THE ATLAS FORCE ALLIANCE: The story behind the story

The origin

The Atlas Force Alliance is the title of a graphic novel series written by Dale A. Falcon and illustrated by Javier Gonzalez. It's the story of Johnathan Devonport Hogg, who takes revenge on the battlefield after his parents are ruthlessly killed by Germans during World War I.  Upon his quest, he discovers his ultimate destiny and forms the greatest alliance the world has ever known!

The story of the AFA began as a rock music project between Dale Falcon and his long time friend, Scott Reardon. Together they collaborated on creating an album in which Reardon, a skilled guitar player and musician, recorded all of the tracks, and Falcon provided lyrics and creative consultation.

 

King Pig

The majority of songs were based on a fictional super-soldier named "KING PIG."  Little was known about this mysterious character except that he had a bald head, fiery scars around his eyes and made Rambo look like a girl scout. I had met Dale just by chance one afternoon and he introduced me to the King Pig: Take the Hit album. They were looking for an artist who could design the front cover, so after some collaboration, King Pig's image was born.

The Rat Patrol

The story for the graphic novel series had yet to be written, but a 2 page comic inlay card was created by Dale Falcon and I for the album King Pig: Take the Hit. I can't help but chuckle to myself at the blatant campiness of the artwork and dialogue, but it got the message across and it was fun to do.  

Sometime after completion of the album, it was submitted to KNON (89.3 FM) which was a community radio station in Dallas, Texas and the song "Rat Patrol" was played over the air. It was then that the idea for a full length story was brewing in Dale Falcon's mind and I don't think either one of us anticipated the epic scale of the mountain before us.

(...to be continued in a later post) 

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