ALBERTO ABAL: Hello and welcome
to everyone who is watching on the other side
Today we are doing a small interview
with the authors of the new graphic novel
that we have just released
Infinity Betrayal
And now im going to introduce the authors
who are here with us
The writter, Victor Santos
who worked with us before
with our previous comic Infinity Outrage
Victor Santos has worked as an illustrator
in shows just as The Mice Templar
or Violent Love
and he is the author of the quadrilogy...
('Qua-dri-lo-gy' I always say this word wrong)
The quadrilogy of Polar
A work adapted into a Netflix original feature film
Agustin Graham Nakamura
was in charge of the art in this book
He is the author of the graphic novels 'Terra Australis' and 'Zero Point'
and he directed the animated short 'Fear'
He also works as an illustrator
and a storyboarder for video games
and advertising agencies worldwide.
Well,
I will start with a question
to make you both talk.
What has it meant for you to work on a project like Infinity Betrayal?
VICTOR: I start, to break the ice
In my case, it meant to repeat a very nice experience
because I had the chance to do it with Kenny Ruiz once
when we created the first graphic novel,
the Infinity Outrage manga
But it left me with the desire for
exploring the Infinity universe.
So this was very satisfying in that regard
and with this book Im so happy with the results!
Maybe even more than the first time!
AGUSTIN: As for me,
(I think Victor and I talk about this once or twice)
This is my first collaboration
in such a big project
with a scriptwriter
who is more than a Scriptwriter, by the way
Victor is an author, an illustrator
and therefore he understads the
he understands the needs of an illustrator
in order to work with a script.
And regarding the universe of Infinity
for mi it was a surprise
I honestrly didn't know anything about Infinity
And I was surprised with
the size of it
The logics, the rules, all of the factions
and so it required a previous research
to learn and discover.
It was a very interesting and intense process
AL: During the last week,
the people who follows our social media
wrote a number of questions to you two
and some other generic questions.
So Im going to start asking those questions one by one
adressing Agustin or Victor or both
but of course you can both answer.
So lets step up to the plate!
Lets see what the future fans of Infinity Betrayal
want to know about the novel.
ok?
VICTOR: Great.
AGUSTIN: Perfect!
So, the first question is for both of you
*Carlo_desiderioz* 
Was it constraing to work with a franchise such as Infinity?
VICTOR: I'll answer first,
to begin in order of credits
although the credits doesnt in this cases
because on this kind of projects,
the writter ends up being a bit of an illustrator and viceversa.
It is always a challenge
because you are 'playing with the toys of another kid'
that you borrow for some time
So you have to be respectfull with them
but at the same time you must be
daring and edgy
and bring something new to the original product
that the fans needed and didn't get.
So, of course, it is always a hard challenge to do it
because you have to find the right balance.
But at the same time, it is a nice challenge,
a fun and exciting one
when you have the support of the people who created it
everything else becomes easier and stimulating.
I always say that this is like
working on Spiderman with Steve Ditko and Stan Lee
helping you to make it through the story
That is awesome.
AGUSTIN: For me,
I think that the challenge was
more about the illustration, obviously
and no so much about the script
because Victor did all that hard work
both on the previous and on the last novel
I think that the biggest challenge here
is that this stablished franchise
has a canon
And a big part of the story
(almost the 80% of the story)
was already on that canon, pre-designed
with an existing miniature
or they have a concept design.
Even when you create something
you have to follow the rules of an particular faction
or the pertinent race guidelines.
And for me
that is always interesting
of course is a challenge,
I'm not going to lie,
but at the same time it makes everything more realistic
to the reader.
I would say that this was
was the more challenging issue.
*@Jmaralc @Dolzet @Warlordclass2018*
 What was your source of inspiration for the story?
AL: Have you used any external references?
Was there any in particular that you'd like to mention?
VICTOR: First, when I start writing the story
I always take as a reference, obviously,
all the information that I have about Infinity
Infinity manuals and background.
and I choose wich factions I like the most
or what part of the universe could be interesting
for me to prepare the ground before working.
On the other hand,
Infinity are marked by some influences
common to mine and similar to my taste.
such as Anime
for example, Masamune Shirow
And in my case, I use a lot of
of different sources when I write:
Movie directors such as Paul Verhoeven,
writers such as Philip K. Dick,
who always inspired me
and they seem to me that
they not only
show cool spaceships or robots
or appealing concepts.
but they add a human component
that is highly important on the stories.
