Título: THE RED STAR
Autores: Christian Gosset y "Team Red Star"
Editorial: Devir Iberia
Formato: Dos tomos publicados con historias completas.

EN PALABRAS DEL AUTOR

"I had to translate their monolithic sensibility into such elements as flying battleships called 'Skyfurnaces'—mile and a half long monstrosities with a crew of ten thousand that can completely immolate the ground beneath them as they dominate the sky like Iron Gods. Tanks became 'Krawls'—with cannons 25 meters in length and a crew of fifteen men. So powerful that they are deployed via Skyfurnace, dropped from a thousand feet onto the battlefield, emerging from the craters that they make upon impact to unleash their fury upon any who dare oppose the power of the Red Star. Since these vehicles will be built in 3-D, I can also put as many of them as I want on a comics page! Some of the double page spreads are going to resemble Lawrence of Arabia due to the sheer size of the armies. Not only size, but strength in massive numbers is a core Russian belief. As Lenin said, 'Quantity is its own kind of Quality'."

"Instead of the conventional 'Merlin-esque' Dungeons and Dragons style, I put magic into the context of the Police State. What if Magic existed? Like any other technology, it would be regulated by law. Put to military use. Sorcerers would be trained to cast spells that not only wreaked havoc on a battlefield, but increase industrial production and the power of military weaponry. Why move troops when you can teleport them? If you have sorcery that can make steel light enough to be worn as armor, your soldiers become walking Tanks, etc, etc, etc."

"In The Red Star, there exist division after division of Sorcerers, dependent upon the State for the rank and foci that give them their power. Just like any real-world soldier who can't fire his M-16 without government issue ammunition, so are the Sorcerers of The Red Fleet dependent upon their government-issue spell components. Even the word 'spell' is changed to 'protocol'—reflecting the mindset of this world in which extraordinary power is seen as ordinary."

Explicando el origen del título del cómic, que reside en última instancia en la fábula de La Estrella Roja, una fábula real del folklre pre-cristiano: "At the beginning of time, the Light of Truth, The Red Star, reigned over the world. Its light would shine down each night, protecting humanity's dreams from the dark spirits that roamed the earth between sunset and dawn. It was a gem worn by the Goddess of Truth, Pravda. Her vile sister, Krivda, Goddess of Lies, stole this gem and ever since that fateful night, the world has been enslaved in corruption and tyranny. Until a hero descends into Krivda's underworld of spirits, liberates the Red Star from its prison and returns it to Pravda, humanity's fate shall be sown in nightmares and tragedy. At its core, this is the metaphor that sustains the entire comic series. This myth is so powerful to the Slavic people of Russia that Lenin adopted it as the symbol of the Communist State. Being a pretty good marketing guy, Lenin realized that he needed to adopt this powerful myth for his own use. Using this symbol, he deceived the people of Russia into believing that he was the hero that would—symbolically of course—liberate the Light of Truth for all the world. (Why do you think the official state newspaper of the USSR was named Pravda?)"

(declaraciones de Christian Gosset originalmente publicadas en Newsarama el 21/enero/2000, en un artículo-entrevista realizado por Michael Doran)

+INFO

The Red Star and all related characters and artwork are TM & © 2001 Christian Gossett