So, how did this short comic develop? Well, after months, enduring trimesters within the AEIP ASL Interpreting Program, I was going through a whole slew of emotions. Primarily feeling overwhelmed, a little depressed, and overly frustrated with how often I had to put things on the shelf ue to volunteering and doing a ton of essays and work. Despite the tight schedule, I was able to make stuff on the go. Despite making short humor comics, I was desperate to draw something that conveyed how I felt, but also reflected the state of the world. Technology is rapidly developing, and while it is a great tool and ally, in the hands of greedy individuals, it can be twisted, perverted and turned into the reckoning of all mankind. Whether its developing A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) that has the potential to become a rogue entity, or potential developments with nano technology and the potential dangers that could occur due to massive military industrial complexes that various elitest's that only see profit rather than utilizing the tech to help reduce global warming and find more medical cures. As technology advances, and war fare develops, so does the need to evolve the battle field.
That's when I started thinking about the various forms of technology that could be used, that are in development or that have yet to be revealed or have yet to exist. Months of listening to Beast Coast: Escape From New York, Niki , Joji, Rich Brian, Higher Brothers, Thom Yorke: Anima, Tyler the Creator : Igor, Flying Lotus: Flamagara, ASAP Rocky, Tool, Deftones, UNKLE: The Road pt 2, reading manga such as Gantz ( which I love), Nikolas Draper-Ivey's manga Xenogenesis, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Battle Angel Alita: The Last Order, comics such as The Green Lantern (Morrison/ Sharp), Immortal Hulk (Ewing/Bennett), The Wildstorm (Ellis/ Davis), The Batman Who Laughs (Snyder/Jock), Justice League (Snyder, Tynion and Co), The Flash (WIlliamson and Co), amongst other things. I felt the need to build off those influences and it helped me to create the kind of visual aesthetic and tone that I was looking for in regards to this short. But, it wasn't until I met up with my co-writers lil Jose (Lord_ Sanchez), and Willinzy, and we talked about focusing more on making short comics so that it would be easier to produce rather than making 40 page books etc. Once they mentioned making short comics based on the topic/ theme, It fell right in line with what I was already doing.
SO it came together at the right time. They mentioned kaiju and that's when I started thinking about tweaking one of the monster shorts that I had been drawing. You can tell from the first page that the antagonist had a more human form, and then the following pages started to change since I wanted to align with the idea of Kaiju. But that's when I started to stray since I didn't want to do giant monsters, but more or less, creatures bred by war, bred by people in power who just want to see their profits flourish...that is until it gets out of hand, and then the test run goes sour. As most of life, whether its the nuclear energy, or drones, or anything that we make that could help us, I wanted to display how often that the creations of good intent always ends up getting twisted by others who have other motivations. Another thing I wanted to highlight was human trials, and the idea that people are sold by dreams, and then get tricked by those who pitched them. Its a bit cynical, yes, but when you think about the stories that creators and musicians live to tell, where they are held by contract, thinking they had a deal go one way, only to turn out another way that isn't favorable to the artist or to the individual.
Every time I leave my building, or take the subway, I would notice more homeless people on the subways, and streets like never before. That's when I started thinking about how many of them might have been sold on a dream, and maybe at one point, things went wrong, and then they end up being trapped. And like many of us, we all experience aspects of that, whether its the idea that college is the end all be all (which I graduated with an associates, and I'll advocate for community colleges). But even i know that there are other ways of progress beyond college. The idea that the military sells young men and women on an idea, when it isn't always gonna appeal to those that came in with noble ideals. Or a corporate job where it might be the stuff of dreams, only to realize that you're probably just a dime a dozen ready to be put in line, and sent off to a position that is the opposite of what was guaranteed or promised to you.
I thought about these situations, and conversations with friends and after months of those discussions, I wanted to embody all of those sentiments and feelings and well, I guess this is the result. Now even though this comic stems from these concepts and ideas that doesn't mean that it isn't open to interpretation as a silent story in it of itself. I figured that it was ambiguous enough for you to create an idea of what the story might be. Show, don't tell. So yeah, despite all of these influences and ideas, the narrative is entirely up to you to interpret. The dialogue, is up to you to describe. All that matters is how it makes you feel. SO, I hope you enjoy this short, and as always, thank you for the patience and respect. Enjoy.
