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Graphic Novel
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Comic books and graphic novels are great spaces to visualize complex ideas.
The metaphor, it is a performance venue that lets the artist/creator paint the story, captures its essence quite literally. Below is a work in progress (more of an ideation) but would love to one day make real. Xenophobia Nation The storyline: the protagonist discovers a mask with special powers, presumably some kind of alien-technology (not of Earth); it transforms emotional energy into physical manifestation, a skyscraper towering monster called J'Zilla. The name is a pun of course and homage to J Dilla, the legendary Hiphop producer/beat maker combined with a flip of the classic King of the Japanese cinema kaiju, Godzilla. But the name isn't just random, it is quite important for the storyline; the protagonist is also a beat maker. The protagonist is somewhat of a social outcast, a bit depressed most of the time and battles anxiety, but he can feel at peace with himself when he escapes into making beats. Somehow this all ties into the manifestation of J'Zilla, as the protagonist discovers his emotional state while making beats is the right frequency for the mask to activate its special powers. The twist: the protagonist does not know that the mask also absorbs 'hate-energy', and when it does, it manifests city-destroying monsters. Through a series of events, the reader learns that there is a structural cause for hate-energy, and gets to witness the protagonist grapple with his own emotions, struggles but eventually finds ways to resolve them in order to combat the hate-driven monsters. (2018-present) Below: I used Photoshop and free hand drawing, to mock up a sequence of the protagonist coming to terms with the power of the mask.
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