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Barbasol · 2010-12-18, 03:49

Web Comic//Graphic Novel Series

This project is a proposed web-comic series that would create an Alternate universe in the world of Gundam. The new timeline, Post-Colonial Age, takes the familiar Mecha back to the Old American West. In this timeline, the West is being conquered for the first time. Dealing with themes like racism, oppression, vigilante justice, and corruption, Mobile Suit Gundam Outlaws both plays homage to past series as well as bringing the bright anime to a dark and bloody historical setting.
The inspiration came from my long-time love affair with the Gundam series. I grew up on Gundam Wing, and it helped me realize the moral ambiguity of the world, as opposed to the Good Guy-Bad Guy dynamic of other shows at the time. It also builds off of a common theme in the Western film genre of being based around Japanese Ronin. Outlaws flips the trend, bringing the Wild West to Samurai-inspired Gundams.

Style-
This is currently open to artistic integrity, should the team decide on an Anime style it would be totally acceptable given the origins, same goes for a more subdued western approach.
Each Comic would be given in 20 page volumes. This would allow for long enough to tell a detailed story, while short enough to allow for semi-regular updates for the site.
The proposed storyline can be divided into three main portions. Without giving away any sort of story details they are;
1- Forming the Team: Dealing with an initial villain, the first arc details the construction of a team of Gundams. Think of this as similar to the Seven Samurai or Magnificent Seven. (~7 Issues)
2- Dark Times: Coming off the initial victory, the team has separate goals and views which conflict. This, combined with a new villainous force, results in a crushing defeat at the end. (5-9 Issues)
3- Main Story: The second portion of the story. Building off the smaller character arcs in Acts I & II, Act III would set the stage for a climatic build up and finale. (~15 Issues, depends on sub-plots which may or may not develop)

Open Positions:
Scenery Designer- In charge of drawing backgrounds, buildings, and otherwise creating the setting of the Old West. Must be able to get a sense of the current locale and remaining consistent through production.
Character Artist- In charge of drawing human characters. Many characters are vague in their physical appearances thus far, so there’s a lot of room for creative thinking.
Mecha Designer- Responsible for drawing the Mobile Suits on a frame-by-frame basis. Also required to take and create mobile suits from rough concept/sketch/written description and create a functional product. Lots of room for creative exploration.

Distribution & Proposed Development Cycle:
Outlaws will be a free web-comic series, updated weekly. The proposed site will have sections for issues, mobile suits, characters, and etc.
In the weeks between updates, I will create blog posts. Consider these much like a commentary for past issues, cut characters or scenes, and the like. Included with the updates would be a new entry on the Mobile Suit or Character tabs. These entries would detail model name, issue appearances, technical specs, pictures and the like. All of which helping to form and maintain a steady reader base, as well as construct a more rich mythos.
This is not a profit-based comic. To reiterate, we cannot make money off of the specific materials we produce. Any kind of donation or ad-based revenue will be reinvested into the site to pay maintenance fees. In the event of a large sum donation, it will be invested in ads on other sites to increase traffic volume. In large, this is a labour of love rather than profit oriented.
My Role:
My personal role in the project would fall somewhere as an amalgamation of Producer, Writer, Concept Designer. I will be the one writing the scripts, creating the characters and making Mecha based concept decisions. That said, I believe that if the group has an idea, they should feel free to inform me and it will be considered quite fairly. This is, after all, a collaborative project.
The Overall Plot Arc is complete, the major characters have all been written up. Issue One is ready but I will be rewriting it to ensure a high caliber of story-telling.

There's my proposal, all comments and questions are welcome.

2010-12-18, 03:49	Link #1
Barbasol Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Canada	Creating Mecha Comic -- Looking for Artists and Designers Web Comic//Graphic Novel Series This project is a proposed web-comic series that would create an Alternate universe in the world of Gundam. The new timeline, Post-Colonial Age, takes the familiar Mecha back to the Old American West. In this timeline, the West is being conquered for the first time. Dealing with themes like racism, oppression, vigilante justice, and corruption, Mobile Suit Gundam Outlaws both plays homage to past series as well as bringing the bright anime to a dark and bloody historical setting. The inspiration came from my long-time love affair with the Gundam series. I grew up on Gundam Wing, and it helped me realize the moral ambiguity of the world, as opposed to the Good Guy-Bad Guy dynamic of other shows at the time. It also builds off of a common theme in the Western film genre of being based around Japanese Ronin. Outlaws flips the trend, bringing the Wild West to Samurai-inspired Gundams. Style- This is currently open to artistic integrity, should the team decide on an Anime style it would be totally acceptable given the origins, same goes for a more subdued western approach. Each Comic would be given in 20 page volumes. This would allow for long enough to tell a detailed story, while short enough to allow for semi-regular updates for the site. The proposed storyline can be divided into three main portions. Without giving away any sort of story details they are; 1- Forming the Team: Dealing with an initial villain, the first arc details the construction of a team of Gundams. Think of this as similar to the Seven Samurai or Magnificent Seven. (~7 Issues) 2- Dark Times: Coming off the initial victory, the team has separate goals and views which conflict. This, combined with a new villainous force, results in a crushing defeat at the end. (5-9 Issues) 3- Main Story: The second portion of the story. Building off the smaller character arcs in Acts I & II, Act III would set the stage for a climatic build up and finale. (~15 Issues, depends on sub-plots which may or may not develop) Open Positions: Scenery Designer- In charge of drawing backgrounds, buildings, and otherwise creating the setting of the Old West. Must be able to get a sense of the current locale and remaining consistent through production. Character Artist- In charge of drawing human characters. Many characters are vague in their physical appearances thus far, so there’s a lot of room for creative thinking. Mecha Designer- Responsible for drawing the Mobile Suits on a frame-by-frame basis. Also required to take and create mobile suits from rough concept/sketch/written description and create a functional product. Lots of room for creative exploration. Distribution & Proposed Development Cycle: Outlaws will be a free web-comic series, updated weekly. The proposed site will have sections for issues, mobile suits, characters, and etc. In the weeks between updates, I will create blog posts. Consider these much like a commentary for past issues, cut characters or scenes, and the like. Included with the updates would be a new entry on the Mobile Suit or Character tabs. These entries would detail model name, issue appearances, technical specs, pictures and the like. All of which helping to form and maintain a steady reader base, as well as construct a more rich mythos. This is not a profit-based comic. To reiterate, we cannot make money off of the specific materials we produce. Any kind of donation or ad-based revenue will be reinvested into the site to pay maintenance fees. In the event of a large sum donation, it will be invested in ads on other sites to increase traffic volume. In large, this is a labour of love rather than profit oriented. My Role: My personal role in the project would fall somewhere as an amalgamation of Producer, Writer, Concept Designer. I will be the one writing the scripts, creating the characters and making Mecha based concept decisions. That said, I believe that if the group has an idea, they should feel free to inform me and it will be considered quite fairly. This is, after all, a collaborative project. The Overall Plot Arc is complete, the major characters have all been written up. Issue One is ready but I will be rewriting it to ensure a high caliber of story-telling. There's my proposal, all comments and questions are welcome.