Every Young Persons Primer

Graphic Novel Proposal:

Every Young Persons Primer on Presence, Posture, and Power: the Musclemonk Chronicles.

Past

A race of humanoids , the Musclemonk people, live on a forest planet.

The original world of the Musclemonk people (from Avatar)

These powerfully built humanoids coexisted with nature in a vital and advanced organic society. These humanoids have one powerful ability. They are able to sense and manipulate their muscle even at a subcellular level. In the villages there are many adepts with different strengths that they use creatively.

A thousand years ago an alien race came to their planet to harvest its natural resources.

the aliens rulers of ancient times (from Stargate)

The aliens completely dominated the native race and through ideological warfare created a society and culture that all believed in, with the aliens themselves at the top.

This society was designed to repress the great muscular power of these people. They are forced to wear awkward shoes, blocky corsets on their hips, heavy metal epaulettes on their shoulders, and to sit almost all day engaged in silent mental labor.

The native race of humanoids willingly submit themselves and even compete for advancement in this system. Through the conquest of their alien oppressors they were made to believe this repression of their bodies is a superior form of civilization. The Musclemonk people readily adopted to the example their conquerors and it weakened them greatly.

Present

It has been a thousand years and while no aliens remain to benefit from this system, it has persisted and expanded. Few remember the old ways and the old powers they once possessed.

This is a story of one young man who is coming of age in the corrupted city but finds himself in the forest with a band of muscle monks.

Few remember the old ways and the old powers they once possessed but some of these people do however and they live deep in the forest where they practice their arts in secret. They have been hunted and outlawed and are almost extinct. These are the last members of the ancient order of musclemonks. They are of every variety, and size and temperament. They each seek different relationships and different worlds through their muscle. They are waiting for an opportunity to change the world.

—

Gyambu lives in the city with his family. His father is a kind and sincere low level imperial clerk, and so wears the imperial footwear and suit, with the blocky waistcoat and heavy adorned epaulettes of an imperial officer. All of these heavy articles of clothing prevent him from realizing his physical potential but he has risen to the proud status of imperial clerk. He loves his son, but he is tired and his heart cannot reach far past his duties.

Gyambu’s mother is a woman of deep and gentle strength. Her family is special in that they possess rare ancestral relations with the forest musclemonks. Her uncle is a musclemonk living in the forest not too far from the city.

Gyambu wants more than anything to be like his father but for some reason everything he does fails. He feels like he is only watching the world pass by but he cannot join it. It simply knocks him down like a carousel each time he tries get on it.

He has just failed the Academy exams and is watching the ceremony from the crowd. It was his great hope to pass and be accepted as an apprentice at the Academy but again he failed badly. Gyambu tries to apply to other schools and to get work, but he ends up in trouble on the streets and must flee to the forest.

He is running not so much from harm but from his own shame and hurt. He is confused by his society and his powerful physical desires. He has been made to feel ashamed of these desires

—

Gyambu finds himself deep in the forest and remembers his mother’s whispered stories of her uncle.

The musclemonks are of every variety, of differing genders, sizes, and temperaments. Each cultivates a unique set of skills in order to preserve as much of the ancient wisdom as possible. Our Musclemonk is the largest, and loves size and power above all. He is also the gentlest and most tender.

Musclemonk has returned from a long retreat where he has been cultivating his size. He is very simple in his passion and appears very naive but is really very thoughtful.

He is returning to the village from his training in the forest. He moves very slowly to the edge of the village. He senses his nephew, who he has observed in the city from afar on a number of occasions, as he was growing up.

He sits beside Gyambu on a large log by the fire in the center of the village. They are sharing dinner surrounded by quiet activity.

It takes time for Musclemonk to open up to Gyambu, who is startled by the size and animal presence of his uncle, the Musclemonk. Gyambu however immediately becomes deeply devoted to Musclemonk and feels a wakening desire to be as big and powerful. He doesn’t understand the feeling and feels conflicted about it because he has always been told it is wrong.

Musclemonk takes Gyambu through the stages of biomechanical enlightenment, lesson by lesson. The boy learns about each of the bones in turn and each time it is a powerful life lesson. Over the years, as Gyambu matures, he deepens in his self knowledge and desires to return to his world and to help others to know their true selves. In doing so, he becomes a Musclemonk and teacher, like his uncle.

He goes through three major phases of self discovery and growth and in each phase he learns about a new bone and a new part of his body and a new way of relating to himself and the world.

---

The graphics include science-accurate anatomical and kinesiological explanations of the practical physical lessons of presence, posture and power Gyambu learns and that Musclemonk teaches. These are actually true for humans too.

Although the humanoids are alien in appearance, their skeletal anatomy is identical with human anatomy. This allows the book to teach lessons that are actually as meaningful and effective to its readers as they are depicted in the fictional story.

The experiences Gyambu has are those of the world. They are the somatic, postural and physiological symptoms of the current collapse. The story is about the experience of disembodiment and its cure.

The title is:

Every Young Persons Primer on Presence, Posture, and Power: the Musclemonk Chronicles.

What is the difference between Musclemonk and Gyambu is that Musclemonk acts like he is still involved in ideological warfare. He is serious. Whereas Gyambu just thinks of it as natural and talks about it openly.

Musclemonk is strictly musculosexual but Gyambu is more social. This is explored in the explicitly sexual graphics, but not gratuitously sexual. Musclemonk is more isolating and monkish.

Gyambu is much more innocent and open and direct, and not has not lost his faith in others. However, because of the embodied experiences he has had through his relationship with his uncle, the Musclemonk, he knows what trust means and is not to deluded by wishful thinkingn when interacting with others. He is able to remain very matter-of-fact, and self, pre possessed.

Gyambu has found himself compared to the beginning of the story where he was totally struggling to fit in.

We learn about the world of the muscle monks. They have super powers. Their super powers are activated because of the conflict and the threat from the disembodied world and the history of ideological warfare. The exertion of their superpowers leaves them exhausted and incapacitated, and so they retreat to the forest to recover. They are fighting the imbalance, and it takes its toll upon them as well.

When we come into the Musclemonk camp, the animation style is much different. It is much more conventional and subdued. There are long range shots of the area with several people active below. One is sitting hunched by the fire. It is Musclemonk.

Musclemonk is a scholar and practices kata that are complex somatic koans, mantra, multilevel metaphor patterns, raw visceral presence.

Musclemonk has a laboratory in the area of his hermitage. He teaches Gyambu about his body little by little, and in between Gyambu has exploits alone, or with Muscle Monk in the forest and the city. In the city, and in between the two worlds Gyambu learns to be himself more fully by recovering his body, and with it his soul.

Random images

The anatomical theory