That is one of the things that I try to prioritize the most
when writing anything
and that I tried to prioritize aswel with Infinity Betrayal.
AL: Ok.
The next question is
is addressed to Victor
Well, there are 2 question but
but I am going to merge them
because they fit together.
The question is:
* @Captian_g_paintinig, Alberto M., @Javilopezraja*
What led you to choose the theme? Why Ko Dali?
VICTOR: Wait... Let me think...
I  was very interested in revealing
the Yu Jings universe because
on the first book we  focused on
PanOceania and the mercenaries
and all of the west side
on the Infinity universe, so to speak
and that was whirling in my mind...
United States of America and coloniser Europe...
translated into a scifi world
and It was clear to me that
If I was doing a second book
it would be about the east side.
And I found Ko Dali particularly interesting
because her character fit perfectly with
the Philip K. Dick style and science fiction
It felt that her story
was focused on a deep theme that we could use:
'what makes us truly human?'
And Ko Dali is the one  stuck in the middle
between being human,
genetic or technological manipulation
and the alien race
(or as we call it, the Combined Army).
And from there,
is where I began with the shape of the story
AL: The upcoming question is for Victor too
but maybe Agustin
has something to add to the answer.
Our friend says:
The characters of Infinity Outrage
didn't exist before on the universe of Infinity
However, in the case of Betrayal
the characters were existing ones,
or at least some of them
*@Joanrotger*
 How did you feel working with such iconic characters?
VICTOR: For myself,
It felt practical.
When I wrote the first book
I had just arrived to this universe
and I was starting with my research so
it was easier for me, back then,
to create new characters and incorporate them
than using existing ones.
Since this time I was much more confident
I decided to use this character precisely for being
so iconic for the Infiniters.
So I did my homework
I studied the character
and found that she was going to be
more powerful,  visually and narratively,
if we used all of her background
instead of coming up with a new character.
AGUSTIN: For me,
as I am like a new guest too,
a newcomer in this universe...
In fact, funny thing happened
but first, I feel the a great responsibility
to respect these existing characters
and the funny anecdote is about that.
I had barely drawn the first character sketches
and I was drawing totally random looks and designs
and I sent it
and they were like: 'No no no no wait'
'This uniform has to look exacly like this '
'because it belongs to Yu Jing faction and they use it in this other place'.
and then they sent me the dossiers with the characters
frotviews, profiles,
and even 3D models!
That's it,
We have to respect the previous designs
AL: This time, the question goes to Agustin
It says:
*Tavo_baggins* 
How different is the style from Outrage?
AL: This is a tricky one
AGUSTIN: It is a tricky one, indeed,
but also funny for me
because is the first thing I asked you guys
when you contact me.
I mean,
Kenny and I have completely different drawing styles
While it is true that we both
work within the so called 'western Manga'
we still have an entirely different Manga
His work full of energy,
very expressive and
he has a dynamic way of presenting the pages.
And yet I tend to..
I think that is because of my studies
as a digital animator
, as a director
and because I worked a lot on the movies.
I tend to plan ahead, as if there was a camera
I use the rules of a film directing
and some times
it is not so dynamic.
There aren't so many things coming out of the vignette
And I was like: 'Are you sure you want this?'
'because it is going to be so different'
and they said: 'yes, we like it. Do what you do'
That was also a bit
intimidating at the beginning
because if you say to me:
'You have to illustrate exactly this style of illustration'
and it is what I know how to do, it is cool !
but it was a completely different project aesthetically.
That was a tremendous challenge too.
AL: A new question for Agustin
*Alberto Mosquera* 
What was the page that you most enjoyed drawing?
AGUSTIN: The page I enjoyed the most was
precisely a double splash page
a two pages vignette that the graphic novel contains
during the battle at Shuidong
We have a very interesting anecdote about it:
I got stuck on those two pages
I did several scenes which I was not convinced  of ,
I couldnt find a good solution
so I talked to Victor and said:
'I'm having trouble with this one'
and also to Alberto: 'Look, these are my sketches
but i dont like them, if you want you can suggest something else'
an Victor took the pencil
(he is obviously an exceptional illustrator)
and he drew some sketches,
we chose one of them and that is the one you can see
on the final version
VICTOR: But the thing is that I
draw it quickly on the paper
and it is like...
