4. The Path Ahead

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post, hasn't it? My day job does tend to get in the way, to the point where some nights I am so exhausted that I pass out in my armchair without having any dinner. That said, in between a few fun side projects and a commission project, I have been hard at work building the world that this comic will take place in.

In my last post, I showed you a few character concept sketches, as well as some initial sequential art. As much as I wanted to continue developing the sequentials, I decided to take a step back and focus on building the the world itself. As I was developing the main story, I realized that the history behind the story is actually the foundation of everything else. Knowing the history of this world allows me to pull the reader into that world and immerse them within the story. It provided me with the means to dive deep into the origins of the powers that are eventually wielded by Mike Sloane in the main story. It also provided me with the opportunity to develop backstories of several important characters such as Charles Avalon/Charlie (Mike's mentor) and Maxwell Myrddin (the first major villain).

Furthermore, I want the story to essentially be a fusion of my many interests including superheroes, action/adventure, magic & fantasy, mythology, archeology, genetics, and science fiction. So, creating a history of this world has allowed me fully embrace that. I'm not going to go into the details about it here - I don't want to spoil the mystery - but suffice it to say, the mythos of my story involves multiple species, some native to the Earth and some that are not. There are elements of advanced technologies including space travel and genetic engineering, as well as more mystical/supernatural elements. Throughout the entire mythos there is an overarching element of war, which is (naturally) carried into the main story. The main character is called The Warrior, after all...

I have decided that the main story will be broken up into three major parts. Book 1 will focus on the origin story of the main character. Who is he? What is his life like before the powers? How does he get the powers? What happens when he does? How does he learn to control them? There will be hints of the things to come tied with elements of the mythos, but those things will be developed more in Book 2 and 3. I've done a ton of sketching for this stuff, but also a ton of writing. As a matter of fact, writing a script has helped me develop the characters and helped me to narrow in the actual story. Again, I'm not going to go into too much detail, as I don't want to spoil anything, but here is a snapshot of the main plot from the script I'm currently writing for Book 1:

Obviously, there is a lot more going on than what's written within this short excerpt, but all the main elements of the story are there. In addition to this main plot, I have created full character bios, various notes about the art within the comic pages, and several pages of actual script. Within the script I actually breakdown every single panel with panel shape/size, descriptions, and camera angles, along with any captions or dialogue - it kind of feels like I'm writing a screenplay for a movie. As far as origin stories go, I truly believe this will be a memorable one, and I can't wait to get started on Book 2. For now though, let's just finish Book 1. And so I don't burn myself out, my plan is to write a few pages, sketch it, write a few more, sketch those, and so on. After the next month or two, I should have most (if not all) of Book 1 roughed out. Then I can go into the finish work.

My original goal was to have a completed book by the end of the year, but that feels like it might have been a little too ambitious considering I am at the mid-point of the year and barely have any sequentials drawn. That said, I've chosen to use most of this time in the beginning to really focus on the world-building aspect of the whole thing. I don't expect to have a completed comic book done, but if I'm lucky, I should have a decent draft completed by the end of the year. I just hope it was all worth it and others enjoy the final result as much as I've enjoyed creating it.