Is Huxley the new Star Wars? This week, Chris chats to Ben Mauro, the film and game concept artist who single-handedly created Huxley, a comic book set in a richly detailed post-apocalyptic sci-fi universe. Thanks to the power of NFTs, Huxley has evolved beyond the pages of a graphic novel into something far bigger, with a film from Marvel producer Avi Arad in the works, plus trading cards, a potential TV series, and much more.
Ben talks about the incredible journey of Huxley, from how he found motivation and inspiration to single-handedly create the comic book, to how NFTs have empowered him to focus on the project, to its exciting future. Ben also shares his savvy knowledge of how NFTs work and gives his thoughts on how big media franchises are cashing in on their astonishing rise, as well as explaining how to avoid rugpulls.
Links:
4:32 Ben’s background
9:57 Living the Nomadic life
13:47 “Huxley’s” inspiration
19:50 The story of “Huxley”
22:38 Getting into NFTs
30:02 Serialization and building interest
33:19 Thoughts on Ethereum
38:32 Are people buying into Huxley as investors?
41:28 Concerns about NFTs
43:56 Rugpulls and “Batman” NFTs
51:58 Getting “Huxley” made into a film
55:19 Friction against artists launching NFTs
Chris is a CG industry veteran and Director of Chaos Labs. He can also be heard regularly as the host of the CG Garage podcast which attracts 20,000 weekly listeners. With a background in both VFX and Design, Chris has worked for Gensler, Digital Domain, Imageworks and Method Studios. His credits include Maleficent, Oblivion and Tron: Legacy.