A Little Psychosis Before Christmas

I believe that I contributed to the Psychosis book in mid-September through Kickstarter.  The campaign page displayed an estimated delivery date of May 2015 for the print version of the book that I'd signed up for so while I was glad to see the campaign succeed, I wasn't really expecting much until spring. But the team behind Psychosis went a little bit above and beyond and sent out a pdf version of the story to contributors in the meantime.

As usual, because I'm a weak, weak man, I could not help but read it...

The year is 2134. It has been exactly a hundred years since society as we know it disappeared. Cities were brought to the ground in days, governments in weeks, and entire countries in mere months. Two thirds of the population had died off before the years end. This is what is written in the history books as "The Great Purge".

Over the years, the world's governing forces have been genetically superior humans (Newgens), who have inherited abilities which they in turn used to take complete control. 50 years ago, a group formed known only as The SeVeN. Six Newgens and one very rich and powerful human. They make the decisions now. They choose who lives, who dies and who prospers.

Unsurprisingly, not everyone is content with living under those conditions, and so a movement is created called The Resistance. Psychosis (Victor Stevens) is a key member of this movement and as such makes every effort to make life miserable for The SeVeN.

So who is this guy?

Victor Stevens/Psychosis - Victor is our main character and has two completely different outlooks on life. As Victor he is kind, quite, shy and very much reserved. He has trouble with large groups and hates getting attention from people. Then he puts the mask on, and Psychosis takes over.

Psychosis is cold, calculated, and looking to take the fight to you. He tries to make sure that innocents are not hurt but if they are in the way of his mission, he will forcibly remove them. Psychosis loves death, whenever it is not pointed at him, or anyone close to him. There aren't many who he would consider close to him.

I wasn't sure what to make of that comment that Psychosis "loves death". I'm not particularly interested in a comic book version of a splatter flick.

Thankfully, there's more depth to the character, and it's made clear very early on as Psychosis breaks into a facility to liberate prisoners.

I do it so Victor won't have to.

Knowing that I'm saving others...And knowing that I can avenge those whose lives were needlessly taken.

So there's a proverbial method to his "love of death" madness. Psychosis doesn't just kill for the sheer hell of it. It's more a matter of appreciating what he accomplishes from doing it. That's my take, anyway.

Obviously the story's scale is quite large so this first issue only provides a small (though action-packed) taste. We have yet to meet the Victor Stevens version of the character and it'll be interesting to see how the creative team handles the differences in personality between the character's...well...personalities!

The book was added to Drivethru Comics earlier today so to read more about its premise and/or purchase the pdf version of it, click right here. Congratulations to Moncton-based Adam Atkinson (writer) and David Coates (illustrator) on the successful fundraising campaign and book release.