V.elka
V.elka
An Original Sci-Fi Graphic Novel Idea
An Original Sci-Fi Graphic Novel Idea
Currently, I’m offering a few hundred dollars for an initial development phase: sketches, concept art, and your time to make sure we’re creatively aligned.
Once we’re on the same page, I’m prepared to pay professional rates for a high-quality, fully colored, 9-page sample sequence. This will serve as the foundation for a pitch packet, representing the final vision of the graphic novel. This process will be collaborative: I want your input on direction, style, and execution. However, at this stage, I will retain full ownership and rights to all materials created. That said, I believe in respecting artists and ensuring your contributions are properly acknowledged.
Looking ahead, I’m open to extended collaboration. There are many paths to publication, and if we work well together and you believe in V.elka as much as I do, I’d be happy to discuss deeper involvement, co-ownership, and long-term creative partnership. If this project remains a one-time collaboration, I want to part ways professionally, with your work respected and credited.
Note: This is a self-funded passion project. I’m committed to respecting your time, skill, and creative boundaries and I ask the same consideration in return. My goal is a fair, transparent, and professional working relationship from day one.
V.elka is a character-driven graphic novel concept set in a world manipulated by AI-molded propaganda. It features in-depth sci-fi elements that correlate with character development, and a layered world based on history and the present.
Despite these elements, V.elka is a character study at its core. The narrative begins following Liora Falk, a gifted student introduced in the aftermath of a horrific tragedy. From that tragedy, Liora rebuilds and empowers herself through martial arts and the eerie heroism Velka (the fictional nation) embodies. Aware of itself, the narrative leans into the clichés of the genre and utilizes the uncanny (think Freud) to develop familiarity with key superhero tropes and direction.
However, V.elka is not a archetypal hero narrative. The narrative plays off of the expectations and genre tropes thoroughly established to deconstruct conventions and to create something bold and new.
Although the world will contain sci-fi and dystopian elements, it is ultimately incredibly grounded. The primary setting for the first issue is Riverton, a city in the fictional country of Velka. It is based on cities like San Luis Obispo (Downtown) and Isla Vista, but with a quietly authoritarian twist.
DMZ (example 1, example 2) functions as a great reference point for destroyed structures and chaos, but this doesn't happen much in episode 1 (to be honest). Still, I think it's an important reference point.
I want to use space to suggest movement. and direction. Once again, Blame! becomes a great point of reference. However, some of the work of Mario Alberti also works well as a reference (link).
I particularly love the balance of blank and detailed background elements from Hellboy. When background elements are included, they are significant and detailed, adding either thematic weight or important environmental elements that the characters interact with (link)
I would like to draw from Soviet and American historical propaganda and repurpose it for V.elka, which militarizes heroism as a system of control and subversion. The first issue will keep these details in the background, with gym posters, social media use, etc. that will add, subtly, to the world. Uncle Nicholai, the series' authoritarian figurehead, is very much inspired by Big Brother, but I have my own twist on his persona.
In short: characters need to feel like they live in a space. For practical reasons, many of the frames can be empty in the back. However, details should regularly be included to hint at the world (think Hellboy or DMZ).
Avoid: Constant plain white or black backgrounds; constant center framing of characters
Characters need power and distinct movements that distinguish their fighting style. Their bodies and their combat needs to carry weight, allowing for a single kick and the consequences to echo throughout an entire page.
Works like Blame! have wonderful movement in their action set pieces (example 1, example 2). I also like the male body and armor in this cover, though women are often far too sexualized in the series.
I am still looking for solid combat reference pieces, but the first issue will emphasize boxing and muy thai primarily (from women). I particularly like the expressiveness of this depiction from Eight Limbs (example). I also like the vulnerability and counter that this shot (unknown Manga) depicts, where a boxer's strike allows for a counter.
Other References: Hellboy 1, Hellboy 2. I particularly like the framing and the patience here, allowing a single action to take up a page, or the framing to be more distant to allow clarity of body movement and action.
Avoid: Female sexualization of their bodies; generic "punch" "kick" combat that doesn't factor in combat style or quickly moves from one generic movement to another.
Science fiction elements are very much part of V.elka, but they have a grounded verisimilitude. For the first issue, it is only really found in Liora's VIALs system. It is, effectively, an energy system very much reminiscent of Iron Man's arc reactor. Aesthetically, I want it to have much more of a pill-like, vial shape (think the armor from Dead Space (link); effectively, a glowing battery.
