Godz & Men

Stella was overcome with joy, amazed by the sight of so many strange people celebrating together.
This is what the final illustrations might look like.

Around that same time, an honored guest was arriving at the festival. His name was Alabachus, son of Dionysus and friend to the twin gods. With his arrival, the festivities took a more formal turn.

Divine horses pulling giant barrels of wine arrived. Wine flowed like a fountain, descending into everyones goblet's that suddenly appeared in everyones hands. Up on the stage the twin god's welcomed Alabachus and caught up on old times.

The feasting began. Everyone is engulfed in an ecstatic orgy of the senses. Lost in admiration, Stella wanders up to the stage, hoping to catch a glimpse of the gods.

Suddenly her new friend, Bomki, appears and tells her that he knows the gods and can introduce her to them, but that she should give them an offering. Finding the vial of sombrosia in her bag, Bomki exclaims that it would be a perfect offering. In a daze, Stella had forgotten where the vile came from and what was in it. She had even forgot that she was looking for her mother. Such was the power of the spell of the gods.

Stella is introduced to the gods.

Godz & Men

Down at the docks, crowds of people pushed their way onto the next ferry. There was a huge festival across the bay on an island, that was invite only. Stella slipped through on her skateboard.

Approaching the island, it seemed to be crawling like a hill of termites. Some people jumped off the ferry into the water and others pushed their way down the ramp, some getting trampled under.

On the island, it seemed to Stella like she was on another planet. There were strange people she had never knew existed. Sitting under a tree she observed the spectacle until some revelers invited her to join them.

They danced through the forest to the strange music that was enveloping the island. Coming out into a clearing, they danced into the ecstatic throngs of revelers. 

Godz & Men

Re-surfacing to the streets of the city, Stella senses that things are different. Strange clouds are gathering and the wind is blowing in many directions at once. The activity in the streets seems frenetic, with odd people and creatures she had never seen.

Meanwhile Sandra and Kritjan are sailing on his yacht with his entourage. Kritjan pulls out a ring, which he offers to Sandra, telling her it has the power to take her to Valhalla any time she wishes. The other groupie chicks looked on, smiling sweetly, their eyes burning with envy.

Godz & Men

After losing the cops, Stella falls asleep under a bridge. A large, detestable creature comes out of the darkness and approaches Stella.

Throwing her over his shoulder, he hauls her down into the dark passageways of the underground waterways.

In horror, Stella is dragged into a strange, odious underworld.

She is thrown at the feet of the Naga lord, Luchen Poojab, who commands her obeisance.

Revolted by the repugnant scene before her, Stella refuses, angering the Naga-lord.

One of the Naga-lords ministers, intercedes, claiming that Stella was the girl who saved the kings son from being eaten as a fish. They bring the prince into the room to confirm this (in his naga form).

Stella proceeds to tell them her story, about her mom going to the Heaven's Gate Theatre and dissapearing, and her search for her. At the mention of the Theatre, Lord Luchen Poojab knew that Sandra was under the spell of the Twin Gods, his adversaries in the underground drug scene. He decided to "help" Stella by giving her a large vile of Sombrosia, poisoned with deadly snake venom.

With glee, he handed her the vile, telling her to give it to the twin gods when she found them. He then wished her luck on her journey.

Godz & Men

After throwing the strange fish back into the water, Stella waits to see if something will happen. Nothing does.

Wondering if she is going crazy. She ventures out into the city and finds some punks to skate and destroy with.

Eventually, they get split up by the po po.

Godz & Men

The truck arrives in the middle of China town, in the fish market. Walking through the market she notices a fish thats still alive and seems to be asking her to save it. 

She grabs it and jumps on her skateboard, heading down to the docks.

 

Godz & Men

Stella hitches a ride in the back of a truck to the next town. Sandra and Kritjan are falling in love, blissfully she forgets her old life.

Godz & Men

Looking for Sandra, Stella makes her way out of the city and into the forest. Cold and scared, she sits under a tree and waits for morning. Out from the darkness a strange hairy man jumps out, and introduces himself as Flanagan. He sings a song to her about the ages of man.

Godz & Men

Meanwhile Sandra, having gone to the infamous "Heaven's Gate Theatre" is seduced into the world of the twin gods Kritjan and Valkyre. When people hear Kritjan's music they glimpse the magical realm of Valhalla, at which point they may fall under his spell, becoming his groupies.

