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Graphic Violence Presents: Fun and PROPHET
Munch
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
THE PREMISE: Scattered across the universe is an army of Prophets, fierce warriors, each of them cloned from the legendary hero, John Prophet. After sleeping through the extinction of the human race, the Prophets have finally awoken en masse, and been tasked to restart the Earth Empire, by the mysterious, telepathic Brain Mothers.
Though in many ways similar to the original John Prophet, each clone is their own, unique individual, with their own mission to carry out.
THE CHALLENGE: Make a Prophet! Create a character, detail their history, motivation, and mission. If you're the artisticaly inclined sort, draw a picture to go along with your description.
THE RESOURCES: Never read Prophet? That's cool! This particular topic allows you to go pretty broad in terms of what kind of character you want to create. It's a great big universe, full of possibilities.
But, if you want a bit of reading material, the first issue of the current run is available for free on Comixology. You can also consult the Prophet Sharing Tumblr, to gather some additional ideas.
THE REWARD: A copy of Prophet: Remission, to the entry that receives the most votes! U.S. residents will receive a physical copy, shipped via Amazon, while non-U.S. residents will be furnished with a digital download, via Comixology. U.S. residents may also opt for the digital download. If you already own the first volume of Prophet, I'll find some other cool thing to send you.
THE DEADLINE: January 31st! Any entry received on February 1st or later, will be considered invalid.
Munch on
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Also, I have a Prophet Trade inc shortly ( prob this week or next should arrive) would I be better to wait, or try and get it out before I get overly familiar beyond the basics that gave me the idea?
I was planning to draw some stuff, to go along with people's entries. So, post something, and I'll make some art to go along with it, time permitting.
And I say just go ahead and post something, now. Really, there's no limit on what kind of character you want to make. The Prophet universe has robots and pseudo-magic and guns and swords and all other kinds of weirdness, so there's really no wrong way to do it.
I want to make this a monthly thing, to spread awareness of comics I think are exceptional. But, if there's not enough participation, I'll have to drop the idea.
Here's an example entry, which I did some months ago:
Prophet John Stone
Awakening some months ago, John Stone learned two things; first, that he was to assault Fabaceaes Leguminosos, colloquially known as the City of Vines. An organic metropolis, seated atop a mountain that towers high above the clouds, and growing from a single, powerful seed. Its residents? A race of savage titans, who keep a distant offshoot of humanity as pets, livestock, and beasts of burden. Nigh impenetrable, guarded protected by sheer cliffs, raging snowstorms, and bowmen that fire arrows the size of saplings, John Stone's mission will be difficult, at best.
Unfortunately, the second thing John Stone learned upon emerging from his deep sleep, was that his arms, medical supplies, and rations have long since expired or been pilfered.
Unarmed, and with an impossible mission before him, a quick end on the sole of a goliath's shoe seems almost certain.
But, it is an uncertain universe.
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Pherotops is a gas giant that collided with, and ultimately enveloped, a planetoid. This resulted in the world being known as the Hungry Giant. John awoke on the planetoid, and found himself unprepared for the the world of Pherotops.
Pherotops' native inhabitants are floating creatures that lack sight and hearing entirely. Instead the communicate through the excretion of gases. Each Pherotopan has a distinct odor that gives it its identity. However there are general odors that make up clans and families on Pherotops. These clans are titled Olfactions. Their lack of sight is made up for by the large nostrils on what is their closest equivalent to a head. The literally sniff their way through the gasfields of Pherotops. Soldiers of Pherotops have weaponized their biology by developing exo-bladders that emit poisonous fumes. To prevent harm from their own weapons Pherotopan soldiers also grew air sacs over their nostrils that filter their own poisons.
When John awoke he managed to subdue a Pherotopan and fashion its carcass into both a mode of flight and camouflage. As time progressed he learned of a center of conflict between the Olfactions. The properties of the combined gas giant and its enveloped planetoid created unique geysers that produced a new form of gas nicknamed, "The Fume." The Fume is an addictive substance to the Pherotopans who indulge in its scent, and slowly bloat to enormous sizes before perishing. Cartels and black markets had formed around the geysers and trade of "Bloaters" who other Pherotopans could receive similar highs from their gases.
