As always... Thanks for following along with this Bluesky series that no one asked for!

We walked away & kept walking right on into the Pacific. Okay. We didn’t. But we thought about it. That ain't all we thought about. We contemplated completely flipping the tone & vision of Solstice. But would we allow the words of one development exec to alter our trajectory? Find out in Pt. VI.

“That was great, guys. Let me show you something.” One VHS tape and 30 minutes later, we were through the 1st episode of the animated Spawn series. “Whatta ya got like that? Can you do Solstice like that? Gritty? Dark?” Sure? Didn't even get our complimentary bottled water. We felt sad.

We were greeted by an exec in their newly minted animation dept. He had shorts on. He chuckled at our suits. We felt bad. We then pitched theee DOPEST pitch in the history of pitchstivity and readied our hands to sign the multi-million-$$$ contract they were hastily about to slap onto the desk.

Now that we had our pitch ready to see. We loaded up our bags, and we flew to Beverly. Hills that is. Traffic. Suspicious cops. Santa Monica, actually. But that breaks my unamusing reference. Let's go. We headed into HBO HQ in 3-piece suits, so fresh and so clean. Our big break was finally here.

Satire & parody were the genres du jour. I wrote a pilot script. Not great. We riffed on religion, government, military, cults, Menace II Society, a shot-for-shot albeit abbreviated parody of Full Metal Jacket's 3rd act with the graals as the marines. And Gloria dies. Who’s Gloria? We'll get to her.

Pt. V – Go West, young men. For comedy? Rod’s art style used to lean heavily into the western cartoon aesthetic. It still does, but it used to, too. He’s evolved his style since which you’ll see later. At that time, in our eyes, it lent itself more to comedy. Adult Swim not regular Nickelodeon.

Before we get into Pt.V, I found some of the art we did for the suns. This isn't the OG hand drawn art, but what we used to see how it would all work. Some of you #astrophysicists out there can tell me if this is even conceivably workable, keeping in mind the sci-fi of it all. #astrophysics

So, we had our heroes, our villains (More to come. Remember I said Khali needed a proxy?) and our world. But what was the overall tone we wanted Solstice to have? In Pt. V, I'll chop that topic. Oh. And our meeting with HBO. Thanks for following along!

The first iteration of the world was very much allegory. A militarily superior occupying force that allows only the thinnest threads of normalcy to exist. There were stores, restaurants, bars, other businesses. People had jobs, and more or less lived their lives, trying to stay out of the fighting.

So, that's the whole crew. Well, almost. The most important character is still to come. Together they would make up the GLO or Global Liberation Organization. An oppressed people fighting the unknown whims of a ruthless regime. Ironically, the pic doesn't include the whole crew. But we have FURBALL!

Castro is newly joined to the GLO. Not much is known about him except him somehow made the trek from Miami to NYC while the war was raging… alone.

Other than sharing Ill’s love of Hip-Hop, we didn’t really do much with Daed. He looked dope, though.

Tobias is super laid back and is the consensus coolest of all the crew. If you needed to unwind/relax/mellow out man, it was implied that he might have just what you need. Now that I’m looking at him again, he does have a very Cheech and Chong vibe.

Teemu was a former high school rush player. He’s our big, strong/tough yet gentle giant trope… I mean, guy.

Neely was a tool. A constant tinker, he had nearly any tool needed to accomplish the task at hand. Weapon repair, explosives, vehicle salvage, clogged disposal, he’s your boy.

Ionico is the coordinator of the crew. She helps plan out their robberies/ on their enemies/Doesn’t hesitate to squeeze/to get their lives outta danger. Seriously. All movement, attack plans, etc. go through her.

Iku was our little Dora Milaje. A straight badass and quiet killer who lets her weapons speak for her. She enjoys hunting lone graals, setting ambushes and traps and moonlit raft rides along what used to be Broadway.

Ganymede, half-human, half-Tpgyaan. Don’t ask me about biological logic here. After the war began, G shunned his alien heritage. He hates his father & Tpgyaan mother for what they made him. But he's a good fighter & goes out of his way to back his friends to make up for the Rekhaarum’s sins.

Burr's the elder, the mentor. An old man by the kids' standard but knows how to war. Burr's a distant relative of Aaron Burr but hates it if anyone mentions it. He can be addle-brained at times, but when it comes to puttin’ lead downrange, he's second to... quite a few actually. But he's seen some--

The new kids on the block: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! The right stuff! We decided that we couldn’t just have four kids battling legions of alien occupiers. Once more Rod got to work. Ganymede, Burr, Iku, Ionico, Neely, Teemu, Tobias and Daed hit the Wacom tablet next.

Sian was Asian with the “A” dropped. That name may be considered a little problematic these days. He was very anime villainesque. I honestly don’t recall much about this character, and I know he was dropped pretty quickly and a new set of villains would rise to take his place.

Pharaun was Khali’s non-mechanical right hand. He was wise, unambitious, and loyal — all things Khali prized in a servant. Also, he wore a space khepresh. As I said, Typgean was just Egypt spelled backwards with extra steps.

Khali was a figure worshipped by other members of the Imperium/Rekhaarum, a cloaked slug w/ mechanical arms. It was considered a god as its form was closest to that which the Tpgyaan evolved from, a mollusc-like creature. Khali ruled from the home world, thus required a proxy to execute his will.

So, every good protagonist needs an antagonist, right? So, who were the aliens responsible for the war to end all wars? There were three, originally.

Pt. IV Villains and More Heroes- Before I get into this next part, I want to append the original four characters. I forgot about FURBALL!! A furry alien… thing. It was a pet of sorts. It didn’t stick around long but was part of the original gang. Anyway, you’ll see that in a group pic in this part.