I don't know if we have it to show to the viewers but
It's like... I should go to prison
because drawing is my main proffesion
Most of the money I earn every month is by the illustration.
and seems like a 5 year old kid have drawn this one
But anyway, it was functional on the storyboard
AGUSTIN: Furthermore we left the sketch
on the graphic novel storyboard for a long time
and we constantly torturing Victor telling him:
'It's going to be published with this sketch, huh?'.
*Kuribo_ht* 
Agustin, How was it to draw Morats aliens?
*Kuribo_ht* 
Do you want to keep drawing them?
AGUSTIN: The Morats... yes!
All of them are very interesting
we end up slightly simplifying somethings
for practical reasons
because, for example, on a battle
inside the book there is a big battle scene
there are 7 Morat variations
against 5 or 7 variants of Yu Jing soldiers
who are all dissimilar from each other.
I remember one thing I told Victor when we were
reviewing  the first version of the script
and it was that I wanted
to give the aliens
thus they are half monstrous,
they talk an unknown language
I wanted to make them more mysterious
so they wouldn't look like normal people with helmets
like on Star Trek wich
on every episode they change the mask and that is all!
But I wanted them to be mysterious in a certain level
without being 100% dark.
That is one of the things I remember I asked for.
To add them a little bit of appealing
and become something else than a raw monster
AL: Another question:
*Drungdrakki*
 Why a humanlike land vehicle for the morat?
AL: For that matter, the people from
'this side of the ocean'
we are the guilty ones.
VICTOR: Well, we can give a valid answer
and it is that
the characters are soldiers, so they are practical,
so they end up using what they  find
on a planet far away from everything
so if they are compelled to recycle
found or stolen materials
during  skirmishes with the  Yu Jings,
of course they will!
I also like the idea of war
that I think Agustin shows so well on the story
that at the end,
they are not soldiers in armour fighting
army vs. army
one group against the other on a organized line.
In the wargame you can see this point too
on the tactical part of the game design.
It is a more realistic war
sometimes dirty and messy.
I like that the comic conveys this idea
and Agustin represents it extremely well
AGUSTIN: As I remember,
those land vehicles were
additions that we created for the graphic novel
for the needs of the script
And the design process was
worthwhile because
At some point in the process
I realized that I couldn't just draw anything I wanted
so we had to collect references
send a bunch of emails to each other,
coordinate between Corvus, Victor, myself, Al
to look through the design and approve it
and give it some sense
to fit inside the universe.
AL: Now we are going to read more questions
adressed to both of you but before that
I wanted to say that not all of the messages that
we received  through social media
were questions about the graphic novel.
There was a lot of people who made comments.
like the one from @0berwald_von_drake:
'You know that you make us suffer with such open endings, don't you?'
So, for the ones who are watching this video
and don't know what we are talking about
you should read Infinity Betrayal.
Go and buy it!
Now let's go with the first question,
*@Dmitrid1 @harmaa_griffin* 
How much time did it take to complete the book?
VICTOR: Oops, I don't know
In this case, we worked with a different strategy
than with the previous novel
where I first had written the script
and once we were sure about it
we transfered it to Kenny for the artwork
so maybe that time I was 5 or 6 weeks with the script
But this time we worked in another way
to be able to accommodate Agustin's schedule.
and in order to start working as soon as possible
So i was writting separated chapters,
5 chapters, if I'm not mistaken,
and he was making the artwork of the first one
while I was writing the next chapter and so on
So the proportion of my work
I'm not sure how long it took
but I can say that the whole process
I think Agustin can confirm it better
because he must have a schedule with the deadlines
but it was more than a year for sure, wasn't it?
AGUSTIN: Actually, yes
I mean, the production process
was practically a whole year from beginning to end
It is like Victor said before
But first, Victor , you wrote the plot of the novel
VICTOR: Yes
AGUSTIN: And you were also launching
one of your other works,
with the movie, the red carpets and everything else
and for that reason it looked more practical
to split the script in chapters
Agustin illustrates one and after that
we continue adding chapters
Ir took around a year to make it
But it is also true that
Apart for writing during a month or month and a half
and sending me part of the script
he doesnt stop working,
he was answering mails during the whole process
of the entire graphic novel.
AL: Another question comes next,
*@Evo_painting*
What do you like the most about the Infinity universe?
VICTOR: Let me think..
I think I already told this when the first book came out
but the science fiction and the Infinity universe
both can be useful,
and have enough data, spectrum and depth
to be able to express almost any subject
or even to be able to translate
any event at any level and
talk about it through science fiction
In short, it is an open field
to play with it as you wish.
