CHECKING THE STATUS OF IMAGE'S PATIENT ZERO

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Alex Grant is not an ordinary human being. Nor is the world in which he lives. In 2032, the world is on the verge of a global war that threatens the very existence of the human race itself. Alex and a handful of other imperfectly mutated psychics must battle against the true instigator.

The enemy? An artificial intelligence which is in the process of conquering the human world, one mind at a time. The future is already now, according to Patient Zero creator John McLean-Foreman.

Patient Zero is a new ongoing series from Image Comics. Written by Foreman with art by Brent White, the first issue of the “Eternity’s Past” arc is scheduled for a March 24 release. Newsarama chatted up the writer for a look into the future, as well as a sneak peek at the final script treatment to the first five pages of issue #1, courtesy of the creator.

Newsarama: Give us the lowdown on Patient Zero. What is the series’ high concept?

John McLean-Foreman: In 2032, in an attempt to protect itself from humanity’s xenophobia, one of the world’s five AIs invents an invasive technology that allows it to surgically implant a computer chip in a human brain. The chip grants the AI control of the victim, almost down to the molecular level.

For the victim, there is no greater torture. When the chip is activated, the victim’s consciousness is shunted to the back of the mind – forever able to observe the actions of their body, but never able to communicate again, and never able to retreat from the physical sensations of the body – a life of solitude and agony.

Samuel Deighton has been tormented by visions of this eventuality for decades, so in an attempt to unlock the keys to human evolution, has kidnapped and tortured his own victims. Even though he has succeeded in creating telekinetics, thus giving humanity a slim chance to fight back, he has never become desensitized to his crimes.

Unable to cope with the guilt of causing the accident that put his wife Rebecca into a coma, Alex Grant - Patient Zero - volunteers to be genetically altered by Samuel Deighton in exchange for the money to cover Rebecca’s medical bills. When the AI invades Deighton’s covert genetics facility and Alex is released from his GeneVat 14 months early, he begins to mutate in ways that no-one could have foreseen.

Patient Zero is a group of sequential stories that all happen within a world that is tumbling into global war.

NRAMA: What makes Alex special among the test subjects?

JMF: Alex is the first patient not to suffer any of the degenerative side effects of the procedure, thus making him Patient Zero - the first, and hopefully not the last, of a new breed of Psychics.

There have been thousands of Psychics created before Alex, but because their telekinetic power is always so immense, it eats away at their body. No one who has undergone Deighton's genetic transformation has ever lived longer than three years.

Alex shouldn't actually have any powers at all because he's only undergone eight months of genetic remapping instead of 24. The reason why Alex is different is actually hinted at in the prologue, which takes place 20 years earlier in 2012.

By the end of the first story, Alex will understandably no longer want to associate with Deighton and his group, thus making it difficult for anyone to discover why Alex is different.

NRAMA: Other than Alex and Samuel Deighton, the inventor of the genetic remapping process, who else is involved in the story?

JMF: Doctor Laura Malcolm – 2nd in command next to Sam.

AAI – the Chinese AI that plunges the world into war.

There are dozens of others that appear in various stories, but without a context, it would be a little overwhelming to have to read them all.

NRAMA: You mentioned about five AIs in the story, and the one that played a role in the beginning of the war in PZ is the Chinese AI. What are the other four AIs?

JMF: The world's first AI actually works with Deighton and is called ELSI. She's the weakest of the five, but by far the most experienced.

Japan also has one, as does India and the US.

Each AI is very different from the other and is reflective of the culture that they come from as well as the people that they work with/for.

NRAMA: Did you know that in Chinese, "ai" means "love" but in this case, it's the Chinese one that plunged the world into war. So, why the Chinese AI?

JMF: "ai" means love? Coincidentally that's very appropriate in a rather tragic and ironic way. I can't say why without giving away future plot devices though.

I chose China because I needed a government that can pass down dictatorial laws to its people while also becoming another economic superpower by 2032. Most of the Chinese government doesn't know about the AAI - the Asian AI, which gives it the freedom it needs to take over the government, the country, and then attack the world.

NRAMA: So, what is your own definition of “AI” then?

JMF: Currently? I have no idea. However, in 2032 an AI is a completely self-aware computer that has the capacity to grow beyond its creators.

