Digitopia – page 12
Hi there, so on this page we deal with the high profile assassination of the Chancellor of Digitopia, I was really interested in exploring the theme of being ‘expendable’ and what happens when the Confederates deem that Milburn
- is now no longer necessary to their cause,
- is it possible to fight the good fight when you’re surrounded by those who are intent on war
- how they built him up, only for him to turn against them
Being seen to be different
Milburn was bought into the new Government to show that he is different from all the other voices in the government.
Initially this was a publicity stunt that Yale thought would show the government he put in place to prove that this government is a balanced and diverse group.
However Milburn wasn’t just there to be the ‘token’ different person, he has thoughts of his own, thoughts that didn’t chime with the rest of the administration.
Milburn tried to change the government from inside, he sought to use his influence to change government policy. When he learnt he was only there as a token gesture and a publicity stunt, he then used his resources to help Digitopians back into a safe zone within the walls.
Fighting the good fight when surrounded by crazies
What’s interesting about the Milburn character that I wanted to portray is that he was fighting against the ideology that the rest of the New Digitopian government are so keen to push, that being to drive out the Digitopians from their home land and completely own it. Milburn wanted to find a way in which both Confederates and Digitopians could live side by side, that clearly wasn’t what Yale wanted.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right
What happens when you don’t tow the party line and think for yourself
I read Grid Lock by Ben Elton, way back in the day, in the book he talks about a character at the party conference, in his book it was the Labour party conference, but I think his sentiment applies to all party conferences.
Essentially he wrote about how parties find it more valuable that people tow the party line rather than have free flowing debate and discussion.
In this case Milburn paid the ultimate price in being assassinated by his own party.
I wanted to show here how Yale has created the ultimate Draconian system, something that really amplifies the concept of towing the party line (in business-speak it’s called ‘being aligned’) ahead of having ideas and debating.
I worry in this extreme era of politics that we’re going through in 2020, we are moving to more Draconian rules where politicians listen and ignore the public when it suits them.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched for People’s vote on Brexit in October 19th, 2019
On 15th Feb 2003, millions marched outside Parliament (and in other cities across the world), governments decided million’s of its own people’s voices aren’t worth listening to
Milburn’s relationship to his daughter, Laika
I wanted to set up the relationship that Milburn had with his daughter, Laika, as one where they clashed ideologically on how the best way to deal with the situation they are facing.
I set it up on the page 10, when Laika between recordings on her show ‘Laika Live’, she really pushes the hard line agenda that Yale has got her playing to.
Of course her own father* is the only Dove surrounded by Hawks, Laika herself is the media voice of the Hawks, even though she perceives it not.
*I actually have the backstory about how Milburn is her adopted father, you’ll see a lot of mirroring of this in issue 3 of the book as we progress. Milburn has become an adopted father to many of the Digitopian refugee children that he has helped save.
Kickstarter backer rewards
What’s interesting about this page is that in the original Kickstarter, I put up three backer rewards to have themselves drawn into the book, the two assassins and Milburn himself are the likeness of three of the Kickstarter backers.
Two lucky backers had their likeness drawn as the assassins on this page
One lucky backer had his likeness drawn as Chancellor Milburn into the first issue
They’ll be more opportunities to have backer’s likeness drawn into subsequent issues of Digitopia – the best way to find out how you can have your likeness in the book is to sign up to the email list in the box below and you’ll be the first to hear about all the very cool rewards we’re planning for subsequent issues of the book and future projects.
Thanks for reading, remember to tell your friends about it using one of these social share buttons and sign up to join the newsletter, as an added bonus I’ll send you a free Digital preview of Digitopia 1.0 with some exclusive behind the scenes material.
Farhan
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