Hegeman: A Concise 9-Step Program for Ruling Earth is the satirical tale of Noel Skum and his rise to world domination. We love this story for all its delight, horror, and shrewd criticism of unchecked power, and the fact that the author chose to remain anonymous adds a layer of mystery to an already layered plot. Then the artwork adds its own dimensional twist, as the author utilized Midjourney, an AI art generator, to illustrate the zine. So: a tech billionaire satire written by an anonymous author and illustrated with artificial intelligence. Is this not the perfect sci-fi cocktail for the year 2024? We think so.
(Bound with love and trepidation on our very own Bourg machine).
Below you will see almost all the iterations of the chapter artwork that was generated using Midjourney. I say “almost” because the cover image had over 200 iterations and it was just too much to include. The first image of each set is the one that was used.
At the very end, there is a gallery of all the weird miscellaneous images that were generated while the author was learning how to use the image generator. Enjoy!
Cover Image
Intro
Step 1: Be Born into Profound Wealth and Privilege
Step 2: Attend an Ivy with Other Entitled Sociopaths
Step 3: Drop Out of School and Invent Two World-Changing Industries
Step 4: Privatize All Critical Infrastructure on the Planet
Step 5: Achieve Megalomaniacal Demigod Status
Step 6: Create Artificial General Intelligence
Step 7: Control Hearts and Minds and Wallets
Step 8: Detach from Reality
Step 9: Start Over
Back Cover
Filler "H"
