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What Is G for Genesis?
Primarly, G4G is three things. First, it is propaganda for my (a)political party on the Comic Genesis forums, AnarchySpace. Second, it's a continuation of the Revolution Jam from back in the day. And third, it's a spoof/homage/what have you of V for Vendetta.
Secondarily, G4G is a few other things. It's something fun for me to do from time to time, it's a webcomic/solo forum jam to entertain other folks, it's a way to help spread the word about many of the other talented people here on CG, it's a way for me to continue practicing my artistic skills, and so on.
What is AnarchySpace?
Not very important in the big scheme of G4G things, really. Back when there was a big hubub over what Keenspace was going to be renamed, a few folks started putting out all sorts of suggestions. Jokingly, I demanded that the name be changed to AnarchySpace, which led to other folks creating CapitalistSpace and CommieSpace and the like, then someone pointed out that there hadn't been an election for president of the Keenspace forums in a while, and it all kind of snowballed from there into one huge fun time.
What is V for Vendetta?
Surely you jest! V4V started out as a serial comic book/graphic novel/what have you created by Alan Moore way back in the ancient 80's. It involved a dystopian future in which England had become a totalitarian state with secret police and a single party system and dark grungy environments and all that jazz. In the midst of all this oppression came a somewhat psychopathic flamboyant madman wearing a Guy Fawkes mask calling himself V and blowing up things and killing those who had done him and other people wrong in an effort to incite revolution, establish anarchy, and get vengance for the terrible things done to him by the government.
More recently, V4V was translated into movie film form by the fine folks famous for the Matrix trilogy. Though many things were altered (V became more of a swashbuckling anti-hero type than an out and out crazyman on a rampage, much of the anarchist stuff was replaced by more libertarian attitudes, etc.), it's still a very fine piece of cinema and I highly recommend it.
Of course, this makes it sound like I've actually read the comics, which sadly I haven't, not more than a few pages, anyway. I have read a lot about it, but not actually it itself, so the vast majority of V4V stuff you'll see in G4G is based on the movie.
What is the Revolution Jam?
Ah, now there is the right question.
Some years ago, a good fellah by the name of Crossfire (who goes by Carlin now) was hanging out on Keenchat when apparently he decided that mcDuffies was actually an evil baron who ruled over Keenspace with an iron fist in an empire of doom. This was quickly brought to the Keenspace forums themselves where he urged people to join sides . . . either with Baron von McDuffies and the evil Empire, or with the freedom loving Rebellion. People quickly scrambled to pledge their allegience to either side and many a fist was shook at the opposition.
Since KS is a land of artists, it wasn't very long before people started drafting their own propaganda and posting it in the thread to slander their enemies and boost their allies. Two of the first of these propagandists were Jim North (that's me!) and War, who had joined the Rebellion and the Empire respectively. The former drew himself as a barbarian warlord, foaming at the mouth and ready to do glorious battle with the evil Empire hordes. The latter drew himself as a Judge Dredd pastiche, armed and armored and set to be judge, jury, and executioner to any filthy rebel that got in his way. Now, for some time up to this point, Crossfire had been saying that he was working on an actual comic to get the whole thing started, but it had been several days . . . War finally got impatient and kicked Jim in the head.
This kick heard 'round the forum set off the whole chain of events that transpired afterwards. Fist fights, vandalism, car chases, secret spies, bra theft, dark and sinister backstories, all sorts of crazy stuff. If you want to check out the full, original unabridged version of the events, here they be: Part I, Part II, and Part III. Be warned, however, that some of the pics may no longer work. Such is life. And old threads.
Though it has been surpassed many times since, at the time the Revolution Jam was the largest, longest, and most participated in forum jam Keenspace had ever seen, so expect to be reading for a while if you really want to try and wade through all of that. For those who don't . . . who won? Well . . . that's complicated. See, there finally came a time when things began to wind down. I personally had dropped out of the game (my character having been killed and my hand turning into a misshapen claw from drawing so much in such a short amount of time), and so had a few other people, including a few of the most prolific posters. Some folks were just starting to run out of ideas or weren't sure where exactly to take the ideas they did have. There were far too many subplots going on and things were getting more and more disorganized, and really the main storyline had come to something of a climax . . . so it all just grinded to a halt.
Not content to just let this be, BrownEyedCat went and made a multi-page comic that went towards closing everything up. Technically, the way thing were represented, it was something of a tie with the Rebellion and Empire simply declaring a truce and peace reigning over Keenspace City. Most people declare, however, that since there are images of Ewoks dancing around bonfires included in the comic, victory lies squarely with the Rebels. Can't beat that logic!
