Hello--I'm new here and have been working on a coic idea for around six months now. Anyway here's the low-down on the idea(kinda long, but so strange you'll want to keep reading)

Space Boy Romance Comics---outline

Initial Inspiration:

For me, growing up gay I felt very alone, to the point that suicide frequently crossed my mind. The motive idea is meant to ease feelings of guilt and alienation in teens and others who read it and replace them with positive feelings of connectedness, social awareness and the beauty to be found in sensual pleasure and intimate human contact. There is also an aspect of ‘fetish’ attire, as the outfits worn tend to follow these lines. I am also appaled at Bush's abstinence only sex ed policies and wish to undermine them...

Characters/Action:

Two families leave the earth along one of its war-torn borders. Our ‘main’ character, Dexter Ryan, 16, is the son of the first family. His father is killed before leaving by gangs of violent youth before leaving; his mother, a scientist, remains. They are joined by Captain Xavier DeGenre, a pilot and his son, Skyler, 17. The trip will take two years and the boys will be 19 and 20 when they arrive. Also aboard the ship Ibex appears, a runaway, punk-rock stow-away with the ability to shift shape and gender, carrying an attaché case of ‘vintage’ drugs. He/she is something of a ‘wild card’.
The focus is on the relationship between the two boys, Dexter and Skyler. Dexter is bright but rebellious, artistic and goes in for ‘historical’ style clothing, 80’s punk/new wave. He is a bit thin and a bit shy, but quick and nimble. Skyler is more outgoing, muscular yet understanding, coming from a military family which has defected to the more open society in the north: they come to join Dexter’s family to leave the earth
The two boys become develop crushes on each other on earth during the time they prepare for take-off. They battle the ‘Conservative Youth League’ that roams the streets and beats people up, forging a bond. The captain’s son has had to keep his urges hidden in the past throughout his growing up. Earlier, during a government mind probe, his thoughts were discovered and he was subject to electro-shock therapy, deprogrammed and sent to a reform camp.

Notes on the initial setting:

The not-so-distant future, 2050, two families leave the earth to settle on a colony of humanoids of a more advanced and ‘civilized nature. Most of the earth is now ruled by an exaggerated version of the conservative religious right. Only a few regions remain free (Michigan, Vermont, Maine, and Much of Canada). Global warming has created a shortage of water in Texas and the Bible belt, causing wars along the border. Soon, the entire earth may be ruled by a strict, totalitarian regime. Pollution causes many people to have to wear gas masks throughout the summer. In the conservative ruled part of the world:
1. Homosexuality is a criminal act
2. Sex among teens and the unwed and teens is a criminal act, and public displays of humiliation and torture are the punishment
3. Any depiction of nudity or sexual acts is outlawed
4. School prayer is institutionalized
5. Cameras watch everything………….


In any event, against this sense of ‘taboo’ I think the romance aspect will stand out in contrast and have more ‘bite’ to it. I want to make it as much an adventure as a ‘romance’ with some suggestive scenes but nothing overly explicit.

Some Scenes:
Unhappy about Skyler’s forced brainwashing, his father brings the boy to Ryan’s family with the hopes of leaving earth. When Skyler and Dexter met, Skyler’s urges begin to unfold, first though a dream (one I used to have in Jr. High and which will be depicted to a degree by a poem I wrote---it will be depicted as a flash-back in one of Skyler’s dreams, edited down from the following imagery: (this is a poem I wrote that I will probably submit as part of my portfolio to go to grad school for writing)

The end of the world

Drenched in sweat
you tossed and flung your limbs
against the nylon sleeping bag
in that dream
where only you survived on some scorched landscape
the atomic sky
reflecting red prisms
from the surface of the synthetic silver skin
and mirrored helmet
you must never remove
in this neutron stillness.

Gripped by the elastic pressure
you trek like an untrained astronaut
through the halls of your school,
the cafeteria quiet as ash,
classrooms empty as Columbine,
the neon graffiti ‘FAG”
on you locker
faded almost to nothing,
distant as your fear,
that quiet space inside you
the cocoon you retreated to even then
the times the kids slammed into you
and rushed by laughing
in some language that was not your own.

Even the gym has lost its sour odor.
In the dry showers
no boys blush over boners
& the square wire lockers
hang open like skulls,
jeering,
without breath,
as the air recycles through your lungs
driven by the unknown apparatus
that sustains you now
without hunger
or thirst
& you finally climb that rope you never could
leading you upward and free
in the hot rain,
the storms of glowing dust,
the sun like a red eye
watching you
in your enclosure
where the seasons never change.


Crossing the sports fields
parched to a mosaic of flaking tile
an alien reflects pink moonlight
through his tinted visor
and closer
you see the olive skin
and black hair
of the boy you secretly stared at
longing to touch, know
& as he runs to you
in this empty oasis
you fall together in a hard embrace
writhing
and gripped snug
in your foreign rubber amour
as the apparatus within
clings to your cocks
and the airlocks open
to eject your seed to the barren ground.

(Dedicated to Adrienne Rich for her poem ‘Diving into the wreck’)

A device has been invented to program the content of your dreams; through this, the two boys fantasize about each other until they make actual physical contact aboard the ship, albeit in their space-age sci-fi outfits.
Aboard ship, the boy’s relationship remains unknown to the two adults; the adults are mainly left out of the picture. The appearance of Ibex adds a number of possibilities to the story as he/she could form a ‘relationship’ with any or all of the characters.

Scenes from the beginning ‘storyboard’, around page 4 of the initial draft:

Panel 1: Dexter walking home from school wearing his oxygen helmet due to an air alert day. He thinks : ….did I hear some thing?

Panel 2: A gang of boys all in Masks, all dressed in masks, Jump him from behind, knock him to the ground and tear off his oxygen helmet….

Panel 3: They run away, leaving him choking on the ground

Panel 4: A taller boy Dexter does not recognize comes to his aid. (This is the first appearance of Skyler) He gives Dexter an emergency oxygen supply.

Panel 5: Bruised and cut up, Dexter returns home with Skyler to learn this is the son of the Captain they were awaiting for their takeoff to a new planet.
Panel Six: The Captain gives Dexter a ‘protein boost’ and puts him to sleep in Skyler’s room, where he falls asleep and dreams of this new boy who has rescued him……


On the new planet
Everything is different: Sex is not necessary to produce offspring; people engage in it for pleasure. Couples exist of the same or opposite sexes in equal proportions, based on how much they like one another. Birth has not taken place in the womb since ancient times. Though free of war and poverty, not all problems have vanished: jealously and sadness still persist, though over different matters. And of course the sexual/relationship possibilities on the new planet will be greatly expanded.


And then there are all the adventures to take place aboard the ship on the journey there….many possibilities….


I like the idea of the look of old 1950s sci-fi art, especially the look of EC---artists like Wallace Wood, Frank Frazetta and Williamson, crossed with the early Ditko Spiderman style----I see the story folding out in a series of ‘to be continued’ issues.

Well, I’d love to hear some feedback. I’m not really looking to make money and can’t really pay any commissions----but I would love to work as a team with someone on getting this idea out there.

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