24. Halcyon Days and Vaporware Nights
The ongoing newsletter for THE PHANTOM PLEASURE Comic
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Hi, everyone. I’m sorry this newsletter took so long to get out. There’s been a lot of chaos and sadness going on, but I’m always glad to be here with you all, to be creating and sharing art for and alongside you.
I’m still working on many things at the same time, but the rather large commissioned project will be finished by May, and I ‘ll be able to post faster updates and start sharing some new pages from 404EVER. Thank you all again for your patience as I build this project and world, there is so much more to come.
In this illustration, Echo’s Synth Suit is reading her public and private preferences. Her obsolete perception of herself as an elite Dedicated Server hostess is mixing with her current slumbag rogue status. Basically, the Synth Suit is doing its best to create a regal, elfen princess appearance out of BDSM industrial punk material.
The choker collar neck piece was so fun to draw.
I’ve had some great feedback and DM conversations regarding the 404EVER style and art. I’m grateful that many of you get the sense of the era and mood I’m trying to convey. Or maybe I shouldn’t say era? I’m really expressing the emotional or metaphysical experience of a bygone early internet age, instead of the actual period or history of it. Some of you have had some insightful reactions to what I’ve shared so far, it’s encouraging.
This is an unfinished splash page from early on in 404EVER: The Phantom Pleasure Syndrome. Echo was just forcibly kicked from her slumber, and is looking for food on the way to Chat Club METEO. The large pipe opening behind her on the left used to dispense nutrients, but has since been ruined by The Fragmentation error.
The users in 404EVER are literal products of their environment, so I try to express that with their Synth Suits or other aspects of their appearance:
Short Promo of ‘The Palace’ Visual Chat Rooms from 1997
Geo-City One is a massive physical space, and many of its sites have that ‘abandoned liminal space’ feel of dead virtual worlds. The city was built to be an eternal home for billions of users (and in ancient times, that was the case), but the population base has dwindled to 17% by the time the comic story begins. The over abundance of ads in the PUBLIC ACCESS ZONE are relics from the past, pointing users to unobtainable goods, broken linkways, and locked domain doors. Most users regard them with indifference or confusion.
But I don’t want to only express the feelings of abandonment and emptiness of the setting. Because the small parts of the city that are still alive are VERY alive. Users congregate to those specific locations because their needs or desires are being met by the kind of activities that happen in those specific areas.
For example, Echo is a member of Chat Club METEO. That’s the place and group of trolls who she scrolls and raids with. I think their culture should feel like an old internet private forum/chat room/IRC group. The topics are niche, the disagreements are endless, the community is insular, and there’s no concept of ‘The Permanent Record’. No one cares who you really are, they care what you immediately contribute to the eternal present moment. Despite its divisive and combative environment, METEO users are united by a simple, undeniable truth: They all WANT to be there.
There are a bunch of big YouTubers who’ve done deep dives and explorations into dead virtual worlds, but I want to share some pretty rare/ignored Youtube pieces on the subject. Some of these are from the actual era, and uploaded by the people who were actually involved in early internet VR.
Of course, the audio is from a tin can and the footage is blurry, but who ever said time travel would be easy. You might find the first 3 are too destroyed to be enjoyed, but give the others a shot:
1998 - Avatars98 Virtual Conference (Early Active Worlds)
1998 - The First CyberConference Full Video (Avatars98/Active Worlds)
2007 - Active Worlds Exploration Demo
2010 - Cyberpunk New Year’s Party in Second Life (Must Watch)
2010 - Second Life Documentary from Life 2.0
2014 - Avatars, Virtual Culture, and Second Life Promo Relic
2022 - Exploring Active Worlds in Modern Day with its Creators
As a high level Jump Cutter, Halo is forced to wear this rather embarrassing PROMO SUIT when she logs in to the EPOCHOLITH 6 area of Geo-City one. Her Promo Suit is similar to a Synth Suit, except that it reacts to the desires and preferences of her viewers rather than her own. The material of the Promo Suit itself melts into abstract designs, producing real time targeted ads and suggestive images for whoever she locks onto. Psychological warfare in physical form.
I like to visually hint at the genetic mystery aspect of the auto-generated characters in the story, and Halo’s hairstyle is an obvious example of that impulse…
The 404EVER story opens with a brief introduction to Geo-City One, seen from the viewpoint of Halo Lan’s astral body as it scrolls through the linkways searching for Echo. You get to know the environment and understand the rules through Halo’s internal monologue as she zooms deeper into the city, eventually finding Echo’s private domain. It’s a fun opening because I get to draw the environment from warped and unnatural angles, through the eyes of a disembodied spirit. And since Halo is an outsider, she has some good reactions and thoughts about this new environment she and the reader are experiencing for the first time.
I’m working on this new design for GEO-CITY ONE, one that captures the true nature of the 404EVER world. I know I’ve re-illustrated this exterior too many times, but it just never felt right. I think it’s because I wasn’t capturing the metaphysical aspect of what Geo-City One represents. I know I sound ridiculous to be talking about a comic this way, but there really is a truth I’m trying to express through this story and the art must reflect it…
I’m working on a cover that harkens back to (usually) shoujo manga covers from the 80’s and 90’s, and was thinking about using this portrait of echo for it. Of course, mine wouldn’t look as pretty or elegant due to subject matter, but you know the style! Cool title with a framed portrait of the characters. Stuff like this:
That’s all for now! Thank you all for sticking with me. I’ll be back after I’ve triumphed over a tough project deadline with more 404EVER.
Love,
Lordess