Interview With Nephilim Squadron Creator Hex Allen

Indie Comics Underground had the chance to chat with Hex Allen about his unique campaign for Nephilim Squadron - now on Indiegogo

Your campaign for Nephilim Squadron is currently funding on IndieGogo. What is Nephilim Squadron?
   Nephilim Squadron is a science-fantasy war epic that focuses on the personal journey of a clone pilot's desire for a soul. The story takes place on a planet colonized by humans in the 28th century. Over generations, the colonists have established a civilization, but have also been fighting a war with the native beings on the planet. The thing is, there was never supposed to be any INTELLIGENT SENTIENT life on this planet in order to allow humans to colonize it.
   Enter the Sol Interstellar Forces, a Star Trek Federation-Like organization, sent in to find out how and why the humans on Tamerin-12 have awakened this strange, rapidly evolving species.

The comic that backers will receive is actually a preview of a much larger story that is still to come. How much of that larger story can backers expect to get from this comic?
   Yes, the black and white version of chapter one is in the current campaign (26+ Pages). The 2021 campaign for Nephilim Squadron will feature 3 chapters in one volume in color, and will be known as Nephilim Squadron Volume 1. This book is planned to be around 72 pages, but this may change when we get to editing chapters 2 and 3.

What are some of the influences on the story and artwork of Nephilim Squadron?
    The story is inspired by 80's anime like Macross, manga titles like Area 88, and Heavy Metal Magazine. Other influences are the Iliad, and various mythological stories. The satiric wit of Howard Chaykin, particularly from American Flagg!, is also a big influence on me.         The artwork is just an evolution of my experience over the years. I have recently been trying to stray away from trying to imitate other artists. 

    The important thing for me at this point in my life is to have the basics down - anatomy, perspective, line weight, motion, light and shadow. Then what ever comes from that is what my style would be. But of course, when I was younger, I had many influences like Ryoichi Ikegami, Matt Wagner, Moebius, Howard Chaykin, Steve Rude. Writing influences are Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mike Baron, Moebius, Alan Moore, Neal Stephenson, Don Delillo, Thomas Pynchon, Anthony Burgess, and Charles Bukowski (lol). I'm sure there are others.

Your campaign also includes trading cards and prints of characters from a mobile game that you have in development. Why combine the two into this one campaign?
   I originally thought it was a good idea to present a cross-IP, cross-Media campaign, because I was so excited about what I was working on, but it turns out that only confuses people. If anything, this has been a teaching moment for me. I think only perhaps large marquee names in crowdfunding would be able to successfully pull off such a campaign.   

     So since many people were not grokking that the campaign is only for the artwork from a game, and not the game itself, I had to change the focus. Instead of being a little add-on ashcan preview, I enhanced the perk so that the comic is a full-sized floppy with more pages. This seemed to work as the campaign was funded soon after. Now I know to keep the focus narrow unless I change my name to Ethan Van Sciver, and now I know what not to do.

Any approximate release date on the mobile game?
At this point, probably Summer 2021

Can you give our readers a little background info on yourself?
    I'm a long time comics fan first and foremost, since 1985, when I was 13, and around the same time my interest in anime accelerated to warp speed. As a kid I was also into the typical popular shows and movies of the 70's through the 90's, as well as a prolific reader and story builder. I always wanted to be a comics creator, but at the same time, even when I was young, I was aware of the issues with creator-owned content with the "Big Two". So I started creating characters and coming up with stories and kept them to myself.

   Time jump to attending an inner city junior high in Los Angeles to a full-ride academic scholarship at a prestigious boarding school on the east coast. From there, on to a fine Jesuit university, then to various jobs as an illustrator, animator, and technical roles in the video game industry. All throughout this time I was forming the Nephilim Squadron world and story. And now, here I am starting the crowd funding project for it at last.

What do you see as the future of Nephilim Squadron?
   I envision it as a 12 chapter self-contained saga. The plan is to launch 4 campaigns for each volume, and then be done with it. Well, there is also the possibility of spin offs in the form of short one-shot issues, and a CG crossover (?).

Back Nephilim Squadron on Indiegogo

Follow Hex Allen on Twitter: @hex_allen