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John Smith's Vampirella????

Started by Colin YNWA, 03 July, 2010, 06:04:31 PM

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Jim_Campbell

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 07:14:11 PM
Yeah - Pete would be ace on "Hellblazer"!  He can draw brilliant monsters and he does scruffy and squalid really well!  ;-)

Plus, one of Peter's real strengths is being able to draw characters looking natural when they're not doing very much. In fact, there are very few artists who can capture the body language of normal people doing normal things as well as Peter can. I think he'd be a brilliant fit for the book.

Cheers!

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Emperor

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 06:36:35 PMI really should have a shot at that comic again.  I've got some great ideas for it!

Definitely - not sure why they never gave you a run on the title, or at the very least occasional guest slots where you punch Constantine in the back of the head and drag him through the gutters. It often feels very formulaic (not everything has to be set in London and/or include a storyline that includes a con or murdering a friend) and it feels like it could do with a shake-up from every now and again.
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+

HOO-HAA

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 05:20:02 PM
Apart from the fact that Vampirella is an inherently stupid and one-dimensional character...

I think that might be part of the charm of the older Vampirella comics, and something that just doesn't translate well into latter day comics. She works best when she's an old-school horror diva, just as characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones work best when they're archaic chauvanists from days gone by. To try and 'update' characters like that may be pointless. Perhaps, then, one's energies as a writer would be best spent creating new characters that represent this time and place.

Of course, I'm saying all of this as an avid Dredd and Anderson fan. However, both Dredd and Anderson have been allowed to age and evolve very naturally as characters. And we know that, as readers, meaning we are more willing to embrace the 'middle age spread' of their stories into more contemporary themes.   

Richmond Clements

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 07:14:11 PM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 July, 2010, 07:11:22 PM
Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 06:36:35 PM
I really should have a shot at that comic again.  I've got some great ideas for it!

Some of have been saying this for quite some time. See if you can rescue Sean Phillips from the desk he's chained to in Ed Brubaker's cellar while you're at it. :-)

Failing that, how about a bit of Peter Doherty?

Cheers!


Jim





Yeah - Pete would be ace on "Hellblazer"!  He can draw brilliant monsters and he does scruffy and squalid really well!  ;-)


john_s

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 04 July, 2010, 07:19:12 PM
Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 07:14:11 PM
Yeah - Pete would be ace on "Hellblazer"!  He can draw brilliant monsters and he does scruffy and squalid really well!  ;-)

Plus, one of Peter's real strengths is being able to draw characters looking natural when they're not doing very much. In fact, there are very few artists who can capture the body language of normal people doing normal things as well as Peter can. I think he'd be a brilliant fit for the book.

Cheers!

Jim



Oh, absolutely, Jim!  I didn't mean to denigrate his other skills! He has this knack of making the characters really come alive on the page, and avoids all the cliches of ultra-handsome or big-busted stereotypes that populate most comics.  Plus, his storytelling is brilliant...  And I know it's something he works very hard at...

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 09:23:05 PM
And I know it's something he works very hard at...

I honestly believe that Peter is the most under-rated comic artist of his generation. I can't think of another one of his contemporaries who has been so consistently excellent and yet never managed to snag a regular gig with a US publisher.

I mean, I know, he's an excellent colourist (and a pretty tidy letterer if memory serves) and I'm pretty sure he's kept busy over the years, but ... I dunno, there's a title somewhere that he could really shine on.

Oh, and he's a bloody nice chap, too.

Cheers!

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

JayzusB.Christ

Quote
I really should have a shot at that comic again.  I've got some great ideas for it!

Fucking do it, man!  That truly was a great one-off. For once, most of the supernatural shit happens without John C even knowing it.  Bleeding scary too, which something that comics try but don't often manage (though Grant Morrison's Hellblazer was quite a pant-shitter too, it must be said).
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Trout

Another John Smith story or two might keep me from cancelling Hellblazer. I like Pete Miligan's writing but recent issues don't seem to have gone anywhere. It's all disturbing doom and gloom but no direction.

- Trout

john_s

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 July, 2010, 10:03:04 PM
Quote
I really should have a shot at that comic again.  I've got some great ideas for it!

Fucking do it, man!  That truly was a great one-off. For once, most of the supernatural shit happens without John C even knowing it.  Bleeding scary too, which something that comics try but don't often manage (though Grant Morrison's Hellblazer was quite a pant-shitter too, it must be said).


Yeah, right.  If ony it were that easy...

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 10:46:30 PM
Yeah, right.  If ony it were that easy...

Heh. You know what I said about Peter? Swap the word "writer" for "artist" and your name for his.

Cheers!

Jim
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

Ignatzmonster

Quote from: john_s on 04 July, 2010, 10:46:30 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 04 July, 2010, 10:03:04 PM
Quote
I really should have a shot at that comic again.  I've got some great ideas for it!

Fucking do it, man!  That truly was a great one-off. For once, most of the supernatural shit happens without John C even knowing it.  Bleeding scary too, which something that comics try but don't often manage (though Grant Morrison's Hellblazer was quite a pant-shitter too, it must be said).


Yeah, right.  If ony it were that easy...

Call me optimistic (or stupid) but if there was a collected Cradlegrave and someone managed to get it to Hellblazer's editor, it might be. I miss the days when Constantine was dangerous and the comic felt like the writer was taking it personally.

Love your work John S. When you coming back to blow our minds again?

Emperor

#26
Quote from: Ignatzmonster on 05 July, 2010, 12:17:23 AMCall me optimistic (or stupid) but if there was a collected Cradlegrave

It seems this is unlikely to happen. Keith has said there isn't enough to collect and John says that is it.

Quote from: Ignatzmonster on 05 July, 2010, 12:17:23 AMWhen you coming back to blow our minds again?

See the forthcoming thrills page - he has a Strange and Darke (with Colin on art, although he is still on Insurrection at the moment) as well as a one-off Devlin Waugh to be followed by a longer story and Indigo Prime at some point (he is still boxing it off - blame the heat). It is right what they say: John Smith is like buses...
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Fractal Friction | Tumblr | Google+

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Emperor on 05 July, 2010, 12:23:59 AM
John Smith is like buses...

What a really good way to get around and a service that needs to be protected in these times of 'austerity' but since deregulation not as reliable and much more expensive than they used to be?????

TordelBack

From the Hellblazer  51 review: 
QuoteSmith, the semi-automatic David Cronenberg of British comics

Heh, that's class!

And enough of this Cradlegrave defeatism.   Bundle it with virtually any other Smith self-contained series and stick it in a binding.  It's too good to just leave it mouldering in the floppies.

Colin YNWA

Quote from: TordelBack on 05 July, 2010, 08:41:14 AM

And enough of this Cradlegrave defeatism.   Bundle it with virtually any other Smith self-contained series and stick it in a binding.  It's too good to just leave it mouldering in the floppies.


Yeah I completely agree with this sentiment. Though I have always been a fan of the idea of having a 2000ad Horror Graphic Novel. Collecting a few of the self contained horror stories that are too short to get their own trade. Either way it needs to get out there.