Geek Syndicate
Thoughts On The Elysia Preview
“Elysia’s wings begin to grow
morphing her into an angel.
Her journey to accept her new
physical self is tough, but she
must learn to not only fight,
but accept her new identity in
order to come to terms with
her new powers and ward off
the Fallen Angel attack on the
planet.
At the same time, she’s making friends in angel school,
learning how to be a fighter
and embarking on a self-discovery about her new form.
Unfortunately, the Demon
Angel Overlord kidnaps her
famous scientist father in order to lure her to her death,
so he is able to take her soul
and defeat the Higher Order
of angels. Elysia must come to
terms with the powers she was
born with to rescue her father
and save the planet before it’s
too late.”
– Taken from the Elysia website
I have lost count of the amount
of emails get sent for Kickstarter projects (For a Bluffer’s
guide to Kick Starter, check out
Issue 6 of GS Magazine – Ed).
Now first up I want to make it
clear that I do not mind Kickstarter, like all things it is open
to misuse but that it not the
fault of the tool but rather the
hand that wields it. However
to date, since Kickstarter began, I have backed very few
Kickstarter projects (though I
have promoted many via the
86
website and podcast). One of
the projects that managed to
relieve me of my cash was the
Sci-Fi/Fantasy graphic novel
series Elysia.
I had met Serena Obhrai, Elysia’s creator several times but
had no idea she was working
on the project until an email
dropped into my inbox. Intrigued I checked out the Kickstarter page. The first thing
that hit me was the stunning
artwork by Jennie Gyllad.
However what really got me to
put my hand in pocket was the
introduction video by Serena
and Jennie. The way Serena
causally mentions that “there
are currently abo ut fifty characters in the story that we’ve
sketched out” and the level of
world building that’s clearly
happened drew me in.
I loved the idea behind the
project as well as the passion
that Serena and Jennie have
for it which was clearly visible on the screen. Character sketches and full colour
pages faded it and out to the
ladies narration, showing the
amount of work and commitment that already had been
pumped into the project.
There was a sense behind the
video that even they did hit
their target that somehow
they would find a way to bring
the world of Elysia to life. I
clicked the backing button
before the video had ended.
Given how much I loved the
idea the least I could do was
support the project in my own
small way. It seemed that over
two hundred people felt the
same way and Elysia’s target
goal was met in April this year.
Verdict on the Elysia Preview
Fast forward several months
and I was lucky enough to be
sent an advance copy of the
preview before it was released
on the Elysia website. I hovered over the open button,
hesitant to open the pdf. It is
one thing to imagine a great
concept but it is an entirely
different matter to realize
that concept successfully. Had
Serena and Jennie aimed too
high? Would they, like Icarus,
plummet back to reality their
wings of imagination, melted
by the harshness of reality? It
took me all of three pages to
realize that their dream was intact and a brilliant new world
had been born. The opening
pages drew you into the world,
revealing its society, its rules,
its heroes and even offering a
brief look at the villains. This is
all in the first five pages.
There is a lot of set up in this
preview, which of course there
needs to be but Serena’s writing manages to deftly sidestep
the exposition heavy potholes
that can damage even the
most well written of tales. Serena weaves in world building
elements that are both simple