Road Wars

logo-road wars

Shortly after the 2013 release and posting of my collaboration with Patton Oswalt “Faster, Empire. Strike! Strike!”, we began discussing another commission. A few ideas were tossed out there, which we plan on possibly doing in the future. I knew Patton and I had a shared love of the classic film The Road Warrior so when I pitched him this idea he loved it.

Setting: In the arid lawless post apocalyptic wasteland wild bands of outlaws and bandits runs wild trying to squeeze every last drop of fuel from the last remaining settlements that have banded together to try and eke out an existence.

LOCATION:   When last I heard this line was being displayed at the House of Secrets Comic Book Shop in Los Angeles

One lone man in the desolate landscape exists between these two divisions of outlaws and bandits. He makes his living smuggling fuel between various groups and factions then selling his cargo to the highest bidder.


The Smuggler
Hal makes his way across the lone empty roads in his heavily modified supped up muscle car that he uses to smuggle fuel and evade the bandits.


(I don’t usually do vehicles, but I make an exception for Patton and both the lines so far have had 6″ scale vehicles)

Bad Trooper
During one of Hal’s smuggle runs he is attacked by members of the most powerful group of bandits known as the Imperiad, part biker gang and part marauding high way pirates. There riders are numerous and they spread out across the badlands causing havoc and plundering in packs.


This particular gang of outlaws is being lead by one of the Imperiad’s most psychotic members, a biker known only as Fez. He does not say much, but he speaks volumes with the violence he unleashes.


The Wildling
During his pursuit and fight with the gang members, Hal is helped by a small wildling primitive child, who live in the wild in a savage state. The child creates a connection with Hal who follows the smuggler from a distance.


After evading and destroying part of the gang of marauders, Hal begins to scrounge through the wreckage of a large truck owned by the gang. He destroys the truck looking to salvage anything of value. Tied up on the back of the truck he finds an panicking odd fellow struggling to get free going on and on about his little friend. He claims his friend contains a new formula for synthetic fuel.


Cptn.’s little friend was his homemade flying contraption called a Gyrocopter or GY-RO for short, that was harnessed to the trailer. The gang had taken Cptn. and the copter as a prize for their leader. The engine runs on a new type of synthetic fuel that can be made and not harnessed from the ground and refined. Hal fixes the trailer to his car and realizing he has something of value in the two. Hal took them towards a small settlement with hopes to barter them.


Farm boy
On the way to the settlement Hal comes across a naive farm boy on the outskirts of the settlement who takes Hal, the wildling, the Cptn, and the Gyro inside the makeshift colony. He is brimming with a wide-eyed sense of adventure and enthusiasm that is uncharacteristic in this harsh and unforgiving wasteland.


The settlement actually has a small refinery and they are extracting raw crude from the soil The collective is lead by a grizzled old hermit. He wants to quickly move the strangers along fearful of a reprisal from the Imperiad gang. He has tangled with the group in the past. There have long been rumors of a mysterious past and previous encounters between Obbawanno and the Imperiad leader.


Warrior Princess
Amongst the settlements there are many makeshift soldiers, one of them stands out. She is by all practical purposes the day to day leader of the village who carries out the suggestions and advice of Obbawanno. She is a charismatic and has caught the eye of both Hal and the farm boy. But, she is a strong and a deadly warrior, who has little time for the daydreams of the village youth or the advances of a scoundrel with no sense of allegiance or honor.


Hal leaves the village with the fuel he exchanged for Cptn. & his GY-RO. Eventually, Obawanno’s fears are realized when the Imperiad arrives in force lead by the enormous tyrant Darvantuan. He has brought his lieutenant Fez and their legion of troopers. The gang lays siege to the small outpost. Darvantuan is obsessed with getting revenge and this new fuel he had been told about. In the battle many of the gang and the villagers die. Obbawanno is killed when facing off against Davantuan alone. In the chaos of the battle Hal returns as the farm boy ignites the fuel reserves. He helps what villagers remain and Cptn. escapes in the confusion of the burning refinery.