En-Mercs comic

One of the things that makes En-Mercs stand out from the crowd is it’s unique multi-linear story telling technique, and I’d like to take a moment to quickly explain what this is.

Other comics have multiple story arcs and tales from different character perspectives e.g. Marvel’s Civil War or Batman R.I.P., but it can be confusing to see where each story fits in to the whole event and what perspective you are getting/missing from it.
En-Mercs addresses this with the aid of a simple diagram, showing you where each part part of the story relates in the events timelines and whom it is focussing on.

It also empowers the reader to choose their own path through the story. They could choose to just follow one character throughout, maybe jump to another to continue the journey or even follow all the strands to get a complete picture of the events that unfold. More importantly it means they will never miss a part of the story through confusion or simply not knowing.

There will be some crossover between the paths to encourage and reward keen-eyed readers who follow everything. For example, an explosion might be heard far off in the distance in Michael Wyman’s story, but you can see how and why it occured in Misato Tachikawa‘s. It’s not crucial to notice these crossovers, but it certainly adds another layer of depth to the story.

A bi-product of this is that additional stories can be inserted at a later date, whether they be from myself or from fan-fiction, and the reader will know exactly where and when the extra tales take place – allowing for an even greater richness of storytelling to be acheived at a later date.

You’ve probably noticed that there are two possible endings to the story, but that’s for another time…

A new piece of work is in, this time for a character that up until now didn’t have form; the Artificial Life. I can’t really say much about this character as it is so integral to the plot, any details would pretty much be spoilers.

What I can say is this is the being that is responsible for bringing the three En-Mercs together to liberate it from the research facility – and effectively beginning a coup d’état on humanity.

The difference between an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and an Artificial Life (ALife) is pretty interesting. An AI is taught with a top down approach to get about e.g. to solve a maze, if you hit a dead end then turn around and remember not to come back there – eventually the AI will escape the maze.
An ALife is very different, as it employs a bottom up approach – effectively learning from scratch and creating its own rules to ‘survive’ (with maybe a few pre-programmed rules to get it started).
If you could make your own rules to survive and witness humanities penchant for violence as a threat, what would you do about it…?

Remember to check out the preview of the first and second issues of the En-Mercs comic by clicking on the links here or in the sidebar!

Despite being the smallest mech in the story, the Jacker is probably the most sinister. Originally designed to latch onto and take over control of enemy vehicles, it’s new targets are much more frightening… humans.

After stunning it’s target with low voltage tasers on it’s front legs, the Jacker inserts cables into the base of the neck through to the spinal chord. This effectively allows it to control the host from the neck down, and whilst this is not perfect, it is enough to acheive the task of attacking others.

The scary part is that the host is still alive, unable to control their body! The Jacker does this to allow the host’s brain to carry on with homeostatic functions (e.g. beating of the heart, breathing etc.) as a live body without rigor mortis to stiffen the limbs is much easier to control.

Not being in control of your own body as you’re forced to kill others around you isn’t the best of experiences to have. Just look at the expressions of some of my friends below as they cameo as Jacker Zombies in the comic:

The ever-so-clever people over at Graphic.ly have created a widget allowing you to preview the first few pages of each issue of En-Mercs for free, like Issue 1# below for instance.
Now it’s even easier for you to check out the latest issues, share with your friends and easily purchase them to keep up to date with the story as it unfolds.



We have several more issues being fed into the Graphic.ly machine, so stay tuned for when they’re ready to read.

The wait is over; issue #2 is now available over at Graphic.ly! It’s cleared for their Adobe Air, web, iPhone and iPad browsers so it’s easy to read on whatever platform you find best.

With Destrato becoming swiss cheese in the last issue, will Wyman and Tachikawa thwart the Chinese mafia’s ambush and live long enough to find out who their mysterious employer is?

Click here to download and start reading it now! Haven’t read the first issue? Click here to get that first and not miss anything.

Issues 3-7 are steadily working their way through post production also, so stay on the lookout for more issues in the coming weeks. Combine that with some more commissions on their way and a trailer in the works, things are looking good on the project right now, so stay tuned.