Horizon Phase Comic art and doodles

Instagram @nijicx #horizonphase OC Account! 

[nijicx]

Since it's June do you have any lgbtq+ characters in Horizon Phase? Happy Pride month! :D

Boy Howdy do I ever!  These are just the ones who are canonically paired: 

Miho and Paloma have been together since highschool Mugi and Yua (Yua is her bodyguard in this universe)  Hebio  Lin and Malorie have an apartment outside of the office together, everyone knows but doesn’t say anything Ren Toraji and the ultimate danger lesbians Scab and Hangnail~  Not pictured is Rakky and Yamato, (I have no updated art for Rakshitha, but Rakky is the MHVA combat professor, and Yamato is the principle)  Gangan Davey there are a few characters besides that but they have no art I can show, and some are surprises for the comic~  Happy Pride month! 

[nijicx]

With Horizon Phase being it's own thing now will we be seeing new M.H.V.A students/teachers?

Yep! Nothing will change about MHVA except maybe it's name and it's location~ Instead of it's base being off the coast of Japan, it will probably be located somewhere along the new inland American Sea, or the Pan American Strait where the new inland sea meets the Atlantic~ We won't see MHVA for a long time in the comic but it does show up! Its importance is probably bigger now that their world is pretty flooded~ Davey is there from the first chapter though!

[nijicx]

What the most difficult part when it comes to writing Horizon Phase?

Making it all fit together ^^; I have all the BIG scenes played out, it's the small quiet scenes, the every day scenes in between, the growing pains of getting to know people scenes that are really difficult for me to know where to put them. It's easy for me to chart the flow of conflict, but a lot harder for me to plan little things like that, especially since my characters relationships have developed over the years, I now need to translate that in a way where someone can read/see it and understand lol THEN I need to make sure I'm also not just hanging on useless stuff. For me, I notice tonnes of things about a place, its smell, temperature, vibe, and so I tend to overdo it on characters noticing things because it's something I'm weirdly hyperaware of. So the feedback from most people reading what I write is "you go on a bit too long about the feeling of a place" Making it all fit together ^^; I have all the BIG scenes played out, it's the small quiet scenes, the every day scenes in between, the growing pains of getting to know people scenes that are really difficult for me to know where to put them. It's easy for me to chart the flow of conflict, but a lot harder for me to plan little things like that, especially since my characters relationships have developed over the years, I now need to translate that in a way where someone can read/see it and understand lol THEN I need to make sure I'm also not just hanging on useless stuff. For me, I notice tonnes of things about a place, its smell, temperature, sounds, and so I tend to overdo it on characters noticing things because it's something I'm weirdly hyperaware of. So the feedback from most people reading what I write is "you go on a bit too long about the feeling of a place"

Which is how my scenes end up getting so long. I gotta learn when to shut up, and when to let the characters actions talk for me~ The hardest lesson of them all, pray for me x'D

[nijicx]

Some doodles in between studio work, sorry I've been so quiet Dx Still working on the comic in the background~

[nijicx]

Some Winston doodles~ Winston's two brain cells fighting for supremacy, and him admiring a little bit of definition from training. Because of his power, his muscles don't build from repetitive stress and healing done to the fibres. Every time his power activates it basically heals the muscle to its original state, preventing a lot of noticeable muscle development. Through short sessions throughout the day, and stopping before his power triggers to any pain or discomfort, he manages to slowly trail behind his fellow classmates physical development. Technically he doesn't NEED to bulk, since his powers make it sort of redundant, but it bothers him to feel like he's being left behind by the others who are making noticeable change and working hard.

[nijicx]

WIP of two adopts for the next round~ First is Yellow Jacket, based off of the aggressive wasp, and the second is Anemiac, developed blood powers after a long battle with chronic disease that required many transfusions~ Two more to go to round out the group~

[nijicx]

Horizon Phase has many complex and interesting villains with all sorts motives, but will we see any mustache twirling or Saturday Cartoon villains?

Awwe thankyou for calling them complex ;__: But yes I have a couple of absolute GOOBERS in there, like some real buffoons. Then some people who are causing trouble by accident after developing powers on like some random Tuesday afternoon, and also some not quite villains, but definitely some people who just get on the kids nerves, but they aren't doing anything where the kids can exactly stop them either. But we gotta have some good old-fashioned goons in there, because when Ivan shows up it'll definitely suck the wind out of the room.

[nijicx]

Oooh can we learn a little bit about Charla and Diego? Love their designs.