For Liora, though, this system has a very simple function in episode 1: an electrified glove. It basically acts as a mobile defibrillator at the close of the first issue. I imagine it to look similar to a wrist brace, with small, metal contact points at each finger that will allow her to discharge an energy burst similar to a defibrillator: charge, tense suspense, thwack. I want to draw on handmade and makeshift wraps and technology for the aesthetic, rather than something polished and clean (ref 1).
She uses it for close quarters combat purposes and is able to press it into a target and reduce them into a seizuring mess. At this point, this isn't some world-changing armor or invention, but rather something to help balance the scales in a 3v1 fight between 3 athletic college assaulters and 1 very well trained (but still outmatched 3v1) female fighter.
There is a lot to this world, but for issue 1, the sci-fi is very grounded and this is the opening of the dam, so to speak.
Liora Falk is introduced in the immediate aftermath of a horrific assault. At the opening of the narrative, she is wiry, tall (5'10"), and very much the embodiment of a naïve, 19 year old teenager in their first years of college. Instead of emphasizing the assault and tragedy, the narrative emphasizes her recovery and begins to weave a familiar tale of empowerment and structural indifference. Through the course of the first issue (that spans approximately 5 years), she begins to build herself into the embodiment of a heroic archetype. She begins to build her muscle, and the ferocious building of her frame is representative of her own, internal restructuring.
However, her strive to recover is grounded in a persistent undercurrent of violence and power seeking. She is an exploration into the idea: what happens when vengeance and heroism are taken to their logical extreme? By the close of the first issue, questions begin to arise: what kind of obsessions and culture dominate Velka, this fictional nation? Why is everything so familiar, yet just a bit... strange? Something is off about Liora, isn't there?
This is what makes Liora such a captivating subject for the first issues of V.elka. She is a character grounded in the right reasons and she is capable of achieving the 'right' outcome. However, tiny decisions and tiny influences from her environment mold her into something unexpected and grotesque. Yet, the blame is never placed on a single element alone. It is always left up to interpretation: was it luck? Was it chance? Was it personal choice? Or did the environment just tip the scales too far into the wrong direction?
In many ways, Liora is also a critique of the modern female superhero archetype. Too often, today’s heroines discard feminine complexity in favor of simply inheriting male-coded traits: aggression, stoicism, violence, stripped of nuance. Rather than redefining strength, they are repackaged male heroes with a different face. In this light, Liora is satire and an intentional challenge to the performative, faux-feminine hero.
The world of Velka is grounded and follows my '+1' rule. It starts with a foundation of the present and considers: What if there was one major advancement that had trickle-down effects?
With this rule, the world is a familiar dystopia. Propaganda is realistic and familiar, because we employ it today. Battlefields are grounded, unless they are exploited for war profiteering and propaganda creation. Finally, the largest suspension of disbeliefs are grounded the most solidly in character.
The technology in V.elka doesn't exist in isolation. Instead, it is a consistent reflection of character personalities, philosophies of governance, and virtue or vice.
This is what make Velka, the titular nation of V.elka, so captivating. It is a combination of traits from American and Russian life, a commentary on the dangerous of hero worship and glorification of violence, and a representation of the horrors we could be brewing at this very moment.
Each of the primary 3 protagonists (Liora Falk being the first) are original creations; they are not rebranded version of current characters. However, the world they inhabit is layered with deliberate allusions, inspirations, and cultural echoes.
Take Uncle Nikolai, Velka’s carefully curated face of power. He is my reimagining of Orwell’s Big Brother: a kind-faced dictator who governs through image, AI-driven media, and relentless narrative control. His power rests on hero worship, language distortion, and the repackaging of cruelty as “kindness through strength.” His name itself nods to Tsar Nicholas I, the paranoid, autocratic founder of Russia’s secret police; the original KGB (then known as the Third Section).
Visually, Velka’s identity (its orange, black, and white aesthetic) draws inspiration from the oppressive tones of Half-Life 2. The world’s sci-fi roots tap into the layered, conspiratorial energy of Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, and other works. Much like countries benefit from war profiteering in Metal Gear Solid IV, so does Velka use war to steer social movements and dominate the public they are supposed to serve.
Tonally, V.elka lives in the bleak, grounded spaces of Children of Men, while its character complexity draws from films like There Will Be Blood. Some scenes (especially in the first issue/episode) push the narrative into violent horror; violence plays a key role thematically.
