02 / <The Story>
Genesis — <The Panther>
A complete 9-page origin story — written, art-directed, and produced as a real comic book. Illustration in collaboration with KB Design Concepts.
Anyone can put out a strain for Halloween. The problem is it's forgotten by November. So instead of a seasonal SKU, we built something with a reason to be collected, posted, and remembered.
The concept: "Genesis — The Panther." An original comic-book mythology built around Flora & Flame's panther identity — a lab experiment, a containment breach, a transformation, a beast that becomes the future. The product drop became the merch for a story people actually wanted to follow. Collectible packaging. A narrative across drops. A brand universe instead of a one-night sale.
A full collaboration between Flora & Flame and Runtz / The Fire Society — story and creative direction by PLANT, illustration in collaboration with KB Design Concepts.
A complete 9-page origin story — written, art-directed, and produced as a real comic book. Illustration in collaboration with KB Design Concepts.
The comic wasn't a side piece — it was the packaging system. Each jar in the Night of the Living Runtz drop carries the same horror-poster art language, designed as a collectible set rather than a single SKU.
Creative is only half of it. Night of the Living Runtz wasn't built to be posted — it was built to be experienced. The drop had a plan behind it, start to finish.
Two trusted brands — Flora & Flame and Runtz / The Fire Society — combined audiences and credibility into a single limited drop. Shared reach, shared hype, one release.
The comic gave the drop content to release in sequence — cover, pages, character reveals — stretching one launch into a multi-post campaign instead of a single announcement.
Limited packaging designed as a set, not a single SKU — built so the product itself becomes the merch, and the buyer has a reason to come back for the next chapter.
The comics were printed and the drop premiered at a live event in Los Angeles — not posted, experienced. It put a real question in the room: what does a "drop" even mean anymore? More depth, more thought, more planning than the category expects — and proof that a product launch can be an event people actually remember.