#hypernaut

[radroller]

1963 #6 “The Tomorrow Syndicate: From Here to Alternity!”

Written by Alan Moore, Illustrated by Rick Veitch and Dave Gibbons

[zegas]

Chester Brown scratched the assembly line itch when he got to ink Steve Bissette. Written by Alan Moore, some of the 12 page Hypernaut story can be read here.

(the 1963 series - where this story originally appeared - won't ever be collected/reprinted, forget it, not in a million years)

[themangritjournals]

Motherfuck, I think I cracked the story to the first volume of "The Nightmare", the companion book to Hypernaut.

If one book is a story about the world forcing a special person to action

then the other should be about a normal personal forcing himself into action, becoming "special" in the process.

[themangritjournals]

Hypernaut script part 1

As the title says! Putting this here for anyone who cares and if I need to recover it later.

Page 1 - 2: The first two pages are spread out, some panels stretching over both pages. An entire third of the end of the second page should be left open. Panel one: A car drives along a nice rural road, a good sized town in the background, nothing wholly spectacular. Pa Hayter (Caption): We found you, son. You aren’t ours. Panel two: A large, orb shaped casket lies in a crater. We see it from the back, the hatch open, and in the background we see Ma and Pa Hayter on the road, next to their truck, gazing at whatever is inside the casket. Panel three: We get to see inside the casket.. and inside is like a nice, large area for a baby to sleep… along with a small boy, appearing to be maybe 2 or 3, along with a large box at the casket’s side. Tom Hayter (Caption): Then… who am I Pa? Panel four: The same child, Tom Hayter, our protagonist, later, now looking about 8 or 9. He sits on the floor, smiling wide, with other children sitting off to the side, giving it a grade school feeling and setting. Panel five: Tom, now seemingly 10, runs through a field, outrunning a train in fact, his legs moving at unearthly speeds. Panel six: Tom, in his early teens, holds up  a car over his head with ease, a look of awe plaster upon his face. Panel seven: An “open panel” going from top to bottom on page 2. Tom, in he background ,walks away in a white unknown, his backs to us. In the foreground are people, all his age, of different looks and ethnicities. Two people follow behind him, just a bit. These two are Abby Adams, a dark skinned punk girl, and Donny Stevens, a large, hippy-dressing slacker type. Pa Hayter (caption): That’s something you’ll have to figure out yourself, son. Page 3: A nice, simple splash page. A chapter page, in fact. One of the few in the book. The page displays all the key players in the story, with Tom in the center, Alameda and Leecher in the back, Donny and Abby to either side of Tom, and just a few details about, such as a large, complex looking machine (Alameda’s Free Energy Generator that will appear later in the book), Tom’s casket, anything else that seems proper. Chapter title: From the Top Page 4: Panel one: A nice shot of a pretty normal looking school, some kids are loitering about, but not too many. There’s trees everywhere, and the back looks like farmland. Caption: Oldheart High School. Panel two:  Tom Hayter, now age 16, seems to be staring out of the window of his class, no one really paying attention to him, or the class itself really. Panel three: Tom’s attention is gotten as he looks to the front of the class. Mr. Bismarck (off-screen): Mr. Hayter! Panel four: A large man, Mr. Bismarck, looking friendly, stands at the front of the room in front of a “smartboard”, basically a large, electronic blackboard. The board has a bunch of math equations on them, standard stuff.  Mr. Bismarck: Pay attention. Panel five: Tom lazily holds his head up on the desk by his arms as his friend in the desk next to him, Abby, looks at him, smirking. Tom looks to her, not amused. Abby: Busted. Tom: No one says that anymore, Abby. Page 5: Panel one:  A close up on Donny, looking surprised, hands directed at whoever is in front of him. Donny: No, no, look. You got to asses the mess, man. Panel two: Nearly the same image as last, only now he holds up a finger, as if pointing to the sky. Donny; You gotta grab a hold of what you got in your head and pull it out and just strangle the world with it! Tame that shit! Panel three: Close up on Tom, now very unamused, just looking up at the taller student. Tom: I don’t think that’s how it works, Donny. Panel four: Pull away to show them eating at a table in the school cafeteria, Donny with an empty