Hello, everyone, DAMC here...
Creating the Duat Emperor´s universe with the intention of it being the
next best thing ever to shine under the sun is still my main goal as an artist
and creative.
When creating the first strips for Leo back in 2011, I didn´t have a
clear goal on what it was I wanted to communicate. I don´t even think I was
aware of neither the message delivering media, nor the art quality of it.
I simply wanted to draw someone that makes me happy to draw in
circumstances that would reflect some kind of life observations from the point
of view of an outcast.
Mostly, the way in which society endorses “faking” into members of
society. At the time I was living in Canada, very close to Vancouver and the
level of faking was, to me, overwhelming to a point where the first Duat
Emperor reflected that shock I was experiencing. I wanted to put Leo as a
smartass free enough to mock society´s ways without being part of them.
Then the depression came and everything changed, the demons crawled
their way into the webcomic and brought a darkness from which the webcomic
hasn´t recovered.
Today I can say I'm a bit wiser and way older, and most importantly, I
have a clear idea of what I want the Duat Emperor to be. Definately not a silly
collection of lose abstract observations anymore, plenty of memes out there
already. Instead, I mean to create a full story with characters and
interactions that will shape the world in which they live. (Groundbreaking…
*sigh*)
To it's core, the Duat Emperor is the story of an outcast who by chance,
and against all odds gets discovered as someone special and worth teaching the
secrets of the universe.
Leo had been searching for freedom, the ultimate freedom: boundless and
without consequences. A selfish wish motivated by grief and pain.
I guess that's the reflection of my own hopes and dreams, my own desire
to mean something big enough to be saved from the darkness, both outside and
inside my head. Leo is the guy who gets the ticket to wonderland, and I can
join in the journey to become a Wandler.
That's when the story gets it's "charm". The story is about an
outcast who has the power to travel between dimensions and realities while
antagonizing with funky characters.
Sounds familiar? Being one who has seen a ton of anime, watched almost
every fantasy and sci-fi movie out there and read a lot of books and comic
books I can´t deny that I´m heavily influenced by the 20th century fiction and
their own previous influences.
An interdimensional traveler who otherwise don´t fit in society is
really nothing new, with it's variants, there are lots of stories out there
dealing with this exact same premise, which I think is just another hue of the
proverbial initiatic journey of the hero that will eventually lead him to the
boss fight to prove that the knowledge he acquired in his trip is worth a
damn.
But I think it also is a reflection of my need to explain and give (as oppose
to find) meaning to the world around, above and beyond me in my frightened, confused
human of the 21st century.
I can really say that my real intention with the Duat Emperor and why I
pursuit it with such stubbornness despite the big delays and obstacles
(depression and doubt included), is to create something that will incorporate
the ideas that I like with the ones I have come up with myself to provide a
reasonable and satisfying meaning to it all.
You know, THE answer, to life, the universe and everything.
Long live the Emperor!!!
Next time I maybe talk about my own
influences, I’ll think about it.