What you see here is a very late 90s aesthetic to these 2040s kids. What's old is new again, right? But I'll get more into that as I talk about Rod's art style. Next up in Pt. IV... the "Bad Guys" plus, the crew grows. Hope I can find all the art for that. Thanks for following along!

Illbilt/Gregory Givens III. Deeply empathetic, highly intelligent, a penchant for all things technology, connoisseur/collector of old school Hip-Hop, R&B, Reggae, Jazz, Rock, Classical. Taunted about his weight, he embraced the pejorative “Illbilt” eventually becoming a creator under the moniker.

Yeti brings a fair amount of childhood trauma to the table. He (this would also change) was the youngest of the bunch with a chip and something to prove. Yeti was no stranger to violence and derived an almost psychopathic joy from killing graals. Yeti also carried the biggest gun… really big.

Magellan was the de facto leader when we started (This would change & we’ll get to that). A natural protector, quick to defend family/friends from the smallest slight. A huge Rush (sport not band. I’ll explain later) fan. He'd willingly sacrifice himself to save for others.

Ghengis, the oldest of the crew at 18 — and product of the Brooklyn streets. On his own since 12, he personified “By any means necessary.” Ghengis is cunning and ruthless when the situation warrants but also possesses a deep sense of loyalty to those he cares about, especially Yeti.

As you know, characters drive story. Who are they? What sets them on their path? What decisions do they make? How's that change the story? How s that ultimately affect them? There wasn’t a ton of depth to them initially. But here’s the OG four. (Left to right: Ghengis, Magellan, Yeti, Illbilt).

Aight. To make a short story a novel, that was the original synopsis. But... the Rekhaarum was originally called the Imperium & Tpgyaan was originally spelled Tpygean, which was Egypt backwards w/ extra letters to make it sound aaaalien! Next the characters & more art! But we’ll save that for pt. 3.

Overwhelmingly, the people of Earth chose to stand with the Tpgyaan. The war that followed was beyond any war ever witnessed on Earth — beyond devastating. Billions were killed or died in a five-year span. As whole generations were wiped out, it was children who inherited this war — kid soldiers.

2043 — They called themselves the Rekhaarum. Their ships descended upon Earth, shadows falling across cities worldwide. They had come to reclaim their property — the Tpgyaan — former slaves — threatened with that fate once again. The deadline imposed by the Rekhaarum for their return? 24 hours.

But as humans do, they, along with Earth's newest citizens, adapted. For nearly three decades, humans and Tpgyaan coexisted in a thriving, progressive society. But all good things... much ado about nothing? Whatever.

Heat waves — floods — upheaval of entire ecosystems. Unfortunately, once a sun’s reaction was initiated, any attempt to alter it could cause an even more catastrophic destabilization & its destruction. Needless to say, calculations for the second sun were spot on. See what I did there? (not our art)

As they settled in various nations, the Tpgyaan began collaborating with the world’s top scientists and engineers. Soon Project Solstice was underway. The construction of the first sun was completed in nine years, but a miscalculation resulted in catastrophic warming of the northern hemisphere.

Pt. II 2016 — After a year of deliberation, staunch advocacy & staunch opposition, Earth’s inhabitants had little choice but to accept the Tpgyaan (Tp-GEE-yon) offer. But to the delight of all, a new era of enlightenment, technology, tolerance, prosperity and relative peace spread across the globe.

If you read any of this, I commend you for your bravery and thanks! I'll be back tomorrow with more.

Folks on Earth noticed dark striations in the sun — our life-giving star was dying and we would die with it. Reveal our alien saviors. In exchange for settling on Earth, the Tpgyaan offered to help construct four artificial suns to sustain life on the planet. But were they truly here to help?

Call me, Mr. Scott. Anyway — Alien slaves escaped their world in stolen ships. These ships travel great distances by using energy from stars to open temporary wormholes. In their desperation to escape, they were unable to precisely plot an exit point which happened to be right through our sun.

Rod throws up the Wyndll Signal (a finger “W” before a dying match). Begun the Terrestrial Wars have. We literally titled it Solstice: The Terrestrial Wars. We imagined sequels w/ different subtitles a la the Aliens franchise. Alas, all calls to Ridley Scott were blocked, so it became just Solstice.

Next? Why a little worldbuilding of course. Leaning into all the sci-fi, Rod drew Earth, 4 mini suns revolving around it (art missing). And the name of this art student masterpiece? SOLSTICE — But why are these kids fighting aliens & why are there four suns around Earth? He needed a story — quickly.

Oh. A brief history of me and Rod. We met when we were about eight during a street football game. I tried to fight him. Then we formed a hip-hop group with knightly alter egos and had decent local success. This may or may not be a full chronology of our friendship. Back to the story.

Let's go. My partner, let’s call him Rod (because that’s his name), was attending the Art Institute of Dallas & had a project deadline approaching w/ the speed of an F. Being 1st & 4most a character artist, he immediately attacked, well, the characters — 4 human kids, 3 aliens. More on them later.

Illbilt was one of 4 OG protagonists. I'll share their art along w/ how Solstice came to be... on the morrow. This is simply to whet the whistle. What the hell does that mean anyway? And no. I refuse to dive into the rabbit hole & avail myself of the internet gospel that is Wikipedia for an answer.

So, what I'll be doing over the next little bit is talking about the origins of Solstice and posting original artwork as well as story elements from then 'til now. And just so you (the nebulous "you" as I'm not sure who will see this) know I'm not bluffing, here's some OG art of Illbilt aka Greg.

You're probably wondering how I got here. No? Well, it all started years ago. Wait. Let me start my tropes from the beginning. My ambiguously un-adjectived partner & I just released a teaser to our future (hopefully) Manga graphic novel. And I thought, why not chronicle that process to the ether?