Mythological Vampires

In "Last of the Electus," vampires play an important role as the foot soldiers of the evil Discordia. In Greek mythology, there are two vampire type creatures; Mormo and Lamia. Mormo was a spirit who bit bad children and Lamia was turned into a child eating demon by a jealous Hera for her affair with Zeus. 

In our story, Lloyd deviated somewhat from mythology and created his own back story. Vampires were created in ancient times by Discordia to punish humanity for turning away from polytheism and embracing the concept of monotheism. While she and the other gods eventually went into seclusion and worked for and against mankind behind the scenes, her vampires spread out across the world and multiplied, killing millions across the centuries. It was only in the early twenty-first century that the world's governments formally acknowledged the vampires' existence, leading to the creation of the Electus and the first Vampire Wars.

In "Last of the Electus," Mormo and Lamia are the vampire leaders of Discordia's army and secret police. While Mormo prefers brute strength and a direct attack on her opponents, Lamia, who is also a practitioner of the black arts, uses more subterfuge to accomplish her agenda. 

Below are Isiah's first character sketches for each of the vampire leaders based on Lloyd's descriptions.

General Mormo

Lamia

 

Next time out, we'll take a look at the leaders of the rebellion and some background information on the characters. 

If you have any questions or comments about this blog, the project or any of our other works, please drop us a line.

 

Story Development

Welcome back to the Electus blog.

As Lloyd continues to write Chapter II of the graphic, Isiah has generated more character sketches. The latest are two are Greek gods; the villainess Discordia and Hephaestus, the Greek god of craftsman (also the blacksmith of the gods...which will be somewhat integral to the story).

Keep in mind these are just the rough sketches that will be used as character references for Isiah when he starts to draw the actual pages. 

This time out, we're going to feature some background on where the story comes from. The genesis of "Last of the Electus" came way back in 1995 while Lloyd was working on the set of the sci-fi television series "seaQuest 2032." One day he picked up a script and after reading it, decided that he would take a shot at creating his own original story. This led to his first effort called "Subject: Unknown;" a script featuring a character that would become Peter Redwood leading a team of federal agents with super powers against a vampire lord and his minions. That script was optioned by a local Orlando production company (Boris Malden's BBK Productions) that had produced the "Swamp Thing" and "Superboy" television shows in the early nineties. 

Lloyd pitched this story as "X-Men" meets "Blade" and while it contained many supernatural elements, the Greek mythological angle was totally absent. Around the same time, producer Walter Von Huene, who was also based in  Orlando at the time (and just so happened to be the dialogue coach for Arnold Schwarzenegger), recommended that Lloyd read Christopher Vogler's "The Author's Journey" to better understand story structure and archetypes.

While the script was never produced, the experience with both Malden and Von Huene gave Lloyd the motivation to continue forward with his writing. Switching to novels around 2002, he completed and saw published his three Ronan Marino hardboiled detective mysteries. Meanwhile the Redwood concept continued to gestate in his imagination and in late 2011, Lloyd decided to turn it into a graphic novel. Abandoning much of the original storyline while keeping the Redwood character, he outlined a story about Redwood, having thought the vampires defeated in the present day, awakens from cryogenic sleep fifty years into the future to find it ruled by vampires. 

Sounds somewhat familiar, right...but where are Discordia and the other Greek gods? After much thought, Lloyd decided that there were just too many novels, comics, movies, etc. that featured vampiric rulers in a dystopian future; especially after an artist that he pitched the story to said it sounded too much like the movie "Priest." Fair enough...so who would be the villains?

Could it be aliens? Demons? Then Lloyd stumbled over the Greek goddess Eris, the goddess of chaos, strife and discord. Finding promise in her as a villain, he learned that in mythology there were also actual vampires in Mormo and Lamia. So what if vampires were created by Eris to punish mankind for turning away from the gods and becoming monotheistic? What if after centuries the gods returned to reclaim the planet and enslaved mankind? What if they staged massive gladiatorial games in famous places like Madison Square Garden?

Eureka! Gods, vampires and gladiators it was. In early drafts,  Lloyd used the name Eris as the chief villain, but decided that the Latin version "Discordia" sounded far more evil, especially in light of the title becoming "Last of the Electus" using the Latin term for chosen. With a villain in place, the story could move forward.  

So what's up next for the project? We're going to begin building a website to promote the story and Lloyd will be attending Boston Comic Con in late April with promotional materials. We're also hoping to have the first chapter ready to go for New York Comic Con in October.

Look for more artwork from Isiah very soon!

Beginning the Project - Last of the Electus

Welcome to the project page for "Last of the Electus."

"Last of the Electus" is an ambitious graphic novel project teaming veteran mystery author Lloyd L. Corricelli (Ronan Marino Mysteries) with rising artist Isiah Bradley (Deviant Art).

Their goal is to pitch the project to one of the smaller comic book companies (IDW, Dark Horse, Dynamite) who accept unsolicited projects or go the full independent route and publish on their own, both digitally and eventually in print. This will involve a Kickstarter effort that they hope you'll see worthy of investing in.

So just what is "Last of the Electus" about? Think "Gladiator," "Spartacus" and the "X-Men" all rolled up into one. Here's the official synopsis:

"Navy SEAL Commander Peter Redwood was the leader of The Electus (Latin for Chosen), an international team of genetically enhanced soldiers created in the early twenty-first century to defeat a growing supernatural threat. With their enhanced strength, speed and telekinetic powers, they could stand toe to toe with even the strongest of mystical foes. 

In 2015, the vampire Mormo, from Greek mythology, and her hordes seized control of the Baltic nations; slaughtering millions and turning those countries into their own private playground. The Electus were sent into action, winning the decisive Battle of Riga and sending the vampires back into the shadows. They pay a huge price however; only sixteen Electus are left standing at the battle's end.

The survivors are hailed as saviors across the globe; but just as they build heroes up, the public loves to tear them down. After a series of well publicized criminal allegations against members of The Electus, mankind began to fear their incredible powers and turned on their champions. One by one, they were hunted down and murdered, leaving only their leader. Escaping two assassination attempts, Redwood, with his wife and son, managed to elude authorities for over a year until he was finally ambushed and taken into custody by a black ops team with a hidden agenda.  

Twenty-five years later he awakes from cryogenic slumber to find that Discordia, the evil Greek goddess of chaos and her supernatural legions now control all of North America and threaten the world with holocaust if any attempt is made to try and take back the continent. Forced to fight in a gladiatorial game against centaurs, minotaurs and other mythological creatures, Redwood escapes and meets up with the rebel forces trying to topple Discordia’s reign. 

Distrustful of humanity, hunted by the forces of darkness and desperate to learn the fate of his family, Peter Redwood is the…the Last of the Electus." 

To date, Lloyd has completed the script for book one and is working on book two. Meanwhile Isiah works on the character designs and will be starting to draw book one soon.

Here's a peek at the designs as they stand. 

Next post, we'll look at some new designs, including the main villain Discordia, and get some background information on the mythology of the story as well as a progress update.

Stand by...this is going to be fun and we're glad you're along for the ride!