The point of this addition to Hauntis' C3 release is to provide some background information on the project. Information that would otherwise be eternally buried in the achives of distant memory.

This new online comic, is the second of its kind from Australian-based Myles Leigo (aka Acidpet). Its predecessor being The Crow: Insurrection, the mythos twisting, yet still somewhat formulaic, female avatar story.

Now enough about the past, it's time for the present and beyond. Production started on Hauntis mid-November, 2000. All I knew about the project was that it was going to be a story with some depth.

I was contacted through Email by Joshua L. Bunkofske, a writer who has also written articles for A Boy and His Bird News. He sent me a script titled Final Armageddon that needed to make the transition from text to image. A hybrid child of all crow-media, The Matrix, Buffy and Blade Runner. It was Final Armageddon that really started the ball rolling, but instead of focusing on the script, I journeyed far off base and ended up with something totally alien.

It wasn't that Final Armageddon was bad, it was more the problem of me not being able to stick with one idea. Writer, Joshua L. Bunkofske, did one hell of a job with the script, and should not be uncredited.

After realising I had a few OK ideas in my head, I had to figure out some details. Who would the character be? What kind of world would this person live in? Why would they live there?

The insert image to the left is an early concept of what would turn out to be Tyler. Fairly typecast material, albeit for the tragedy mask.

When I first got interested in The Crow I was able to get my hands on an early draft of the screenplay. The Scene where Tin-Tin met Eric for the first time had Eric wearing a tragedy mask and a scarf.

Go figure.

Personally, I liked the idea of the mask as a personal barrier, something to hide behind or used to hide something. I was trying to use this in early concept drawings for Tyler, but it didn't want to happen. How would he talk without being muffled? What about facial expressions? I finally settled on tape around the mouth, and neck, inadvertantly drawing Tyler off an album sleeve from Insane Clown Posse, Shaggy 2 Dope to be exact.That wasn't meant to happen, honest.

What the image of Tyler was to convey, was the ideology of falling apart. Imagine a vase, smashed into a thousand pieces, and taped back together. That's Tyler. Internally, and equally, externally shattered.

Playing out the 'why do I live here' concept was the basis for Tyler, I wanted people to be able to connect with him through his journey, and I wanted him to be believable. I wrote down what Tyler would be thinking. This is L.A. in 2012! it cant be pleasant.

To the left is the basic geology of L.A. in 2012. The blue is, yes, the coast.

Here's the story: Through the years, L.A. only really thrives at its core in a civilised manner. Dubbed the 'Inner ring', this is the upper class, technology driven citizens most likely very similar to those from the film 'Demolition Man'.

The Next layer out, is the urban sprawl, basic urban hell. Decay, waste, like the dead cells around a wound. No policing, no rules. Crime runs rampant, the only people living here are people who caused it to be like it is now.

The edge is where Tyler once called home. beyond the urban sprawl, a desolate desert like region. Tylers reasons for living here are pretty clear cut. Its out of there. Out of hell. Its out here that Tyler ran his small motorcycle shop, well, until the sprawl came to him.

There always has to be a bad guy, but it's always more interesting to blur the edges a little. The bad element in Hauntis is comprised of three people.

The first instigator we meet is Venus. A motorcycle riding bitch on constant PMS. Appearing to be Miss Bad Ass, she knows her limits and rarely goes beyond there.

Second up is Hooper, the guy who knows everybody, and borrows everyone elses gear, never one to do something alone, he prefers to always outnumber the enemy. Visually influenced by Lynn Strait from Snot.

The final bad guy is Father. He isnt the biggest, or the baddest, but sure has a sick sense of direction. Under the guise of a catholic priest, he prays all day and preys all night. A true predator. I can give this away at the moment as by the time anyone reads this, part three will be released :)

The reason for having three villians with nothing in common is that I didnt want a gang. These people dont hang together, they just sometimes run into each other, and lay waste. Hooper, being the little bitch that he is, will always ask people for help, and he doesnt care who, Venus will jump at any chance to get a free bike, and Father, well, if it involves innocents' death and mutilation, he's there. You gotta remember that.

