After successfully launching the $30 version of Nick Percival’s NFT-only graphic novel Bloodlines Vol. 1 last month, the date is now set for the auction of the Extended Directors Cut. So mark down 23 September in your calendars folks because this is the big one!

Watch the trailer for Bloodlines here and find out more about the author, the graphic novel and the auction below…

So, what is an NFT graphic novel?

As we reported earlier in the year, NFT marketplace Terra Virtua launched the world’s first NFT-only graphic novel with Bloodlines from award-winning British artist Nick Percival (Judge Dredd and Slaine). When we spoke to Nick earlier this year, he told us all about what an NFT is…

“NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are ‘one-of-a-kind’ assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold like anything else you own,” he explained. “Artwork (or in this case, the graphic novel) is ‘tokenised’ to create a digital certificate of ownership. A record of who owns what is stored on a shared ledger which is the blockchain. So, anyone that buys an edition of Bloodlines has it forever, can watch as it potentially increases in value and can trade or sell just like you can with any traditional comic book. It’s just another format of selling, buying and owning content, whether that’s comics, art, film, music, 3D collectibles and so on.”

What is Bloodlines Vol 1 about?

The Bloodlines series follows the journey of four characters as they fight to survive in a disorientating and bleak world, which sees human emotions take on physical forms such as fierce rage storms and sweeping floods of tears.

“[It] deals with a lot of themes I’d always wanted to explore – the effect of different emotions on people, the different moods we have and how they affect us,” Nick told us when we asked him about the graphic novel. “It got me thinking if these kind of things could be contagious, if we could somehow become ‘infected’ with different negative (or positive) emotions, character traits or feelings, just from being close to others and so on.

“The next task was to think about how to represent that visually in an interesting and dynamic way within the genre that I like to work in and in my own art style. Of course, it’s also comics, so it has to be cool and entertaining!”

Read our full interview with Nick here.

What is the Extended Directors Cut of Bloodlines Vol.1 and what extra content do I get?

The Extended Directors Cut edition is not just a full-on, epic version of the entire journey that Nick Percival went on in creating Bloodlines but it also includes all teaser animations, created by Nick and all promotional material used in the run-up to launch.

On top of this, there’s a sneak peek of 1 page from Vol.2, a 1-2-1 video call with the man himself so you can ask him any questions and get an insight into his world.

Not only that but you’ll get to have a cameo in the next volume of bloodlines, meaning you will be forever immortalised in an NFT graphic novel, illustrated by Nick Percival!

This is also a completely unique edition – a single NFT – so no others are available.

How do people access this? All through vPlay? 

Once bought, readers can access Bloodlines Vol 1. The Extended Directors Cut through their wallet on the TerraVirtua website

When is the auction for Bloodlines Vol 1. The Extended Directors Cut?

The auction will be taking place on 23 September 2021. Find out more at the Terra Virtual website here.

Will there be a starting bid? 

There will be a reserve price of $10,000 USD

The auction for Nick Percival’s Bloodlines Vol.1 Extended Directors Cut will be taking place on 23 September. Find out more here.

The post Bloodlines: Auction set for Extended Directors Cut appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.

Check out the trailer for the graphic novel here…

We sat down with Percival to talk about the series, working on Judge Dredd and how he feels about Bloodlines being available as an NFT…

When did you first get the idea for Bloodlines?

I think it was around 2012 that I started developing the idea, so it’s been kicking around my head for quite a while. I was working on it in between my regular comic book and film artwork projects. It was nice to able to take my time with it, initially creating a bunch of concept art so I could mess around with character designs and how I wanted to depict the world in which the story is set. Since it was something I was just doing for myself, there was no pressure or any time constraints, so I could just let the idea evolve.

If any, what were your inspirations when writing Bloodlines?

Bloodlines deals with a lot of themes I’d always wanted to explore – the effect of different emotions on people, the different moods we have and how they affect us. It got me thinking if these kind of things could be contagious, if we could somehow become ‘infected’ with different negative (or positive) emotions, character traits or feelings, just from being close to others and so on.

The next task was to think about how to represent that visually in an interesting and dynamic way within the genre that I like to work in and in my own art style. Of course, it’s also comics, so it has to be cool and entertaining!

Bloodlines sees human emotion take on physical forms – what are some of the physical entities we can expect and why did you choose them?

This was the fun part. I was thinking of phrases and definitions of how we interpret or represent these emotions and feelings. So, I would take some of this literally when I was creating the environments and creatures of the world. We have ‘Panic Attacks’ – swarms of bizarre looking entities that ‘attack’ and then overwhelm their victims, causing them to be crushed with extreme anxiety, way beyond anything you could experience in our everyday world. We have areas that are surrounded by ‘Floods of Tears’ – a dangerous and violent tidal wave of fluids, lethal to all who end up in it. Different emotional creatures such as ‘Deceit’ and ‘Despair’ are kind of ‘stealth’ entities – infiltrating communities, manipulating them from within. The list goes on but all this ties into the wider story and world I’ve created and this ongoing quest for things like ‘love’ and ‘empathy’ that now seem in short supply in this universe.

Bloodlines is set in a dystopian future – why decide to set the story in this particular setting and what are your favourite dystopian future pieces of fiction?

The dystopian future is obviously a bit of trope and can be an easy way to quickly establish a world , since people are kind of familiar with the ‘rules’ associated with that kind of setting but then you have to be careful not to fall into cliché, so I wanted to subvert that somewhat. I do have elements of that traditional kind of storytelling but as the story expands and with some flashback moments, we’ll discover that everything might not be as it first seems…

I’m a big fan of the author, Richard Matheson and his I Am Legend novel is one of my favourite pieces of fiction (the film versions – maybe not so much!).

