First released in 2016 from award-winning author Dave Cook and featuring art from Clark Bint and Craig Paton, cyberpunk comic book series Killtopia is a high-speed, high-stakes, adventure through Neo Tokyo, which has been infested with killer mecha.
Released this month, Killtopia: The Complete Collection brings together issues one-five of the critically acclaimed series, plus extra bonus and behind-the-scenes material.
To celebrate the release, we find out how the cyberpunk magic happens by taking an exclusive look behind the scenes of the concept art with Dave Cook and Clark Bint, including a look at how the characters were created…
Bloody Mary
Dave Cook: “Bloody Mary was briefly mentioned in passing during the third Killtopia book. She was Neo Tokyo’s favourite to become the next champion of Wreck-Fest, the city’s annual bloodsport tournament. Between writing the third book and starting the fourth, I realised I wanted to promote Mary to the main cast, and she’s proved to be so popular that she’ll return in future as the star of our sequel series. Fun fact: She’s also named after my favourite cocktail.
“When coming up with an art brief for Clark, I wanted to lean into my own influences as a fan of metal music, which is where Mary’s hardcore look comes from. I wanted her to look like she could be the vocalist of a cyberpunk thrash, punk or metal band, and Clark nailed that vibe perfectly.
“I’m a huge fan of game developer FromSoftware, so my brief for Mary’s battle armour and weapon set was inspired by games like Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. In the script her sword is referred to as the ‘Drake Sword,’ which is a nod to a hidden weapon in the first Dark Souls, which you get by shooting the tail off a dragon in the Undead Burg area. Her armour was intended to have an almost medieval or dark fantasy vibe to make her look more imposing, and to contrast Stiletto’s purple outfit.
“In keeping with my metal music inspirations for Mary, I wanted her to wear camo shorts and band tees when she wasn’t in her armour. The shorts are a nod to the Scottish hardcore metal scene around 2005, where you’d see so many people at gigs wearing camo shorts. I have no idea why, but to paraphrase an old Simpsons quote, it was the style at the time.”
Clark Bint: “To also paraphrase some classic 90’s lines: Some days you feel like a freight train, something something bloodstain. For Bloody Mary, I mixed the energy and smaller frame of Olympic athlete Inika McPherson with industrial aesthetics, alongside everything Dave and I discussed about her character.
“Her armour is angular and painted like heavy-duty German steam engines such as the DRG Class 58.30. For her hair, I wanted some sort of casual updo style, a reflection on her abilities as a first-class wrecker – effortlessly stylish.”
Stiletto
Dave Cook: “This is a great side-by-side comparison of Stiletto’s ninja outfit and Mary’s battle armour (above). Clark and I had a lot of discussions about Stiletto’s ninja look, as she wears it during a triumphant moment for her, and a huge change in her character’s motivation. So we wanted to give her a new look to show that she had been reborn and that her life was now on a different path.
“I think the outfit’s hood and purple colour scheme were in the original brief, but it was Clark’s idea to go down the ‘sports ninja’ route (I think that’s what he called it!) I loved the idea immediately, and Clark’s original sketch concepts got the vibe across immediately. It’s another great example of the magic that happens when comic writers give their artist space to explore ideas and flex their skills.”
Dave Cook: “Stiletto is by far the most popular Killtopia character amongst fans. I briefed our original artist Craig on her initial look, which he nailed wonderfully. Clark had the task of carrying on Craig’s original design in our later books, but he nailed her look and feel perfectly. In the earliest version of my concept documents, Stiletto was described as ‘cyberpunk catwoman,’ due to her seductiveness, her scheming ways, and the fact that you can never be sure if she’s a hero or villain. Her stiletto sword can also extend into a whip, which is another catwoman aspect that made it into her final design. She was also supposed to be the ‘will she / won’t she’ love interest of our protagonist Shinji, but I canned that idea pretty quickly.
“There are many stories behind the individual elements of her outfit. Her glasses are functional, as they show all sorts of heads up displays, they can make and receive calls, and can be used to scan the many environments within Neo Tokyo’s walls. Her scarf and purple outfit are a nod to Strider Hiryu, star of Capcom’s excellent action-platformer series, Strider. I also felt that the scarf would help emphasis her movement and make for some great visuals during action scenes.
“I have to applaud Clark for being influenced by action movie legend Cynthia Rothrock when working on Stiletto’s ‘sports ninja’ design, as she’s perhaps the most criminally under-appreciated martial arts star on the planet. Everyone needs to watch her movies right now. Trust us on this one!”
Clark Bint: “The phrase Dave was looking for is “Health Goth”. We have street punks, ninjas and nerds fighting to reclaim the streets of Neo Tokyo in issue 4. As well as an expression of identity, fashion can be an expression of radical movement, especially today where we have countless subcultures that all work towards the same goals of social reform, online and offline.
“Stiletto’s version of this is in a characteristically distant, individualistic manner. She is clean and stylish but ultimately sticks out as having wealth above and beyond Shinji’s crew. From a design point of view, it helped me get to know Stiletto better, and how she fits into her environment. It’s her gesture of her alliance with working class struggles (though superficial compared to her later acts of actual radical activism), which leans into her character within the story – someone who started from the bottom and became an elite member of society, lost sight of their values and are trying their best to reconnect.
“There’s a lot of thought into designs here, but as an artist, one of my core values is bringing an authenticity and sincerity to characters. It’s also stylish as hell and was a lot of fun to design.”
Yurei
Dave Cook: “Yurei is one of the initial villains of our story arc. She’s a line of companion dolls that has been hijacked by an artificial intelligence that wants to mechanise Earth. We didn’t want to show Yurei as a heartless machine, as the line of dolls are going through their own internal battle that readers will uncover as the series progresses.
“The above image is a testament to Clark’s incredible focus on accuracy. While the Yurei dolls all have synthetic skin and appear human, the series shows them in various states of battle damage, so it was important for us to understand and be clear on what sat just beneath that skin. I’m really grateful that Clark went to this level of detail, as it allowed for some pretty gnarly and borderline horror moments later on the in series.”
Dave Cook: “The above image shows Clark layering up the Yurei doll design from its skeleton to its skin. It really was incredible to see this level of detail and attention being paid to something readers won’t see much of until later in the series.
“And below is the full Yurei endoskeleton. Neo Tokyo enters a state of war in the fourth book, with many dolls joining a long and bloody battle, so it made sense to be clear on every part of the dolls’ anatomy. In the final book in particular, you’ll see a lot of dolls that have been broken down to their skeletons, with missing skin, broken limbs and other types of damage.”
Clark Bint: “I really like to get to know every element of a story I’m working on, because you never know what imagery can be conjured down the line, and it allows for an element of improv when drawing. Designing narrative elements that are in-world practical, and incidentally enhance the emotional and narrative aspects of the story, is really fun.
“The Yurei bots are just cheaply-produced animatronics designed for base-level human anatomy so they can be decorated. They look like Stan Winston animatronics more than T-1000’s (I realise the irony of that comparison). So their interior machinery only looks scary as we’re not meant to ever see it, which is enhanced emotionally as they walk through scenes with specific lighting at the right moment, highlighting a sense of nefariousness.
“They’re just conduits for a greater plan, and their individual gestures are pre-learnt, personalised expressions of this compulsion.”
Killtopia: The Complete Collection will be released on 29 October. Find out more here and pre-order your copy here.
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