RECORDING THE DIALOGUE

Stephan Weyte here records a line for the first episode of Anti-Hero. For every line these professional actors have several takes, many of which I'm heartbroken to edit out of the final production!

THE CAST

I've been VERY lucky to enlist the help of very talented actors to voice the characters in the motion comic Anti-Hero.

Many of them have become my friends and I was surprised how many of them lived nearby!
You never know until you reach out how many people are within a phone call away who basically were your childhood. A lot of these men and woman voice characters who inspired me from a very young age to begin drawing and then (when I discovered I was no good at that) to begin writing.

Here's the actors involved and links to their IMDB pages.
As the series progresses of course many of these actors will return but there's still more characters I have plans to introduce as the story unfolds.

STEPHAN WEYE

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923437/

MARK FRAZER

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0292528/?ref_=nv_sr_1

JACK SNEED

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2362878/?ref_=nv_sr_1

MIKE POLLOCK

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0689685/?ref_=nv_sr_1

JOE MICHEALS

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5475880/?ref_=nv_sr_1

LARRY ALBERT

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0016537/?ref_=nv_sr_1

BARBARA 'BABS' LINDSAY

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0512186/?ref_=nv_sr_1

HOPE SHANTHI

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3750803/?ref_=nv_sr_2

DENNIS BATEMAN

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0060794/?ref_=nv_sr_1

ANTI-HERO BEGINS

"If you hold a certain point of view and reasons that you think are valid, then whether it's pro of anti, you can only and should only express those views you hold honestly." - Steve Ditko 

We're just about to launch the Kickstarter video presenting a project several years in the making. Over several years I've been writing and re-writing a concept until all the pieces finally clicked. I've tried to make it into a film, an audio book, a novel, a comic but now I'm attempting to combine several elements from all of those things into one format.

Excelsior City by Darryl Knickrehm

 Motion comics are usually made on existing physical or digital comics or made specifically as a way of promoting films or video games. There's a lot of fine examples out there but often times they forgo dialogue for simple text balloons, feature sound effects but no music, or the scope of the production is minimal. Seldom do you see motion comics as an ongoing series.

Anti-Hero will make its mark I believe by incorporating industry veterans as the cast, telling an original story, featuring music and animation, and by having a complete story from the word go that will gradually unfold in twelve episodes, one for each stage of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey.
Each chapter is actually named after a stage as well, but the titles can be deceiving...

Episode 1: Origin Story (two-parter)
Episode 2: Call to Action
Episode 3: Refusal
Episode 4: Mentor
Episode 5: Threshold
Episode 6: Trial and Failure
Episode 7: Allies and Enemies
Episode 8: Ordeal
Episode 9: Seizing the Sword
Episode 10: The Road Back
Episode 11: Resurrection
Episode 12: Return

This blog will be a way to provide for backers and the curious all the information I can as well as just little nuggets of information to assure that we're working towards the goal.
And because working with artists and voice actors can provide you with a few interesting stories along the way!

Links will arrive soon to the video and the Kickstarter campaign which I hope you'll support, not only so Anti-Hero can happen (and all the fine folks involved can do what they do best) but also if this series works I want it to only be the beginning. Ideally Anti-Hero is just the first production in this format we create. There's no telling where we can go with just a little animation, great actors, music, and visionary art!

Anti-Hero is Science Fiction...but what if our next project was fantasy fiction?
Historical fiction?
Horror?
Adventure?
Romance?
I truly believe the sky is the limit. I even have a few ideas in mind.
Every journey starts with a single step and I am very hopeful that the Anti-Hero inaugural two-part episode which will be released online for everyone to see will be an answer to one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors.

"You've got to jump off a cliff and build your wings on the way down." - Ray Bradbury

We've stepped to the edge.
Time will tell if we can fly!

THE HISTORY OF THE ANTI-HERO UNIVERSE

1917 - 

The term ‘Super Hero’ is invented to describe the actions of various men and women with extraordinary or notable abilities. Antecedents include Spellbinder, Domino the Vindicator, and Wild Child among others who operate on both sides of the law. A generation of adventure stories is inspired from their real life exploits and these are eventually committed to history merely as legends and exaggeration. 

The 1960s - 

The United States Government and its allies form a secret initiative to monitor and dispatch super heroes on missions for the good of world security. The organization that manages this roster of state-sponsored operatives is called The Department of Extraordinary Affairs, but eventually renamed The Primacy after a more popular appellation. 

20XX -  

A young attorney named Morgan Bright decides to augment her efforts to improve society by becoming a crimefighting vigilante known as The Warden. When she stumbles across a series of clues left behind by a mysterious criminal calling himself Dr. Adversary, The Primacy send one of their veteran operatives, the psychic Rationale, to assist her investigation. 

Both human vigilante and super human operative eventually confront Dr. Adversary who threatens to destroy a city with a stolen experimental weapon unless his demands are met. 

They fail to stop him from doing so.

The Disaster  

In the aftermath of the weapon discharging and killing thousands, the first widely publicized rescue effort on behalf of super heroes occurs when a group of Primacy operatives abandons regulation anonymity to fly (sometimes literally) to the rescue of survivors. Rationale, who survived the detonation, steps forward and assumes the role of their representative.

2 A.D (After Disaster) - 

Rationale meets with reporters to discus a new form of government in which super heroes function as public servants and leaders instead of part-time crimefighters. This council of extraordinary individuals proposed to guide and renew the devastated populace is called The SuperVision. 

7 A.D - 

In place of the ruined city rises Excelsior City, reborn through the miracle of superior technology known only to heroes. A large barrier is built between the beautified areas and the surrounding residential districts built in the areas of the city not quite as refurbished. The SuperVision creates a state of the art surveillance network to keep the citizenry safe as well as The Sidekick’s Program to give regular humans the opportunity to serve their heroes and community by cultivating physical and mental wellness and learning the finer points of law enforcement in their own right. Sidekicks eventually take over for patrolling heroes as the ever present symbols of order restored.  

8 A.D - 

An insurrectionist movement begins to find followers in the populace feeling that the heroes are either impartial to the plight of regular people or too oppressive with their measures to restrict freedom and increase security. These rebels follow a possibly mythical leader called The Mastermind who still seems to coordinate their efforts with surprising efficiency. 

Collectively they are referred to as Anti-Heroes. 

15 A.D - 

The series begins…