Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Voivod Comics (Mockups)

Voivod Comics - FAKE

I'd a lot of fun creating the Manowar Comics (Mockups), so started thinking about what other bands from my record collection would fit the format just as well.

Voivod wasn't my first choice (they were the second), but they were certainly the best one. Quite often the songs are stories in themselves, or part of a larger concept/mythology that's expansive and intriguing. The bands iconography, 'out-there' lyrics and concepts could make for an excellent and unique comic book read.

Covers would, of course, be by Voivod's drummer Away, but if he's too busy with making music to devote to interior art, then perhaps someone like Ian Miller or Dean Ormston would work, both of whom I feel could bring something unique but complementary to the table. 

The images that I found on the internet weren't as high res as the Manowar ones were. Some were full of awful JPEG artifacts, so I went for an 'independent comic, fanzine' approach, leaving some errors and 'jaggies' in place. The result was only partially successful, but it could've been worse. There's a few more below the cut.

Friday, 14 October 2022

ABANDONED POST: The Sandman (2022)

The Sandman (2022)
Dirs. Various | 10 episodes, approx 45 mins each + 01 'bonus' episode [1]

I've often thought that if Sandman were to be adapted for the screen, then it'd work best as animation; having now watched the live action version, my feelings on that haven't changed.

All responses to the series that I've read thus far have been positive and complimentary. That isn't surprising, in today's world, but I felt it was almost as shit as every other Netflix Original Series that I've tried to watch over the years.

I've covered the original TPBs briefly on The 7th and Last. A number of significant changes and additions were made in the live action series, but generally it adapts the first two TPBs, namely Volume I: Preludes and Nocturnes (1991) and Volume II: The Doll's House (1991).

Of course, if reading doesn't appeal to you and you enjoy (or can tolerate) modern filmmaking techniques, then maybe you'll feel differently. I certainly seem to be in the minority this time.

Monday, 3 October 2022

2000 AD: A Personal Retrospective

2000 AD: A Personal Retrospective
(aka An Authentic Cover Story)

Like everyone around my age, the ratio of what I've forgotten in relation to what I can remember about my life has a much higher numerical value on the forgotten side of the equation. That's just the nature of aging (and cognitive processes). But I can remember with some clarity the day I first bought an issue of the weekly anthology comic 2000 AD.

It was on a cold October morning, as I walked to school with my cousin and a mutual friend. The journey, somewhere between two-and-a-half and three miles, took me through a part of town that was mostly shops, pubs, hairdressers, and banks.

The town's biggest (and perhaps only) toy shop was also a newsagent, a two-storey building whose first floor stocked, among other things, stationery, candles, shiny glass trinkets, greetings cards, tobacco, and all manner of magazines.