AGUSTIN: It meant a great discover for me.
The first thing that Corvus Belli did was to send me
the game manuals with all the info via mail.
I started the reading and I remember that
Suddenly I was in a state of near-panic.
because of all the information that was in there.
So I called Victor and said:
'Hey, Victor, look'
'Tell me what is Infinity about'
'Go easy with your part
because this may take a while for me
because this is a big task to learn'
In fact, today it is yet a big discovery.
*@Gfepanda @Ola_slp*
 If you had to choose a faction, wich one would it be?
AL:Is there any faction that you connect with?
VICTOR: hmmm I dont know..
I mean, I like PanOceania because
because it is very interesting
and inside Yu Jing
that I also like, by the way,
I like the Japanese group
the ancient Japan
integrated inside Yu Jing
wich name I can't remember right now.
but yeah, the Japanese Empire inside Yu Jing
I'll tell you more, in the first ideas I had for the script
I was focusing more in a Japanese character
that we changed afterwards but
I was focused on the Japanese character inside
Yu Jing and working the relation between
lets say, 'China' and 'Japan' from our story
were translated into Yu Jing and this character.
This are the ones I like
AGUSTIN: I will choose, at least for what I
had to work with, Yu Jing
AL: We have another question for Victor
*Alberto Mosquera*
Apart from Outrage and Betrayal,
what other part of Infinity universe would you like to explore?
VICTOR: I already mentioned it when I
was doing Outrage but I'd like to explore the Nomads
because both PanOceania and Yu Jing
are huge and powerful established societies
and Nomads would give me the chance to play
with the limits of this universe
with the outlaws.
A fun idea would be to tell a story
about organized crime
with the Scorsese narrative style
or Guy Ritchie style but focused on Nomads
AL: OK, Im going to start
giving 'AL approves' marks
in case of future projects,
so we have where to start
Now we have a short list of questions that
are about our work as a company
so, what do you say?
Can you ask me those questions
one each
and then the other
and I answer our followers?
Lets see what they have to ask, then, shall we?
*@Ciprinpi*
Will the units that appear in betrayal be available in Infinity CodeOne?
AL: Most of the characters who appear in the plot
like Ko Dali, for example,
you can already find their profiles
and have access to them on the Army web.
*Lots of people* 
Will there be more comics?
VICTOR: Interesting question
AL: Right now we are not working on another one
Comics are not our main product
and we have a big list of other products that
we are launching soon
and we cant pay the attention to it right now,
But we never say never.
And we would love keep expanding  the universe
through comicbooks
VICTOR: An ambitious question:
*Even more people asking*
And a novel or a Netflix show?
VICTOR: They ask explicitly about Netflix!
AL: Netflix is how any streaming platform is called! xD
Just like the Donuts.
We would love it, of course.
We don't have any formal proposal yet
but if we had the chance we would say yes for sure
Well, I think we have answered almost
every question you had for us
we tried to make a summary of them
and organize them to shape this interview
in a coherent way.
We only need to say to @Indael that
we don't know where his keys are
but we know a good locksmith who can help you.
And thats all! If you have more questions
we are waiting for you our social media profiles
because our marketing department
from Corvus Belli is always there for you
and will try to answer every question you have
And thank you for being with us this afternoon.
and above all, read Betrayal!
Now you can say something to the viewers
before we go
to our and your fans
VICTOR: Im thankful  to the people of Corvus Belli
for giving me once again the chance to
'play with their toys' 🧸
because the kids dont like to borrow toys
but sometimes we like to play all together
so I'm very happy
and of course, thanks to Agustin
it was a pleasure to work with him
I think that a lot of readers who didn't know him
are going to be surprised  with his work
because of not having so many published books
but this is going to be a great portfolio for him
and people will fall in love with his work.
AGUSTIN: And I
I'd like to thank all the team from Corvus Belli
Gutier, Fernando, Carlos, Alberto
Alberto Abal is the men with a thousand talents
as I say, because
He did all the Lettering on the book
for the first time on his life
and it looks awesome.
To Victor
for his endless patience
and understanding what the artist needs
an artist just like himself.
And Kenny Ruiz
I have to thank him a lot
because he is the reason I'm seating here today
So thank you all
I hope you all like it!
AL: It's time to say goodbye
Thank you all for listening this minutes
bye and see you soon!
