When only a comic will do

How Zilliqa are using comics to describe blockchain

Aparna Narayanan is VP for communications and marketing for Zilliqa. She describes her job as finding the best way to explain blockchain and uses stories to help simplify the complex. “We have a lot of projects underway here at Zilliqa and sometimes blockchain is not the easiest language to use – so I like to explore different mediums of education and information.”

She met Ali Datoo from Corporate Comics and instantly knew he was onto a winner. “I thought how cool to use comics to explain blockchain – and thought there was a great crossover between crypto audiences and comic readers.”

Godzilliqa – the intersection of comics and NFTs

Comics are very good at conveying an idea in seconds. Unlike static images or text laden copy, comics are akin to magicians. They are capable of producing a story, like a rabbit, out of thin air, or out a hat. A comic can draw on a back story, on lore or on a shared history in a single image. Using an established name like Godzilla, the saviour of mankind, and then juxtaposing it with the Zilliqa name, the platform becomes at once huge, powerful and a beacon for good.

“We were looking at ways to use NFTs before they became the hype they are today,” says Milan. “We did a lot of research and wanted to explore what is possible in this space. We wanted to combine sci-fi with art with gaming. So we created a simple game – it wasn’t a trading card game – but a coin flip game. People bought the card and periodically there were coin flips and the card value went up or down.” In total there were four cards created which went up and down in value depending on the result of the flip. Another key figure was ScillaMan which represented the genius behind the new smart contract language and was based on founder, president and chief scientific officer, Amrit Kumar. Currently he is the only member of the management team to be thus transformed and this also reflects his visual presence as the face of Zilliqa.

These four cards would certainly be amongst the first NFTs to be minted and were limited in the numbers created. Each card was linked to a piece of merchandise, for example a Zilliqa teeshirt could be redeemed for these physical items. Releasing them was done via Twitter, a preferred and popular social media platform for the Zilliqa community.

She points out that the community enjoys gamification and so NTFs are a good way to bring some excitement to the table.

“We don’t just want to sell NFTs, we want to find new uses for them, explore different models and even look at possible ways of using NFTs for fundraising.”

So far, the comics approach has been restricted to the NFT cards but Aparna is not ruling out doing a fully fledged comic to make a big announcement, perhaps in episodic nature combining visual comics and audio aspects such as music and dialogue.