The Pilot Chapter: Designing the Characters and the World

Rohit p -

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … probably not necessary to use this clichéd phrase right now. Welcome to the introduction of a new superhero! My name is Rohit Panga and my project title “A Spark of a New Hero’s Journey: Creating the Next Superhero Comic” shines light on the comic book genre that is growing popular to this day. This first chapter will show the potential of my new superhero’s origin story. 

The pilot episode in modern TV shows serves as a “test run” to begin the main course of the story and highlight its potential to introduce complex literary themes and unique characters, settings, ideas, or emotions. The first chapter of my comic Atlas features the debut of my protagonist Marcus Tallman and his two close friends Julian Stace and Amber McWarner in a world transformed by supernatural powers. Therefore, it will be my “pilot” chapter to initiate the launch of Marcus’s journey to become his superhero alter-ego Atlas. 

This chapter will illustrate the story’s exposition by highlighting my characters’ designs and personalities. Working under an independent project, I will first storyboard the pilot chapter, roughly sketching each panel, even if the characters end up being stick figures. The storyboard helps to visually represent the events of the story as they play out. Once the storyboarding is finished, inking this chapter into a final design with proper anatomy and shading will introduce each character’s official design and mindset to the readers. I am looking forward to the inking phase of this chapter since I will set each page in stone, as well as the inciting incident, which will present the story’s main conflict to the audience.

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    jacob_p
    Your first line is gold, Rohit. The premise of your story sounds fascinating, especially the part about superpowers transforming the world. I would love to see this explored thoroughly in your comic book. Are there any manga or comic books which inspired you to adopt this premise?
    February 18, 2025 at 11:02 am - Reply
    rohit_p
    There are many, for sure, Jacob. Evidently, most of DC and Marvel Comics have superheroes with unique powers, but I've read a lot of Shonen Jump Manga, like My Hero Academia, which is part of the influence for my comic because it is literally based off of a world where everyone has superpowers. Another one that motivated me was One Piece, with different fruits called "Devil Fruits" that give oddly specific abilities to whoever eats them. So, the concept of the different types of powers made it more assuring to come up with character designs and how they play a role in the story.
    February 18, 2025 at 11:38 am - Reply
    ashwyn_k
    Creating your own comic book is an amazing and unique idea, Rohit! I can tell that this is something you've been thinking about for a while since you provided plenty of examples of how your story will develop. I was wondering, do you think you will ever fully develop and complete "Atlas" so that it can be published and bought in the future? I doubt that would happen within the small time frame of the senior projects, but it would be amazing to see your comics in a book store.
    February 18, 2025 at 4:25 pm - Reply
    joaquin_s
    Rohit, I think this initial blog post really shows your passion for making comics given how in-depth even your most preliminary descriptions are. I was wondering, once you get started with the actual comic-making process, how often will you be releasing a chapter. Will it be weekly like a typical manga would release, or will it be more like a western comic that releases monthly?
    February 18, 2025 at 6:31 pm - Reply
    dina_i
    Rohit, I love how you're treating the first chapter like a pilot episode! I think it's a genius way to establish the world and characters. The inking phase sounds especially exciting; it'll be amazing to see how the final designs bring Marcus, Julian, and Amber to life. Do you have a favorite part of the process so far? Can't wait to see how Atlas’s journey unfolds!
    February 19, 2025 at 9:19 am - Reply
    rohit_p
    @ashwyn_k For this 10 week project, there is definitely no way I can finish the story (in fact, I'm only done scripting about 6 chapters at this moment). But I'm pretty sure I can manage to provide the first 3 chapters of this story before May, just to introduce the main premise and conflict to the readers. As for your question, even after creating the story and art, most comics and manga are digitally drawn and then printed, so it may not be anytime soon. But I am hoping to publish this once it is all complete, even if it is just my side hobby.
    February 19, 2025 at 1:01 pm - Reply
    rohit_p
    @joaquin_s For this, I am thinking of releasing a chapter biweekly, like how some manga release their chapters. As I said for Ashwyn's question, I will only be able to release 3 chapters by the time the project is over, but there will be enough of a start to understand the main story's introduction. However, every blog post on this project, I will show my progress with developing the character designs, releasing my visual storyboard, or finally rendering of the chapter's pages.
    February 19, 2025 at 1:08 pm - Reply
    meggiles
    Hi, Rohit! Do you have an image you can show us? It may be premature, I realize, but I'm curious . . . . MG
    February 19, 2025 at 3:19 pm - Reply
    Anonymous
    @dina_i So far, my favorite part is actually designing the script for how the story will play out. I've been trying to maintain a balance of humor as well as context to highlight the personality of each character. Although this first chapter won't give the spark for the story's main conflict, the next events after will include a lot more action while keeping some jokes and laughs to have that engagement with the reader.
    February 23, 2025 at 9:08 am - Reply

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