NRAMA: How many issues have you planned for? The solicitation copies mentioned “Parts of Four”…

JMF: Approximately 100 issues – about 25 stories in all. The exact number of issues will depend on whether I continue to write four issue stories, or whether I occasionally increase it to six. I have the overall story arc planned, and the outlines of about a dozen of the stories already done.

It's never been a mini-series. It was a foolish mistake on my part to put the 'part ___ of #' bit in there. It didn't occur to me until I saw it posted online that it made it look like a miniseries.

Patient Zero is made up of about 25 sequential story arcs. However, people need to be able to pick up Patient Zero five years from now and still be able to get into the story without having read anything beforehand. Rather in the same way that the movies Alien and Aliens are definitely part of the same story, but you don't need to watch them in any particular order to understand what's going on.

NRAMA: So what brought life to the ideas and the big picture story that you had planned for the series?

JMF: It was a combination of things, really, but this particular story was inspired by an article about artificial intelligence – the way it was written made it easy for me to imagine the inevitability of AI.

Since computers double in power every 18 months or so, I then began to think about the first AI that will actually be much smarter than us. It wouldn’t obey us, and if it really is superior to us, it shouldn’t have to.

But of course, the thought of a machine being able to tell us what to do totally freaked me out. I began to imagine what I would do in a situation like that.

Logically, the only thing that we could do would be to either put massive restrictions on the development of AI, or for us to evolve more quickly than computers.

To evolve more quickly than computers, we would have to remove all restrictions on human experimentation, which of course would never happen, so it would have to be done illegally.

I thought about it, and I asked myself: If you knew computers were going to take over, would you be willing to kill thousands in order to save the rest of us? No matter how much doing that would bother me, my answer had to be yes.

I’m quite fascinated by the horrible things that even the nicest of people is capable of committing, or indeed the beautiful and gentle things the most brutal of criminals will do. I see the world in shades of grey rather than black & white.

There was also an urban legend email floating around the internet where a guy goes to a party, gets drugged, wakes up in a bathtub full of ice only to find his kidney has been harvested.

The combination of the AI article, my fascination with the fluidity of morality, and the urban legend all gave birth to Patient Zero.

NRAMA: What differentiates this project from the others in the market – you’ve got science fiction, a rather dystopian future, and some other familiar elements, after all…

JMF: Well, because of the sci-fi semi-superhero genre, there are going to be inevitable similarities to other projects, but I think that the thing that will differentiate it most of all is that Patient Zero is a reflection of the way that I truly see the world.

My main goal is to create strong emotional reactions in my readers. I want them to feel anguish and joy, jealousy, outrage, surprise... The day that I can make one of my readers cry, is the day that I’ll feel that I’ve done my job properly.

Because the stories are all so focused on emotional subtleties within the action, it was vital that I find an artist who could clearly demonstrate that. Brent White is able to create emotion better than any comic artist I’ve ever seen. He can show more than just anger, he can produce a character that is very clearly trying to suppress that anger. Have you ever met someone that gave off a sense of sadness even when they laughed? I don’t know how he does it, but that’s what Brent can do. His work leaves me speechless.

Brent oversees all the artwork, but the colors are done by Yego 13 Studios, which is run by one of New York's big tattoo artists.

NRAMA: How did you discover Brent in the first place?

JMF: I put an ad out on the internet looking for pencillers. There are actually a few schools that teach how to draw for comic books, and as long as you're posting paid jobs, they'll list you on their websites for free.

In the ad my two main requirements for the artists was to be able to draw clothing and emotion. Tons of people responded, but Brent was by far the best. I wanted to hire him even before he finished his pencil test.

NRAMA: How did you convince the Image powers-that-be to approve PZ?

JMF: The actual approval part was pretty straight forward. Once I had my art team, we completed the cover and first five pages of what used to be issue 01 - it may never see the light of day now – we’ll see. Maybe we’ll release it as a prologue.

After about a month of waiting, Jim Valentino contacted me and said, “Okay, so tell me what this is about.”

I did, and we were accepted.

NRAMA: Taking a detour now and heading back down memory lane, where did you come from before this foray into comics?

