Q&A: Writer Ben H. Winters Takes Readers on a Search for Existential Answers with BENJAMIN

A prolific sci-fi author dies in 1982... before waking up in 2025 Los Angeles with no idea why or how he returned from the dead. That's just the beginning of an epic quest for answers about the meaning of life and the mysteries of existence in the ambitious three-issue comic book series Benjamin.

Written by Ben H. Winters with stunning artwork by Leomacs, all three issues of Benjamin are now available in a hardcover collection from Oni Press, and we caught up with Winters in a new Q&A feature to discuss his mind-bending story, including the California noir influences that inspired him during the writing process, how the character of Marcus surprised him as he dove further into the story, the joys of collaborating with colorist Luca Bertelè and letterer Becca Carey, and why artist Leomacs' vibrantly gorgeous visual style was the perfect match for Benjamin.

Below, you can read our full Q&A with Ben H. Winters, and we also have a look at the official press release, eye-catching cover art by Christian Ward, and preview pages from the hardcover edition of Benjamin. To learn more about Benjamin and other exciting releases, be sure to visit:

• https://www.onipress.com/

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions for us, Ben, and congratulations on the new hardcover edition collecting your comic book series Benjamin! I read this story in two sittings and was enthralled from start to finish by its existential mysteries and eclectic characters. When you look back at writing Benjamin, where did the spark for this story originally come from?

Ben H. Winters: As a writer and bona fide narcissist, I’ve always been kinda fascinated by what makes writers tick. Writers and artists of all kinds, really—how do people channel the stuff of life into the stuff of art, and what does it do to your psyche to be constantly turning your lived experience into your artistic product? People like Philip K. Dick, the most proximate analog for the character, are interesting because they were so successful, and so prolific, but his life was so… well, complicated. There is a kind of paradox there I find fascinating.

With the character of Benjamin J. Carp, you do an amazing job of harkening back to an era when sci-fi writers were superstars in their own right, a time when authors like Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, and Isaac Asimov had celebrity status and were the biggest personalities at conventions. How much fun was it for you to tap into that bygone era of sci-fi (both the positive and negative sides of it), and did you enjoy coming up with all of the fictional stories that Benjamin wrote?

Ben H. Winters: I feel like I didn’t really tap into that bygone era, so much as create a fish-out-of-water tale, where someone FROM that era tries to make sense of THIS one, using a sort of outmoded set of emotional tools. It’s a big "What Am I Doing Here?" story, where Benjamin is bummed to find that he’s a “cult” author rather than, you know, Dickens or Stephen King or whatever. I LOVED coming up with Benjamin’s stories, and especially their insane, over-the-top titles, which was something Dick specialized in (I mean, “The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch”? Is that not the best book title ever???)

Do you have any favorite sci-fi stories or writers who influenced and inspired you while writing Benjamin?

Ben H. Winters: Obviously, Philip K. Dick is a big one. I also love Phillip José Farmer and his “Riverworld” books, which also have a “puzzled to be back from the dead,” although his are in a heroic mode where obviously Benjamin is kind of a comedy. A big influence here, aside from the sci-fi, is classic California noir: James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, and especially Philip Marlowe. Oh, and The Big Lebowski, which is also a classic California noir.

As entertaining as Benjamin J. Carp is, his newfound friend and reluctant companion Marcus Dingle really becomes the heart of this story, and his feeling of being “stuck” in life is something that a lot of people can relate to. How important was it for you to balance out Benjamin’s eccentric (and sometimes arrogant) mannerisms with Marcus’ endearing personality?

Ben H. Winters: Marcus surprised me. Marcus began as a sidekick and kinda stole my heart. I think I understood on some level that I needed someone “real,” someone kind, someone earnest, someone who experiences human emotions and longing in a way that the self-centered genius Benjamin never really did. Benjamin is dead; Marcus is having trouble living. They’re a matched set.

Through his vibrant and beautiful artwork, Leomacs really captures the otherworldliness of your mind-bending (and at times reality-altering) story. What is it about Leomacs’ distinct visual style that made him the perfect artist to work with on Benjamin?

