"Where Loyalty Lies" was an attempt to take a look at how colonies built in space would eventually break away and become independent governments. Something that all colonies seem to do. It was a fun little story to write, and only dealt with three main characters, but it was the groundwork for yet another story.

I passed on writing about the war itself. Instead I wrote a more ambitious story titled "The Hand of God". It was the first thing I'd written that went over 100 pages, and was intended to ask "what would finally push mankind out of the solar system". After much thought, the only rational answer I could come up with was necessity. With the fall of both Earth and the Federation of New Solar Worlds invented for the first story, there was now a reason for humanity to push out of this small corner of the galaxy.

There have been four versions of the story that you will see here. The original version, was a very rough idea, I started writing before I really knew what I wanted to do with it. CoMers began as a review of the solar system left behind by some, and how humanity could possibly survive the war that had devastated both Earth and the FoNSW.

The second version of the story had a focus, but my desire to try and do it as a comic book lead me down certain roads with the plot and characters that I wasn't happy with. This early version of CoMers was submitted to Dark Horse comics in 1996. They rejected the idea, not because they didn't like it, but because they didn't feel they could market the idea at the time.

That was just what I needed to hear. It made me go back through and for the next 13 months reexamine and rewrite everything. I created an entire history of the colonized solor system, and fleshed out a full 300 years of history. I wrote bibles for myself on each culture, and background that would be present in the story, and I put together the mother of all proposals for a comic book series, and then... I got married, and bought a house, and had my first son, then had my second, and all that time, CoMers sat in a drawer of my desk (several actually).

Babylon 5 and Star Trek The Next Generation blazed on TV sets, and there was plenty of good science fiction to go around.

Then Babylon 5 Crusade got cancelled before the first episode was ever aired. Then The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were replaced with Voyager and Enterprise.

Finally, the new Star Wars movie came out, ushering in a new era of overblown special effects, stories that were either senseless or mindless, and plots with holes large enough to drive a truck through. What had been my favorite trilogy of all time, suddenly became almost unwatchable. Sci-Fi was becoming more about big budgets then big ideas.

In just five years, it seemed as if science fiction has become an in-joke in the movie industry. It no longer requires a "what if?", now all it requires is an action adventure theme with some stars and some ships or robots in the background. The only recent sci-fi films of note in my opinion are Minority Report and The Matrix.

Virtually gone from movie screens are films like Blade Runner, Dune and The Thing. Gattaca (which I feel is the most important Sci-Fi film of the last 10 years) had perhaps 3 effects shots in it. At this point, I'd be happy with a sci-fi film as good as the original RoboCop or the Running Man.

This is what finally drove me to pull CoMers out of the desk drawer, and bring it here. And while I have no delusions that this is a masterpiece like the films mentioned above, this project encompasses what I love most in my science fiction: a rational narrative, that follows characters that I find interesting, and while there may be big booms, the high and low points come from the characters and the conflict, not the action.

Bringing CoMers to an audience is a huge volunteer effort. There is almost no money going into this project, but there is tons of time and dedication. All the voice talent volunteer their time and energy, and Matt Hanson graciously allowed us use of his music, knowing almost nothing about the project. For that he has my sincerest thanks. Jimmy Wheeler donated the web space, and Stan Davis voluteered his time and talents on multiple fronts.

For the folks who have stopped in and watched the episodes, and took the time to drop off an email or signed up for the forums leaving feedback, thank you for providing me with the drive to push on, nine months after this project got restarted.

If CoMers can live up to my own expectations, then I'll be a happy man. While it may not be 2001 A Space Odyssey, it is MY Space Odyssey.

Enjoy.

A.E. Greco
September 13, 2004