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Vigilantes, Terrorists and Heroes Dive Into Treadwater

Watch the Treadwater trailer in the video above

In the wake of a global economic meltdown, chaos erupts and the world's safety is jeopardized by a new wave of crime and terror. A privately funded team of hi tech special operatives is assembled, known as Treadwater, the only force standing between hope and anarchy.

Created by Morgan Rosenblum, the new book from Darkrose Studios is the first in a series of five planned graphic novels, and PREVIEWSworld talked with Morgan to get insight into his new transmedia franchise.

Treadwater GN Volume 1 (MAY151293) is in stores August 5.

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PREVIEWSworld: Treadwater is an action-packed sci-fi drama that you've called Mission Impossible meets The Dark Knight meets Homeland meets Lost. Give us a general overview of the story?

Morgan Rosenblum: Treadwater is a dark and realistic take on the sci-fi and superhero genre. It’s a PRE- apocalyptic story. We see the world as it starts to crumble.

As far as the comparison of Mission Impossible meets The Dark Knight meets Homeland meets LOST... Here, let me explain..

Why the Dark Knight? Because we love the dark and gritty approach Christopher Nolan took in telling the story of Batman. We wanted to bring this similar aesthetic and tone to Treadwater. from a story standpoint; we share in common a genius billionaire with access to state of the art technology and resources, with a motivation to take matters into his own hands.

Why Mission Impossible? Many of the missions you will see in Treadwater are very similar to the ones you’ve seen in Mission Impossible. Not everything is guns blazing with Treadwater. They have to use their heads and devise elaborate plans in order to successfully achieve their mission objectives. The espionage, suspenseful missions, and the use of hi tech gadgets is why we compare Treadwater to Mission Impossible.

Why Homeland? The worldwide political situations, and global scale terrorism that exist in Homeland feel real. We’ve tried to build a similarly plausible future in Treadwater, one that makes people question if this future is in fact something that we might be headed towards.

Why LOST? Because we love how JJ Abrams told the story of LOST with a heavy focus on character development and flashbacks. Similarly, Treadwater uses flashbacks to tell the stories of each of the individual characters to help you understand who they were and who they have become.

But what is Treadwater actually about?

It’s about a vigilante team of special operatives who will do whatever it takes to maintain peace in a dystopian future.

Our story takes place 15 years from now. A very plausible and scary future. The crash of the Euro sends the world into chaos - everyone is for themselves. The strong are praying on the weak, while others turn a blind eye. One wrong move could start World War 3.

In order to prevent a war, a privately funded team of hi tech special operatives is assembled. No one knows who they are. They refer to themselves as The Candlelight Program, but are later dubbed “Treadwater” by the press for a pretty cool reason.

Like Batman and Ironman, our Operatives don’t have any special powers or mutant abilities, rather they use science and technology to combat injustice and maintain peace, which is what lends itself to the superhero genre.

Each of the Operatives comes from different backgrounds, but they all have something in common: a dark and troubled past. They each have a unique reason for why they decided to join the program. THE REASONS: Revenge, Life, Purpose, Redemption, Hope, Excitement, Refuge.

THE TEAM: Each of the operatives have their own unique skill set, which makes them valuable to the team. We have an ex Special Forces captain, an ex hacker, ex brooklyn cop, ex assassin, ex yakuza gang member, ex pilot, and then there’s the Wraith... He’s a total mystery.

As the story goes on you’ll learn about each of the characters and their unique backstories - through well-placed flashbacks (like LOST).

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PREVIEWSworld: If our global economic system did melt down there would certainly be chaos around the world and some bad people would attempt to capitalize on that chaos. Talk about some of the terrorist elements that need to be stopped?

Morgan Rosenblum: “The path to hell is paved on good intentions.” In our story, the line between good and bad is very blurred, and there are plenty of “good” people who can still pose a threat to world peace in such an unstable political climate. So, we refer to all of our “villains” as “threats”. While there truly are villainous and evil people out there, we come to find that they believe that they are the heroes in their own story.

A “Threat” can be anything from a Political Extremist, to an Independent Mercenary, to a Terrorist Syndicate.

