ExistenZ: A Graphic Novel

David Cronenberg is the visionary director of the modern classic films "Dead Ringers," "Naked Lunch," and "The Fly." An interview with Salman Rushdie inspired him to make a film about an artist who finds herself on a hit list and must go into hiding. Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Willem Dafoe, the Miramax film "ExistenZ" (Silver Bear prize, 1999 Berlin Film Festival) is set in the near future, when game designers are worshipped as superstars, and players can actually enter games. "ExistenZ" is a breakthrough gaming system invented by game goddess Allegra Geller. When downloaded into humans through a bioport fitted into the spine, ExistenZ accesses their nervous systems, transporting them on a wild ride that will shatter the line that separates fantasy from reality. When anti-ExistenZ fanatics attempt to assassinate Allegra Geller, she is forced to flee into hiding. Her sole ally is a guard who is sworn to protect her. Allegra persuades him to play the game and draws them both into a phantasmagoric world where existence and ExistenZ begin—and perhaps will never end. This graphic novel (comic book) treatment of "ExistenZ" (based on David Cronenberg's screenplay) is by Sean Schoffield, who has drawn for Marvel and DC Comics. The illustrations of the novel are inspired directly from frames of the film. The images are darkly gorgeous, colored with a "Cronenberg" mood. Sean Schoffield has recently completed a series of "X-Files" adaptations for Topps Comics. Both Cronenberg and Schoffield live in Toronto.