Malefic Time is a visual project created by Spanish artists

Luis Royo Luis Royo (born 1954) is a Spanish artist. He is best known for his fantasy illustrations published in numerous art books, magazines such as ''Heavy Metal (magazine), Heavy Metal'' and various other media including book and music CD covers, vide ...

and Romulo Royo. It is set in a post apocalyptic world that mixes reality, leading to the decay of the society, with real manifestations of mythological beliefs and superstitions of different cultures. The main plot is presented in a trilogy of graphic novels with illustration made by both artists. The protagonist Luz travels through the universe of Malefic Time and meets different people, allies, enemies and their way of surviving in this broken world. The project has been carried to other media (comics, novels, RPG, music, shorts), developing different aspects of the universe , expanding and making it deeper.

Fictional setting

Malefic Time is a fantasy universe where humanity is not alone in creation: there are other creatures, called in many ways over the years, now known as

Celestials The Celestials are fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Depicted as cosmic beings, the characters debuted in the Bronze Age of Comic Books and have reappeared on numerous occasions. The Celestials ...

and Fallen. These creatures of immense power have been influencing, manipulating us and waging a war in which each side tries to crush the other. In 2019 the world began to sink: social structures crumbled, the world economy disappeared and riots began due to a disease that began to spread worldwide. It was then in 2020 when Celestials and The Fallen showed themselves openly to the world. This is 2033, and everyone has in mind that it is the end of an era. According to astrology the

Age of Aquarius The Age of Aquarius, in astrology, is either the current or forthcoming astrological age, depending on the method of calculation. Astrologers maintain that an astrological age is a product of the earth's slow precessional rotation and lasts for 2 ...

is coming, a shift to inward development of individuals and the rejection of imposed laws, that will strongly influence human behavior.

Plot summary

Luz – Malefic

She was presented for the first time on the cover of the illustrated book with the same title more than 20 years ago. But it is not until in 2010 when

and Romulo Royo retake the character, when her story is told and the “Malefic Time” project is founded. Malefic is the protagonist, all the plot revolves around her development and in her search for identity. Her real name is Luz. She moves through

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

looking for libraries and museums, she knows that there, in the old books and ancient paintings are all the keys to understand this new world and to find out who she is. In the dilapidated warehouse where she lives there are hundreds of books and papers that she brings from her walks through the city libraries, all of them with apocalyptic themes,

Romanesque paintings Romanesque may refer to: In art and architecture * First Romanesque, or Lombard Romanesque architectural style *Pre-Romanesque art and architecture, a term used for the early phase of the style *Romanesque architecture, architecture of Europe ...

books, books of Masons,

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

, notes of prophets and seers, oriental writings,

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

and

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

arts, reproductions of paintings from ancient times,

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

Egyptian hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

studies. All part of a puzzle about the final judgment. Her search for identity answer her questions, the cracks and falls are what determine her. She is a broken character built on bipolarity between her power, determination, great resolute and combat skills, and her apparent role in the future against the huge fragility supposed by doubts, questions, and frequent states of obsession, disease, collapse and trance. She is a charismatic character with multiple layers that make her an atypical heroine/anti-heroine through which the deep folds and nuances of the story are known. The course of her journey is from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. On a trip of spiritual quest. A road full of

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

and forbidden topics by the current culture. A symbol of change for men. An uprising against the oppression of the laws and regulations that govern the world.

Celestials and The Fallen

These beings can be associated with Angels and

Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

in the Judeo-Christian biblical tradition in appearance but they are much more. They have been the origin of all gods for all cultures, they changed names throughout history, but their conflict and their intervention goes back to the earliest days of humankind. The first indications of their existence are dated back to

Sumerian religion Sumerian religion was the religion practiced by the people of Sumer, the first literate civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians regarded their divinities as responsible for all matters pertaining to the natural and social orders. Ove ...

(the cradle of human civilization) and are extended, altered, contaminated, adapted to all forms of religion in the ancient Mediterranean and soon after to other societies of the world. The initial conflict, represented biblically with angel Lucifer's rebellion against God establishes an unbridgeable rift between these two positions that have continued settling their disputes over human existence. Both positions represent two diametrical ways of understanding existence with the following associations, among others, these inherent values: *Celestials: The Sun, the masculine, the Authority, order, the standard, foreign, Age of Pisces. *The Fallen: The Moon, the Feminine, Nature, Spirituality, instinct, the inside, Age of Aquarius.

Adaptations

*''Plenilunio'' is a

role playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal a ...

set in the Malefic Time universe *''Codex: Apocalypse'' is a novel adaptation based on ''Malefic Time: Apocalypse'' written by Jesús Vilches. It tells in detail the plot developed in

. *''Malefic Time: Soum'' by Kenny Ruiz concerns the past life of Soum is narrated before her encounter with Luz *''Avalanch: Apocalypse'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

recounting of ''Malefic Time: Apocalypse'' by the band

Avalanch Avalanch is a Spanish heavy metal band formed in Asturias in 1993. Led by composer, producer and guitar player Alberto Rionda, the band has released nine studio albums, plus a handful of compilations, DVDs and English versions of their works ...

References

News Article, 2014
Consulted 26 October 2015
News Article, 2011
Consulted 26 October 2015
Information of the disc Avalanch Apocalypse
Consulted 26 October 2015

Consulted 26 October 2015
News article "20 Minutos", 2011
Consulted 26 October 2015

Consulted 26 October 2015

Consulted 26 October 2015
Article on art website "Academia C10", 2012
Consulted 26 October 2015
Article on art website "24 Symbols"
Consulted 26 October 2015
Article at "NoSoloRol" about the creation of the roleplaying game Plenilunio, 2015
Consulted 26 October 2015 {{in lang, es

External links

Project official website

Luis Royo official website

Romulo Royo official website

Mass media franchises Fantasy graphic novels Spanish graphic novels Graphic novels set in the 21st century