...HERE'S THE PITCH!

For anyone that might be interested, I'm posting my original story pitch for DIONYSUS WEPT. Ultimately, Sean O'Reilly at ARCANA STUDIOS saw something he liked. Judge for yourself.



Nietzsche’s Overman exists, but are we ready for him?

DIONYSUS WEPT
Submission Proposal

DIONYSUS WEPT is the hard-boiled bastard child of MARATHON MAN meets THE FRENCH CONNECTION meets FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Presented in a crime/noir comic style and steeped in mythologically inspired violence, DIONYSUS WEPT focuses on a family of apparent immortals. These seemingly ageless doctors, soldiers, artists and philosophers whose unorthodox lifestyle (consisting of a life-extending diet and drug regimen) and unconventional philosophy (marked by a Nietzschean code of ethics and universe expanding hallucinogens) have forced them to embrace anonymity...until now.

A chance meeting between Dr Robert Staver, and world-renowned Nazi Hunter, Simon Friedman ends in brutal murder. The subsequent NYPD investigation reveals: 1) An unseen ancient order, sworn to protect The Twelve Tribes of Israel by any means necessary. 2) An insidious group of neo-Nazi Hitler worshipers with a deadly policy against those they perceive to be race traitors. 3) An extended family of apparent immortals whose mysterious past has come back to haunt them. 4) A pharmaceutical representative obsessed with profiting from a miracle cure. 5) And the African-American NYPD Detective struggling to uncover secrets that noone wants revealed.

The story’s main character, Dr Robert Staver, runs a small clinic in the economically desperate neighborhood of Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem. Dr Staver is beloved in the community for his tireless effort to provide affordable medical care to its residents. Although a celebrity in the neighborhood, the doctor rejects publicity that might draw unwanted attention to the clinic or himself. And with good reason, for Dr Robert Staver was born Hubertus Strunghold in 1915 near Leipzig, Germany. Dr Strunghold and his unusual family were uprooted as part of a collaborative covert US military operation to smuggle members of Hitler’s elite doctors and scientists into America prior to World War II. Strunghuld’s life-changing decision to betray the Third Reich was made easy upon the Doctor’s horrific discovery of Hitler’s Final Solution. But a decision with consequences, as leaving Hitler’s Master Race Research Team, cost the doctor his identity (not to mention a finger from his right hand.) Dr Staver’s safety and secret identity are permanently jeopardized when Simon Friedman recognizes the four-fingered man outside his clinic.

While maintaining his persona as an internationally known Nazi hunter, Friedman was also a high-ranking member of a clandestine group of assassins dubbed THE CHILDREN OF ESAU. His vicious murder triggers an unrelenting quest for retribution by the members of this unforgiving militant group. The NYPD homicide investigation alerts the hierarchy of Stormwatch, a corporate structured organization of psychotic Hitler acolytes with influence among the city’s police and government. Stormwatch views both Hubertus Strunghold and his family as the ultimate traitors to the white race and therefore subject to the ultimate penalty...death. It’s up to newly promoted Detective Jean-Luc Pedanou to stay alive long enough to uncover the nefarious actions that have set this mystery in motion.

This story was originally conceived as an 8-issue story arc and will appeal to both crime/noir and sci-fi readers. And it has Nazis!