Where Does G4G Fit In?
Those of you who have read part of G for Genesis before reading this may have noticed something a little screwy . . . the Empire is obviously still in charge and there are references to the revolution being squashed. How does this fit in with the peacful happy ending that Lady BEC produced? Well . . . it doesn't. Permit me to explain why.
Back in the in-between time, after the jam had ground down but before Lady BEC posted her big finish, I had already started the planning stages of a revolution continuation. I probably still would have continued with the idea even after BEC posted her comics, but I kept looking back on the plans I'd come up with and kept chunking them away as garbage. And really, they were pretty crappy ideas. I knew what I wanted to do, but at the time I wasn't sure how I was going to do it properly. Ten or twenty tries on about four or five different core ideas and I was getting nowhere, so a year or two passed . . .
Then I saw V for Vendetta, and it all started clicking. My most recent core idea at that time involved many themes that I saw hints of in V . . . a dark figure working in the shadows who might or might not actually be Jim back from the dead, a dark dystopian environment filled with dangerous elements and a totalitarian government, and so on. Adapting my ideas and grafting them onto the basic storyline of V4V felt completely natural, like it had been the missing piece to my puzzle all along and I'd just happened to look under the table for it at just the right time.
Now, many of the problems that I had forseen when I first started planning a revolution sequel reared their heads again, this time joined by several new ones. Originally, for example, I had planned for the big end battle between the two forces to have ended in something of a stalemate, which would have worked well enough with Lady BEC's ending. This would not, however, fit in at all with the new V4V-inspired plotline. And then there had always been the problem of the shoddy continuity of the revolution. This isn't a knock against any of the people working on it, of course, but a simple fact people have to face when working on a jam. When you've got around twenty or so people all writing on a story at the same time, there's going to be a lot of story elements that go completely awry.
So, in order for G4G to work at all, I had to take on the job of history revisionist. Some things from the original revolution have had to be changed while some others have had to be cut completely in order to get everything straightened out. Some of it I'm very sorry to see go, but sadly it just wouldn't fit with what I'm doing here. Still, I'm working hard to keep in just as much as I possibly can, and even if something gets cut completely, I try to figure out where I can put in a small mention or nod to it here and there. That way, even if it's not a hard part of the continuity, it can still be a part of the big picture, albeit in a vastly altered way.
Now, in the interests of getting the new readers up to speed as well as letting the old-hand revolutionists and imperials know where I've made changes, the following is the Revolution Revised, giving as much information as I can without giving away any spoilers on future pages. As the G4G story progresses, however, I will be adding in old page spoilers when I remember to do so. Reader beware!
The Revolution
STILL WORKIN' ON IT!
G for Genesis
Two years after the crushing defeat of the Rebellion, things have steadily gotten worse for the citizenry of Keenspace City. Though the economy has stabilized and peace technically reigns over the urban sprawl, everyone is even more firmly under the Empire's thumb than they ever were before. The Baron and his Council control and manipulate virtually every facet of the population's lives, twisting their thoughts and exploiting their labor and never giving them even a chance to complain about it, all in the name of safety and prosperity that the authorities alone truly get to enjoy.
Those rebels who managed to survive the Courtyard and escape Boxing have gone into hiding, either disappearing into the lands outside Keenspace's border, slumming their way through the city's labyrinthine sewer systems, or simply giving up their rebellious ways and trying to blend back into the Empire society. No longer willing to stand up for themselves or others, the Rebellion has been completely smashed, spiritually as well as physically.
The Baron himself has long since gone into reclusive seclusion. Having become more and more paranoid since the Courtyard battle, he now rarely appears outside his cityside manor, preferring instead to communicate with the City Council and his other subordinates via telecommunication devices. This new virtual hermit lifestyle has also caused him to drop his feigned happy-go-lucky scatterbrained eccentric manner, fully revealing the dark and sinister power player that had always lain just beneath the surface, making him even more dangerous than before to anyone who even dares to think about crossing him.
Empire-run TV twists both the facts and the people's emotions. Empire-run schools indoctrinate newbs into their new rigid, oppressive way of life. Empire-sanctioned sweatshops churn out cheap HTML and cut & paste comics. What to eat, when to sleep, how to draw, where to set bookmarks . . . all determined by the Empire for the "good of the customers". It is into this bleak and uncertain setting that a hero finally arises. A hero who aims to start a new revolution. A hero wearing a face from the past. A hero who will not stop until the Empire is dead and gone.
A hero called G.
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already!