Rex Mundi (Dark Horse Comics) - Publication History

Publication History

Rex Mundi writer and co-creator Arvid Nelson came up with Rex Mundi while in Paris helping to film a documentary on The Paris Review, a literary magazine founded by Ivy League ex-pats in the 1950s

It was the first time I had been to Europe and it radically changed my view of the world", Nelson says of the period. "All the history that had seemed so dull and remote in high school became suddenly visceral and alive."

Surrounded by the juxtaposition of being in an ancient city in otherwise modern times, Nelson says he had the idea, although very vague at the time, about a story set in a place that looked modern but was actually medieval. When speaking of his plans for the story, Nelson said that it would remain primarily set in Europe, but the very end will involve a Muslim Spain.

Rex Mundi artist, Juan Ferreyra, cites photographer Eugène Atget, artist Alphonse Mucha and Coco Chanel among the many visual references for his work in Rex Mundi.

Nelson described the impact his Bahá'í faith had on the concept:

There's also an even deeper level, allegorically, in Baha'i faith, which in a mystical sense goes back to Abraham. ... God said to Abraham, 'I will make prophets out of your descendants. That's plural. His sons were Ishmael and Isaac, and from Isaac eventually down the years we get Jesus and the Jewish prophets. From Ishmael, eventually we get Mohammed. Baha'i represents the reconciliation of these prophetic traditions into one unified religion. So in Rex Mundi, Julien represents Mohammed's line, Lorraine represents Christ, and Genevieve is the unity. ... it's not a direct correlation — Jesus wasn't evil.

Rex Mundi was initially published by Image Comics, starting in 2003. In August 2006 it moved to Dark Horse. This came about after Nelson and Eric J split over creative differences. Eric J described the situation in a note to members of the Rex Mundi mailing list announcing his departure from the title:

Earlier tonight Arvid informed me that we would not be continuing to work on the book together. I wish that I could say that I am surprised by this, but I'm not unfortunately. ... I know that sounds like the old 'creative differences' line that gets thrown out so much, but now I can see why it get used so often. It is very literally the only 'clean' and accurate way to express something that is not 'clean,' but rather very complex.

Subsequently, Nelson sent the Image collections to Dark Horse editor Scott Allie. Dark Horse then expressed interest in taking over the publication of Rex Mundi, and Nelson described it as "an incredible opportunity that he wanted to take full advantage of".