Kritjan's brother Valkyre also has control of the many goupies, being the dealer of sombrosia; a powerfull drug that when injected brings them pleasure and magical powers. He also has a terrifying dog that was bred from a bull and a viper.

My Story- Beginning

While painting an interior of a house with a friend, I was telling him about an idea I had for a graphic novel about the gods in modern times. We were pumped up on caffeine and it was usual to philosophize and bounce ideas and jokes around on the job, which is one of the fun things about being a painter. Anyhow, he was psyched on the idea, and we decided that he would write the story and I would illustrate it.

That didn't quite work out. He was more focused on his musical talents and he took a while to come up with a some varied ideas that didn't really make sense to me (something about elves and crystals and multi-dimensions).

So I started writing it myself. It was about a teenage girl and her young, beautiful single mom who was a junkie. The girl, "Stella", had to take care of herself as well as her irresponsible mom. One night her mom, "Sandra", went to a show with her friends and didn't come back. With only her skateboard and a backpack Stella sets out to find her mom.

My Story

Which brings me to my story. I have wanted to create a story in which there is the magic and wonder of a myth, but had some modern, ordinary, everyday life element to it. I had a vague idea for a story about the descendants of the gods in our modern times. Similar to the old myths (Greek and others), the gods would always be interfering, in good and bad ways with human's lives.

A painting of the Battle of Troy

The seedy world of comics

The majority of graphic novels and comics I have seen have a negative, distorted view of things. Besides the rampant sex and violence that is seen everywhere, there are the monstrous, twisted visions of evil and post-apocolyptic scenarios. I am somewhat fascinated by these things myself, but I have to wonder what purpose it serves to dwell on these things. Maybe that is the only way to get readers interested. But I think there needs to be a sense of contrast for this to be effective.

Black Hole

I just finished reading Black Hole, a graphic novel by Charles Burns. Whoa! what a book. Creepy as hell, but it almost physically took me back to high school and the confused situations I would find myself in. He is particularly good at describing the perplexing experiences of sex and drugs.

from Black Hole by Charles Burns 

The story is about a strange STD that only affects teenagers, basically turning them into monsters. Full of symbolism. The linocut-style illustrations are masterfully rendered, and with the hundreds of illustrations packed into this huge book, I wondered how many years this project took him, especially since he also wrote the story.

Comics

I used to read "Too Much Coffee Man" by Shannon Wheeler back in the '90's. It was about a superhero with a coffee cup head who would sit around drinking coffee, ruminating about how to save the world.

 
It was successful at portraying the inertia of someone who wants to do something great but never gets past his coffee buzz inspiration.

TINTIN by Herge, was one of the great Comic's that stand out for me. A story about a reporter and his little dog traveling the world unravelling political and archeological mysteries. The stories were upbeat and fun to read, and the illustrations were all based off of research, which made it very authentic.

I also loved the Asterix comics, about the tribes of Gaul's holding off the Roman's from taking their native forests.

Hayao Miyazaki's work is another example of amazing stories and artwork that surpasses anything I have seen. Studio Ghibli, his team of artists create an endless stream of character's and stories weaving the spirit and human world's strange connections. Although most of the work is now animated movies, some of them started as graphic novels.

One of the pieces that I have been clinging to for a while, is the idea that I need to become a graphic novelist (think comic books). I am completely in love with this idea. For one, I love to draw and paint.

Another reason is that I like fantastical stories and ideas. The mythologies from our various cultures have given us a history of the way people think, filled our imaginations and enriched our lives (I haven't read Joseph Campbell's writings but I'm sure they are informative). Is mythology just a collection of primitive ideas from the past? I don't think it is. Comic book characters and super heroes are great examples of current myths. In my teenage years I was never really interested in comics, they seemed silly and a waste of time (I had other ways of wasting my time). Now I feel differently. So I have been studying them for the last few years.

There are times when I feel I have found a crucial piece. Joyfully, desperately I cling to it thinking that it will solve everything.

sometimes, sleeping, I find myself feverishly on the brink of finding a seemingly important missing piece

only to wake up and find that I either can't remember, or that the whole thing was totally absurd.

I'm always hoping to find that piece that is going to bring everything together

Greetings and salutations

Life is puzzling...

or rather, I tend to relate with it like a puzzle (in this case legos)