to put it nicely, my world is really weird right now. to put it more bluntly, the united states is absolutely falling apart. i don’t want to get into it too much, as i don’t want to dwell so much on my own life or other affairs if it doesn’t relate to Jet Set Remix. i tried avoiding it in the last couple of updates, but at this point i gotta say somethin’ cuz it’s pissin’ me off-
if i had any regrets, it would be not working on my comic sooner. or i suppose improving my art sooner in order to start my comic sooner. although i never had a certain twitter ceo in mind when i originally wrote JSRX (hell, even before he bought twitter), i wish i was able to verbalize sooner the absolute disdain i hold for the tech elite and tech culture of silicon valley. i’m a through and through californian, i was born and raised in the bay are (i know, shocker); all my life i have been primed by the society i’m surrounded by to “get into STEM” and incentivized to adopt the philosophy of “move fast, break things” and i fucking hated it. i mean it isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to me by a long shot, but i’ve always been outspoken of my dislike of the tech-dominant ecosystem i’ve been suffocated by all my life. my grievances range from petty and aesthetic ( “google workspace” style architecture or the “apple product” dumbed down interfaces) to much larger critiques in relation to the ethics and incentives of major tech corporations (the devouring ecosystem stolen/invasive data and hype-culture that creates useless products that would only ever slightly benefit a middle-class consumer from a mediterranean-climate american-style metropolitan city ie. electric fucking scooter rentals). that isn’t to say i’m completely anti-tech or directly dislike anyone in tech, for the most part i actually look up to people who have the skills and talents in STEM fields and who do the hard work of creating and problem-solving. i mostly dislike the people in charge. (( i swear i’m going somewhere with this- ))
i had written the Rokkaku to be a tech-based silicon valley style business, something that’s actually implied directly on the last page of iSSUE 1. and for the future iSSUES, i had written Goji to be a tech oligarch who was far beyond the point of being an endearing underdog; morphed into a man pulling the reigns of an ever-consuming monopoly of manic insanity. he’s supposed to have his metaphorical grasp reach as far up as Kaerushima’s government, given they act as a separate territory to the United States/Japan. he only accumulates and consolidates more of this power after the election of Mayor Nasar (the egyptian guy mentioned in JSRF who owns the skyline area/immortals territory). i don’t want to spoil too much past that point, but it is something that was lightly introduced in Chapter 2 of the original run of JSRX Beta.
old (2022)
(no Goji art spoilers yet!!1!)
they’ve all been redesigned, of course. i’m thinkin’ of having Nasar’s son work at Rokkaku Industries, since i split the original character into 2 people lol :^P
it feel so surreal to see what i had planned for the comic happen right in front of my eyes, it’s uncanny. its so cartoonishly evil its almost unbelievable, idk. at least Goji is an old decrepit man and a lunatic on the search for immortality in order to stay in power forever, and not some white supremacist aspie who roleplays as a newborn baby on his own site. what the fuck? seriously what the fuck?
not to get political, ugh. sorry, i don’t want to distract from my comic. to be fair, the comic does directly endorse certain ideas that are technically (although i believe some wrongfully) political. it is what it is i guess. this isn’t a real update i suppose, i’m sorry. i’m in such a horrible place right now and i’m not even suffering the brunt of the shittiness of the world. sure, being queer/trans(?) is directly being challenged, but i’m lucky enough to live somewhere where i’ll be safe at least for now. there’s people in my life who are at more risk than i am due to other factors and reasons, and i’m scared for them every day, it’s debilitating. who knows what’ll happen in the next 4 years. i sure don’t.
i’m sorry, this feels like a non-update but i swear i’m still working! i’m not sure when iSSUE 2 is gonna be completed, but i’m trying to get it out as soon as i can-
i don’t really know if i verbalized it all that well in my last update, but i’m real upset with myself for missing the Jan 31st deadline. i ‘m genuinely sorry that i couldn’t get iSSUE 2 out sooner; trust me i don’t want this to take forever either. i can promise that iSSUE 2 is well on its way to being complete, and i’m determined to get it out as soon as i can.
here’s some concept art n whatnot for fun, because what else can i really do?
choosing songs for the last couple of updates was hard; i feel mostly dread as i write this update, but when it comes to JSRX i feel a sense of urgency to push on. tried to find a song that embodied that, and this was the best i could come up with. my playlist is only around 1,500 songs so i was slightly limited. :^C