plate, Tom with a full one. Donny: Then how does it work? Tom: Just not like that. Donny: Tommy boy, one of these days you’ll say something I’ll comprehend. Page 6: Panel one:  Tom lays on a grassy slope, which if you look carefully, one can recognize it’s near the place where the Hayter’s found Tom. He just lays there, arms and legs spread, like he was about to make a snow angel in the grass. Panel two: Pull back to reveal someone on the road above Tom. It’s the freakishly tall Arthur Alameda in a large trench coat, hands in pockets. Panel three: Same image as last, maybe add a car whizzing past. Alameda: Peaceful isn’t it? Hold some kind of significance to you, Hayter? Tom: Maybe some. Panel four: Pull farther away, getting a perspective of the two from down the road. Alameda: Why is that? Tom: A thing I don’t feel like sharing, Alameda. Alameda: You can’t hide your little, trivial secrets forever. Panel five: A close up of Tom, looking up at the sky, smiling warmly, almost eerie. Tom: I can certainly try. Page 7: Panel one: A shot of the main street of Oldheart, filled with people talking, walking, cars going by, shops, all of that. Tom (caption): Nothing happens in Oldheart, this sleepy little town. Panel two:  Tom, Abby, and Donny all sit at a park area, having what seems to be an anachronistic picnic, sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket or two and everything.  Tom (caption): The most exciting thing to happen here in decades is something no one knows about. Not even my friends, Abby and Donny. Panel three: Arthur Alameda, clad in some kind mad doctor outfit, gloves, lab coat, wielder goggles, tinkers with a large machine, messing with the circuits in a panel with an odd looking tool, sending a few sparks about. In the background, awkward, nearly bald Gary Shead walks in with a large box filled with random pieces of metal and mechanical parts. Tom (caption): The other only interesting thing here is one Arthur Alameda, our own mad scientist, with bungling Igor-type Gary Shead in tow. Page 8: Just a series of panels further demonstrating Tom’s abilities and his isolation due to them. Pulling ahead in track and then, head hanging low, slowing down to let others pass, breaking a punching bag and getting scolded by a teacher, crushing a doorknob/handle with his hands, looking bemused, staying away from other kids in general. Tom (caption): I don’t know what I am. Page 9: Panel one: Abby, only her hand in view, snaps her fingers in front of a zoning out Tom, who seems like he’s waking up from a dream. Abby (off-screen): Tom, wakey wakey. Tom: What. Panel two: Abby stands in front of him, carrying a bookbag, while Donny is behind them, his back to them, seemingly having stopped to look at what’s stalling them while in mid-stride. Abby: It’s time to go home, smart guy. You know home? The place where the heart is. Tom: Oh, right. I guess I zoned out for a second. Panel three: The three walk along, Donny apparently in a rush, keeping ahead of them. Donny: Dude, you were out for like fifteen minutes. I was about to hang ornaments on you. Tom: I will not be your Thomastree, man. Alameda (off-screen): I’m sure you would make a great inanimate object, Hayter. Panel four: Alameda and Gary, both obviously trying to look tough, stand in the path of the others. Abby: What is it now, Arthur? Don’t you have better things to do than wander around like a nutjob? Alameda: I would ask that you cease you accusations, Adams. I’m just here to tell you lot that tomorrow is going to be a very nice change of pace. Panel four: The three just walk past Alameda and Gary, but both parties turn to face each other again, at least a bit. Tom: I don’t think I’m catching your drift, Alameda. Alameda: Oh, it’s no worries. You’ll all see tomorrow. Gary: Lots of lights, guys. Keep yourselves ready for that shit. Panel five: The two walk away in the background, while in the foreground the other three proceed onwards, Tom looking back, anxious looking. Gary: Lots of lights. Page 10: Panel one: From a distance we see Tom sitting on top of  a large farming silo, looking off towards to the town. Pa (off-screen): Thomas! Panel two: An old man, very kindly looking, one Pa Hayter, shouts up at Tom. Pa: Son, get down here. Panel three: Tom leaps down from the silo and onto the ground, almost effortlessly, ignoring the fact the fall should have killed him. Tom: What is it, Pa? Pa: We got some things to tell you, son. Panel four: The two begin walking to a nice, humble looking home, the Hayter residence. Tom: What about? Pa: ‘Bout your future. And your.. peculiarities.  

