I don’t often get the chance to reference Star Wars and last week’s announcement that A. P. N. G.  Enterprises has hired Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) to be a creative consultant wouldn’t ordinarily afford that opportunity. However, in this case, it turns out that Hamill will be consulting on a series of mulitmedia projects based on the comic book series, NEW-GEN. From the Oct. 14, 2011 news article by Mark Langshaw on Digital Spy,

JD Matonti, Chris Matonti and Julia Coppola of APNG created the series for Marvel Comics. The story takes place in an extra-dimensional world where everything is controlled by nanotechnology. [emphasis mine] It follows a fierce conflict between two top scientists.

A NEW-GEN movie is in the works, directed by Matonti. The company also plans to bring the series to television, mobile devices and video games.

“NEW-GEN is a fresh and powerful new story that will surely resonate with audiences across multiple platforms,” Hamill said.

I wonder what they mean by “…  everything controlled by nanotechnology?”

There’s a bit more information in the Oct. 16, 2011 news item in the Calgary Herald,

To introduce Hamill, the company will release a special six-issue graphic novel, NEW-GEN: Volume One, featuring a “forward” from Hamill who shares his thoughts on this nextgeneration comic franchise that evolves around the battle over nanotechnology.

Matt Blum in his Oct. 13, 2011 article for Wired Magazine notes,

You may not be aware of it, but Mark Hamill is a huge comic book geek. Yes, the man who played Luke Skywalker and whose second career as a voice actor is second to none gets just as excited by comic books as most of the folks who hang on his every word as Joker.

Anyone curious about the NEW-GEN comic books can sample the first issue free. Here’s the summary of the first issue available from the download page,

New-Gen exists in another dimension; a utopian society where human beings, creatures, and robots co-exist in complete harmony until a battle over nanotechnology rages between two superhuman scientists. Gabriel banishes his former friend, Deadalus, to The Underworld, sends his infant twin sons to Earth and takes in the young children and creatures affected by Nanotechnology. The children and creatures grow up possessing unique “NanoPowers” in the Association for the Protection of the New Generation (A.P.N.G.) and will oppose Deadalus as he evolves into the purely evil Sly whose goal is to transform worlds.

If it seems familiar, it should be as I last profiled this series in my July 22, 2010 posting where I noted that the series originally launched in 2008 and had been reworked into something edgier for its 2010 relaunch. At that time, they were offering the first three issues for free.