A man and women in orange combat armor dominate the front cover. Strapped with guns, they’re encircled by ships, buildings and floating spheres. The title “Kilbot Facility” hangs above their heads.
Many figures like them storm through the pages of futuristic art. As company on the page, they’re joined by robots, vehicles and maps of places the viewer can never go. There are four of these comics in the set, as well as a larger horizontal book titled “Joseph Routh II Design Portfolio, Gearhead INC.”
Joseph Routh, 42, is a graphic designer, Army veteran and aspiring comic book writer working in Muncie. His collection of sci-fi stories and art, the culmination of over a decade of work, began displaying in local shop Atomic Comic in fall of 2013.
“When I was young, I was into G.I. Joe comics and stuff like that,” he said. “Then I’ve always liked to draw, so I just wanted to do my own stories.”
Included in his list of influences are films like “Star Wars”, “The Matrix” and “Alien”.
The comic books showcase a blend of different visual methods, including vector images, CGI models and, hand drawings. Some images are combinations of the three.
“It takes a little bit of work, but to me, it pays off.” Routh said, “It looks real crisp, I like the look I’m getting out of that.”
The “Spy Corporation Database” book was originally intended to be a video game on the Xbox platform, but the scale of the project was too much for a small team to develop.
Routh draws on his own experience when creating his art. In 1989, he joined the U.S. Army and worked in communications repairing radios. After leaving the Army in 1994, he joined the Indiana National Guard.
While with the National Guard, Routh volunteered to deploy for a one-year campaign in Bosnia under Brig. Gen. T.J. Wright. There, he continued working in design, even doing work presented to visiting Indiana Senator Richard Lugar.
In 2004, he attended the 7th Army Noncommissioned Officer Academy located in Grafenwoer, Germany. After deploying to provide relief during hurricane Katrina, he retired from the National Guard, receiving an honorable discharge in 2006.
The comic books and associated trading cards combine to flesh out a universe of Routh’s own creation. He attributes the “mech-feel” of his style and other elements of his storytelling to the military.
“I know a lot about military lifestyle, so I kind of fuse that into my comics,” he said. “When you’re in the military, you’re there to help. So I have the feel in the story of dark vs. the good. You’ve got an entity that you’re against at all times. Good prevails.”
The plans to distribute his current work began about a year ago. After compiling, organizing and polishing his work, he decided to see to see what it could do. He talked with his boss at Muncie Novelty Company, Inc. and got approval to do a print run of his work.
Routh described himself as “detail oriented,” which shows in the intricate mechanical themes of his art. Looking forward, he’s working with “steampunk” styles with plans for it to be heavy on pencil-work. More in-depth narratives are another goal he hopes to accomplish.
According to Atomic Comic manager and music specialist Bob Breitung, Routh is the first local to walk-in and show work.
“There’s creative people around here,” he said. “Downtown is the hub … It’s where bright-eyed young people hang out with their new ideas.
For Routh, telling stories is just good fun.
“Even da Vinci got busted in some of his drawings, drawing fictitious characters,” he said. “The guy we credit for the helicopter, just doodling.”
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