From the Vault: BOKUSA

Another project from 2012! Brenden and I had cooked up a whole line of potential comic series that would have gone into a regular anthology app and we were pitching it to investors to try to fund the project. It was an ambitious undertaking and we never managed to get it off the ground. But I produced a lot of material at the time. This one was the headliner.

BOKUSA is the story of two twins, Han and Yi-Ban, who have the mysterious power to combine their bodies into a powerful fighter. As a result, they’re undefeated in the mega-popular Bokusa intergalactic fighting tournament. No one has ever suspected that the champion is, in reality, two teenagers, but now it seems they’re being followed by someone who’s discovered their secret. They’re on the run across the galaxy while still managing to take part in the tournament; a task that grows more challenging with every fight.

I thought of it as Street Fighter in Space. We mapped out a lot of story and I drew 17 pages of the first episode. I’m presenting them here for you to see, along with some other character art. I coloured these myself and as you can see, I slowed down a lot and never managed to colour the last bunch of pages. But it’s neat to look at these now and see the process. I still like a lot of it, especially some of the alien fighter designs.

These comics were all composed to be read on a tablet, so they’re in a landscape orientation. Here are all of the pages…

Some character shots/alien designs. There were a LOT more characters in our notes, most of them just descriptions. I never got around to drawing a lot of them.

And there you have it! I always forget how much time I’ve devoted to ideas that never went anywhere, but they’re all great learning experiences and everything ends up influencing something else down the line. I still have some inkling that I’ll come back to this idea at some point. We’ll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane with me. There’s more to come!

Comments

  1. Thomas Coe Avatar
    Thomas Coe

    This looks like it would have been a lot of fun!

    1. karlkerschl Avatar
      karlkerschl

      It was! I’d handle it differently now, but I think the concept was solid.

  2. michael charles Avatar
    michael charles

    looks great. i really like the concept.

  3. JAKE PARKER Avatar
    JAKE PARKER

    Oh yes! What a great idea for a book.

  4. Christopher Rundt Avatar
    Christopher Rundt

    Really like this idea. I would definitely grab a copy if I could.

  5. Kevin Mellon Avatar
    Kevin Mellon

    fantastic.

  6. Sean Milliken Avatar
    Sean Milliken

    I just came across this today (I’m a little slow). Bottom line: your work always filled me with joy and peace. I hope one day this story comes to fruition!

    1. karlkerschl Avatar
      karlkerschl

      Thanks, Sean!

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