John managed to overtake on of the Olfactions and is now a successful cartel leader of the planet. His extra senses allowed him much more maneuverability and lead him to be the most unstoppable warrior on Pherotops.
(sorry the drawing is rushed, I might toy around with it later)
I want it to be a comic, so that I can read it right now.
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Prophet John Fex
John Fex woke up in the center of a planetoid. In fact, John woke up as the center of the planetoid. His skin a durable, flexible metallic compound, his eyes hardened glass implants, John was protected from the womb of molten stone and metal that he slept in. He spent the first week of his new life wriggling, swimming, and eventually digging his way to the surface of the planetoid. Once there, John realized that not only did he used to be the physical core of the planetoid, he was also its magnetic center - John radiates a magnetic field that was amplified by the metal in the mantle of the planetoid, giving it a magnetic field similar to Earth's. When John left his place at the planetoid's center, he took that field with him.
The inhabitants of the planetoid mostly take a dim view of John. Most upset are the gor-lann: after centuries of life on the planetoid, they've adapted to the magnetic field with every facet of their lives. The magnetized metallic deposits that have developed in their bodies allow them to detect minute magnetic fields, an ability they initially used for simple navigation. As their society developed, the ability to sense the magnetic fields gained more and more social, political, and even religious significance. Those who could best detect the Magnet Mother's fields - even interpret her silent messages to her beloved children - could rise to the envied rank of poet-priest. With John's emergence and the disappearance of the planetoid-wide magnetic field, the religious gor-lann have recognized this time as the prophesied Rebirth, and John Fex as the Lover-Thief of the Magnet Mother, He Who Steals the Magnessence. They are after John so they can ritually sacrifice him to their goddess in order to return to her the soul they think John took. The non-religious gor-lann don't really care about John's fate one way or the other, but their life is greatly impacted by the disappearance of the magnetic fields, and it's clear that John is somehow involved; if the priests say all will go back to normal with the Lover-Thief's death, then hey, why not give it a go.
With an entire species after him - one whose members can use their innate senses to track him - John spends most of his days on the move. While his metal skin protects him from much environmental harm, he still needs food and water. The magnetic field that his body generates is more hindrance than harm; John has no conscious control over it, and therefore needs to be careful around electronics and metal. Getting too close to a large amount of metal could prevent John from moving on, as he'd have to fight the force of the field to get away from the metal.
The disappearance of the planetoid's magnetic fields has also destabilized its orbit. John Fex doesn't know exactly what his mission consists of, but the quiet voice in his head is satisfied with things as they are. Whatever the mission is, it seems to be at the end of the planetoid's current path; he just has to survive long enough to see it.
I thought it'd be neat if his magnetic powers were constantly picking up debris, turning into makeshift armor, weapons, and hair. Sort of like Wooly Willy, but cooler.
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I didn't consider how it could make armor or weapons, though. That's a really great idea! Get a sharp metal pole stuck to your forearm, and now you have a lance. That same grate on the other arm could be a shield. The garbage knight of Planetoid X-319 shall ride again!
I finished the first trade, Remission, a few days ago, and my feeling is that the John Prophet clones that were depicted there had very flat personalities. Maybe the reader simply doesn't spend enough time with them to see them open up, but it felt more like they were just an excuse to explore these crazy-ass environments and alien creatures. The average John Prophet clone as a character seems pretty empty, but your average John Prophet clone as a creature can be interesting, and he can go into interesting places.
This is why my entry focuses entirely on the environment and John Fex's biology rather than any personality trait of his. Incidentally, I also came up with a species of crystalline aliens called the xelox, who look like sea urchins, using their quill-legs made of thin, long crystals to get around, but I couldn't figure out why they'd care about Fex one way or the other, so I left them out.
I guess one way to approach it is this: take a regular human, and change one thing about his biology. Where does this new biology allow him to go? If he has long stork-legs, what does this mean? Maybe he's on a planet where all the land is a foot under water. What the hell does that mean? What sort of a species might live in such an environment? Maybe John has eye-implants that let him see for miles. What can he do with that? What environment would he be deployed to with that? What if he's covered in fur? A snowy planet would probably be his bag, right?
