Head Held High
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Head Held High - the media franchise NECjAR in the genre of satire, black humor, paranormal phenomena, science fiction, including the mobile game Head Held High, which is in development, and the daily-weekly graphic novel itself, which is known as Head Held High: Traveler, published on the official website, acomics.ru/~traveler and created by Airat Asadullin.
Short videos occasionally appear on the official YouTube channel, which expands the project to an animated series and a movie.
History of creation
Back in school, the author of the project loved to draw comics and conceived a light graphic novel with a rich world, but Head Held High was finally implemented in 2019 as part of the NECjAR comics, which later became an independent product.
The first quarter of 2020 can be considered the start of the project as a fully formed idea of a novel with its own unique style.
Style and drawing
Simplicity and minimalism are the basis of the Head Held High style. The special feature is the black and white style designed by Airat, and a limited number of geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle, hexagon), which in combination with each other give 16 basic types of characters, expanded further with the help of eyes, mouth, hairstyle, headdress, clothing, hands and feet. In total, taking into account multiplication, the number of unique characters can reach up to a million.
Colors
White and black are the two primary colors, but there are additional effects and items such as blood, reptilian blood, gems, and even blue duct tape that adds additional colors. At the moment, the Head Held High project already definitely has at least 7 colors. According to some information, 20 colors are planned.
The main character
The protagonist of the novel Travis Traveler is an ordinary person who finds himself in a series of very strange events that have made him rich. He does not possess any unique abilities, except for his luck, intelligence and such character traits as cruelty (but he has compassion) in achieving his goals, dislike of alcohol.
According to the author of the franchise, Travis was created specifically to make fun of the cliché of superheroes who build themselves too exalted characters, but at the same time dare to use alcohol and other drugs. Travis is a challenge to all of them.
Becoming a Traveler
The main character in the course of the development of events becomes from the good guy to a harsh scoundrel and a criminal of the law, who is hunted by everyone who wants to get portals and the ability to travel in time. Becoming an enemy to everyone is the price Travis had to pay to become "Travis Traveler".
Hero's inventory and equipment
The character has his own inventory in the form of a belt, there is a suit with items where he stores large weapons, for example Remington 870 and a glove with Anna, which expands through modules and is a remote control for moving through time - the main trick of the hero.
Graphic novels
The first series of Head Held High was a story Traveler about the time traveler Travis, who found a companion Anna - Artificial Intelligence in the form of a smart glove on the left hand and a loyal friend Digger - a black digger.
Head Held High: Traveler
For easier reading, the Traveler series is divided into acts: 1-99 is Act I, 100-199 is Act II, 200-299 is Act III, 300-399 is Act IV, and so on. The full content of the acts can be seen on a special page on the NECjAR website.
Head Held High: Digger
Second graphic novel about Digger. First episodes appears in Patreon and Boosty, but then later published on acomics.ru/~digger.
Travis Traveler
Another novel about Travis, but in the form of an animated video with music and atmosphere, published separately on TikTok, Twitter, Coub and sometimes YouTube accounts.
The game
The mobile game Head Held High is in development. Specially created GitHub.com/NECjAR/HHH/issues for tasks, suggestions, and bug fixes in both the comics and the game.
Interesting facts
Head Held High: Traveler ranks in the top-150 (as of March, 2021) in A-Comics.
Criticism
The graphic novel is very violent, despite its PG-13 rating, full of harsh statements and extremely intolerant.
Official links Head Held High
- NECjAR/Head Held High
- Acomics/~headheldhigh
- Telegram/HeadHeldHigh
- Coub/HeadHeldHigh
- Reddit/HeadHeldHigh
- Patreon/HeadHeldHigh
- Boosty/HeadHeldHigh