Political Extremists: In order to control their raging populous, many countries begin appointing dictators and military juntas, which only adds tension to the already unstable worldwide political situation.

Independents (mercenaries & arms dealers): With the vast majority of governments primarily focusing on domestic affairs, this leaves substantial opportunity for the self-serving.

Terrorist Syndicates: Terrorism had been a consistent threat to peace even before the collapse of the Euro. One threat that has emerged since then is an underground terrorist syndicate known fittingly as the Children of Chaos (CoC).

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PREVIEWSworld: Even though the Treadwater special operatives team is trying to stop the chaos, governments still label them as terrorists. Why is their mission misunderstood?

Morgan Rosenblum: The slogan for the series is: “Vigilantes. Terrorists. Heroes.” These three words embody the essence of who Treadwater really are.

Treadwater does what others will not, what others can not. They take matters into their own hands with the sole purpose of keeping the world from tearing itself apart, and to do so, they have to make difficult choices.

The series raises several key themes that will challenge the audience’s beliefs. Firstly, it plays with the issue of doing what is right vs doing what is necessary, in the name of the greater good.

Is it alright to kill 100 people if it saves one million? Who gives them the right to make that call?

Because Treadwater has no known allegiance to any one country, religion, or currency, they are able to operate without the risk of starting a war. There are some who praise them as heroes, but governments and worldwide organizations brand them terrorists.

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PREVIEWSworld: Talk more about some of the special operatives that make up Treadwater?

Morgan Rosenblum: This is truly a character driven series. We spent a lot of time building these characters, giving them unique voices, personalities, and backstories.

Each operative has a uniquely dark past and a particular motivation that makes them susceptible to recruitment - These motivations are the key to their decision to join Treadwater, each reason able to be summarized by a single word - Life, Refuge, Redemption, Excitement, Hope, Revenge, Purpose. But these motivations continue to consume the characters, and reveal themselves through their actions.

As the story unfolds we learn how the past has led to and informs the present, and witness each of the operatives reaching a crisis point where they have to face up to their past in order to move forward. The deep and compelling character stories translate into a deeper connection to the team, making each character feel like the protagonist.

Let’s meet the team shall we?

LUCKY JOE
Team Leader
Reason: Life

Joe is an ex-Special Forces Captain - two Purple Hearts and a Medal of Honor. After leaving the Special Forces, Joe is involved in a brutal car crash that kills his wife Anne and leaves Katie, his 6 year old daughter, in critical condition, comatose, and on life support. Allen (The Managing Director of Treadwater) learns of this former American soldier’s unfortunate circumstance and seeks him out. Allen offers to help Katie recover in return for Joe’s services as the leader of his privately funded operative program: Candlelight.

Joe is assertive, responsible, and bears a heavy burden of guilt for the deaths and losses of the people he cares most about. Everyone he seems to love most dies. He’s lost men under his command, and his wife and daughter to a car crash. And while the car crash was a freak accident, Joe was driving at the time. This plagues Joe, leaving him sullen and despondent, a man of few words.

Joe wears a furry, purple, “lucky” rabbit’s foot around his neck at all times – a gift from Katie, who is on life support in the Treadwater Medical Bay. After every mission Joe goes to talk to her, reminding himself why he is with Treadwater, and hoping against hope that one day she will wake up.

Allen has made some “tweaks” to Joe’s lucky charm. Inserted into the rabbit’s foot is an Anti Magnetic Repulsor Orb. A secret technology developed by Allen himself, which, when activated, repels all metal in a six foot radius.

The rabbit’s foot can thus keep Joe safe from bullets and shrapnel even in heavy gunfire and overwhelming combat situations. Hence his nickname: “Lucky Joe”.

I can go on for hours about each character, but you’ll have to read the graphic novel series to really learn about each of them. So I’ll just give you a snapshot of the other six operatives.

*Note that the Graphic Novel Part 1 is only the first installment of a very deep and intricate story arc.

DOM
Reason: Redemption
Ex NY Cop and Junior Golden Glove boxing champ, Dom is tough as nails, with a “school-yard” sense of humor and unwavering loyalty to his one true love: The NY Yankees.