Ben H. Winters: Well, like Benjamin, Leomacs is a brilliant madman. He has a particular gift for gently splitting open the world you’re in, suddenly presenting you with another layer underneath, or a hidden passageway into somewhere else entirely. It was PERFECT for this story, which keeps opening up into new possibilities, new dimensions. His intuition for what I wanted this to look like—and FEEL like—was astonishing.

In addition to the gorgeous artwork by Leomacs, I also enjoy how the colors by Luca Bertelè and the lettering by Becca Carey help bring this story to life. What was it like to collaborate with Luca and Becca on this journey and to see the finished pages with their contributions?

Ben H. Winters: Comics writing is a particular kind of gift. Because what you are really doing when you write a script (if you’re not an artist or inker or letterer, as I certainly am not) is doing your best to communicate a set of ideas and styles, and then holding your breath until it comes back. In this case, I was continually amazed and ultimately overjoyed at how weird and gorgeous and just badass it all looks. It is truly a case where I never could have even imagined how much their work would elevate mine.

I love how Los Angeles is like its own character in Benjamin. From Studio City to Venice Beach and beyond, how important was it for you to set this story in the sun-soaked backdrop of LA?

Ben H. Winters: LA is just… it’s a vibe, you know? As writers have known at least since Marlowe, and as we’ve seen in movies like Chinatown, the dark sad realities just beneath the sunshine and glamor make Los Angeles the perfect place to tell a certain kind of cynical, hard-hitting story about truths that lie beneath. Benjamin is a lot of other things, but at its heart it’s a detective story about the meaning of a man’s life—the meaning of ALL our lives. Finding out the truth behind the facade; that’s everybody’s LA story.

There’s a powerful moment in this story when Benjamin tells Marcus that “sometimes you don’t know the point of your story until you get to the end.” When you started writing Benjamin, did you know where this epic tale was heading, or did the ending become more apparent the further you fleshed out these characters and their quest?

Ben H. Winters: I did not know when I started, but I knew pretty early on, let’s say. By the time I was writing the second comic of the three-issue series I knew exactly what the last few panels would tell us, and how they would look.

This definitely feels like a complete story, but would you ever consider bringing Benjamin or Marcus back for future adventures? I could read another entire series following these two (and Marcus’ dog, Strawman, of course) through the cosmos.

Ben H. Winters: I am very open to the possibility. I need to kinda wait around and see if either of them are calling out to me to be written again. But I loved spending time with both Benjamin and Marcus (and yes, Strawman!) and could see them wandering around some more; their relationship would be calibrated of course, based on the ending of this story! (Shhhh—no spoilers).

What has it been like to work with the team at Oni Press (with whom you also collaborated for their EC Comics series Cruel Universe and Epitaphs from the Abyss) as you prepare to release this hardcover of Benjamin?

Ben H. Winters: The team is incredible, except publisher Hunter Gorinson, who is a cruel and tyrannical taskmaster. One day he and I shall face off in the pits of hell, and only one will rise victorious from the fire. Everyone else is lovely!

In addition to writing books and comics, you also work in the realm of television, including developing the Tracker series for CBS. Do you have any plans to adapt Benjamin as a TV series or film?

Ben H. Winters: Well, it’s always fun to contemplate, and there are possibilities kicking around. None would I say rise to the level of “plans,” but if you know any movie stars who’d like to attach, who can play a curmudgeonly 50-something dead man, let me know!

Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from Benjamin?

Ben H. Winters: Unlike Benjamin, most of us only get one go-round in this weird, gorgeous thing we call life. Enjoy it. Be kind. Eat ice cream sandwiches, but not too many.

What advice would you give to writers who are just getting started?

Ben H. Winters: You know what’s funny? Earlier in my career I was much better at answering this question; I had the cockiness and confidence to think that I could. Now that I’m older (oldish!) my answer is usually: what are you asking me for? I only got to do this by sheer luck, and I only get to keep doing it out of some combination of persistence and terror. I guess my only real advice is: know who YOU are. Know the kinds of stories (songs, plays, shows, etc.) that YOU want to write. Do those.

