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The Way is one of the most innovative comic projects to come around in quite some time. It is being written and illustrated by local creator Jason Tucker, but the story is being influenced by many. Jason Tucker has created an interactive comic book, and the storyline progresses through the input of the comic’s fans.
Much like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, The Way offers readers various paths they can choose to take. Whereas Choose Your Own Adventure is an individual experience, The Way relies on fan voting to choose the next path and becomes a communal experience where anybody can get involved. The choices offered are not simply cosmetic either, but interesting plot twists and character developments that have a real impact on the story. Tucker said that he wanted to present the most interesting story points he could for voting as a way to draw in an audience.
The reason Tucker chose such an interactive format for his comic is two-fold. The first is in fact an extremely clever marketing scheme. In a time when literally hundreds of new comics are coming out each month, it is hard to draw interest into a new title. Tucker is building up a fan base before the comic ever hits the shelves by allowing his potential readers to become involved in the creation process. As more people become interested and word of mouth spreads about his comic, Tucker can expect more people to pick up his book when it comes out. The second reason is to create an environment of open dialogue between fans of the comic.
There is a very strong Christian undertone to The Way, but not in an overbearing way. Unlike some other publications that would rather lecture on religion, Tucker has sought to create a discussion. While voting on different paths the story could take, people can leave comments about how they feel about the story, the characters, or religion in general. Tucker has tried to make The Way as realistic as possible in the way it looks at religion, and offers many differing viewpoints from characters of all backgrounds.
The characters are also built to draw in an audience. The multicultural cast was developed by Tucker with diversity specifically in mind. While some other titles seem to have ethnic characters thrown in to round out the cast, Tucker’s characters are from all different backgrounds and nationalities so everyone can relate to them. It is just another step he has taken to give a more realistic feel to his project.
The Way has been in development for around 13 years now, starting off as character sketches Tucker did in college. As the characters developed, he realized they had a story that needed to be told and began working on the comic. It was not until two years ago that he had enough material to put his work online and make it interactive. This long project has truly been a labor of love for Tucker, and he hopes to be able to release an annual graphic novel of the story his readers vote on in the years to come. Get involved with the story yourself at the comic's MySpace page, Facebook page, Comic Space, or Christian Comic Art.
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