Christian Ward has made a career out of blending high-concept science fiction with deeply personal storytelling. But even amid potent titles like Event Horizon and Black Bolt, Forever Home may be his most intimate project yet. Once again teaming with artist Sami Kivelä (after Machine Gun Wizards), Ward has crafted a horror-infused sci-fi series centered on a billionaire who chooses to save only his own family from the apocalypse.
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The premise is deceptively simple. The execution is anything but so direct.
“The titular Forever Home is a house that was built by an infamous billionaire called Henry D’mour,” Ward explained over a late-night Zoom. “Henry could have saved the world, but he chose not to. Instead, he chose only to save his family.”
Inside the house, time itself behaves differently.
“For every 20 minutes inside the house is a year outside,” Ward said. “The story is what happens to this family…as they watch the world end and then perhaps begin again.”
A Most Unforgettable Cliffhanger
Ward revealed the idea had been sitting in his head for years, largely because he wanted another opportunity to collaborate with Sami Kivelä after Machine Gun Wizards.
Added Ward, “I wanted to work with him immediately, but just wanted the right idea.”
Once he found it, the ending arrived almost instantly: “As soon as the hook presented itself, I saw what that last page would be.”
He added that he always envisioned ending the debut issue on what Oni Press described as “a Brian K. Vaughan-like cliffhanger.”
Kivelä, The Perfect Collaborator
Ward believes Forever Home could be the project that introduces Kivelä to a much wider audience.
“I don’t think enough people know about Sami Kivelä,” Ward said. “He uses the page in the same way that someone like Hayden Sherman does. They take a page and really play with it and do something really interesting with the structure and the panel layout that isn’t just for show. It’s part of the storytelling. I really feel like he’s a sleeping giant, and this book is the thing that’s gonna wake him up.”
One sequence in particular became a immediate favorite for Ward.
“The house is as much of a character as any of the other characters,” Ward said of an elaborate double-page spread that serves as a tour through the structure itself. “There’s no panels as such. They just flow isometrically, walking around the house… it’s brilliant.”
Ward also made sure to credit colorist Jason Wordie.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring Jason into the mix,” Ward said. “He does an amazing job of bringing a psychedelic flair to the book.”
Family Over Sci-Fi Madness
Although Forever Home features massive sci-fi concepts and unsettling horror, Ward insists the emotional core comes first.
Added Ward, “For all of the sci-fi and the horror that’s going on, all the tension in the book and all the drama is about the relationship between these four people. It’s all about that.”
He also praised Kivelä’s ability to communicate emotion without relying on dialogue: “He’s really good at acting, and he’s really good at selling the emotional beats.”
Rather than dictating camera angles, Ward focuses on what the characters are feeling. Kivelä then builds on that foundation by inserting tiny reaction shots that weren’t scripted.
Added Ward, “He’ll cherry-pick little moments of emotion…almost like a micro panel in the perfect space.”
Ward went on to call him “my co-creator on this book, 100%.”
One moment especially across Forever Home stood out while reviewing later issues
“I was reading it and there was no letters at all… I could read every… exactly what was happening,” Ward said. “I almost don’t need to put any lettering on this. And that’s Sami all over.”
Family and Climate Anxiety?
Although D’mour is a billionaire, Ward says the character represents much more than vasts sums of wealth.
“A big part of the inspiration behind this was billionaires making themselves little escape bunkers,” Ward said. “But Henry also represents governments. He represents the older generation. He represents all those things.”
The book’s central time mechanic also carries significant symbolic weight.
“There’s a reason why the people in the house have all the time in the world,” Ward said. “The generation before us…had all the time in the world to address this, and they haven’t.”
Surprisingly, Ward also found himself putting pieces of his own life into Henry.
“There’s a lot of me in Henry,” Ward said. “I’ll put the worst part of me into him to try and make him feel a little bit more real.”
Writing the character became unexpectedly personal, with Ward adding that it’s been “quite a cathartic experience.”
Building a House Outside of Time
Ward says the central hook never once changed or shifted throughout the book’s development.
Ward added, “The first nugget was a house that was built to stop climate change but stopped time instead.”
That premise also created an unusual challenge.
“My God, I’ve never worked with a calculator next to me before,” Ward said with a laugh, explaining how every jump through time required calculating exactly how many 20-minute increments existed inside a year. Those calculations allow Forever Home to tell two very different stories simultaneously.
Added Ward, “We’ve got inside the house, which is that sci-fi that’s tomorrow. Then you’ve got the sci-fi outside the house, which is so, so far…we’re talking hundreds of thousands of years in the future. Then it’s, like, anything goes.”
A Sheen of Retro Futurism
Ward said the visual identity was always part of the concept, leaning heavily into mid-century futurism.
“Mid-century futurism was born after the Second World War,” Ward said, adding that the style reflected optimism, new technology, and visions of automated homes, robots, and flying cars.
Ironically, Ward believes modern billionaires are beginning to chase those very same dreams.
“If you look at what a lot of billionaires are doing, what are they building,” Ward said. “They are building robots that look a little bit like those robots that we used to see growing up.”
That resulting contradiction fascinated him.
Added Ward, “I wanted to use an aesthetic that’s about creating a utopia, but have they created a utopia, or have they locked themselves into hell?”
Writing The Unignorable
Unlike many creators, Ward says writing isn’t dictated by financial necessity.
“I just have ideas,” Ward said. “I’m not writing these books because I’ve got to make some money. I’m writing them because they’re stories that really matter to me that I’ve got to get out of my system.”
Because illustration provides most of his income, he can afford to wait until the right idea arrives.
Added Ward, “Anything I do write, it’s because I want to write it.”
Expect The Unexpected
Ward said Forever Home was unusual because he knew where it was headed from the very beginning.
“It really came fully formed,” Ward said. “I had a real sense at the start where we’re going and where I want to push people.”
Ultimately, though, he hopes readers wrestle with the same impossible choice facing the D’mour family, adding, “That’s the question of the book — would you do this?”
He doesn’t expect readers to settle on one answer, adding, “I think your answer will change at the end of each issue.”
And even after readers finish the debut issue, Ward says they still won’t fully understand where the series is utlimately heading.
“Nobody knows what the book is yet,” Ward said. “When issue #2 comes out, we’ll have a better idea of what the book is.”
Forever Home is available in comic book shops on September 9. (The FOC is Monday, August 3.) Listen to the full chat this Sunday, August 2nd on the AIPT Comics podast!
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