Amalgam Man is a graphic novel I am working on that is about Snapshot, a man lost in a psychedelic place called trauma land. Snapshot has no recollection of how he got there or how long he’s been there. What he does know is that he needs to find his way out. . . Volume #1 is an introduction to the character and to Trauma Land and it is a slow introduction at that. . . what was supposed to be a completed first issue is still in development. I didn’t anticipate how long it would actually take. I had visualized completing it by now but now realize it needs more time to carefully flush out what I am making.
This idea came together in my final semester at Cal Poly Humboldt, I wanted to challenge myself and flush out whatever it was that I have been trying to complete on paper. It seems that the ideas aren’t fully flushed out and I still need to work on this before presenting a finished body of work. Despite not finishing the project I still wanted to highlight my devotion to this semesters challenge and my focus on tying together my capstone project into an idea I could continue with after graduation. The idea is still there, the issue is I need more time. My style and my medium demands I spend more time on the illustration part, I simply could not bring this to fruition in one semester. I have attached all of my progress so far and at the moment it is still a work in progress.
Takeaways
Even though I couldn’t see my ideas to fruition before the end of 2025 I did learn how valuable the research process is in interdisciplinary inquiry. I had these aha moments reading academic papers and researching topics I wouldn’t normally have studied if it wasn’t for challenging myself and fusing my interests with my academic studies.
Fernando Alcala Jr. 
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