D’Israeli

SVK

8 July 2011

It’s not only the MIT Lab & all those trendy Jotta or Dentsu projects that make dream-useful news everyday, also smaller ideas  like this one by one of our favorite London design agencies… Berg, can bring some sort of innovation to already established (and decaying) media formats (ok Berg are sort of very famous too…so…).

SVK is their latest project, a collaboration with writer Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Crooked Little Vein, RED) & artist Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker (Stickleback, Lazarus Churchyard, 2000AD).

SVK in Judge Dredd Megazine (photo by Berg)

SVK has been conceived as an experimental publication, a 40-page comic which comes packaged with a UV torch… because a lot of it is printed in invisible UV ink, and therefore elements of the book can only be seen by shining the torch on the pages.

the UV torch "SVK object" essential for reading

In essence SVK uses a third ink invisible without the SVK object. The object is a UV light source which unlocks hidden layers woven throughout the comic book. Reading SVK becomes a unique and strange experience as you see the story unfold through the eyes of Thomas Woodwind.

First and foremost SVK is a modern detective story, one that Ellis describes as “Franz Kafka’s Bourne Identity”. It’s a story about cities, technology and surveillance, mixed with human themes of the power, corruption and lies that lurk in the data-smog of our near-future.

SVK comes with a foreword by William Gibson, and articles by futures expert Jamais Cascio and comics historian Paul Gravett. It seems that unfortunately for now, Berg have run out of copies, but given the success they’ll be printing new issues in the coming weeks at 10£ (+ expenses) each. More info on their dedicated page.

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