Awwe thankyou!! Im pretty happy with them, even though they need a bit more work~ Deigo's ART causes his body to emit a boron-like substance which he controls by will, and ignites with a zippo lighter, allowing him to control the flames by controlling the gas that feeds it. Charla's ART is that she has maces in her head, so she can release the spiked balls that are attached to her with chains. She can shoot and retract them at will. She smashes down most anything with them~ I won't say their particular role, but they are apart of VIT and come from the same neighborhood and are friends~ Charla thinks Jin is such a cutie but they remain hidden away so the main kids in Horizon Program don't know about them yet

[nijicx]

What would you say the tone of Horizon Phase is like? Is it more Avatar the Last Airbender or JJK?

That's...a good question, I think it will change over the course of the series, I think the beginning arcs are pretty light and fun, but gradually get darker. I do think there are parts that pick up when it gets too dark. I'm not entirely sure what I'd liken it to tbh I definitely have parts that I've paced based off works like Cowboy Bebop, sometimes goofy, sometimes heavy, sometimes sad so I can't really say, I guess I'll have to get those chapters out and let people decide. But I think it's definitely overall heavier than Avatar, but I love the humour in Avatar and I definitely took notes from it when it was important to pull back on the heavy.

[nijicx]

What would you say is the main lesson or question that Horizon Phase ask or anwsers?

I'm not sure if I have any one firm message that I think I want people to take away from this quite yet, but I did start with one phrase in mind that I repeat to myself whenever I feel like I'm losing focus on the point. But I wanna keep it a liiiittle bit of a secret. (Otherwise I don't think people would actually read it when it comes out x'D) There are some things I have said I wanted to explore in it, like a persons right over their own body, identity, fitting in, culture and it's role in a semi-post apocalyptic world, found family, and how we form new culture and traditions. I think I will say some things I haven't really decided on, and exploring it through the comic will allow me to figure out what it is I want to say about those topics. But a lot of the topics are kinda special interests of mine, I also wanted to explore some of the uglier parts of humanity, but also a lot of the beautiful parts of it too. So I suppose people will have to make up their mind when it comes out! I am currently working on the storyboarding for the first chapters, and was hoping to release a chunk of chapters soon, I'm working another small studio job and my kitty is having some health issues so I've had to push it back a little bit. But it is all scripted up until Winston and the main cast meet so now I just have to draw it all lol~

I hope it will be interesting though, I'm not sure if what I have to say is significant, and it definitely won't be poignant or anything, but if my characters are fun then I at the very least hope people have fun with all the action!

[nijicx]

If you were to give Horizon Phase a maturity rating (G, PG, PG-13,R), what would it be?

It's definitely not an R rating, but it does deal with some heavier topics once it gets going. I'd say it's probably TV-MA (16+). I actually cannot stand gore or anything like that (I'm hilariously squeamish) but there are a couple scenes of pretty rough fights with limb-loss, Hebio gets shot at least once ect Nissa's backstory alone probably set the entire thing up a rating ^^

[nijicx]

So, the origins of superpower began when icebergs broke away due to global warming, releasing ancient bacteria and micro-organisms into the world. However, if ancient bacteria was able to survive this long, does that meaning other ancient life survive? *Jurassic Park Music Starts Playing*

Ryoka is a good example of it! Her feet are unironically based on the velociraptors from Jurassic part because I remember thinking they looked so cool as a kid haha

She's a little bit of everything because her dna is all spliced up with some of the greatest hits of reptile evolution~ A little bit of frilled lizard, dilophosaurus, horned lizard (her lil eyebrow spikes and the spikes at the end of her frills) She also has a crocodiles armored tail~

Nothing really survived the freezing in a way, but the mixture of the bacteria, radiation, ancient creatures and bugs stuck in the permafrost all kinda work together to make some FUNKY mutations. The only thing I think survived in their world is some freaky ass insects. It does however make some VERY wild marine mutations~

[nijicx]

Charla and Deigo~

[nijicx]

Within the world of Horizon Phase do vigilantes exist? If so do you have any vigilante ocs?

They do and don't depending on the area. On the Sat Cities where Winston is from, there are no vigilantes at all because Art users are heavily monitored and not allowed to use their powers even for self defence against regular humans. In the city where the main story takes place there's actually lots, but they don't necessarily take the same form as most people would think. They aren't all combat vigilantes, but the ones that are are Wu Xiaoting, who runs with a group of vigilantes who protect the Chinese district:

Then there is Yoshiro, Kaoin, and Togi who work together to protect the mutant encampment far away from the city

Shimi and Ryoka have had to defend the community centre a few times from human thugs who like to start stuff with them, the police tend to side with them, (mostly because Ryoka's mom is a cop and Shimi's dad is an ex- Shingestu member and even the corrupt police don't wanna get into something dicey by charging them for absolutely pummelling them lol

The last main combat vigilantes are Ren and Kuze, who are on the run for nearly killing a guy who used his power to assault Kuze's sister. So now they spend their time going after worse criminals and delivering them bloodily to VIT. They are more anti-heroes in the sense that they don't mind taking dirty money from a criminal organization to get rid of their ops if their ops are scumbags.