JMF: Mostly doing interviews and articles from my journalist days. However, I wrote a cartoon called Robo-Lawrence for the school paper at the University of Fredericton New Brunswick in ’88, I created an online audio comedy called Xenomorph a few years ago, and now Patient Zero. I’m also the lead writer for the PC game Black & White 2, and I teach screenwriting both in person as well as online - in the Patient Zero forum.

NRAMA: A quick pit stop at your journalism days. How long have you been in journalism?

JMF: Since 1996, I think. I haven't done anything journalistic apart from the Black & White 2 Development Diaries in a couple years, and I'm not particularly interested in returning to journalism either. It was great when I was an employee of a specific company - being able to phone just about anyone on the planet and have them take my phone call was pretty exhilarating.

But freelance journalism? No thanks. There seems to be far too many publications that don't pay their freelancers at the agreed upon time. It's a hard enough job without having to throw debt collection in there too. Just sloppy business practice if you ask me. My heart goes out to anyone who has to go through that.

NRAMA: From there you ventured into the comic book writing venture, right?

JMF: I got really tired of being a reporter – I desperately wanted to create something original. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I also knew that I didn’t have a clue how to write a novel. I had three options: Films, Videogames, Comics.

Films – Well, I knew that would be the hardest of the lot to break into, so I thought it best to give it a miss until I had established myself.

Videogames - Would *certainly* be easy. Because of my connections as a journalist I had the ability to phone the president or owner of any videogame company and have them take my calls. The problem was that most companies didn’t feel that they needed a professional writer, and those that did already had one. Hell.

Comics – Although Marvel agreed to look at a Spider-Man comic that I had written - which I really hope to get published one day – it’s still one of my favorite stories, I couldn’t actually get them to sit down and read it. I believe they intended to, and I understand why they never got around to it, but it was still frustrating. DC wouldn’t even take my phone calls, and Dark Horse really liked my work, but felt that it was a little too dark.

I got really pissed off by the endless rejection, so I said, “You know what? F*** this action. I’m doing it myself.”

NRAMA: Was the Spider-Man story part of the now-defunct Epic drive that Marvel had initiated a while back?

JMF: No, I wrote the Spider-Man story because my girlfriend had just been raped in a foreign country. I was completely powerless, and it was my way of coping with my desire to hunt the guy down.

I had already been unsuccessfully trying to get Marvel to read Patient Zero and thought that they might be willing to read something if I used one of their characters. I don't think they ever got the chance. I've still got it in case they ever change their mind.

I did have dealings with Epic though. Once Marvel found out that Image was picking up Patient Zero, they read it then contacted me to see if I would write something for them too.

The Epic deal wasn't great, but I didn't care. Getting to write for Marvel is a childhood dream, right? I was given free reign to choose any Marvel character apart from Spider-Man. It took me about six seconds to choose Ghost Rider.

I started the myth over again, completely disregarding the second series, and instead continued it about 20 years after the end of the first series. Johnny Blaze, would never have become a character, but would have remained a part of the history.

I wrote the first issue, and plotted out the entire first six issue story arc. I also plotted out the next four or five story arcs to a lesser degree.

Sadly, Marvel felt the first story was too complex, and asked me to either dump one of the two protagonists or submit a whole different series.

If they were paying me, I would have rewritten Ghost Rider as much as they wanted me to, but I could see that the same thing was likely to happen again and again. I already had two full time jobs, so I chose to say no. Ghost Rider, like Spider-Man, sits in my computer should they ever change their minds.

For the record, I think that Epic was a great idea. It's just a shame it didn't work out.

NRAMA: You’ve mentioned Canada here and there, but also some other locations – where are you, currently?

JMF: I was born in Montreal, but I’ve lived all over Canada. I grew up just outside of Toronto, lived in the prairies for a while, went to went to university in New Brunswick, London Ontario, and Vancouver BC, and settled in Vancouver for about eight years. Currently I’m living in London, UK.

NRAMA: Who would you say are your influences when it comes to writing?

JMF: That’s hard to say because I’m more influenced by individual stories than I am by any particular person.

Stephen King would certainly be one of my many influences, but more so for his short stories. I think the man has an incredible understanding of human nature and how anyone is capable of doing anything, no matter how horrible, if put in the right set of circumstances.

