Read The Art of Neo-Man :: Villains Pt. 2

I strongly believe a hero’s goodness is only as compelling as their villain’s badness. So my villains had to be bad. Like, REALLY bad.

The Archemist in particular is a manifestation of some of my best writing. I would argue he’s the perfect foil to not only Neo-Man, or even the hero of any other IP, but the perfect foil to everything we as humans stand for.

The Archemist is nihilism incarnate. If Neo-Man’s main pursuit is ultimately to establish meaning in life by giving life itself value - through appreciation and acts of kindness towards others - Siberius Anon takes that sentiment and throws it right in the trash. Because, after all, we are alive, and have an inherent fear of death - even if death itself is not specifically the focal point of that fear, but where we go afterwards - IF we go anywhere afterwards. Because the answer is unknown, and thinking about it could give even the wisest or smartest individual a headache, the Archemist becomes an entity of pure cosmic horror: the fear of that unknown. Keith states that these are in fact his fears, hinting at the weight of the threat the Archemist can actually pose to him; It’s not just his immeasurable power, but his psychological intimidation. He only continues to exist to show the world how insignificant we are; how futile our pursuit of happiness and fulfillment is; we are in fact alone in the universe…we were never meant to be. We must be annihilated.

Of course, I don’t believe any of that myself. Neo-Man will have to come up with a counter to this whole spiel, which becomes his greatest challenge and, if successful, his greatest triumph.

One of the most terrifying parts about the Archemist is that there is merit to his philosophy. If he is actually right, then we really are doomed. I want to get the readers thinking. Wondering. Worrying. The question mark and exclamation mark become his insignia. They turn into his emblems to symbolize mystery and fear. You could also interpret the Black Hole as a symbol for the void in everyone’s heart & soul that is filled with only our individual aspirations like career or love or what have you. If left unfilled, bad things can happen.

I even wanted to omit the Archemist’s backstory to make him more mysterious, and therefore more terrifying. Why is he like this? What made him this way? Fittingly, he would answer with, “It doesn’t matter.” Because, according to him, nothing does.

The name "SIberius" is obviously a combination of "Tiberius" and "Siberia" with no reason other than to sound mysterious, exotic, wise, and powerful. "Anon", being short for "anonymous", plays with the idea that he doesn't truly assume any particular identity, both as a means to remove himself from humanity and to shroud himself in more mystery. It is, however, pronounced as to rhyme with "cannon" as to not be so tongue-in-cheek. This may or may not even be his real name, if he even has one. I have in fact written out an elaborate and terrifying origin story to this character, but it would probably be a disservice to actually reveal more about him than I already have, given what was already stated above. I love writing Siberius's dialogue because it plays to my strengths as a creator of some rather ominous, Shakespearean poetry, ornate with metaphors and heady oxymorons that leave those who read his speech succeptible to fear, madness, or agreement with his nihilist views...or all of the above.

A couple years ago I came up with some pretty radically different designs during the ideation process of how I wanted the Archemist's villain costume to look. The one above was originally going to be scrapped, but I later chose to keep it for his resurrection scene because it seemed more logical to have him look tattered and worn down, as if he was lost and abandoned - hinting that the Void may not be as glorious as he claims. Thank goodness it was for only one chapter, because all those panels with him draped with chains was torture for me to draw. As much as I love the hook hand as even more of his emphasis of the "?" symbol - I didn't want him to have it for too long because we already have villains who have abnormal hands as part of their powers and I wanted him to be more unique. It was merely a placeholder until he gets his real hand back.

The hook hand would later become a large "?"-shaped sickle that we'll see him use as his main weapon later in the story. But I still wanted to play with that design feature in the ideation process. Above is a much simpler design that is accented with that hook hand. I went full-on "Jack the Ripper" here, top hat and all. Siberius was always supposed to be from England of the mid-late Victorian Era, so this outfit worked quite well. But, it doesn't exactly capture the kind of modern-mystic fusion I was really going for. As cool as the blood-stained mask is, I think the blood-stained question marks with the dots being his eyeholes works even better.

This would be the modern-mystic fusion I was talking about, and therefore the final look I ended up choosing. Funnily enough, the main antagonist of my superhero story is the only character to wear a cape.

Even though I was set on the previous design, I still had an idea in my head that was itching to come out. This design, while scrapped, really goes 100% wizard and I love it. But, this aesthetic just sticks out a little too much when put in with the rest of the characters. But what do you think? Do you agree with the choices I made? Which of these costumes is your favorite?