the.virtex.depository

comic books

VIRTEX ran for 4 issues from 1998-1999. The 8-page #0 came out as a preview in September 1998 to an unsuspecting world. December launched the #1 ongoing series and shipped monthly until February 1999.

The comic book was a very fun endeavor to put together and was a lot of work. Artist Kano was from Spain and was discovered at the very early version of Digitalwebbing.com. Kano brought along Elsken Gomez as the colorist for #0. Her colors were absolutely brilliant but, unfortunately, her day job took precedence. Kano also brought inker Alvaro Lopez with him, so now the entirety of the book's art was done in Spain, while written in Hong Kong, and released in the U.S. – kind of like a mixed-up Leone movie.

Casey Lau designed all the characters and did all the graphic design for the books, while plotting out the story “Marvel style.” Kano was a very accomplished visual storyteller already and all that was needed was a guide for the story. Mike Baron was also hired online and brought in to add to the scripting. Casey was a big fan of his Nexus and Flash work and wanted that speedy, zippy feel for the VIRTEX dialogue. Unfortunately, he didn’t get all he wanted from Baron’s writing so he brought in Jeff Kwan to write the script as he would have and then pieced together the final product he felt was most suited the first issue – Jeff remained onboard to make his contributions to all of the subsequent VIRTEX issues as well as the Wisp series.

The first issue was colored by Malibu Ultraverse's John Starr, who was also found online. Working on ZIP disks back then, artwork was scanned and sent to Starr for coloring and back to Hong Kong for final output.

The first issue hit stores in December to strong buzz and word of mouth. To make a successful comic series you need to build a strong brand: being in the stores on time and having good word of mouth, which for VIRTEX was inevitable. Lots of email letters of review and good buzz in print like Comic Shop News and Comic E-Zines propped the comic up and helped sales as retailers reported sell-outs and increased orders on future issues.

The structure of the first three issues was to introduce the Madlands in the first few pages, giving a different perspective on different areas while introducing future villains. In #1 readers see a ninja crawling around a dinosaur reservation for a Lord X-Caliber. In #2 the cyber-Nazism of Blitzkreig is presented. And, in #3, a techno-enhanced monk is sent into a Roman coliseum to take on Gladius Prime, another upcoming villain.

Readers were introduced to Virtex and other characters like Arkimet, the Ripnun, Harlot, Makina, the Metassasins, Basileus the Telemessiah, Gunmorra, Violent Violet, and outrageous locales like the Justice Cycle Bureau headquarters, Jehenna City, and Virgin Mary’s, where the bloody “Divine Intervention” showdown takes place.

A gimmick was thrown in to VIRTEX #3 – this was an obvious retailer incentive, during a time when everyone was doing it. VIRTEX #3 would have 3 different endings, spread across issues 3A, 3B, and 3C, which were all released in equal numbers with slightly different covers. The real ending, ironically, would never be decided as there was never a #4. Of course, if the series had continued, #3A would have been the “canon” ending. Oktomica never received any bad press from this – or from the readers. It didn’t have an impact on sales so it was a failed experiment – but it was fun to do. Virtex had had plans to be a choose-your-own-adventure CD-ROM story before coming to comics, so the chance to do a story like this, with a “What If../Elseworlds” type scenario as the swan song, was definitely fun!

A VIRTEX #4 was written and drawn, but not colored, and remains unpublished today. The villains in #4 were to be Ninjella – a female ninja and ex-lover of VIRTEX who betrayed him – and the homicidal X-Caliber.45, a king amongst kings in a high-tech medieval background.

The next story to reach the public would not be this one, and not on paper….

Download Virtex #0 in PDF format

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STORY:
Virtex’s hunt for the outlaws that left him little more than a wet pile of meat in the desert begins at Aces Over Eights: a dirty brothel catering to the every delight of the truly perverse – in New Fortuna city, however, that just means there's standing room only... Biding his time in the shadows surrounding the puddles of whiskey, the pressing of flesh and silicone, and the desperate crinkle of a man’s last dollar, Virtex waits for the serial murderer the Ripnun to bring his twisted search for a Virgin Whore between his crosshairs. Of course, that’s about as complicated as Virtex’s plans get, so, when the Ripnun arrives and the muzzle flares fade, blood soaks the walls, shell casings litter the floor, and dead hookers decorate the bar – a lot of dead hookers – but no dead outlaws. In fact, Virtex’s target turns out to be Harlot, one of the Ripnun’s henchmen in disguise – if you can call a D-cup in a too-tight leather tube-top a henchman. Exploding into a cloud of bats, this top-heavy assassin leaves Virtex with more blood on his hands and no closer to his ultimate revenge...

BACKSTORY:
This first #0 issue was released as a teaser and a primer into the world of Virtex. The idea here was to release a cheaper intro issue that would hopefully show readers and retailers what Oktomica was doing. The main story was 8 pages with an additional sketchbook and images of the other Oktomica books.

