Interview by Sheena C. Howard with Anthony Morman (Author of 4-15 and owner of Wilde Man)
Can you tell us what 4-15 is about and how many issues you’ve published so far?
4-15, meaning experiment group 4 Subject 15, is about our main character Joan or 4-15, who was experimented on at a young age. A part of her experiment was to find a way to increase human trafficking. They wanted to extract consciousness from the trafficked people, “insert” them into a “willing” host, and traffic the bodies across the borders. This way they could fit more people. Where they went wrong was that they did not take Joan’s mental condition into account, which is a multiple personality disorder, which led to a violent reaction to the experimentation and ultimately the escape of many of the experiments, including Joan.
We have published two issues so far. The first was released 05/2021 and the second was released 09/15/2021
What is your long-term vision for the 4-15 series?
The long term goal of 4:15: The Series is to establish iconic characters and storyline that make an impact in this genre, while also changing the perception of black characters in this space. Lastly, this series is the start of my publication company Wilde Man that will eventually help other writers bring their stories to the forefront.
What is the inspiration behind the storyline?
This series started as my Keystone project for my college graduation. I wanted to do something different from what I was seeing. You rarely see black main characters truly live in the scifi genre.
What has been your biggest challenge with producing this series so far? What advice would you have for someone who is just getting started in indie comics production?
My biggest challenge was getting out of my own head and a fear of failure. I started keeping a journal of all of the ideas that came to me. In keeping the journal I was able to combine all of the part/half ideas to make something magical.
The biggest advice that I could give you as a writer would be to never give up on any ideas you might have. As an art student we were encouraged to try any idea that comes to you. Who says an idea is bad? We grew up with singing dinosaurs. A big singing yellow bird taught us our ABCs. I use those examples to say that your imagination is your guide.
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