SYLVIE
Reason: Revenge
She’s beauty and brains. A genius hacker, and the lead analyst for Treadwater, Sylvie speaks over 10 languages and is well versed in Krav Maga.

JERRY
Reason: Excitement
Fun loving happy go lucky adrenaline junkie from the slums of Jamaica, Jerry is the team’s flight commander and team funnyman.

KIYOSHI
Reason: Refuge
Quiet and deadly, Kiyoshi is a former hitman for the Japanese mob. He is Treadwater’s best martial artist, and has a special spinal prosthesis that can be electrically charged.

WOLFGANG
Reason: Hope
A former member of the Legion of Wolves, an elite assassins guild from the mountains of northern Russia.

THE WRAITH
Reason: Purpose
The biggest mystery in Treadwater. Who or what is The Wraith? All you need to know is…
#FearTheMist

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PREVIEWSworld: Actor Chad Coleman, who has starred in AMC's The Walking Dead and HBO's The Wire is helping you promote Treadwater. Tell us how Chad got involved and more about the character in the graphic novel that is based on him?

Morgan Rosenblum: He’s not just helping us promote Treadwater, he’s an executive producer in the entire franchise. He’s a part owner in the company, and yup, he’s also a character in the series.

I’ll start by telling you a little bit about his character…

THREAT IDENTIFIED: “Mr. Osi”

Mr. Osi is a black market arms dealer who sells intel and state of the art weapons to countries, organizations, and terrorist groups, basically to the highest bidder.

He’s filthy rich from these multi million dollar trades. He lives on a tricked out Boeing 747 jet. He’s a businessman in every sense... but if you try to cross him you will see how badass he really is. At his core, he is a survivor. He’s a self made man, and his reputation is everything to him ... and like most of the characters in Treadwater, he has a dark and complex backstory.

You asked how Chad got involved with Treadwater, there’s a pretty cool origin story here too...

My brother and co-creator Owen was on a blind date at some chic restaurant in SOHO New York. He was talking about his favorite TV shows, and of course he mentioned the Walking Dead. Owen gets up to use the bathroom. And on his way back from the bathroom, he notices that one of his favorite characters from the show (Chad) is sitting at the table next to him. Despite protest from his date, my little bro went up to Chad and let him know how much he admired his work. Chad responded by asking what Owen did for a living, and he told Chad about the transmedia superhero franchise he had been working on: Treadwater. Chad thought it sounded cool and they exchanged info. A few emails, texts, and a lunch meeting later.. he’s now our partner and practically a member of our family. We even do joint family dinners together - so much fun!

PREVIEWSworld: Finally talk about working with artist Ray Dillon on Treadwater?

Morgan Rosenblum: When I was looking for an artist, I wanted an artist whose work was untraditional - stood out. I wasn’t familiar with Ray’s work prior to my search, but I came across this incredible Graphic Novel Ray painted called “Turtles: Dawn of The Ninja”, which is a supremely awesome dark take on TMNT. I saw that book, and had to have Ray as my artist. His sense of color and lighting is incredible, and I love his unique style. His ability to take something like TMNT and make it feel dark and gritty really fit what I was looking to do with Treadwater.

On a personal note, he’s also a really solid person. He’s a true family man, and the dude is hysterical. It’s funny, I had worked with Ray for about a whole year on this book, and never actually met him face to face, or even had a skype call with him. So, once the book was finished, he and his family took a trip down to NYC, and we all went out to this restaurant called Ninja - where all of the waiters are legit ninjas. And they’d try and surprise you, and then sneak off back into the shadows. Very TNMT like. A nice way to round out our first book together!

We are now gearing up to begin Book 2. We are also planning on doing a side series called “Treadwater: Origins” - seven single issues, each one featuring one of the operative’s backstory leading up to how they were recruited into Treadwater. We are going to have 7 different artists for the side series, one for each operative - We feel this will add a unique element to the Treadwater series and allow us to work with a variety of super talented artists like Ray.

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 Check out the Treadwater interactive website: www.treadwater.tv

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