Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment

See What's Really Going On Inside Our Insides

Published Sun, 28 Feb 2016 15:00:06 -0600

Daniel Brodie writes,

I remember the day very clearly in 2014. I was strolling through the streets of Amsterdam, enjoying the sights (read in a coffee-shop induced haze). I can't tell you exactly what went through my mind that day, but the idea definitely stuck, and ever since then, I'm been focused on bringing my concept, Morgan's Organs, to life. At the time, the idea was only half-baked (pun partially intended), but over the next couple years, I have been dedicated to developing the idea, improving my writing, and finding a way to make the project happen. And that is how I stumbled upon creating an indie comic book and funding it through Kickstarter.

The premise is simple. Imagine tiny beings live within the human body who are responsible for the functioning of our various body systems. They influence our thoughts, our actions, and our urges. Except they don't just live in our brain. They live in all of our organs! And perhaps other places too. The elevator pitch for Morgan's Organs is that it is Inside Out for grown-ups. But really, it's far more than that.

My concept imagines the human body as a sort of office tower. And within, lives these organ characters, called "Organauts", who are each responsible for operating a specific organ. In developing my internal characters, I really tried to explore what sort of personality an individual would have based on their responsibilities within the body. Like my main character, Bran, who operates the brain of our title human character, Morgan. Given Bran's incredible amount of responsibility, he considers himself to be the leader of the internal workforce. But he also considers himself to be solely in charge of leading Morgan in the right direction, so he operates with a sort of god complex. And who has the most to lose because of Bran's rational approach to governance? Well, Morgan's penis operator, Pepe, of course!

In Issue #1, we see Bran and Pepe go head-to-head for central influence over Morgan's decision-making. And meanwhile, Morgan tries to balance pressures from both his inner body and his friends as he goes through a sex dry spell. The story asks many questions: who should we listen to? What does it mean to part of a community? And, why does our body fail us at the worst possible times? I might not always have answers, but I definitely try to raise many questions.

What's going on inside Morgan's body is only half the story. The other half is, of course, Morgan himself. He's just like any college student. Still just trying to figure himself out. But that is made all the more difficult because he doesn't always seem to be in control of his own decision-making. But he's not just some sponge-like character who does everything his body tells him. As per the third law of Newton – for every action there is a reaction – and that means that how Morgan responds to what is going on within him is not always what the organauts expected. I mean, they are just tiny beings made of tissue, and truly understand what it means to be human requires, well, being human.

That's what I think the beauty of this concept is. It is my attempt to both say something about human nature, while also suggesting a new way of viewing what life means. Could we really just be machine-like organisms controlled by forces beyond our control? What does it really look like when we digest food? Do drugs? Feel love? Get heartbroken? When we die?! There is so many ideas I hope to explore in the future, and with the help of Kickstarter, I'll be able to complete Issue #1 of the series, and keep doing more in the future!

Make sure to check out our Kickstarter – we have a preview of Issue #1 available as well as many incredible rewards to choose from.

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