It’s been awhile since I contributed another addition to Comics Confidential. The main reason for the lack of content was that I’ve been hard at work trying to finish my new graphic novel, Technomancer. Like with every project I’ve done, it’s never becomes easy. Every project I’ve done has had their load of setbacks and headaches that make me want to give up the pen and paper of comics for good, but the burning desire to continue to tell my stories always win out in the end.
Techno-mancer was originally a story set in a post apocalyptic future where a terrorist act caused a giant EMP bomb to wipe out all electronic power in the world. The hero would have a special power to bring back the power with his mind. It was going to be a mix of steam-punk and the Wild West with shades of the Mandrake the Magician. Then a little show called Revolution came about and totally stole my thunder. Now of course the only thing in common I had with that show was only the premise and the characters were different, but in no way did I want to look like I was following in that mediocre shows coattails. So I had to revamp the whole concept from the ground up.
The first thing I did was set the story centuries into the future on a far away colony on another planet. A great war between two factions of the world caused an event that divided the world into two. One side of the world all technology was banned while the other embraced it. Suddenly my mind exploded with story lines I never thought I could imagine before. I got to play with the classic tropes of sci-fi by using modern problems and using sci-fi to address them. What happens when mankind relies on technology too much? What happens when mankind stops using technology and only relies on nature? These are all intriguing questions I tried to raise with the story. You’ll have to read the comic to see if I actually try to answer those questions.
After finishing the story I worked out a three part trilogy made up of 4 issues each. Techno-mancer happens to be the middle chapter. Techno-Sapiens is the first and Techno-Mage will be the conclusion. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to finish my epic trilogy, but I’m going to try my hardest to get it out there.
The series focuses on John Merrick. He’s a traveling con-man/ magician. In the colony of Veridus, the people of the land are governed by Lawbringers for centuries. They have banned all technology from the land, but remnants of the past are still sold in the blackmarket. Merrick uses this to blackmarket technology to trick townspeople into thinking he’s using magic. Merrick and his band of assistants are chased by the leader of the Lawbringers, Sloan. Suddenly a mysterious ship crash lands just as Merrick is about to be captured. Out from the wreck a beautiful Techno-Angel named Rya emerges. She asks for Merricks help to return to her home of Azure where the armies of Techno-sapiens are ready to attack Veridus to reclaim the land they think is rightfully theirs.
Half way through the series and just as the book was about to get released in Previews, I received bad news that my artist, Marc Borstel couldn’t continue on the book because he got a gig to do Lady Death. I don’t fault him on that at all. That was a big time gig compared to mine. I wished him luck and went in search of a new artist. I then reached out to one time collaborator, Dane Cypel who knocked it out of the park on short notice. Here is three years of hard work and time.
You can currently order the book from Markosia Comics here.
It’s available digitally at comixology here.
If you have a cool comic shop you can maybe find it there as well. Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TECHNOMANCERCOMICS
If you’re in Staten Island on November 20th, I’ll be signing copies of the book at Comicbook Jones as well. Help my dream and support indie comics. The true dreamers in the comic industry are here. Next installment of Comic Confidential will feature my adventures at Comicbook Jones, so stay tuned.
Follow me on Twitter @RaphaelMoran
Lucasfilm Ltd. ‘s Keeper of the Holocron continuity database Leland Chee has stated that though technology, characters and locations in the game are C-canon, the story itself is S-canon, which means that only parts of it that appeared in other C-canon sources are canon . The story of the sequel however is C-canon.