Gates The Comic by Hal Hefner, Presented by Heavy Metal

GATES WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?
I have had lots of inquires, facebook posts, emails and DMs on Twitter asking me about Gates.

What happened? It stopped? Why?

Well, let’s just say Gates, has ended on a “cliffhanger”.

Okay, bad puns aside, Gates has gone on a bit of a hiatus. Not because I have stopped working on Gates. That is the farthest thing from the truth. I have actually kicked it up even more and am working on several Gates projects at once now.  Let me explain.

GATES IS EVOLVING INTO A TRANSMEDIA FRANCHISE:
Transmedia is a peculiar word. It is a word that strikes a nerve by those who have heard it before, used it before and or believe that have made or are making it. Hollywood has a definition for it which differs from those are really making it.

Transmedia is a really just a fancy way of talking about modern storytelling. It is also known as multiplatform storytelling. This is how I like to define the word.

In a nutshell, Transmedia storytelling is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and media formats. Obviously the easiest way to do this is through current digital technologies such as the internet, mobile and all of the various, tools available on these platforms.

Where the word Transemdia gets confusing is that in Hollywood, they still don’t quite get what it is. Transmedia is not to be confused with traditional cross-platform media franchises and their sequels or adaptations. This is commonly confused as Transmedia but it does have a similar attribute in the storytelling factor.

From a straight production standpoint, Transmedia storytelling involves creating content that engages an audience using various techniques and technologies to permeate their daily lives, pull you out of your comfort zone and bring the story to you in multiple ways.

To successfully achieve this engagement, a Transmedia production will develop stories across multiple forms of media, with a a main goal of delivering unique pieces of content over multiple platforms.

Most importantly with Transmedia,these pieces of content are linked together and are in narrative synchronization with each other, be it in a subtle or glaringly obvious way. Many pieces of content are intended for the viewer to find or seek out.

Now that was the bullshit description.

Here’s what it really is.

TRANSMEDIA IS… A way of telling stories that uses marketing content to enhance, engage and expand the content of the story world beyond one media, one story and one predictable path. TRANSMEDIA doesn’t really have a finite definition and doesn’t need one as it would contradict the original intent of trying to break boundaries of storytelling.

Gates is evolving into the next phase of MY DEFINITION of Transmedia.

So get ready…because here we go.

INTRODUCING THE TWO NEWEST PLOT LINES OF THE GATES UNIVERSE:
The Gates universe explores the lives of the Gates family and their ancestry. The stories will all center on a member of this family and how they have shaped human history. The two major projects in development are…

1) I NEVER SAUSAGE A PLACE: An Interactive e-book experience
Taking place in 1987, I Never Sausage A Place is currently in development and is the very first story in the Gates universe. It tells the tale of Holden Gates is recent graduate of the class of 1987 who plans on spending the last three months in his small town of upstate New York, happily counting the days until he can escape to a new life and start college.

When his father is brutally murdered, Holden goes on a quest to solve a Rubik’s Cube of murder to find out who killed his him. What he uncovers is a plot shrouded in American Indian folklore and a mysterious ancient technology that can harness free energy. This device, that dates back to early mankind, also has the potential to bring about great evil and death to the human race–if the wrong people sink their fangs into it. With his life in shambles and the destruction of the human race at stake, Holden Gates has nothing to lose. He and his small band of misfit friends are the only ones who know how to stop the destruction of mankind.

This e-book promises to deliver a bang to the audience and will be fully illustrated and have loads and loads of video and audio content that will set the mood and tone beyond the initial prose of the story. It will engage people beyond the digital page and expand with a world of its own.

And you will be able to be a part of that.

A Production blog will soon begin being generated to detail the journey I am taking to bring you this epic tale of discovery.

2) I DEMAND A BETTER FUTURE: AN ARG EVENT
I demand a better future is still an undefined project that is in the infancy stage. It centers around the rise of the ConGenement, the harnessing of Vril, the rise of organic technology and will lead us directly into the world of Gates that you have seen in the comic book. The initial launchpad of this particular part of the Gates universe will being at Wyrd Con, a live Role Playing Convention in Costa Mesa in June.  It will take place on June 23rd, beginning at 11:59 PM and will be focusing on an educating people as to what Controlled Genetic Management really is.

Here is the event page on this website which will give you more info and a place to buy tickets.

YOU can be a part of the Gates universe by attending.

YOU can be a real character in the universe by attending.

And, this is just the beginning of this phase of Gates.

This story takes place in the NOW and in the  NEAR FUTURE and unloads a bunch of fun philosophical, political, religious, technological, environmental and transcendental stuff at you.

3) GATES THE COMIC BOOK:
As of now, the next phase of is on hiatus so that I can focus on the stories that lead up to it. I have had some serious development discussions about the project with some very interested parties. For this reason, I am going to work on the tales leading up to this comic book, first and foremost. Why? Let’s just say the next phase of this comic book is going to require some millions of dollars to do and in order to do that I have to work in smaller steps…to build up to my bigger plans for this.

However, there are more pages that have been completed and more story to tell, I am just awaiting the right time to continue ACT II.

So fans of the comic book, this is not a time to be bummed about the hiatus of the book. It will continue and in a grand fashion. So stay tuned and please come along for the ride.

ANY QUESTIONS?….