I am a professional educator, and V.elka is my passion project. I have no need to rush or compromise on quality for the sake of quick results. My immediate goal is to partner with a talented artist to create approximately 9 fully colored, professional-quality pages to pitch the graphic novel to established publishers such as Image Comics, for example. A link for the script for the first issue is below. At the moment, I was thinking the following images would be essential for establishing the foundation that the rest of the graphic novel would build off of:
Liora, a Character Study - 3 Portraits of Liora depicting her at the opening and close of the first issue. The third portrait would be a propaganda poster of her, depicting her as the heroic, militant leader for all people of Velka.
A Cracked Rib - A key even found midway through the first issue, I would like to depict the combat between Liora and Luci, ensuring framing, pacing, and more are all set to a high standard; combat reflects character.
A Violent Close - Liora's revenge against her abusers is a key event that turns Liora from a passive protagonist to an active one (end of episode 1). It is a conflicting moment for the reader where horrific people doing horrific actions are punished accordingly. However, where do we draw the line when seeking revenge, even against the worst? The sheer violence of Liora needs to discomfort the reader, even if her reasoning is justified.
The first issue is only the beginning. It introduces a critical piece of a larger, character-driven narrative that could span 14 to 15 issues or episodes. Beyond Liora Falk, two other protagonists eventually rise to the forefront:
Conley Blythe (introduced in Issue 4)
Angeline Quinn (introduced in Issue 7)
Each brings their own thematic weight. Whether it is heart, philosophy, violence, or conviction, their stories and choices are intertwined and shape the direction of the world they embody. Dozens of supporting arcs fill out this complex world.
While film or television adaptation would be a dream, my priority is to build an uncompromised vision through the graphic novel format first. The scope of V.elka with its layered world, martial arts influences, and grounded sci-fi technology demands space, patience, and a level of detail that smaller, fast-turnaround productions can’t sustain.
This project starts with the right creative foundation. From there, the possibilities are wide open.
Martial arts in V.elka are more than action. Movement is the language of character, power, and propaganda. In Velka, combat is spectacle, weaponized by the state much like Rome’s gladiators, America’s obsession with football and MMA, or Russia’s manipulation of masculinity through military imagery. Heroism itself is reduced to a tool that is designed to exploit insecurities and shape identity.
Despite these negative uses, I want to narratively honor martial arts as both tradition and storytelling device. Each fighting style reflects the character’s psychology, history, and flaws. From Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, and Jiu-Jitsu, to Karate, parkour, drunken boxing, and Jeet Kune Do, every technique functions as an extension of the person wielding it.
For example, Liora Falk fights with aggression and dominance, mirroring Mike Tyson’s peekaboo boxing style. Her approach is brutal, shaped by internalized weakness and a need to control. He strength is compounded by Velka’s bio-engineered technology, which she uses to override her physical limitations. She fights to dominate because the world dominated her. Reference: Link 1; Link 2.
Angeline Quinn, by contrast, embodies fluidity and redirection. Her style draws from drunken boxing, Jeet Kune Do, and freerunning. Through constant movement and unpredictability, she disarms opponents without reliance on brute force. Reference: Link 1, Link 2.
In V.elka, fighting is not empty spectacle. Instead, it’s an extension of character, philosophy, and consequence. Every fight carries real stakes, often with lasting, mortal outcomes. It is both a utilization combat for entertainment and spectacle, but also for thematic weight and serious meaning.
If you're a comic artist with a passion for visual storytelling, character depth, and building immersive worlds, I’d love to connect. I have more documents, character details, plot maps, and more. In a separate document I completed for copyright submission, I summarized the narrative. It turned out to be 28 pages (single-spaced). Issue one only represents 1 of those 28 pages. In short, I have so much and I am excited to get this project going.
Email is probably best for first contact: Pauls675@gmail.com
If possible, please include portfolio links, sample pages, and a short intro.
Here are some key materials you will be asked to review:
Pitch Packet for You, the Graphic Artist - Includes key character details, the plot for episode 1, reference photos, etc.
Episode 1/Issue 1 Script - (Approx. 74 pages) Liora's intro.
© 2025 Pavel Tretyak. All Rights Reserved.
V.elka, its characters, world, and associated materials are protected by copyright. No portion of this work may be copied, reproduced, or distributed without express permission.