5. The Story Begins

Wow... has it really been over six months since my last post?? I'll be honest, I haven't gotten as much done as I had planned, but the time hasn't been totally squandered. A good chunk of that time was spent prepping for, and attending, two live events - a local Comic Con and a local craft fair. Amazingly, during both of those events, I displayed several prints of The Warrior and a new adversary (Haz-Mat), and people seemed very interested in the characters and the story as a whole. I gave them the broad strokes about it and they all basically said the same thing - they want to see (and buy) a physical comic book next year (when I return to the events). Maybe they were just being nice, maybe they were actually genuine - I don't know, but either way, it was the assurance I didn't even know I needed to continue along this journey.

That said, I have gotten quite a bit of work done since the last post. I have continued developing the script and have sketched out several pages. I added a new introduction, sort of like a prologue. It's designed to pull the reader into the story and essentially set the stage for what's going on in the world before Sloane gets his powers, while introducing a few major characters. It's an action-packed sequence that starts with an alien ship zooming into Earth's atmosphere. It is intercepted by several fighter jets who tell the ship they are violating the treaty and warn the aliens to leave. A brief firefight ensues and the ship crashes to the ground. A squad of commandos step out of a portal and surround the opening of the ship. As the bay door opens and several large reptilian-like figures emerge, the lead commando warns them to come quietly (knowing full well that the warning falls on deaf ears). The reptilian leader roars and launches itself at the squad commander, and a skirmish breaks out. The reptilians are all killed and the commandos teleports away again. The whole incident is observed by the commando headquarters. The scene fades to black and Act 1 begins.

Here is a look at the sketches of Page 2 and Page 3 of the Prologue:

There are some tweaks to be made for sure, but this is basically what it will look like. Believe it or not, the hardest part was actually designing the alien space ship. My original design was terrible - it looked more like a flying hearse than a space ship - so I redesigned it, which took a whole day unto itself. I wanted it to look vaguely familiar, but still interesting, and to do that I drew inspiration from Fathom (by Michael Turner) and Star Trek (specifically from the Klingon battle cruisers). I might make this prologue a stand-alone short comic - sort of like an Issue No. 0 - or I might also keep it as the introduction of Book 1, I haven't decided yet.

I don't know if I will continue to write out every detail in a panel-by-panel style, though. It's helpful for these long stretches of time between writing and drawing, but it's also a bit restrictive. Also, it's just as time consuming to think of all the cinematography within each panel while writing the script, as it is doing it the Marvel way - which is to write down a basic idea and let the artist come up with the cinematography when drawing. I'll probably end up doing a bit of both, but it's definitely something I hadn't considered when I started down this road.

Anyway, this whole opening scene is designed to introduce the reader to the Meta Force Army and the Forever War. The Forever War is an ongoing battle between the inhabitants of Earth and aliens trying to invade it - this war has been going on since ancient times when "gods" walked the Earth. However, in the modern day, most people are unaware this war is even happening - which is where the Meta Force Army comes in. The Meta Force Army (MFA) was designed to protect the planet from alien invasions. The soldiers believe they are protecting Earth from a reptilian species constantly trying to invade it. They think they do so in secret to prevent humanity from panicking, but we'll soon learn that the commanders are really keeping it secret to prevent humanity from learning the truth. On the other side, the reptilians, whom I've called the V'rho, believe the planet rightfully belongs to them and want to purge the humans who have infested it.

The real question is - who's right and who's wrong? In war, knowing who the good guys are and who the bad guys are sometimes comes down to a matter of perspective. In this case, there actually is an answer, and it's not what you think. There are other elements involved behind the scenes. This matter of perspective is crux of what the story is all about. Mike Sloane finds himself caught up in this Forever War, fighting for a cause he doesn't understand. Meanwhile, he is also caught up in the middle of a centuries-long melodrama between two powerful characters called, "The Red Knight" and "The Sorcerer" (more on them in a future post). He learns to control and harness his powers within the backdrop of a things he doesn't understand, all while struggling to figure out who he is and what kind of person he wants to be. Is he a hero? Is he a villain? Either way, he'll need the power of a Warrior to survive and find out!

Now, where does that power come from? It comes from two sources - genetics and magic! Through a particular set of circumstances, Sloane happens to encounter a red crystal shard that somehow interacts with his DNA and activates special powers. Where the shard comes from and why his DNA is so special is all part of the mystery, and will unfold as Sloane travels along his own journey. As I said previously, my goal with this story is to blend my interests of science, myth, and magic to create (what I hope) is a story people will enjoy reading.

Granted, some big-time comics have touched on similar concepts before - Cyberforce, WildCATS, Witchblade, Spawn, Moon Knight, Eternals, and X-Men are all some that come to mind. X-Men is hard to compete with because they have been able to tell all manner of stories with those characters over the years. Spawn, Witchblade, and Moon Knight all focus solely on the supernatural, and the Cyberforce and WildCATS comics don't go far enough with blending futuristic technology and ancient mythology. The Eternals storyline probably comes the closest to what I'm building, because there is a lot of Ancient Astronaut Theory within it. However, I believe my story is unique because it takes the best pieces of all of those references and turns them into something new - something greater than the sum of it's parts. And, based on the positive reactions at the last two live events, I think people are really going to enjoy it!

I have tons and tons of sketches, and I simply can't fit all of them in here, but for now here is a look at a couple of character sheets:

Also, here is a look at the initial concept of one of the main characters. I have dubbed this character "Haz-Mat" and he will play a much larger role later on in Book 2, maybe Book 3 (and beyond). He will be sort of a counterpoint to the Warrior - sometimes being the antagonist and sometimes being an ally, but always being brutal in his methods.

Welp.... I've got lots more sketches including the introduction sequence of Mike Sloane, as well as him encountering the crystal shard and activating his powers for the first time. Sadly, there's only so much I can share in a single post, so you'll just have to wait until the next one. No matter what, I'll keep working at it, and I hope to have all of Book 1 completed by this time next year - 2026 is definitely going to be the year of The Warrior!

Happy New Year, everyone!

-- Matt