Happy Sci-fi Friday! Here at the end of June, I’m happy to announce the kickoff of a series of posts coming up over July, and the reveal of a new Petro Patriot character!
Coming up in July
We are readying the release of a FREE ashcan comic. which will be released early for Substack subscribers before later publication on GlobalComix. Alongside that, we’re coming close to 2/3 completion for the main book, which means more announcements will be coming this year :)
I’m queuing up a July 4 post with are previewing Book 1, and in that post I’ll be announcing release dates for the ashcan, coming later in the month. I’ll add a little preview art too, it’s going to be fun :)
Introducing Marjorie and the Chroma
If you saw our earlier update with Page 1 colored, you might remember Pax City’s industrial districts built on platforms. The Inner Districts are likewise behind great walls.
Which leads to the question, what’s outside the walls? Why aren’t people leaving the cramped oppressive city?
Well, there’s something waiting for those who try.
These creatures, the Chroma, are the first of multiple mutants that threaten New America and the 40 million people held up inside the NAU’s Five Cities. The mutagenic parasites appearing as spines can detach and leap upon victims, initiating mutation. The process itself of the Chromatoid worms attaching to the nervous system is bad enough. But far more despairing is the knowledge you are on a one-way trip to either exile in the squalid conditions of the Chroma villages, or the Penta Procedure.
Something I like about the Chroma as a concept is their retained consciousness. Yes, the Chromatoid parasites are a second brain. Yes, this second brain can drive masses of Chroma into a frenzied zombie state known as the “Chromatose Condition.” But imagine if you still retained all your memories, and your humanity, and yet you can never return to your old life. Further, at any moment you could be dragged into the Chromatose state, forced to fight against your will.
Despite the monstrous nature of this threat, it wouldn’t be right to say that all humans are always enemies. In fact, a few have a curious resistance to the condition. How that works, and the true breadth of relationships between humans, Chroma, and more in Pax City’s industrial districts will be explored in the opening issues.
I can’t wait to show y’all, and for now, I’d like to close on an Andaerz commision of Marjorie, who is curious as to who just wandered into her territory.