You’ve also worked on established characters like Judge Dredd – is it easier or harder to work on characters you’ve created?

It’s easier to some degree since you have complete control over your own creations but then you also have to apply some self-discipline, as it can be very tempting to stay in your comfort zone and just do the things you like or find easy, so I tried to push myself with the storytelling and create some new visual techniques for the graphic novel.

It’s always fun to work on well-known and established characters like Dredd and Judge Death – I’ve actually just finished painting my third Judge Death epic series and am currently doing some new Judge Dredd, so I never say never to those guys – I love those characters.

Bloodlines is the world’s first NFT-only graphic novel, can you describe to us what that is?

Yeah, this is new territory for me and the industry. Bloodlines will be an exclusive digital NFT, available through Terra Virtua. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are ‘one-of-a-kind’ assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold like anything else you own. Artwork (or in this case, the graphic novel) is ‘tokenised’ to create a digital certificate of ownership. A record of who owns what is stored on a shared ledger which is the blockchain. So, anyone that buys an edition of Bloodlines has it forever, can watch as it potentially increases in value and can trade or sell just like you can with any traditional comic book. It’s just another format of selling, buying and owning content, whether that’s comics, art, film, music, 3D collectibles and so on.

Why did you want Bloodlines to be available as an NFT?

I could have gone and was originally looking at the traditional publishing route but I’d been working with Terra Virtua for some time, building a good relationship with them and looking at their unique technology and the exciting plans they had for the future in this space and more importantly what could be possible now. It seemed like a great fit to bring Bloodlines over to this area, to try something new and shake up the comic industry a little bit. The NFT format and particularly the original dedicated comic book reader that they’ve developed for this release opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities for comic book storytelling. I’m a big fan and collector of all comics’ related stuff, so I have traditional comics, digital comics and now the world’s first original NFT graphic novel with Bloodlines.

Bloodlines will also be available as a collectable, complete with extras and easter eggs – can you give us an insight on what some of those extras are?

Yeah, this is where the cool part of the tech kicks in and we’re still only the early stages. For example, in some editions of the Bloodlines graphic novel, you can strip away the painted art pages without word balloons, down to the artwork as it was originally created, right down to all the original pencil artwork underneath. We have animated cover artwork, special FX elements in the art and all manner of extras in there including videos, teasers, etc – it’s like the ultimate Blu-ray special edition. As things evolve and as I’m developing the second volume, I’m really going to dive deep into all this for ways to enhance the story for the reader/viewer – stuff you can’t do in traditional comics. It’s an exciting time to be a creator.

What are you reading right now?

I don’t read quite as many comics as I used to since I don’t have the time but I still try and keep up to date (I have a massive collection and used to be manager of a comic book store, so it’s always been something I’ve been into). I’ll always have a look at what Frank Miller does in the industry, people like Mike Mignola and so on. I’m really into Marvel’s Immortal Hulk series at the moment – a great horror take on the classic Marvel character – my kind of thing.

What’s next for you?

I’m busy working on a new Judge Dredd storyline at the moment and blocking out the second volume of Bloodlines as well as various film-related art projects. I’m also developing my own original film project that I’m hoping to get underway later this year, so it’s all storytelling as usual for the foreseeable future!

Bloodlines is out now. Visit Terra Virtua’s marketplace here to purchase a copy.

The post Bloodlines: Interview with creator Nick Percival appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.

NFT marketplace Terra Virtua has launched the world’s first NFT-only graphic novel – Bloodlines from award-winning British artist Nick Percival (Judge Dredd and Slaine). The work will be released in conjunction with a new graphic novel reader app to allow collectors to immerse themselves in the novel’s post-apocalyptic world, and engage with exclusive content.

Check out the launch trailer for Bloodlines here…

The new Bloodlines series follows the journey of four characters as they fight to survive in a disorientating and bleak world, which sees human emotions take on physical forms such as fierce rage storms and sweeping floods of tears.

“The series explores a dystopian future where human emotions manifest themselves as powerful physical entities” Nick Percival explains. “This provides some exciting storytelling and characterisation opportunities as a creator.

“Although I had begun work before the global events of 2020 arose, many of the themes in the series are definitely reflective of this period. The characters deal with fear, anger and polarization, while the novel explores the physicality of emotions and how experiences shape and distort human empathy and compassion.”

To enable the best reading experience, Terra Virtua has developed a new graphic novel reader app to enable readers to customise the way they consume a graphic novel. Collectors can use the app to go beyond the traditional reading experience through animated artwork – both on the cover and internal panels. It also allows users to peel back the creative layers – right back to original concept sketches, as well as discover unique ‘easter eggs’ and surprises.

“After two years of development, I’m delighted to release my new novel, Bloodlines, as an NFT,” Percival continued. “I’d originally planned to publish it as a traditional graphic novel but after working with Terra Virtua, I became fascinated in the ways NFTs enable people to experience art in ways that aren’t possible in print.” 

The novel is priced from $25.00 (USD) and the series will only be available digitally, with the option to purchase an exclusive collector’s edition including earlier iterations and sketched artwork versions, animated panels, a variation of covers, and other exclusive assets.

 Visit Terra Virtua’s marketplace here to purchase a copy.

The post Bloodlines: Terra Virtua launches world’s first NFT-only graphic novel appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.