Oscar-Winner John Ridley Returns to Comics with ‘THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE’
Credit: IDW Publishing
Oscar-winner & Eisner-nominated writer John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, The Other History of the DC Universe) and artist Stefano Raffaele (GCPD: The Blue Wall) are teaming up again for a brand new sci-fi thriller, THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE. The series will be published by IDW Publishing and will launch on November 15, 2023. Check out two covers and a few unlettered pages from the first issue below!
The Ministry of Compliance is set 37 years after humanity has been secretly invaded by an extraterrestrial organization called the Devolution. The Devolution has infiltrated every aspect of human culture, weakening civilization by strategically destabilizing it and flooding the planet with misinformation to accelerate chaos and division among mankind. Here is the full synopsis from the publisher:
For 37 years, humanity has been manipulated by an extraterrestrial organization called the Devolution. Utilizing 13 ministries, these cunning alien agents have infiltrated every aspect of humanity’s culture, weakening civilization by strategically destabilizing it and flooding the planet with misinformation to accelerate chaos and division among mankind. This has all been in an effort to take over and reshape the planet, and these secretive saboteurs truly believe they are helping humanity in the long run. But what happens when the interstellar operatives begin to turn on each other, and humanity is caught in the middle of the cosmic conflict? Eisner-nominated storyteller John Ridley reunites with GCPD: The Blue Wall collaborator Stefano Raffaele to present THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE, a sociopolitical sci-fi thriller that is full of extraterrestrial espionage and excitement as the creatives take a look at the world we live in today through the lens of an inconspicuous alien invasion.
The story follows three interstellar operatives, Avigail, Quinn, and Kingsley, who are tasked with leading the charge to take over all of Earth. However, as they begin to work together, they start to realize that they may not be on the same page about what it means to be human.
Ridley has said that The Ministry of Compliance is a story about "a lot of literal and figurative backstabbing and heads rolling as the three quietly lead the charge to take over all of Earth, which is quite the chore… THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE, however, is really about these three trying to figure out who they are, and what they mean to each other which are the basics of human nature. Sometimes it takes ‘aliens’ to show us a little something about ourselves.”
Raffaele is excited to be working with Ridley again, saying, “I think me and John are on the same wavelength in terms of storytelling style, and THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE is masterfully written. Every page is a joy to work on and I am sure the readers will love it too!”
Mark Doyle, co-publisher of IDW Publishing, is also excited about the series, “This is a real passion project for me. I feel like we’ve been able to put together a super group of talent here. First, we have John who is an incredibly thoughtful storyteller and I am so happy to be working with him again. He is so passionate about this story, it’s something he’s been wanting to tell for a long, long time and I’m honored that he chose me and IDW to tell it. And then we have dream collaborators like Stefano Raffaelle and colorist Brad Anderson.”
THE MINISTRY OF COMPLIANCE #1 is available for pre-order now and will feature main covers by Raffaele and colorist Brad Anderson, colors by Anderson, letters by Ariana Maher, and variants by Ryan Sook, Claire Roe, and Edwin Galmon — with more to be announced soon.