STORY:
The first act of Divine Intervention opens in another of the Madlands’ morally upstanding houses of [mostly] consenting adult entertainment. The Ripnun and his Rippers have torn through the building – not to mention negligees, throats, and bone – in their inexplicable pursuit of the pristine prostitute. In the wake of the Ripnun’s sex and violence, a lone priest appears to admonish the sinners – which is to say everyone – for their depraved ways. Why a man of God would come on a suicide mission to a place like this becomes clear when that man of God turns out to be Virtex, beneath a holographic chameleon skin. The Ripnun’s annoying dactylic hexameter fills the air, followed closely by a hail of bullets and splattering blood, but, again, the only people in the really big pile of dead bodies are dead hookers, Rippers, and not-so-innocent bystanders. When Virtex finally does get his hands on his rhyming quarry, it turns out that Harlot isn’t the only one that can turn into bats and the Ripnun disappears in a cloud of leathery wings just as Virtex is about to introduce him to his wristblades. Just about to resume his pursuit, Virtex is ambushed by the Metassassins – techno-scavengers of the Madlands – and comes nose-to-nose-cone with a rocket powered grenade. Regaining consciousness in the dungeon of the broadcast tower of Basileus the Telemessiah, Virtex finds himself nailed to a cross and faced with the choice of converting to God or being converted to spare parts. As he struggles to concoct a suitably Kirkian escape plan, Makina makes her entrance, living up to her namesake. Together they make their way out of the bowels of Baslieus’ stronghold, only to find themselves waist deep in what comes out of them...

BACKSTORY:
This was a tough one to get out: the official first issue. Everyone put everything they had into this first issue. Kano's magnificent cover really shocked a lot of people looking at this as an "independent comic" and we got a lot of great mail praising the first issue.

Regular Cover

Variant Cover

STORY:
Still looking to gut him for all of his after-market parts, the Metassassins track Virtex down again. Ridiculously outnumbered, Virtex manages to add a zero to the end of his kill count with the help a big lead-burning car, an even bigger lead-spewing Gatling gun, and just a dash of lead-footed deus ex Makina. With the bodies on the Ripnun’s trail growing cold, Virtex and Makina race to the Sistine Chapel of whorehouses, Virgin Mary’s, the home of the chaste hooker, the employer of Makina's sister, and the culmination of the Ripnun’s search. The two arrive to find the place choked with hordes of the obscenely wealthy and the just plain obscene – with cloned whores, free-range sex-toys, and your seventh Deadly Sin free, it’s hardly a surprise. Whether the result of an uncharacteristic moment of subtlety, or just because he likes it that way, Virtex makes his entry through Virgin Mary’s back door. Unbeknownst to him, the bounty hunter, Gunmorra – also after the price on the Ripnun’s head – has slipped inside the Virgin Mother as well. Everything hits the fan when our trio meets in the penthouse suite, but, brothel notwithstanding, it’s not the kind of three-way you want be in the middle of...

BACKSTORY:
During this second issue we also launched THE WONDERLANDERS #1. So we were quite busy as I recall. As was almost the norm at the time, all #2 issues had 2 covers because orders dropped from #1's – so to keep that problem at bay variant covers were created to keep orders up. We did these two at 50/50 in their print run. The "sexy" covers were going to be followed in the second issues of the Wonderlanders and Wisp as well.

3A Cover

3B Cover

3C Cover

STORY:
So many guns pointed in everyone’s face. Virtex, Gunmorra, and the Ripnun are all getting twitchy, waiting for the first person to blink when Harlot shows up and turns this menage a trois into a foursome. A catfight far exceeding maximum silicone recommendations ensues, giving the Ripnun the opportunity make his escape. With the aid of an observant doorman, Virtex and Makina track the Ripnun and Harlot to a nearby rooftop and their final showdown. The Ripnun, however, has other ideas. Revealing his certifiable plan to attain godhood and immortality – not to mention his hostages Makina and her sister – the Ripnun forces Virtex and Gunmorra into a game of poker with three lives as the pot...

...the house always wins and the Ripnun – no surprise – has rigged the deck. Naturally, this does not sit well with Gunmorra or her rage-management problem and the situation quickly goes from bad to foxtrot uniform, leaving everyone but Virtex and the Ripnun with their brains sprayed all over the sky. But, not to be outdone, they too are turned into a fine red mist when the Ripnun’s deadman’s bomb goes off, sending Arkimet back to the drawing board...

OR WAS IT...

...but the whole hunt for the Ripnun, like the hand of poker, is revealed to be a game – a game engineered by Arkimet to test the physical and psychological performance of his prototype Virtex platform. In the end, Virtex flips Arkimet the bird, but not before Arkimet flips Virtex's off switch...

BUT REALLY...

...switching the decks and wining with a Royal Flush, Virtex creates enough of a distraction to kick the crap out of and empty a clip into – not the mention electrocute – our poor friend the Ripnun. It never hurts to make sure...

BACKSTORY:
Yes, this issue was quite gimmicky – the last 5 pages of each issue had a different ending. 3A had the happy ending that would lead into Viretex #4. 3B had the violent death ending and 3C had the "I quit" ending. I think it was well executed and it made sense. The issues were not distributed evenly – 3A was 50% of the print run and the other 2 were 25% each, making 3A, at least by volume, the "in-continuity" ending.