The One Hand and The Six Fingers, from Image Comics, take readers into a far-flung, but mysteriously recognizable city, Neo Novena, as the intertwined miniseries seeks to tell one ambitious story using two books, from two perspectives. In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, co-creators Ram V and Dan Watters spoke about crafting an immersive city to suit the needs of their narrative.
“We designed the city to feel familiar and nostalgic,” Ram V, writer of The One Hand, explained. At the same time, he and Six Fingers author Dan Watters noted that Neo Novena, as depicted across both titles, can be a bit protean, morphing to fit what the story required of it.
While the two books share a plot, their themes – and their aesthetics – can be more accurately described as overlapping. This is reflected in the depiction of Neo Novena, which shifts to match those themes and aesthetics at the will of the story.
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Neo Novena Is A Classic Noir City Built On Shifting Ground
The One Hand #1 – Written By Ram V; Art By Laurence Campbell, Color By Lee Loughridge, & Lettering By Aditya Bidikar
Describing Neo Novena in The One Hand, Ram V noted that it was deliberately intended to evoke “a classic noir city,” in its design. “There are shadows everywhere, and it’s always raining,” he said. “Traffic’s always gridlocked.” By contrast, he suggested that in his cohort Dan Watters’ book, “it feels much more like a malleable, mutating place. It has reveals that you might not expect around the corner.” This directly corresponds to the stories of the two books, which deliver two very different perspectives on a murder investigation.
“I feel like those are both indicative of where the stories are going,” Ram V teased. In The Six-Fingers, graduate student Johannes Vale is shocked to discover that, during a fugue state, he has committed a murder. What’s more, he copied the precise details of the infamous One Hand murders, a case allegedly solved years before by Neo Novena detective Ari Nassar, protagonist of The One Hand. Both characters seek to uncover the truth of the murder, but for very different reasons, and with each approaching their investigation in very different ways.
Neo Novena Will Sprawl Outward As Ram V & Dan Watters Build Their Story
The Six Fingers #1 – Written By Dan Watters; Art By Sumit Kumar, Color By Lee Loughridge, & Lettering By Aditya Bidikar
The books’ complex narrative dynamic enhances The One Hand and The Six Fingers as two thrilling, actively engaging reads. It was also part of what made Neo Novena grow into the unique city it is on the page. “There were certain things we needed,” Dan Watters said. “How the city functions, and things. There was certain things wrong. Part of it grew organically out of that, for sure.” As readers continue to encounter more of Neo Novena throughout the series, they can expect its sprawl to be limited only so far as the scope of its creators’ narrative ambitions extends.
Both stories are murder mysteries, and just as the plot hinges on some significant reveals to come, part of readers’ journeys is the progressive reveal of both books’ themes, and their sense of style. Though it is a 29th-century city, Neo Novena is immediately recognizable, and that is very much one of the series’ mysteries in its own right. “I think that setting being familiar is very much part of the mystery of the book, and part of the reveal of the book,” Ram V told Screen Rant, promising that this ambitious Image Comics storytelling even has much more in store to deliver.
