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Bleeding Into The Noir, 2039 Style

Bleed 2039. A graphic novel brought to you by AHR Visions. Writer/Creator – Alan James Edwards. Artist/CEO AHR Visions – Abdul Rashid. Executive Producer – Josh Powe. Active on Kickstarter, closing date August 11, 2015. Publishing date 10/30/2015

By The Detective

Now that I think about it, anyone could see this coming. But no one saw how life would change.

After the crash all fell into disarray. The few wealthy were already isolated in the cities and seaside communities, but after the crash the divide became official. Federal legislation was signed requiring a pass called an "Exeat" to be held by anyone entering or exiting an overclass area. To ensure the new borders were not breached, walls started popping up around overclass enclaves, financed by private community "holding companies." Overclass residents paid into these holding companies and the funds were distributed for the maintenance of their schools, police force, courts and infrastructure. Around New York's Manhattan Island the barriers took the form of sea walls built in the rivers which served a dual purpose of keeping out the less fortunate majority and hurricane surges.

As the holding companies became well financed, carrying out the wishes of the overclass that filled them with wealth, the federal government that remained was under financed and relegated mostly to national defense.

Everyone else, or commoners as we were now called, lived outside the cities in the "burgs." With the overclass financing all of their own once public services, such as road and transportation infrastructure, law enforcement and education, you can imagine that the rest of the country declined. The police force was under-financed and corrupt. Services like phone and Internet were spotty and mostly non-existent. It was the beginning of a new analog era for the commoners in the burgs.

With this new era jobs did not come, but new lines of work rose from pink slips. Most schools were closed and the college professor I once was became a distant hazy memory, like a dream that you feel but barely remember. Back then my life was on a track, or so I thought. I followed the rules and succumbed to order. I had no idea that there was someone else inside me, someone that moved like a shot, someone that did not stop and did not look back, someone that did not feel. I lived in a place beyond depression, a crystal clear place with infinite visibility, in a world where you could rely on nothing but yourself. I was a man armed to the teeth with dynamite at the ready holstered to his chest.

With the new cigarette prohibition, many tobacco farms were left active for "foreign export." A handful of entrepreneurs immediately stepped up to seize the opportunity, manufacturing and distributing black market cigarettes around the country. Within a year cigarette manufacturing and packaging plants had come to life everywhere, with a distribution system built on the country's nervous system of rails and highways. There wasn't enough time or resources to build new factories, so old warehouse spaces were taken over by the cigarette manufacturers and a system of runners transported the product around the country.

Amsterdam, NY was in a unique and fortuitous situation. The town had, by chance, a trifecta of circumstances that made it the new manufacturing and distribution hub of black market cigarettes for the Northeast; a wealth of abandoned warehouses and factories, the perfect location far enough north of New York City to be less of a bother to the overclass and transportation arteries by both road and rail.

The cigarette gangsters took over and the locals didn't really mind. The influx of cash made it easy to buy the affection of most any official, not to mention business owners and the population in general. The extra money flowing brought an added electricity and glamour to the scene. I can tell you I was enjoying things so far and wasn't eager to leave just yet. We were Bleeding Cool.

Active on Kickstarter until August 11, 2015 @ http://bleed2039.com

Bleeding Cool Weekend Special, until Monday, July 6 at 6pm.

• Get the Hardcover Graphic Novel ($50 reward) By selecting the $25 reward on Kickstarter.
• Anyone who has pledged $25 upgrade to the Hardcover.
• Anyone who has pledged less than $25, increase pledge to $25 and receive the Hardcover graphic novel.
• Anyone who has pledged ($50) for the hardcover graphic novel, also receive signed printed issue #1

Enter code Bleeding Cool when pledging.

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