'PROCLIVITY' Comic Series Precedes 'GENESIS OF EVIL' Film

Biting at the heels of the film GENESIS OF EVIL is a project just as important and elementally critical to the journey of transcending original characters from graphic novels to the big screen. It’s a project near and dear to my heart and something I’ve wanted to do since wrapping with principal photography on GOE. Piece working every detail of the film together by collaborating with so many different departments has been arduous to say the least. I never dreamt nor intended to wear so many hats on this production but it became necessary and nothing will detour me from finishing it. What I miss these days most is the creative process. Days where I sit and do nothing but write and create have been few and far scattered between the duties of supervising post production and marketing around the globe in preparation for the grand unveiling of GOE. I spent a great deal of time recruiting our visual effects team and cleaning up after a post production fiasco left in my lap shortly after principal photography wrapped. In hindsight, losing and ridding the post production process of inadequate affiliations was worth the hassle of having to restructure and reassemble a post production team. The film has turned out much better than anyone could have anticipated. With that said, I’ve delegated myself some creativity time over the past year, and especially within the last six months. I’ve gone back to crafting the much more casual nature of comic book storytelling for a precursor tale to events depicted in GENESIS OF EVIL.

In editing the film, I was able to look back at elements missed in production. Not necessarily were things missed rather than corners were cut and streamlined to fit the budget. It’s a factor associated with filmmaking which sometimes degrades the creative integrity behind what makes the characters tick in a story. I wanted to go back and reexamine in greater detail the characterizations portrayed in the film. An iconic and eclectic ensemble of previously published characters have transitioned from comics to film, and whether they’re primarily featured or reduced to cameo appearances in GOE, all are the sum of traits with inherent qualities that make them quintessential to the pace and posturing of the film’s uniquely crafted storyline. GOE is a fine execution of action and intrigue against a visually stunning backdrop sure to leave those who screen the film in complete awe. The new graphic mini-series aims to do the same as precursor to the highly anticipated film.

THE VILLIKON CHRONICLES: PROCLIVITY recounts a 24-hour time period leading into the film GENESIS OF EVIL. It’s also a self-contained mini-series without the demands of a continuous story needing to unfold before or after it. It will be published as a single comic book or graphic novel issue after its exclusive serialized run.

I was really struck, coming back to the characters, by how much they've been through even before we first see them in GOE. They bear a lot of scars, which is not surprising given the dark world they’re written in, but I mean emotional scars. They've been through a lot and I'm moved by them in a deeper sense than I was before having brought them from where their fates eventually leave them in the graphic novels, to GENESIS OF EVIL, set four years before the graphic novels, and now ‘Proclivity.’ As one can assume from the title, proclivity itself is defined as a tendency towards acting a certain way. It’s the predisposition of our character’s demeanors and inherent traits. Whether they’re good or bad, elusive, dependent, headstrong, malevolent, curious, insecure or suspicious, their habitual inclinations are revealed in the series to leave no doubt as to where their strengths and weaknesses lie in the film.

Artist Juan Arevalo kicks off the series in traditional comic book fashion. In the first chapter it is Kort Villikon, Tabina Tanzer, and Malcolm Vismal who are really front and center. The chapter allows for more character development behind the chief officers under Villikon’s command aboard Providence in orbit over Itasca, the penitentiary world so prominent to most of the storylines. It also most importantly answers the question as to why Kort Villikon, the main protagonist of the franchise, is missing from the film which bears his namesake. ‘Proclivity’ is perhaps stingier than the film. It had more room to play in without budget constrictions pinned to producing a film. It was perfect to do more in the personal lives of the characters that might otherwise have exhausted the film budget and the audience being introduced to them for the first time. Considering fans of today’s produced comic books are inclined to gravitate towards improprieties and darker story themes that exist in the real world, ‘Proclivity’ remains suggestive like the graphic novels, perhaps possessing even more of a risqué factor to satisfy the appeal of those kinds of story arcs.

As a gift to fans, comic readers, the comic collecting connoisseur, the incredible cast and crew of GOE, fellow filmmakers and publishers, and going totally against the grain of why such effort would be put into producing a mini-graphic of this caliber of quality, ‘Proclivity’ will debut FREE to all of you. I hope everyone enjoys the latest comic book entry into the vast Villikon Chronicles franchise. Mark your calendars for the mini-graphic series event, which begins December 5th, 2008!

-Bryan J. Kinnaird

Watch an Interview with Bryan here.   Watch some Behind the Scenes video here.

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