col-left

It knows... [63]

Click for larger view »

Like - finishing off the comic!

Art Notes

Are you a new visitor? Confused?

Why does the alien look like a green reptile? « Read the background to this 1979-'82 comic

I'm a prankster - I know! I said the comic was finished. Well actually, I said I didn't do any more pages back then. This one - I finished the other week. I can't say that the majority of the readership have been heartbroken to see it end prematurely but I'm grateful for the kind words and appreciation that some of you have expressed - especially the loyal regulars. You know who you are!

Art stuff

Unlike the adult-drawn ^ Star Wars age 9 pages, I've mostly used a black line - inked on paper. On SWa9 it was done in pencil on paper with the lines coloured in Photoshop. Very time-consuming! And besides: black line is good enough for lots of great comic artists. It also lends itself to the darkness of ALIEN.

Story Notes

This is still very much based on the novelisation. But there will be one big surprise! Stay tuned.

Prometheus: thoughts

I've never seen a film 3 times on release before but I might be going a third time this weekend. It feels like a Life before Star Wars - Life after Star Wars sort of thing that I experienced when I was 9 in 1979. I spent my whole lunch break woodland walk yesterday turning the film over and over in my mind. Fascinating stuff.

It feels like a Life before Star Wars - Life after Star Wars sort of thing

Some really crazy stuff is being said over on discussion forums about Prometheus like:

"Hang Scott and Lindelhof"

"Scott shouldn't direct the sequel"

"If there's no director's cut, all footage should be handed over to the fans."

Total madness. I never emotionally invested so heavily in it; I was completely open to enjoying the experience. I also wasn't expecting another Kubrick 2001 or a Tarkovsky Solaris. What I did get, which was initially an amazing ride and spectacle which also captured my imagination and had a life in my mind beyond the viewing itself, has turned out to be a story of hidden depths.

An aha moment: look like it's been there for "2000 years - - give or take."

I never saw Lost, but I have seen many other great TV serials from Twin Peaks to Dexter to Breaking Bad and I can see that there is a long-format style of screen-writing now. One that delays gratification for longer and develops a story slowly with little cliffhangers along the way. It takes a larger view. You also see little tantalising nuggets inserted into the plot to keep you guessing. Sometimes the day after you'll have an aha moment: What was that living green goo doing on that wall? Doesn't look like it was there for "2000 years - give or take."

Even if Prometheus is a slight lost opportunity I'd be happy if I created anything so ambitious, that was even 90% perfect.

The mistake perhaps was to hype the film so much and create so many false expectations. To an extent, the latter is beyond the creators' control but to hint that there will be an epic revelation unlocking some of the most profound mysteries of our creation - if that's what they did do - was a little self-defeating.

More, next week!