Nobody talks about the Liefeld issues, this is based on the relaunch under Graham last year
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I guess he chose the teams or something
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34915
Whilst physically weaker than most other Prophet clones, due to the zero gravity environments he is built for, this John Prophet possesses psychic powers which he is scheduled to unlock as he progresses through each level of the space station. As his powers awaken a third eye will begin to emerge from the wound on his forehead.
The station has been taken over by animalistic subhuman offspring of the original science crew. The original plan was that John would awaken to a fully functional space station crew who had been preparing to aid him for generations, however something went wrong. Are the Thelurians so far gone that they can no longer be considered viable humans or will John Prophet find a way to make an unconventional army out of them?
The Three-Eyed Prophet.
I decided he should have a big Alan Moore beard, for no justifiable reason.
Additionally, I thought it'd be neat to show the space station itself being corrupted by some kind of creeping decay, as a parallel to what's happened to the residents.
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I give you, John Prophet, the Mound Walker
This clone of John Prophet was tasked with the rescue of the heir of an endangered, sentient species-a paternalistic race of highly adaptive chimera, part reefspawn, part termite mound, part...something else. The spawn king can restore the ecosystem its offspring dwell in, but can also rejuvenate dying life. John found the king, but in the process of escape ended up forced to break the stasis urn of the spawn in an effort to save his own life before succumbing to toxic poisoning.
The spawn has heavily modified John Prophet's lungs and grafted itself across his back, and over the course of their journey has helpfully closed off injuries that might otherwise prove fatal to its carrier...but the symbiosis is having an undeniable effect on John Prophet.
John's head is trapped in a massive growth now, and his mind is in direct communion with the spawn-king's thoughts and desires. He no longer eats, or sleeps, or tires in any way, but relentlessly climbs and walks, the towering growth of the spawn king rising over his back and causing him to hobble with a disturbing gait. The spawn king has promised him freedom once they have reached the creche of its offspring, but every day, John can feel himself changing a little more, and wonders what will be left of himself when his task is done.
Thank you. It was easily the best thing I've read in a good while.
“What I like is there’s been nothing to suggest that it’s (anything) other than a straight faced thing you know? There’s no “Oh god I can do whatever I LIKE with these stupid characters.” No one said that but there is... It’s like the Elephant in the room. But you know Prophet was a really SHIT character. As are all of the Leifield characters. And it’s just amazingly great that they’re wringing all this weirdness and greatness out of this... extremely generic pouch concept from the nineties (laughs)”
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John had always enjoyed being a grunt in the hivemind, until one day on a routine delivery , everything went silent, he returned to his home planet, and found no one.
Lost , alone, confused, ( and rather stupid, as he had become dependant on just letting the hivemind autopilot him)
He continued almost a year trying to find answers alone on his homeworld, until in his darkest hour he tried to give up, right before the end tho, he finally heard a voice in his head that had been missing for a year, but it was not his people, it was the Brain Mother.
Feeling overwhelmingly indebted, and just enthralled to not be alone , John agrees to soldier for the Brain Mother , in hopes it will lead him to the answers about the fate of his people.
Brain Mother has her own learning to do as well, as she has never had a prophet so lost without direct intervention either.
I hope I got out enough of a summary to make sense, I figured he'd be fairly alein, but at the very least slightly humanoid, but even that's flexible, I just know when I had the odd moment of clarity lately, it's popped into my head.
I'd also totally read Alan Moore Prophet and Weird Growth Prophet ( and the others that I can't think of a clever nick for at the moment)
I have another idea for a Prophet that I wanted to post, but I kept not having time to. Fortunately, as I don't want a prize, I can just shove Prophets in here whenever I want. (And Munch is legally obligated to draw them.)
I thought about offering to do a short (1-3) page comic, for the winner, starring their character, and written/plotted by them. But, part of me feels weird about that. Like, it seems a bit arrogant on my part, I guess?
I dunno, if people were interested, I could probably do that for the next contest.
Oh, also.
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