One of the more apparent elements in Hauntis is the sickly green glow that seems to be everywhere.

This first came about before the story had even been written out. I was watching a music channel when on came Nine Inch Nails' song, 'The Perfect Drug'. at the end of the clip, the picture becomes saturated in green. I instantly knew what Hauntis would look like after that.

Another interesting sidenote is that in Hauntis, the year is 2012. Straight from the song 'A Certain Shade Of Green' by Incubus: "Are you gonna wait around till 2012 A.D.?" get that? I hope so.

Now generally speaking, if you see a picture saturated in the colour green, you should feel some sickness coming from it. Not physical illness, but a sense of, at least, the environment is sick. And twisted.

The picture above is a great example of how I've created the comic. You can see that it is the one panel, with three levels of editing. this has been done to all the panels in the comic.

The image is obviously the same as on the previous page, but edited so you can see how this is done.
Step 1: The image has not been cropped yet.
Step 2: The furthest left hand side hasn't been edited at all. This is how it appears after being scanned.
Step 3: The middle section has been affected with brightness and contrast.
Step 4: Finally, the hue is changed to green. To be scientific about it, hue=101 exactly, the saturation varies between 140 to 255.

Aside from the poetic bookends, the imagery and the dialogue hammering the senses in Hauntis, is the lyrical content. Added for extra flavour, and hopefully, greater effect to enchance the emotions from page to page. This explains why you would find Slpiknot and Dido in the same room. Below is a brief explanation for the inclusion of every track.

Taproot: Again & Again - this track makes its appearance just after Tyler makes his first kill, the lyrics indicating that Tylers' paradox is that on one hand, he is on his way, but on the other hand, he wants nothing of this, he just wants to be in control of his emotions as he did when he was living.

Incubus: Pardon me - As Montellos' fate is decided by an exploding fuel tank, the Incubus lyrics appear with a telling snapshot into Tylers current inner psyche, while the rest of him melts off in flames.

Papa Roach: Never Enough - When Venus has found her resting place in a streetside trash can, and Hooper puts a bullet into Tylers' forehead, Tyler is feeling rather apathetic towards the whole deal. Another bullet, Another closed wound.

Slipknot: Purity - There was only one track in my mind when I created the scene where Tyler becomes a vessel to his rage caused by Venus in her ground floor apartment. Trying so hard to be in control, yet overwhelmed by a hate that before death had seemed alien to him, Tylers' head is being ripped apart from the inside.

Linkin Park: With You - As much as I hate 'One Step Closer' by this band, when I first heard this much better, and more intelligent, track on a demo CD, I knew I had to use it. It makes its home in the scene where Tyler and his bike get shredded by Montellos' M-249 SAW seconds before a firey collision between what is left of the bike, and Montellos' heavily modified Rolls Royce.

Dido: Here With Me - The black sheep of the sound family in Hauntis, is Dido. Remembering his lost love, and making a pact with himself to do whatever it takes to get back with her, even if it means letting his supressed memories of what ripped them apart in the first place, Tyler lets the memories arise. Although we dont actually see his memories until a few pages later, the point of the lyrics was to show how Tylers' pain makes him realise that he won't make it unless he lets himself remember.

(hed)PE: Killing Time - After the traumatic flashback sequence, Tyler is never the same. We see this in effect a few pages on. The point of relevance made by the inclusion of this track was the lyrics in question, a clear statement that Tylers' world of old, with morals, rules and beliefs is now over, yet his plight is far from it.

Marilyn Manson: Lamb Of God - As Father comes out into the church hall, reacting to sounds of tapping, he discovers Hoopers' body in the crucifix position against the wall. The lyrics state 'blood on the pavement' whereas, seemingly contradictory, the area is floored, not paved. The point is, to Tyler, this is no different to the outside, be it a church or not.

Staind: Just Go - Making it's appearance as Tyler reveals Nathan into the fray, Father is suddenly on the defensive, exactly where Tyler wants him. The relevance in the lyrics is that all Tyler sees in the world now is the cancer on everything he once thought beautiful.

