On the subject of violence...

I have decided the graphic novel (title pending chapter 1's completion) will have violence where necessary to the story, for example -the opening scene is a gun battle on the streets of a "NYC inspired" city between rival gangs in car. Bullets flying, car crashes, people screaming and taking cover. I have decided however, there is a point that I feel is over the top. I decided this last night while watching the 2008 offering "Rambo".
Now before anyone hints at censorship, or suggestion of it. Before anyone decries I am old and am outgrowing violence- please remember who you are talking about. I love violence if it is a necissary part of a story. Not every story toldd can be hugs and handshakes. There are many times in life that violence is a direct result of decisions made, or for that matter desicions left un-made.
Now for those of you have not seen this movie I will tell you I spent much of my time watching this wondering if it is steroids or plastic surgery that has made Sylvester look the way he does in the movie. A 62 year old Sly Stallone dusted off his red headband and m-16 to take part in this blood bath. He is huge even compared to his former self. (See picture below.) He looks like a giant version of himself.
Now don't get me wrong I am a fan of explosions, bullets flying, people flying, people diving over stuff whilst shooting guns and screaming, blood and explosions (yes, I am aware I wrote explosions twice.) But this movie takes it to the extreme in two ways. Ok, let's start with the high body count- at 93 minutes it is the shortest of all 4 movies and far surpasses the rest. When released Rambo 3 was called the most violent film of all time*, but the new movie destroys the record. I mean the violence is pretty much contained in the second 2/3rds of the movie so it really is like 236 kills packed into an hour. The first three movies have a grand total of approximately 169 dead. That is a pretty high death toll, seeing that in the nightmare on elm street movies doesnt even come close to those numbers. niether does Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th movies. (as a side note both of those series are far beyond 4 movies and still they arent close to these numbers)
Secondly, the gore isn't silly because of suffering it becomes silly becuase of the sheer amount of it. There are so many explosions causing body parts to be thrown freely in this movie, you begin to see dismembered limbs bouncing off of other dismembered bits, like some sort of ghoulish high-five. There isn't enough screen to contain it all. There had to be an army of assistants that where in charge of throwing limbs, bits as well as buckets of blood.
Again, I say I am going to have violence when the story needs it, but it shouldn't be so prevalent that it is the focus because it all become self parody. Having a touching moment while killing someone at the same time, yeah, those arent the stories I am telling I guess.
Let us not even start with how this is acceptable in the US but full frontal nudity, never mind nudity at all is seen as the beginning of the end of the world.

Ah, foriegn film, my old friend how I missed you. C'mon Delicatessen, lets kick back and watch a little Amelie and talk politics with City of lost children. Maybe, Toto the hero will make popcorn for all of us while we take in Das boot. Damn, ok who invited Hardboiled? Ok I guess you can stay my blood soaked, bullet riddled friend.


John Rambo circa 1982 john rambo circa 2008

*The 1990 Guinness World Records deemed Rambo III the most violent film ever made, with 221 acts of violence, at least 70 explosions, and over 108 characters killed on-screen. However, the body count of the fourth film in the series, Rambo, surpassed that record, with 236 kills and an average of 3.2 kills per minute...Rambo holds the record with the most kills out of the entire Rambo series, with 263 kills ;[2] also the number is more than that of the previous three movies combined. Stallone justified this in a press conference by saying "the violence in the film was to underline the ongoing problems in Burma"-wikipedia

Redesigning

So I had to do the unthinkable today; look at my old pages and see if any were salvageable. Sadly, most were not. There was a character that is not longer left in the storyline, or has gone through a rewrite, so they all had to be scrapped.

Those pages without a character that need to be cut, or some strange story flaw (unused locations etc.) still where drawn in a style that I feel I have moved on from. I am looking for a cleaner, darker look for this story. (the art I have down on these pages does not represent that ideal.)

Setting all of this aside I feel confident I will be able to work better and faster as this time I am going to plot the pages and more importantly, I am making Model sheets. (Model sheets give examples of the characters in costume, head shots in different positions, as well as different expressions, and details like tools or gear.) Model sheets are how Disney, Marvel, DC, Darkhorse, etc have always had consistency between issues movies and scenes in their characters. Below are some examples of Model sheets by the great Alex Toth*





*Alex Toth (June 25, 1928–May 27, 2006), pronounced with a long "o," was an acclaimed professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is best known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Birdman. Toth’s work has been resurrected in the late-night, adult-themed spinoffs on Cartoon Network: Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

Bold characters, bold story, bold artwork. Intensify and simplify

I have been having dreams of Rorchasch tests for a few days now. Not the entirety of the dreams mind you, but they are appearing frequently, in the background. City street? Here, have a huge stenciled ink blot.Need a tattoo on a girls leg? Pow! Blotter test patterns. Usually they are on something relatively innocuous like a political poster or an ad on the side of a bus, but sometimes it is like they serve a purpose. I may include them in the backgrounds of my new comic, I am starting. (Homage to Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons intended.)
This will be a restart of the graphic novel I intended to finish when I was bedridden. Some of you may remember the original cast of characters but, there has been a shake up and I am purging nearly all of the main characters and using the remainder of the cast to tell the story, with a few major additions.
Synchronicity is my foe, and many of the plot points and details of origins and powers are far too similar to those now found in "Heroes". Frustratedly I am learning a valuable lesson: Procrastination sometimes shows you your ideas are valid, if you had just followed through with them. The main themes had been worked out in a apartment back in '92 during my senior year of High school. I was positive (and I still am) that the artwork would have not been something I would have been pleased with. So in some ways it is good that I have to restart. many of those ideas are now stale and used.
I am looking at this graphic novel in a different manner than I originally had. I am going to try my hand telling a modernized version of a 'Silver/Bronze age'* style story. Heroes with real world troubles. (Like the stories I grew up on The Chris Clairemont X-men of the eighties and early nineties. Before all the normal troubles they had became the secret plots of as of unheard-of-villians) Some of these themes may include but are not limited to: drug abuse/alcoholism, political fanaticism, rage/anger, slacker attitude and at least one of these characters is not only are unsure whether or not to be hero- but is adamant about living a normal life and ignoring these new powers. These are the sorts of characters I could get behind. These are characters I can relate to in some way. These are characters I can tell a story about. Even my first cast I feel was weak now looking back. Too many similar characters, too many plots. Too much in general going on. I am really looking back to Watchmen, as Moore and Gibbons really told an old fashioned story with a twist, bringing it up to date (at the time) and because of this, the sotry is still relavant. Maybe they have little or no powers but gadgets and their wits/ courage are what gets them by. I am also looking to a more pared down graphical style much like this:

* During the Silver Age, the character makeup of superheroes evolved. Science fiction and aliens replaced gods and magic.^[4] DC Comics sparked the superhero's revival with its publications from 1955–1960. Marvel Comics then capitalized on the revived interest in superhero storytelling with an innovative and successful naturalism.^[5] The legacy of these innovations is a literary form in which character development and personal conflict have been as important as plot mechanics and epic escapism.
The Bronze Age retained many of the conventions of the Silver Age comics, with brightly colored superhero titles remaining the mainstay of the industry. However darker plot elements and more mature storylines featuring real-world issues, such as drug use, began to appear during the period, prefiguring the later Modern Age of Comic Books.