concurrent interactions

part of the revised story has Mara locked up in a prison cell in a synthesis tower. After Synthesis hired an agent to who broke her heart, an angered Cypress starts taking out her frustrations on said tower causing a riot/prison break. during these events she knocks a guard through a wall that happens to free Mara from her cell.
having the storylines interact with each other is an exciting process.

Trialing bubbles

I redrew the first page as the feedback I received noted that it was difficult to navigate. I redrew it by simplifying the panels

story and thumbnails/layout

Prologue

The nation of Io is the site of the discovery of an organic alloy called Hybrid Matter that is derived from shredded asteroids. Contact with the new material is announced dangerous for human health. However this does not stop Scientist from dissecting the make up of the strange organic material. The corporation called Synthesis lead the study with the matter and form new technologies and weapons from bonding the new material to the now archaic devices.

Synthesis evolves into the conglomerate that controls the majority of the nation of Io. The traditionalists that lie on the outskirts of central Synthesis reside in Providence who look down on Hybrid Matter but have made a truce with Synthesis to allow the different lifestyles to have their own distinctions in their respective areas. Synthesis continues to grow in power and influence as their technologies advance, spearheaded by their harvesting of other bonding agents unique to other nations which they tend to retrieve by force. Synthesis functions on the obedience of the civilians who cooperate at the will of their mysterious ruler.

Providence rely on similar principles, promoting the specific roles for each individual and the obedience of the nation to the agreed laws. Certain activities are only delegated to certain social classes to promote balance of roles among the population. They are decided with the intention to ensure the right kind of people with optimal genealogy align to the role/activity that will best serve the nation as a whole. Among them is the bottom class that is concerned with the most minuscule activities with minimal responsibility. However, these tasks are physically demanding to an almost inhumane degree. These roles are assigned to the class that are lossless, who are either from poverty with no access to formal training causing them to have limited ability among most trades, or individuals who have no genealogy to trace what role they belong.

I tried to condense the ideas to be as concise as possible and clarify the themes I want to communicate. I am concerned whether or not there are enough transitions between sequences that communicate how/why the characters get from one place to another. This could all be clarified after I add in the dialogue but as just images, I feel sections are communicated well but I think I might need to add some more panels.

Another part of the challenge of telling concurrent stories on the same page is that effectively each characters story is only told in half the amount of total pages of the book as the pages are split. Keeping an appropriate page count while trying to communicate a relatively complex story with complex ideas is proving to be quite challenging but the results from the pages that work [where the stories compliment each others ideas] is encouraging.

story and thumbnails/layout

Prologue

The nation of Io is the site of the discovery of an organic alloy called Hybrid Matter that is derived from shredded asteroids. Contact with the new material is announced dangerous for human health. However this does not stop Scientist from dissecting the make up of the strange organic material. The corporation called Synthesis lead the study with the matter and form new technologies and weapons from bonding the new material to the now archaic devices.

Synthesis evolves into the conglomerate that controls the majority of the nation of Io. The traditionalists that lie on the outskirts of central Synthesis reside in Providence who look down on Hybrid Matter but have made a truce with Synthesis to allow the different lifestyles to have their own distinctions in their respective areas. Synthesis continues to grow in power and influence as their technologies advance, spearheaded by their harvesting of other bonding agents unique to other nations which they tend to retrieve by force. Synthesis functions on the obedience of the civilians who cooperate at the will of their mysterious ruler.

Providence rely on similar principles, promoting the specific roles for each individual and the obedience of the nation to the agreed laws. Certain activities are only delegated to certain social classes to promote balance of roles among the population. They are decided with the intention to ensure the right kind of people with optimal genealogy align to the role/activity that will best serve the nation as a whole. Among them is the bottom class that is concerned with the most minuscule activities with minimal responsibility. However, these tasks are physically demanding to an almost inhumane degree. These roles are assigned to the class that are lossless, who are either from poverty with no access to formal training causing them to have limited ability among most trades, or individuals who have no genealogy to trace what role they belong.

Layout/writing

In terms of writing the narrative I had a difficult time getting started to nailing down what would actually occur in the book. I began writing ideas of back stories and intentions but no clear direction for what kind of journey the characters would undertake to present the ideas I wish to explore.
After a couple of days just developing the characters and their roles, I attempted to draw and intro which I had been thinking of for a while, but afterwards I had no idea of where to go to next. I found that tackling the narrative by going from page to page with no clear idea or direction extremely difficult.

It was suggested I layout out a template for all the pages and begin trying to picture the story as a whole. This proved to be super productive as I was able to see the relationship both in the timeline of the book but also repetitive panel structures and other detrimental aspects to the book as a whole I would not have been able to see had i been going page to page. The comic is shaping to be balanced and clearer than I had imagined and the division of the concurrent narratives is as a more exciting new storytelling tool than I had imagined.
I will continue to thumbnail the panels in after I detail the written part of the narrative that will compliment the streamlining of the thumbnails as I will have a script to go from.

Revising the narrative

ABSTRACT

“Sinthesis” will be a comic book I will develop, to explore the extent of which individuals compromise their identity to comply with the rules of the society they are in. My commentary will be expressed through the journey of two female protagonists in a science fiction setting. Both characters have unique powers that ostricize them from their respective environments, forcing them to make the decision to accept their role or oppose the cultural discourse.

I will manipulate the traditional panel structure to enforce underlying themes as they take place in the narrative, like conveying class struggle by having one perspective occur above the other.

The final product will be a unique narrative experience that articulates the relationship between the rules of a society and the constitution of identity.

Analyzing this often over looked concept will help encourage informed reflection on the amount of choice individuals have in their identities and their place within society.

After identifying the purpose of the project I plan to undertake, I have begun refining the world in which the narrative will take place.