DF Interview: Stephanie Phillips imagines a different take on Cold War America in ‘Nuclear Family’

By Byron Brewer

America, 1957. Elvis dominates the airwaves and apple pie is served after every meal. But, with the dark cloud of nuclear holocaust looming, Korean War vet Tim McClean's major concern is taking care of his family in the atomic age.

When the first bomb does drop on an unsuspecting Midwest city, Tim and his family find themselves plunged into a strange new world, where what's left of the United States has gone underground while continuing to wage war on Russia with unthinkable tactics.

Based on Philip K. Dick's short story Breakfast at Twilight, Nuclear Family is written by Stephanie Phillips (Butcher of Paris, Heavy Metal, Artemis and the Assassin, Red Atlantis) and illustrated by Tony Shasteen (Star Trek). It is Cold War-era science fiction at its most timely and terrifying. DF sat down with Stephanie Phillips to find out more about this alt-world history.

Dynamic Forces: Stephanie, this is a very interesting take on alt-history. I believe, if memory serves, your comic is based on Philip K. Dick’s short story Breakfast at Twilight, but is Nuclear Family an offshoot of the story concept or an adaptation of Dick’s own work?

Stephanie Phillips: Nuclear Family is definitely an offshoot and not an adaptation. The Philip K. Dick short is only a few pages long, so the story we’re telling is kind of what happens after those pages and creates a world very much inspired by PKD, but not necessarily loyal to anything he has previously written.

DF: What can you tell readers about this alternate version of America 1957 (a year before my birth)? What has changed and what was the catalyst for that difference?

Stephanie Phillips: The alternate reality actually comes in at a future timeline. The family that this story is centered around experiences a bombing when Russia attacks the US in the ‘50s. This propels the family into an alternate timeline nearly ten years into the future where the US is nothing like the US that they remember. Not only are the years different, but this is a US that has been perpetually at war and thus driven underground by the nuclear radiation from constant warring with Russian forces. History as we remember it is not the same and has resulted in an American government willing to do anything it takes to obliterate their enemies, even at the expense of their own people.

DF: Did you do any historical research for the period, as you have in the past? I know this is an alt-world, but at its worst it would probably still have a flavor of our own counterpart time and people, I would assume.

Stephanie Phillips: There’s definitely research that went into elements of our story that deal with the Korean War, the Cold War, and even smaller things like cars used during the time period. Since we are dealing with a lot of alternate history, I wanted to have a strong knowledge of the information that we were about to go completely retell with this story and try to give the tone of a Twilight Zone episode or PKD book.

DF: Introduce us to Tim McClean and his family. Tell us about their lives and challenges in this extant America, which I assume is underground?

Stephanie Phillips: Their America is just like you would expect to find it in the late 1950s. They are a seemingly average family – Tim is a Korean War veteran turned used car salesman who is married to his high school sweetheart. They have two children, Robin and Henry, and it seems like nothing is out of the ordinary. But what makes them interesting, is that they are propelled into an alternate reality where nothing is normal or ordinary and, as a family, they must find ways to adjust and, hopefully, return to their own normal reality. Of course, the questions we want to ask is whether there is a “normal” to even return home to. After what the McClean family sees in this alternate timeline, they will have to wonder if the America that they know will eventually succumb to the bleak future that they experience.

DF: Background, but I am interested: Can you describe what is going on between what is left of the U.S. and Russia? Does this “war” have an impact on your tale?

Stephanie Phillips: Absolutely. As I’m sure most of us remember from history class, the Cold War was a period of great tension between the US and Russia. Most Americans lived in fear that, at some point, bombs would fall from the sky and that Russia was always watching (a fear only heightened by the launch of Sputnik, which is actually how we open the first issue of the story). In the alternate reality that Tim McClean and his family find themselves trapped in, however, this tension turned into an actual war where bombs were launched… and never stopped. In the wake of extreme nuclear radiation, the United States had to learn to adapt, while continuing this war with Russia.

DF: What other characters might readers be on the lookout for in this series? Can you introduce some of them to us?

Stephanie Phillips: Tim McClean is a Korean War vet and has a good friend named Dan who will have a big role in the story. They are old friends and went through literal war together, giving them a bond that Tim thought would stand the test of time.

We will also meet some characters as the family travels through the alternate reality. Some will help… others, not so much.

DF: What can you say about the art of Tony Shasteen?

Stephanie Phillips: I’ve wanted to work with Tony for quite a long time and am thrilled that we had the chance on this book. His artwork is the perfect fit and he’s a wonderful collaborator. JD Mettler on colors has also done an absolutely fantastic job and I think the artwork, which gets a bit darker as the series goes, will really help sell readers on this crazy, alternate reality we are creating.

DF: Stephanie, I know you have been very busy. Tell readers some of the projects, current and near-future, in which you are involved.

Stephanie Phillips: Harley Quinn #1 will be out at the end of March, which is the kick-off to my run on the Harley Quinn ongoing series with Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia. Also out in March is the Batman: Urban Legends anthology with a story about Harley and Ivy by myself and Laura Braga that will tie into the ongoing run.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Stephanie Phillips for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions. Nuclear Family #1 from AfterShock Comics is slated to be on sale Feb. 24^th!

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