---
###### tags: `Gitcoin Graphic Novel`
---
# Comic #4 Art Direction Page-by-Page
### High-Level Considerations
- [Moodboard for Comic #4](https://app.milanote.com/1NJqxH1AwSyfbZ?p=I4NoLdFMkhs)
- Use brighter colors on these 4 pages. On page 5, the color palette will change to more of a [lunarpunk theme.](https://justinenortonkertson.medium.com/what-is-lunarpunk-17a8f7bfeeb6)
- We want to increase the detail of all of the art. Please explore juicy gore, experimental textures, and art techniques that you think are exciting! The art does not need to be consistent or in the same style. Each page could explore different visual languages.
### Page 1
- Comic #3 left off at the Tavern.
- Page 1 of Comic #4 will begin from that zoomed out position, with the ominous phantasmagoric Moloch.
- There's a tension with the characters that have gone through the portal and those that chose to pursue fortune and glory.
- The *prisoner's dilemma* is between these two groups. Those that choose hope/optimism without knowing what that really means, and those that choose self-interestedness without knowing what they are sacrificing.
- Both of these groups will be represented on this page.
- Both groups recognize the sacrifice that is made and begin to glimpse the larger game they are immersed in.
- Both groups surrender to the game theory and realize that both paths are futile if they remain opposed to each other.
### Page 2
- The choice to surrender leads to an *involution of aperture.* This page will zoom from the tavern walls way in to the interior of the body.
- In the tavern, shadows are cast on the walls that silhouette the shape of the phantasmagoric Moloch.
- The Moloch-y shadows imprint onto the *screen of the eyes*.
- The image of Moloch permeates into the lymph system...
- The central nervous system...
- Internal/external pressures...
- Eye-Hand-Heart coordination...
- Extreme oscillation of scale...
[(Watch Powers of Ten to get a feel for this movement)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0)
- Understanding that the whole universe is an ever-filling void...
- Leading to an image of **THE ETHER** which represents the global network of Ethereum, connecting everything and everyone.
### Page 3
- A series of vignettes. Each concept will exist in its own space, but the frames should blend and meld to make a single cohesive image, like a collage or painting by Hieronymus Bosch.
- [Consult this outline](https://hackmd.io/r6DnNdSeT_uGqAFLqlbl1g?view#Details-AIPs-as-Instances-of-Moloch) for more details on each image. These are the basic images:
- **Moloch** is not the god we sacrifice to, but our own interior voice that is willing to sacrifice anything/everything if we believe it might help in times of war. Moloch is war itself.
- Artificiality as the artifice holding us back or propelling us forward?
- **Anon** tormented by the horrors imposed upon her in her life/experience, witnessing horrors inflicted upon others, and remembering traumas accumulated throughout history
- A portal-interface that people are communicating through
- A futuristic city, urbanity as a coordination mechanism, but it remains unclear.
- A portal opens up in the middle of the page showing the RaidGuild characters. They are having interior monologues, full of surprise at the images they are seeing.
- The following images are collaged together on the bottom of the page, like a mirror image of the image above.
- Cancer
- Misunderstanding
- Trauma
- Wasting resources
- War (very brutal, full of gore!)
### Page 4
- The images on this page will be infused with words.
- The frames of the page will represent the breaking of time and space.
- It all leads to a visualization of a technology stack. This image should superimposed on top of the dense swirling mass of images composed of the inflection points and the breaking apart of time-space.
### Page 5: MOLOCH!
- A look back in time to the beginnings of an ancient god
- Mythological smoke, fog, vapor
- Moloch is an illusion, a figment of the human imagination! Doesn't really exist
- Moloch is a delusion we cast upon others, a collective hallucination!
- Moloch is a shadow looming over our civilization
- Moloch is an icon
- Moloch is the wrong kind of sacrifice...
- a sacrifice of our future...
- for success in war...
- because humans are eternally conquering each other
### Page 6: Automation
- Pre-industrial machines
- An unhealthy dependence on technology
- Humans have faith that technology will set us free from ourselves
- Technology also places us in servitude
- But there is hope! To use developed techniques to coordinate better!
- Beyond human narcissistic concerns
- Beyond the devastation of nature
- Not technology as a crutch, but as a portal to a new way of thinking about ourselves to ourselves
- We can't think about the future without thinking about technology
- Is it holding us back? Or are we holding it back?
