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!
