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14 ESSENTIAL SOURCES FOR GETTING UP TO SPEED IN SCIENCE

THERE ARE SEMINAL books, movies, articles, and more that you’ve been meaning to get to but just haven’t made the time for. Well, the time is now, so here’s some essential background material for helping you understand the world of science today.

Biowars: Anthropomorphized immune and nervous system cells in mortal combat? Yes, please! Perfect for converting kids from comic nerds to science nerds.

New York-based digital agency Blue Fountain Media has announced the formal launch of its Biowars brand, including a new interactive website and two mobile games. Biowars: The Battle Rages Within was created by Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO and founder of Blue Fountain Media, who became interested in the inner workings of the human body during his time as a pre-med student at New York University.

Patrick Hickey Jr.: How did the original idea of Biowars sprout?

Gabe Shaoolian: Biowars started as a hobby for me. I studied biochemistry at NYU and I became fascinated with how our bodies exist as micro-universes and the daily battles for existence that take place within them. I wanted to share my vision with everyone and open their imagination to understand how amazing our inner worlds are. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the means to share this story digitally with readers.

Hickey Jr.: Your site is so much more than a video game or comic book site, what was the idea behind that?

Shaoolian: I wanted to create a digital community and bring the digital comic book to life in a new way, and take these characters from a reader’s imagination to their fingertips. I wanted to create a digital space where fans and newcomers could interact, share their own Biowars artwork, create Biowars-themed memes to share with their friends, and interact with our Biowars surveys and polls about topics related to immunology.

Storyline: The unlikely hero of Biowars is Alexander Hawking, a regular guy attending a city college. Alex’s father Marcus is a scientist who becomes a target of a secretive group called The Combine. They infect Marcus with a deadly germ that he inadvertently passes to Alex, and with it, a destiny. With his dying breath, Marcus makes Alex vow to expose the ruthless cabal and save the world from their threat.

To fulfill this quest, Alex’s immune system must fight off the microbe that has invaded his body, where a parallel storyline takes place.

The inner-realm of Alex’s body is a universe unto itself – the BioCosmos – an alien setting where strange creatures inhabit living terrain and glide through pulsating corridors. Each of these beings, known as BioWarriors, is a hero of the Nervous and Immune Systems. In Biowars, they are given humanoid forms, but they retain their real-life biological powers. The invading microbes also manifest their true menacing powers and are given monstrous designs.

This is definitely something new within the superhero genre. What will first interest readers is how this comic engages with real biology. With a majority of superhero comics heavily tied to either pulp fiction or mythology, BIOWARS, published by Gabriel Creations, confidently goes deep inside a vast alien world with many possibilities. Creator Gabriel Shaoolian envisioned a comic that dove into a whole new terrain. With a story that literally takes place inside and outside, there is great potential here.

The story begins with a sounding of alarms in the first issue, aptly entitled, “Infection.” We see the emerging war take shape. Written by Mark Powers (Marvel Comics, Devil’s Due), we get a nice dose of action, and even humor. Microphage armies and B-Cell forces, given human-like form for the sake of more vivid storytelling, are deployed to subdue the enemy invader. The artwork (Lucius Cross, Joana LaFuente, and Gonçalo Lopes) brings it all to life with impressive results. The next time you get a cold, you can picture a war like this one raging through your bronchial passages.

As a former pre-med student at New York University, Mr. Shaoolian was fascinated by the ways cells communicate with each other. He created BIOWARS to share his passion for immunology and open the imagination of millions of readers and gamers through a broad range of entertaining and interactive experiences across digital media. He brought together a seasoned team of Blue Fountain Media artists and designers, as well as a renowned comic book writer, to help bring his passion to life. From story and character conception, to illustration, production and marketing, Blue Fountain Media has created an immersive digital experience that showcases its creativity and capabilities.

“To engage with today’s consumers, businesses have to deliver more than just a website: they need to deliver an immersive experience,” said Mr. Shaoolian. “What we’ve done with BIOWARS represents our team’s capabilities and the strategic work we perform for brands across various industries. We help clients tell compelling stories digitally to further engage and interact with their customers and, ultimately, drive business results and impact their bottom lines.”