FUTURE COMICS' FUTURE

Future Comics on Monday morning released a preview of its books for 2003.

Following is a rundown:

FREEMIND

As 2002 ends, the background and set-up for the Freemind series will have been established. Quadriplegic McKinsey Flint will have perfected the process of transferring his consciousness into an android body. 2003 will explore Mac's efforts to adjust to his new situation - and to the new reality that situation creates. He just wanted to be like everyone else; now he has godlike abilities he never sought. As he struggles to cope with the responsibility that those powers bring, he has to wrap his amazing mind around the possibility that, no matter how great his efforts or inventions, he may never find a way to simply be "normal".

Against this backdrop of emotional conflict, Mac Flint will continue to explore commonplace activities that were denied him during the 32 years he spent confined to a wheelchair. Dating, shopping, driving a car... virtually every activity is new to him, and presents challenges both humorous and poignant.

Meanwhile, there are powers massing against both Mac Flint and Flint Technologies. The U.S. Government sees the military advantage of the "enhanced ability" experiments represented by the Edison Wilde android. Worse, Ang Mann -- with connections to Red Chinese rulers - decides that the Freemind Project may hold the key to implementing a dangerous private agenda of his own. As a result, FlinTech finds itself faced with legal and corporate struggles, while Edison Wilde must face off against the bizarre threats of Sirocco, Emp, Fevre and the mysterious cyber-assassin known only as Chayne.

And all the while, McKinsey Flint tries to make sense of it all, not yet realizing that by becoming a robot, he may have at last found a way to become truly human.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

METALLIX

Early in 2003, the Metallix crew is hit hard by a tragedy that will alter the team dynamic forever: one of their members is killed in action. But just because someone is dead doesn't mean they're gone. What exactly is death? Should it bring fear, or hope? These are just some of the questions that face Team Metallix in the coming year.

Continuing to work as a squad of corporate troubleshooters for Redstone Research, Metallix will learn more about Metal X, the programmable smart metal that forms the suit of nano-armor they share. Why does it seem almost intuitive? Does its thought-sensing ability go beyond the cybernetic connections of its physical construction? What was the mysterious catalyst used to make the design actually work? Members will also learn more about each other, about the difficulties and the necessities of teamwork, and about the expanding definition of the term, "family".

Max Krome, the deranged and no longer human inventor of Metal X, will ramp up efforts to get "his" property back. Taking advantage of the seemingly endless resources provided by his sponsor, slimy C.E.O. Arthur Rathrock, Max will prove to be a potentially deadly thorn in the team's side. But threats will appear from new directions as well.

DEATHMASK

The year will introduce a new kind of protagonist to the Future Comics Universe: Seneca St. Synn, a mystic marauder known in the deepest shadows as Deathmask.

A Native American shaman, St. Synn had gained fame as an illusionist, augmenting trickery with actual magic, until he'd suffered an unimaginable loss at he hands of organized crime. Now vengeance is his god, and he serves that deity with zeal, blood and abandon. Wielding a quantum science so advanced that it can only be viewed as supernatural, St. Synn fights fire with fire, relishing the agony he brings to those who would cause pain to innocent citizens. Justice is worth any cost - even the dark price he himself had paid to gain his powers.

While St. Synn seeks to punish all evil, from wife beaters to graft takers, his main target is The Mob; specifically, head of the Las Vegas family, Adonis DuLac - a man who may not be a man at all. Protected by a mysterious unknown force, DuLac cannot be attacked directly. So Deathmask strikes at what DuLac loves most, vowing to dismantle the mobster's vast crime cartel... piece by piece. If St. Synn is barred from dealing death to his enemyóbringing ruination and madness to DuLac is the acceptable alternative.

St. Synn is a mystery. He lives in a retreat that can be seen only when he allows it to be seen. His preferred mode of transportation is a priceless 1932 Duesenberg, driven by a gruff chuffer from that same era; neither are alive. His Native American servant is a mute octogenarian, who in some ways may also be his master.

NEW PROJECTS

Future Comics launches its fourth and final title of their super-hero line in July. Although the project is still under wraps, its theme will be one of espionage, featuring a character who utilizes next-generation technology to combat evil on a global scale.

Also in the works for 2003 is the debut of Future Comics' trade paperbacks. The first to be released will be a compilation of Freemind #0-3, with new material and special features.