[themangritjournals]

Hypernaut pitch

A text-based pitch of a comic called Hyernaut, a story of a young man, gifted with extraordinary abilities trying to use them as he sees fit, battling villains, and finding himself. 

A pitch with art and more information may be coming soon!

HYPERNAUT Premise: Thomas Hayter is a normal boy, living in the rural outskirts of the overdeveloped city of New Troy in the town of Oldheart. He lives an average  life, attending his sophomore year at Oldheart High School with his two best friends Donny Stevens and Abby Adams. While he has his own share of emotional issues, problems with keeping distance and keeping secrets, Tom is an up and coming scholar, adapt with making connections and solving logical puzzles. Nothing happens in Oldheart, and the people there are fully aware of this, and most like that. Except now things are changing, or maybe the surface is just breaking. In the wake of a terrible disaster started accidentally by teen genius and sociopath Arthur Alameda a superhuman hero appears: a mysterious man called the Hypernaut.  Dressed in an odd uniform, the super strong, super fast and super resilient  Hypernaut cleans up the crime in Oldheart but soon finds himself tangling in things much stranger than even himself. Little does anyone know that, in reality, this super powered young man is actually Tom Hayter, and even more ignorant are they of the coming storm, and the brewing rivalry of Hypernaut and Alameda. Split into volumes of 150-200 pages, Hypernaut is an exciting and involved story of heroism, obsession, fate and choice. Each volume consists of a major villain and one rarely needs to have read the other volumes to understand the current, although it does enhance the experience of the story. The storytelling in each book is simple with little overt complexity and some reward for thinking out more nuanced details. Characters: Tom Hayter: Found by Edgar and Linda Hayter, abandoned and alone. Adopting the child as their own, they knew from the start he would be different. As he grew his gifts became more readily apparent, his immense strength, speed, endurance and increased intelligence. Learning to hide his powers as he grew up, Tom also, accidentally, found himself pushing others away, keeping few friends, not allowing them. Tom is, while nice and optimistic, confused and angry about himself and others, and finds catharsis in using his powers and protecting others. Abby Adams: A strange girl with hyperactive tendencies and a large well of tenacity when it comes to things she likes, may it be hobbies or people. Underneath her happy-go-lucky exterior is someone with a lot of anger in her, an undying fire with a source not even she can pinpoint. She tries to quell her inner storm by living with gusto, making friends and doing whatever she can, but finds life less and less satisfying as it goes on. The Hypernaut arriving in Oldheart kick starts her heart, though, and suddenly Abby believes she has a purpose… Donny Stevens:  Big and bright, both are ways to describe Donny. While rather observant and intelligent, he’d rather spend time reading, playing games and watching shows, much to the chagrin of his teachers and parents. He feels like there’s nothing to do in his years between school and adult life and decides to just do stone cold nothing with said years. He makes few friends and makes few connections due to his exterior and sometimes his odd attitude, but he is steadfast and loyal to those that give him the time of day. Once the Hypernaut arrives on the scene, something finally catches his interest, and becoming the hero's “spotlight hogging sidekick” seems to be his one true goal, weird as it is. Arthur Alameda: One of the most intelligent people on the planet is a selfish teenager, and god help us all. Arthur Alameda was not born into privilege, but into a family that didn’t want him and in a town that held nothing for him either. Unable to escape his need to show up his family and his more athletic and “proper” brothers, Arthur works in secret on plans for the future and for grand machines, all of each he only needs the funds for. But when his makeshift 5th element generator backfires, he causes a chain of events that would drive him to the brink of  insanity, and show the most cruel and vain parts of mankind. Arthur is full of twisted feelings and stunted emotions, but one thing he’s best at is never