The Flight

I think it's important, as a creative, to have a pet project that simply brings you joy - and for me, nothing in the world is quite like fanworks. Although it's nowhere near as niche a hobby as it once was, works like fanart and fanfiction have been a staple of popular culture for decades, building off the worlds that they have come to love.

Even over a hundred years ago, fans of Sherlock Holmes revolted against Arthur Conan Doyle in their tens of thousands to protest against the detective's "canonical" death, and some even wrote obituaries for Holmes in the newspapers - a staggering example of fanwork in its purest form, showing just how much the character had resonated with people. Even the superhero comics of Marvel and DC could be considered fanworks in a way, as new writers and artists take on stories decades in the making, long after their original creators passed on. For more than a century, fanworks have been a key part of popular culture, and I'm delighted to be contributing to that rich history with works of my own - celebrating the stories that so inspired me.

Anyone who has played Team Fortress 2 can tell you that it is, at its core, a fundamentally ridiculous game. It's a game about nine mercenaries fighting in a petty and unending war over literal, actual gravel, wearing stupid hats and being generally terrible people, all on behalf of a pair of moronic, nigh-immortal brothers who have been fighting over their worthless inheritance for over a century.

It's also a game that has become a touchstone for popular culture on the Internet and beyond, and could arguably be considered a modern masterpiece. Its character designs are used in academic settings as a gold standard for concept art, even during my own time at university. It set, and still sets, the bar for team-based shooters even over a decade after its release, and its influence can be seen throughout the genre.

It also, surprisingly, has a weirdly dark tie-in comic series, which can be found here.

Although it starts as stylized and silly as the games have ever been, the series follows a search for the last caches of Australium - a rare metal that holds the key to eternal life - and the horrific things that some are willing to do to get hold of it. Major characters are blackmailed, traumatised, tortured, and a large proportion of them die (albeit temporarily), all in the name of the mysterious Administrator. Throughout this, however, the comics are infused with the game's irreverent comedy, creating a combination that still brings me joy after such a long time. After five years and counting, the final comic still hasn't been released, so I decided to return to an old fanwork of mine and renew it for 2022.

This project started life in early 2017, just after the release of Comic #6, The Naked and the Dead - which just so happened to coincide with my A-Level English Literature studies on dystopian fiction. Inspired by Cormac McCarthy's The Road (and a little of Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream), and armed with the realization that Respawn as we know it in games could have horrifying, dystopian applications, I set out to explore one simple question - immortality, or freedom? Swiftly, this idea expanded from a small concept into something novel-length and then on into a planned trilogy, charting a course from a desperate one-man escape into the snow to a full-scale three-team revolution against the Administrator.

It is, at its core, a pet project, something self-indulgent and spectacularly niche, but I think it's important to have something like that as a creative. When you pour love into something, your readers and players can feel it. I had the delight of meeting someone at Comic-Con one year, who said that my work was their favourite in the entire fandom, and they were visibly buzzing with excitement to have met me - and that moment has stuck with me ever since. Joy begets joy. Here, in 2022, I'm rewriting the entire work from the ground up with an aim to finish it, even if it's just for that one person who loved it so much.

In my work, I always want to have a solid core of themes that provide a strong foundation for the story I want to tell. This trilogy explores the nature of mortality, blood- and found-family, parenthood, and the clash between immortal captivity and fleeting freedom. These themes drive the narrative as a whole, but also have a huge influence on character arcs, which - by the end - brings a ragtag group of mercenaries together into one unstoppable force.

A sample in the form of the first chapter can be found below. Please note that the work features strong language. Although it's not strictly necessary for understanding and enjoying the work, I recommend reading the official Team Fortress Comics beforehand for the best experience.



Team Fortress 2 © Valve Corporation. The presented work is a transformative work for no monetary gain and should therefore be covered by Fair Use. Please see the FAQ of the Organization for Transformative Works for more information. If you are the rights holder and wish for this work to be removed, please contact me.