A good chunk of characters who are vigilantes though are doing things like preforming underground healing, food production, and surveillance in order to make sure their communities are protected. There are laws in place about abilites that allow people to copy things or produce edible food being outlawed, but people do it anyways as a means to survive~

Winston is actually technically a vigilante for a short time, but I will go into it more in the comic haha

[nijicx]

In reference to my ask about Hannibelle, I can’t help but think about Denzen. Both have highly valuable powers, but where one has been stripped of agency because of their power, the other leveraged theirs to achieve a position of control.

What’s the best way to avoid the fate of Hannibelle’s mother if you have a valuable ART?

Do many people try to set themselves up like Denzen’s family?

Human trafficking (for the purpose of controlling or benefiting from someones mutation) is a fairly recent occurrence in their world. Within about the last 20 years or so, and its more or less reaching it's peak during the opening of the comic! Some people definitely try and use their powers in a way that will help them gain power and influence, and thats done usually by seeing a need your power fills, and doing it. Denzen capitalized on the power grid failing in order to solidify his and his family as vital pieces of the city tapestry. However there are plenty of people who aren't so lucky, Hanibelle was born into captivity since her mother was exploited for her power and she was born into her captors hands. Another character of mine who has their agency taken over their power is Melani, who gave Ivan her left eye.

Melani has the power to see through things (xray vision) and she was relentlessly pursued for it. Her pursuers were so serious about obtaining her for their purposes that they actually set off an explosive which took her ability to walk. Without the ability to walk she knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her so she decided to roll herself out and met the people staking out the hospital willingly. She was given to a trader, which took her around to prospective purchasers until she came across Ivan. Ivan had also been pursued because organizations wanted him working for them, and if he wouldn't work for them, then they were scared of him, which meant in their eyes Ivan needed to die. Then you have people like Adohira who uses his power to establish influence and carve a spot out for himself in the justice department by employing rhetoric that his power is the most useful in combating others with destructive powers, he prays upon regular humans feeling frightened and his power not being offensive, to be like "See? I'm just like you, but I'm not like them. I alone can be trusted"

Everyone struggles for their own agency, especially in a society that is struggling on how exactly to handle people with all of these abilities. A lot of people keep their power hidden if they can help it, and reside in areas where they don't have to register their art so that they can avoid being targeted. It's really the only way of making it so that nobody targets you, whether it be for the mutant trade, violence ect. If you don't make yourself useful, they'll fear you, if they fear you, they'll kill you. VIT also leverages this mantra against criminal Art users who've been caught to wipe their record clean and start them off with a clean slate somewhere else. So VIT takes advantage of the current state of affairs in order to have soldiers to call on when the threats are too big to handle. Agency over your body and what you do with it, and how one uses their talents is a big focus of mine in the story. Ivan in particular since so much of his story involves his body, and other people making decisions about his body without his consent.

Sorry for rambling I hope that answers your question!

[gingergari]

locked in enough for a trade with @nijicx 🔥

[nijicx]

Thankyou so much Gari ;__; You made Lua look so cute!! It was fun doing an art trade after so long! I hope you liked yours as well! (I wanted to touch the ears so bad!)

[nijicx]

Who is hannibelle?

I could have sworn I posted her on here but I guess I never did! Hanibelle is a woman with an Art called 'Hanibal Matrix', she can create and re-form tissue matrix's, allowing her to fill in massive areas of gouged out flesh or gunshot wounds, and return herself or a person back to their original state. To do this the user must consume meat, consuming meat will allow her to use it as a tissue base for regrowing someones flesh. To regrow organs she'll have to eat organs as well, not always necessarily the same ones, but the closest possible. She is able to regrow human flesh by using animal flesh as a base. She is held captive by a criminal organization who receives money in exchange for lending her out to heal those who cannot risk going to the hospital. Though they also' 'lend her out' for huge sums from people waiting on organ transplant waitlists, the organization taking advantage of people's suffering in exchange for exorbitant prices and lifelong servitude in exchange. They keep their customers for a lifetime by not informing them that animal flesh doesn't always take perfectly, causing them to continuously return for their services in order to keep loved ones alive and get renewed. She comes into contact with Garrote after the organization lends her out to Q, Garrote's boss after he becomes extremely damaged after a fight. Those with healing abilities in the Horizon Phase universe are sought after above all else because of the profit they can provide if the savoury get their hands on them. Garrote's eye was obtained from a woman he knew who was fleeing from several organizations vying to possess her, so Garrote and Hanibelle actually strike up a kind of sad friendship. Hanibelle's mother was actually worked to death for her healing abilities, and her father is unknown, she has no official records since she was born underground, but she is approximately 25-27 when she encounters Ivan.