learning when to stop, and that may be the most dangerous thing about him. Gary Shead/Leecher:  One failing grade away from being a high school dropout, Gary Shead has nothing going for him. No drive, no cares and nothing but wants. Too afraid to be a bully or a mugger, and too  full of himself to admit he needs help, Gary sticks with Alameda only for the prospect of  riding his coat tails in the future by being his lackey… until Alameda’s 5th energy generator explodes in his face. Covered in scars and strange, nearly microscopic  needles on his hands, Gary is now amnesic, confused and, above all, hungry. He finds that draining the bio-electric energy out of living things fills the void in his stomach, and the power that it grants him, the strength and discharge of energy, fills the void in his life in the worst way possible. Gary has been a leecher all his life, and now he wants to take everything he can. Nathanial Bismarck/Gearman:  Being a physics teacher at Oldheart high school is a boring job, but Nathanial Bismarck doesn’t care. He goes through life with an eerie, unfitting smirk on his face and creeper amounts of enthusiasm in his work, all of which doesn’t endear him to his students… but, regardless of this, he finds himself trying to mentor Tom who wants nothing to do with him. What no one knows is that Bismarck is, actually, a machine, an android from a time not our own, sent to kill the Hypernaut. Once the Hypernaut incidents escalate, Bismarck makes plans to not only destroy his target, but also his entire life in the process. Nathanial is a jovial, easily excitable man, and that stays the same for his identity of the Gearman, making him a truly off-kilter adversary. More characters are introduced in later volumes! Thomas Hayter: 16. Contemporary boy, mixes dark and colorful clothing, seemingly having no preference. Appears tall and lanky, slouching a lot, looking not comfortable with his body. Short hair, nothing special, maybe a lone, long strand in the front. Hypernaut: Tom’s alter ego, so they have the same basic look, obviously. A heroic figure, tall, proud, fit, but not too overly muscular. Suit looks like some kind of form fitting uniform, not tights, but like a suit of armor from the future, looks tough. His “mask” is just a pair of what looks like odd, high-techy flight goggles built into the “head” portion of the suit that keeps his entire lower face open along with the top of the head/hair. Abby Adams: 16. Dark skinned, sort of punky, odd hairstyles. Seems to enjoy old-style punk cloths, jackets, fishnets and jeans, that kind of stuff, pretty easy. Donny Stevens: 16. Bulky looking, but not particularly fat, just big, wide. Large clothes with mild “hippie” overtones, some tie-dye shirts, mostly always in flip-flops, growing a beard and all of that. Again, pretty easy. Arthur Alameda:18. Large nose, tired eyes, very odd looking, almost sinister. He has a big head of curly hair, almost looking like some kind of bushy afro, except not as dumb looking. Very lanky, but doesn’t hunch himself over, taller than most characters his age, and taller than a lot of adults. He almost looks like some kind of freakish figure while still having a charm about him, a very douchy one. Edgar and Linda Hayter: Two nice looking old folks, usually wearing what you’d expect of them, Edgar having a fedora he always wears outside and Linda having a nice looking walking cane as well. Gary Shead: 19. Average looking kid with little hair, keeping it close to his head. Lots of baggy clothes and shorts, nothing too spectacular. Leecher: Gary Shead’s mutant alter ego, so, same basic shape. He looks haggard, lots of weird scars all over his body that seem twisted, giving him an almost “rotten” look, like some kind of zombie. Wears a hood-cape thing to hide his face most of the  time. Gearman: 30’s. Very tall and imposing, broad shoulders, barrel chest. He has a tough guy’s face, but it has some softer features so he doesn’t look too overtly evil. Underneath all of that is the machine, the android part of him and they have the same anatomical structure. The machine looks like a skeletal-almost bare figure with a skull like face, like a wooden posing model with a metal skull for a head.

[writerwolf]

A little lip sync test.  Gene here presented a big challenge, since he has very organic features, I still need to tweak a few things, but I'm pretty happy for a first-pass.