It's time now for another round of concepts for a project that is either defunct entirely or put on the waaaaaay-back burner (as in...anything that isn't Yoki Safari). Spotlight: MON.
MON is a project I never actually got around to revealing to anyone until this moment, and it was only created recently, dead as soon as it was born. I'm only just now noticing that a lot of my favorite artists and creators are pulling from the things that influenced them as children: Tartakovsky's take on anime teenagers in mech suits in the form of "Sym-Bionic Titan," McCracken's observation of a world in which imaginary friends live relatively peacefully with ordinary citizens in "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" as well as his cheerful interpretation of formulaic superhero tales in "The Powerpuff Girls." So...what influenced me heavily as a kid?
It was somewhere from 1998-ish to the early 2000s that the "collecting and battling colorful monsters" craze was at its very height. Most kids had chosen to jump on the popular bandwagon of Pokemon, which I certainly enjoyed, but I found a much richer experience in the detailed designs and character-driven plots of Digimon. For a long time, I have nerdily thought to myself "What would I do if given the reins to the horse that is the monster collecting/battling genre?" The answer is "MON."
Telling the tale of an inner-city 20-something with no aspirations and plenty of problems who is swept up in the interdimension-protecting agenda of a small, orange dinosaur named Karondo, MON is an action-oriented, gritty take on the monster collecting/battling genre. It was meant to follow a similar path of the first season of Digimon, with some of the grittier, darker tones and themes found in the excellent third season.
Ultimately, when I realized that the only project I REALLY want to be working on right now is "The Quest for Love with Yoki Safari," I put "MON" away with the rest of my stuff. Maybe it'll resurface one day, maybe not.
Anyway, I know I just lost cool points for admitting that I chose Digimon over Pokemon and was ever actually considering doing a webcomic inspired by it, but hey...at least I'm honest.
Best,
~Drew