Deftones: Change - The last lyrics to feature in the story, appear right before the last page, where it becomes evident that the toll of rememberance from the flashbacks have damaged Tyler more than we thought, and he has, as the title of the track, changed. It should be noted that the lyrics are from Angelinas point of view, and when she last saw him, just before his flashbacks, he seemed to be in the right frame of mind, but now, it is like he 'never had wings'. These lyrics should be taken into consideration for the following page, where we see a smoking gun, Angelinas closed eyes, and Tyler walking away. Will anyone really ever know what happened?

So, if you got this far, you're either a stalker or have a real fascination with Hauntis, and both are quite acceptable to me. I havent had a stalker for a while. :)

That would be me over there. After all, a real behind the scenes featurette wouldn't be complete without a quick run down with the man.

My real name is Myles. I'm 22, reside in Australia, and work as a vacuum former all week, and sometimes weekends, if I'm feeling broke. Work sucks and then you die.

Facts of life.

Some other facts are that I can't sleep that great. Maybe it's all that blood in my caffeine system. Actually, I have a nicotine system, so before you jump up my ass about it, Ive gone from 12's to 4's...maybe thats why Im so damn jumpy.

I'm a strange little man apparently. That's kinda incorrect as I'm currently hitting the 6 foot 4 mark. I guess it runs in the family. What doesn't run in the family is dreadlocks, or eyebrow rings...I figure, at least this way, the relatives can remember which one is me.

I hate cars. Maybe its my anti-conformity chip kicking in, I dunno. If everyone likes something, I'll instantly hate it...go figure. Give me a pill, give me a tranquiliser (Kiangshi :) ) give me shock therapy, hell, I WANT IT ALL! :) . anyway, I feel a lot more comfortable on a motorbike, I like to see whats beneath me. Even though I almost got killed today T-bone style by a blind ass car dick, I still love my bike.

I used to do custom paintjobs on skid lids...uh, Helmets. Motocross Helmets. Make 'em look all nice and flash. That was fun. The fumes gave me a cool swirly vison, which I still miss.

I also used to screenprint for a living, and I got fumes for free doing that too. My best hallucination was seeing smoke rise from incombustables. It happened on a few occasions...and I miss that too.

I'm not sure what I want to be eventually. I want to do lots of things. I want to work from home, I want to draw and write, I also want to start my defunct band "Acidpet" back up. Who cares if we get lumped together with ICP in the genre stakes? the point is, if you wanna do something, dont sit on yer ass dreaming about it, make it happen! the worst thing that can happen is turning up to your 10 year high school reunion and boasting about how good you are at failing. Not everyone can fail well, that takes practice.

So I've been in a band, and created two online comics, and written one feature film script that got sent back to me.

Twice.

This is just the start. Hopefully my wish of 'I want to die when im 30' won't come true, cos I just need time so badly right now. I can't get bored.

And a big shout out to Lex, for putting up with me for so long...I'm your bitch :) and I loves you.

We are a collection of Fans that find inspiration within the mythology of The Crow, and it is our goal to consistently produce monthly online comics that capture its passionate essence.

We started this endeavor because we truly believe the Fans have kept this franchise vital, and will continue to do so with their creative intensity and love for The Crow.

C3 stands for Collective Crow Comics. Meaning every series produced through C3 is a collaborative effort. This can mean one artist and one writer, or three artists and fifteen writers, whatever cranks your tractor. Point being, anyone can contribute. It's open season on creativity!

There are no restrictions. Any timeframe, any location, any kind of lead character, any artistic style, are all appreciated with support.

Full length, three part comics are not the only outlet provided by C3. In addition, is a new venture dubbed 'Crow Shorts'. Don't feel the need to create a C3 feature? This is for you.

This area of C3 is for short Crow tales with illustrations. Each story must be 2,000 words or LESS, and must have a minimum of 2 pieces of art that go along with it. There is not a limitation on artwork, but no story will be posted without at least 2 illustrations.

Now that you have absolutely no reason to not join the C3 movement, here's a few links to guide you on your way to having your crow story and art appreciated by thousands of people worldwide:

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To find out where to begin your involvement check out the page on Joining C3.