### Page 7 + 8: Two Sides of the Metaverse-as-Interface
*These two pages should be treated as one image. The left side is dark and pessimistic. The right side is light and optimistic.*
Left side:
- we are always working
- trying to escape ourselves
- leisure is excessive
- it's all a simulation
- reality is a trap
- virtual reality captures our imagination
- these tools are being used against the people to keep them imprisoned
- to manipulate their desires
- to push them to conquer all territory, tirelessly
- to oppress each other, mercilessly
- to waste their resources, mindlessly
- virtual reality is much worse than "the real world"
- because it replicates all the problems of the real world
Right side:
- the "metaverse" can be used to visualize a new reality
- it allows us to extend our imagination and collaborate on a shared image
- this is the essence of collaboration!
- this is a bridge between different ways of living!
- this about regenerative economies that allow people to support each other because we are no longer competing
- the future becomes more clear as we work together
- technology is a tool to free our minds (so our bodies can follow)
- we depend on each other
- we manifest reality together (cast spells)
- our collective magic is more powerful than individualism
- together, we can achieve a better future
- the metaverse is a portal to a new world
### Page 9 + 10: Two Sides of the Quadratic Lands
*Again, these two pages should be treated as one image. The left side is dark and pessimistic. The right side is light and optimistic.*
Left side:
- a window looking into utopia
- which is really a vision of the development of civilization
- it starts with people settling into a place
- it expands to towns, villages, cities
- urbanity is a coordination mechanism!
- civilization has rising and falling tides
- including SO MUCH WAR
- we are always competing for space, even into the depths of (outer) space
- there are always winners and losers
- our degenerate tendencies and perverse desires always win
Right side:
- the window into the utopian city becomes a mirror
- this view of history allows us to see ourselves
- so we can choose a different path
- towards another kind of portal that shows a hopeful future
### Page 11 + 12: Moloch is in EVERYTHING
*This are will be a two page spread, but there is no left/right or light/dark division. All of these elements can be swirled together into one image that spans across both pages.*
- the voice of Moloch infuses all of our thoughts
- the portal is a tool for Moloch!
- the characters are agents of Moloch!
- war is a game for Moloch!
- Moloch lives in our communication failures!
- Moloch thrives on our fear, loathing, and doubt!
- Moloch is the great spectre of the human imagination!
- EVERYTHING IS MOLOCH!
- the past is Moloch!
- the future is Moloch!
- all suffering and thriving serve Moloch!
- all machines and automation serve Moloch!
- all voices are Moloch!
- I am Moloch!
### Page 13 + 14: Conclusion
*This are will be a two page spread, but there is no left/right or light/dark division. All of the frames will be on the left page. The right page will be an illustration of Anon's room and will have the credit text imposed on top of it.
- Anon wakes up. She is back in her bedroom. Her room is a modern messy teenagers room.
- She is in the present moment.
- She fell asleep reading comics about Moloch and ETH Bot
- It was all a dream!
- but it was so real
- she has a headache
- she remembers all of the choices, all of the possibilities
- she remembers her responsibility to choose, and to choose wisely
- her life will never be the same again
- and she knows she can't do it alone
- so what will she choose?
---
### Cover Design
- Wrap around image like comic #3
- On the left (back cover):
- Anon falls asleep while reading comic #4
- the cover of comic #4 is Anon falling asleep on comic #4
- Anon's dreams, hopes, and fantasies bubble out of her mind to float all over the page as little vingettes
- Vingettes:
- Quadratic lands: a futuristic city
- ETH Bot being destroyed by Moloch
- A bunch of cyberpunk Anon's rising up in a revolution
- On the right (front cover):
- Moloch turns her dream into a nightmare!
- Moloch is manipulating her dreams
- Moloch is feasting on her hopes
- Moloch is building himself from her fantasies
- As Moloch touches the dream bubbles they become sad, decrepit, charred, frightening
- Could be a subtle reference to "fucking" her dreams. Can't be graphic, but maybe some kind of sexual reference where Moloch is the cock pentrating the feminine fantasy.
- The background is a grotesque nightmarish scene: an orgy mixed with hell
- Moloch's **eyes** are a central presence on the page.
- In his eyes we see the RaidGuild characters (setting up page 1) in one eye and Anon suffering from a nightmare in the other eye
- Lots of fire! Maybe subtle reference to burning children! A vision of hell!
Sign in with Wallet
Connect another wallet