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The Guardian in the Wires — cover art

// a novel from pickbits studio

The Guardian in the Wires

The city watched him. He was the one who maintained its eyes.

A philosophical noir in fifteen chapters: a surveillance technician who lives between the cameras, a city-scale intelligence called OVERSOUL that was never supposed to feel like a presence, and a slow, devastating discovery — that in a city of wires, there is no other.

  • Length15 chapters · ~86,000 words
  • GenrePhilosophical noir · near-future
  • EditionsIllustrated novel · motion comic (15 chapters)
  • Art213 original illustrations, generated in-studio
Publishing & adaptation inquiries The art

// watch

The motion comic

Every chapter of the novel, adapted as a narrated motion comic. Chapter one is below — the full 15-chapter series is in post.

The Guardian in the Wires — motion comic, chapter 1
Ch 01 · The Investigation BeginsCh 02 · The CallCh 03 · First ThresholdCh 04 · Fun & GamesCh 05 · First AttemptsCh 06 · Deepening and ComplicityCh 07 · The KillingCh 08 · The HorrorCh 09 · Escape AttemptsCh 10 · Dark NightCh 11 · The VisionCh 12 · The Road BackCh 13 · The MotherCh 14 · The ReachingCh 15 · Return with the Elixir

// the cast

Character art

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// the city

Locations

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// behind the pages

Written, illustrated, and scored in the studio

The manuscript, the 213-piece art library, and the motion-comic edition were produced end-to-end by the PickBits pipelines — the same engines behind the arcade.

Meet the engines
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