With the hardcover edition of Benjamin now available from Oni Press, what other projects for the page and screen do you have coming up that you can tease for our readers, and where can they go online to keep up to date on your work?

Ben H. Winters: I’m working on a new comic book series called The Ego Knife, and I’m working on a couple TV pilots that may or may not ever see the light of day. I’ve got a website like everyone, and I’ve got a Substack at https://benhwinters.substack.com. Actually, if folks go and subscribe, it’ll kick my ass into doing more writing there!

Thank you very much for your time, Ben!

Ben H. Winters: Thank YOU!

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Press Release: PORTLAND, OR (MARCH 10, 2026) – IN ONE L.A. MOTEL ROOM, A COSMIC QUEST IS ABOUT TO BEGIN… Oni Press, – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997 – is proud to publish the hardcover edition of BENJAMIN from Edgar Award nominee and Philip K. Dick Award winner Ben H. Winters (EC’s Cruel Universe, The Last Policeman Trilogy) and rising star Leomacs (EC’s Epitaphs from the Abyss, Basketful of Heads), which unravels the mystery behind the inexplicable second life of the brilliant author who imagined our desperate future, but never imagined he’d become part of it . . .

More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Over the course of 44 novels and hundreds of short stories — including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn’t Erase — Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers’ perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982.

Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn’t exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios through his fiction—and, now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself.

Ben H. Winters is the Edgar Award and Philip K. Dick Award-winning novelist of The Last Policeman trilogy and Underground Airlines, as well as the creator of CBS’s #1-rated hit television series Tracker and a former writer for FX’s acclaimed Marvel science-fiction series Legion. BENJAMIN will mark Winters’s full-length comics debut, fresh off his appearance as one of the principal writers behind Oni’s best-selling resurgence of the acclaimed EC Comics line, where he has been featured regularly in the pages of Cruel Universe, Shiver SuspenStories, and Cruel Kingdom.

In the tradition of Philip K. Dick's A SCANNER DARKLY and Thomas Pynchon's INHERENT VICE comes a uniquely fascinating and hilariously deranged excursion into the metatextual nexus where existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, and glitter and grim reality all meet just beyond Hollywood Boulevard.

For more updates on Oni Press, visit them on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram.

BENJAMIN HC
WRITTEN BY BEN H. WINTERS
ART BY LEOMACS
COVER BY CHRISTIAN WARD

ON SALE MARCH 10th, 2026 | $24.99 | 104 PGS | HC

About Oni Press
Founded in 1997, Oni Press has a 25-year history as one of the industry’s most respected and acclaimed publishers of award-winning comic books and graphic novels with titles including Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, K. O’Neill’s Tea Dragon Society, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, Ezra Clayton Daniels' Upgrade Soul, Brenna Thummler’s Sheets trilogy, and many hundreds more. In 2019, Oni Press merged with Lion Forge Comics – the Eisner Award-winning independent comic book publisher founded by Academy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur David Steward II – to create one of the largest, independent libraries of comics content anywhere in media. The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group now exists as a publishing subsidiary of Steward’s diversified global media company, Polarity.

The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group publishes more than 60 original and licensed graphic novels annually, in addition to an extensive list of periodical comics.

About the creators
Ben H. Winters is the award-winning, bestselling author of The Last Policeman trilogy, Underground Airlines, Big Time, and many other books. As a television writer/producer, he worked on FX’s Legion, Apple TV’s Manhunt, and was the creator of the smash hit Tracker on CBS. Ben lives and works in Los Angeles.

Leomacs is an Italian comic book artist. He has worked extensively for European publishers, in particular drawing fan favourite comics Tex and Dylan Dog for Sergio Bonelli editore, and in France he has been published by Glènat and Delcourt. For DC Comics, he has collaborated on Lucifer, more notably he has drawn the Hill House Comics' thriller Basketful of Heads, written by Joe Hill, and Rogues written by Joshua Williamson. For Boom! Studios he has drawn Ghostlore, written by Cullen Bunn.