THE ATOMIC RISE AND FALL OF ONE RADEA GAGA
BEHIND THE SCENES OF NIGHTCLUB ATOMIC PEARL...
Visual Language
When coming up with the visual language for this project, I created moodboards (seen below) of different artists whose works I'd admired. My biggest influences for the art style are Hirohiko Araki (mangaka behind Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) and Chiho Saito (mangaka behind Revolutionary Girl Utena). My biggest influences for the color language are Araki and John Higgins (colorist behind the original 1988 release of Batman's The Killing Joke). From Araki, I also borrowed his process of using fashion models for pose references, though I extended it to art historical figures as well.
Moodboards compiled at the beginning of the project (click and scroll to see all moodboards)
Final sketches before lining (click and scroll to see all sketches)
Origins of Discovery
The brainwashing arcade game in this story is called Discovery. The concept of a cryptic brainwashing arcade game exists outside of this graphic novel -- kind of.
Discovery, named after Daft Punk's Discovery album, is based on the legend of Polybius. Polybius originated as an urban legend spread around the 2000's of a mysterious arcade game that existed in the 1980's. This game supposedly induced psychoactive and addictive effects onto the player, which was used to brainwash children as a form of government mind control before the game suddenly vanished from all arcades without a trace. Although Polybius itself is fictitious, the urban legend is rooted in the very real Project MK-Ultra -- a long-term experiment ran by the U.S. government during the Cold War to research and develop drugs that would increase susceptibility and force confessions via "mind control." Sound freaky? At least this game didn't eat human remains in real life -- unlike in this story (a decision inspired by Lemon Demon's song, "Cabinet Man").
Pink Floyd's "In The Flesh" parodied for Radea Gaga's drag introduction
Discovery's introduction
Music References
This graphic novel contains storytelling and lyrics mimicking and parodying rock opera narrative techniques. Some of the "lyrics" are written in direct reference to existing songs and albums. What would normally be considered mini chapters in the comic, I've transformed into "tracks" as if the graphic novel were a rock opera. Many of the tracks have rhyme meters that are taken directly from existing songs. Some tracks in the graphic novel do not reference any songs and are entirely made up.
While many musical artists have been used, Pink Floyd, The Who, David Bowie and My Chemical Romance are some of the musical artists with the biggest influence on this project. In particular, the rock operas The Wall, Tommy, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars, and The Black Parade have been invaluable sources.
Listen to the songs that contributed to the making of this project on this Spotify Playlist