And a (Robot) Child Shall Lead Them: Talking Descender with Jeff Lemire

That’s correct, as far as it goes, but it doesn’t begin to describe the complexity of the story. That it’s so touching and immersive is credit to Nguyen, whose art can move from close-ups on faces to widescreen space battles and alien landscapes, and all of it seem real enough to touch.
The main character is Tim, a young robot boy in mourning for his human brother. Tim unwittingly becomes the fulcrum in a war between humans and robots, and you think we’d be completely on his side, but the story kicks off with a massacre of humans by rebellious, self-aware robots who are tired of being exploited. It’s so much more complicated than one robot boy’s problems. Tim, much as I love him is the key to stopping the war or keeping it going, and I’m entirely unsure who I want to win.
In an interview last week, I talked with Lemire about the stories influences, working with Nguygen, and where the story is going.
Asimov’s Robots stories seem an obvious influence on yours. Where did the idea originate?
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve actually never read any Asimov. I know, I know…what business do I have writing sci-fi? I aim to correct that soon though.

My influences on Descender are a bit scattered. I was really into Urasawa’s manga Pluto last year, which is a modern retelling of the classic Astro Boy story. So that was definitely on my mind. I was also really into Jack Kirby’s 2001 comics from the 70’s, which featured the robotic character Machine Man. So these things were definitely floating around in my head.
More than anything I had this vision of a young boy/robot being hunted through space. The feeling that conjured was the seed that everything else was slowly built on.
Dustin Nguyen’s artwork is painterly, lush, and gorgeous. As an artist yourself, what discussions did the two of you have about the look and feel of the series, especially about how Tim would look?
I started writing Descender with Dustin in mind. I love his work and he and I, from our first conversations, were clearly on the same page in terms of design, aesthetics, and visual storytelling. So I was pretty hands off after that, though, I was writing to his specific style and his strengths. Working with Dustin is effortless. We talk so little about the book. I write stuff, he loves it. He draws stuff, I love it. It’s not much more complicated than that. An ideal relationship built on mutual respect and two creators who have very similar storytelling priorities.
So the look of Descender, the technology, the robots, the spaceships, the aliens…they originate from my world-building, but he realizes them visually on his own.
The end of volume one leaves us on a cliffhanger, with the mystery of where the robots come from unsolved. Where will the next arc go?
Arc 2 is called “Machine Moon,” and the title itself is a bit of a hint. We will see the hidden home world of the Hardware—the robot resistance. More specifically, Tim-21, Telsa, Quon, and the gang will be brought there. But not all of Tim’s companions will make it that far.
We will also delve deeper into the origin of TIM-22, what makes he and TIM-21 unique from one another, and what their existence means to one another and to the larger mystery.
And on top of that we will introduce a major new character, one I am very excited about. One with links to TIM-21’s past and one who will change the course of the series completely.

In some ways, this series reminds me of Trillium, with those left trying to recover from grief and rebuild a world. Are there any themes that you’ve noticed in your work?
I think most artists and writers return to similar themes and motifs. It’s part of a shared vocabulary across an artist’s work if they have a strong voice and style. Having said that, you also have to be careful about just telling the same story over and over. But, yes there are definitely some common themes that reoccur in my work: innocence lost [and] loneliness and isolation seem to come back to me in much of my work in different ways.
What’s your dream project or is there a project that’s been on your mind that you’d like to try?
I am currently developing a new project that I will write and draw that I feel will be the culmination of everything I’ve ever done. I think it will be my best work. I’m very excited about it, but don’t want to say any more quite yet.
Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars is available now.