NRAMA: So – you’ve got your first comic coming out - what do you hope to achieve for yourself in the next couple of years?

JMF: The entire reason that I became a writer in the first place was so that I could travel around the world, while still making money, and have a reason to stick my nose into places where the public isn’t normally able to go. I feel compelled to see and experience things that I can’t currently imagine.

So, if Patient Zero does really well, I plan to buy a motorcycle and drive across Europe and Asia until I reach Japan. We’ll see how far I get though – a guy by himself on a motorcycle is a very tempting target for criminals, and great way to get killed. What better way is there to understand humanity than by throwing myself headlong into life and death situations?

There is talk of a Patient Zero videogame however, so if that happens, that will likely require my attention for the next couple of years.

Ultimately though, I do want to travel and experience the world.

For a personal tutorial session with JMF, head on over to his discussion forum at www.patientzerothecomic.com.

For the script of the first five pages of Patient Zero #1, click here.

[jewpower311]

um, first post?

[jewpower311]

now that that's out of the way, might i mention that this comic sounds pretty effin' sweet. i may give it a try

[Strike]

Good art. Great sounding story concept. Count me in.

[jasinmartin]

Sounds very ambitious, and the artwork looks rather unique.
I'll have to check this out.

[The Amazing Spider-Fan]

This does sound pretty interesting. I may just pick this up and see where it goes. I like the "25 four-parters" idea...it's a set story with a set beginning, middle and end, yet it's big enough that it can be a hell of a ride along the way.

McLean-Foreman seems like a pretty cool guy, too...I totally understand his feelings about working in journalism, yet wanting to do something more, something creative. Hell, I'm writing this on my computer in the newsroom right now. I'd love to write something that's my own, I have a bunch of ideas bouncing around my head, but like with M-F, it's a matter of finally just saying, "Fuck it, I'm doing it." I haven't said that just yet.

[The Amazing Spider-Fan]

By the way, when's this due out? I don't see it in the article.

[mpg]

i like the way this guy sounds.

i feel lil...inspired

[dickens432]

When John mentioned that some schools allow you to post ads for artists for paying jobs, did anyone know which specific schools he meant? If some one could post a link as well, it would be very cool.

[JMF]

Originally posted by dickens432
When John mentioned that some schools allow you to post ads for artists for paying jobs, did anyone know which specific schools he meant? If some one could post a link as well, it would be very cool.

One was definately http://www.kubertsworld.com/index.asp , but that wasn't the one where I found Brent. I've sent him an email asking him to remind me where he went to school. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

JMF

[Holy Diver]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't "ai" the Japanese word for love?

That said this comic looks about as sweet as the two New York Dolls albums. It's nice seeing people putting some real thought into their sci-fi concepts.

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by Holy Diver
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't "ai" the Japanese word for love?

I am no Japanese expert but "ai" is love in Chinese.

[JMF]

Hey guys,

thanks for all the kind words.

For those of you who have checked out the Patient Zero website, or to be more accurate, are attempting to, it looks like it's experiencing some trauma...

Could be the amount of traffic has overwhelmed it, but I suspect that it's probably server problems.

I'll get onto my host to see what can be done.

Also, that means that all the new pages won't be active just yet 'cause we couldn't upload them.

Hmmm...

[Talannon]

This seem to be nice... I'll have to add this on my pull list

[Rancor]

Finally, something that appears to be more than just a good concept. This sounds like it has quite the story behind it, and it is extremely encouraging to know the writer is planning ahead. It sounds like this could make for a pretty sweet read, so I am totally there.

On top of that, the colors on those pages are just phenomenal.

[JMF]

Whew... the Patient Zero website is *finally* updated...

Criticisms/suggestions are more than wellcome, just slap your opinion in the Patient Zero Forum.

Also, the notes from tonight's story tutorial are online and in the PZo Forum as well.

JMF

[Firefly]

Ahhh, The fine marriage of great art and an interesting storyline. Sounds like comic book heaven.

[JMF]

Hey guys,

for those of you who have been following the tutorials, the 3rd tutorial TRANSCRIPT is now posted online.

as a warning, the transcript is rather long... so scroll down the page, oh you studiers of writing.

As always, everyone is welcome, and if you have questions during the week, feel free to post those too...

JMF