DEROS: a comic from the game

I've started making a comic book. Well, twelve of them, if I get through the whole story the way I'm planning it.

It's called DEROS, and it comes out of the setting I've been building for P.A.T.H.: Vietnam (Pivotal Actions Through History). The first three issues are in final draft. I'll probably make more changes before I let them go. Having a book you can read from beginning to end is useful; it also makes the bits that need work a lot harder to ignore.

The story follows DJ, a young man from Rochester. He's our comic version of Static. He has an interest in radio, a family at home and ideas about what his life is going to look like. Then he's drafted, trained as an infantryman and sent to Vietnam, where he takes on radio duty as an RTO. What he thought he was heading towards has to wait.

I wanted to spend some time with him before he gets there. His family has opinions, his sister has things to say, and leaving home is more than a panel of a plane taking off. His mother speaks French in places. These are small things, but they help me hear him as a person instead of treating him as a way to introduce the setting.

It's the same interest that led me to LifeP.A.T.H.—Previous Activities, Training, History in the RPG. What did this person do before the campaign? Who is still waiting for a letter? What do they know that the rest of the squad doesn't? The comic gives me room to stay with those questions for a while.

The first issue follows DJ from home into his first month in-country. He meets the men he'll serve with and starts finding out what the job asks of him. There's a lot to learn, including when to keep his mouth shut. I don't want him arriving fully formed and somehow knowing everything because he's the main character.

In the second issue, we spend more time with Dozer, including his life in Chicago and his relationship with Elaine. DJ's story carries on, but the people around him need lives of their own. A man can be good at his job and still have a mess waiting for him at home. I want room for that in these books.

Issue three brings more of Calloway's family into it, and the plans he's making for after this tour. There are promises involved. Meanwhile, DJ is still working, getting letters, dealing with his kit and trying to get hold of a .45. Some of the things he wants make more sense to him than they do to the men listening to him ask.

There's action in DEROS, but I've also put time into the waiting, the arguments, a borrowed book and an evening with a record player. Those scenes belong in this setting. I want someone to enjoy reading the comic even if they've never opened a manual or played the game.

My plan is twelve issues, with two a month once I get the release schedule going. I'd originally been thinking September through February. We're already in October, so that needs adjusting. I'm not going to pretend the first month happened. I'll share the dates when I have the issues and the reading links ready.

I've also been working on the social channels and trying a few videos. I don't like the results yet. I'm still looking for a format that works for the narrative and for showing how the game actually plays. There's plenty of art and material to work with; putting it on a timeline and adding music hasn't been enough.

For now, I'm reading these first three issues again and deciding what to keep, what to cut and where the dialogue needs another pass. I'll share more here as that moves along.

If you've been following the game and the Dispatches, I'd like to know what you'd want to see from this side of the project. Would you read the issues as they come out, or wait until you can sit down with several? I'm leaning towards giving each one some time, but I'd like to hear what works for you.