Monday 28 February 2011

Surrounded on all sides

That is O'neil who is in his office, in a stylised pose

surrounded by machinery... (and dialogue)


and with Gun in hand....


But who is O'Neil gunning for?

Find out the beginnings of a answer - tomorrow

Thursday 24 February 2011

Halfway to paradise

Halfway to paradise

As I mentioned yesterday I have now finished part 2 of the Jim Sternakos serialised adaptation of Outland as originally published in Heavy Metal magazine

and at 22 pages out of 44 it is exactly half way through

I started on Friday 10th September 2010, around about 24 weeks ago so I have slipped a bit on 1 page a week overall, but have been making up for this recently with a page and bit a week

So I thought I would have a bit of a look back, but rather than say anything specific, I will let you decide the answers to the following:-

  1. Has my interoperation of this material been improving as i go along
  2. Has the blog been entertaining or irritating
  3. Will you be around to see the project finished, which i estimate roughly as being 14th May 2011?


Just comment below or email me, it will be great to hear from you - Thank you all for visiting this blog regularly

Now, without further ado here is all the drawings so far to date together

I hope you like them
















Wednesday 23 February 2011

Confession on a squash court

So okay I have been saving the explanation as to what is going on in these pages for the finished two page spread as it makes more sense that way

so heres the page finished

and the double spread




So in a rather rare off duty moment O'neil and Monotone decide to slug it out on the squash court, a great place to work out stress for sure

But despite appearances O'neil's eye is figuratively not on the ball or the game as he uses this as a opportunity to ask those tough questions of Monotone

Monotone is immediately forthcoming and matter of fact there is no hint of any real regret or attempt to mislead, Montone basically says it's straight "I am being paid to look the other way"

Its clear from O'Neil's spoken reaction to this that he thinks this basically means Montone is a coward lacking backbone and on that basis decides he is not worth bothering about in terms of any real punishment

as he is more interested in the bigger fish in the shape of Shepherd

But like a few other things this does not seem to really make sense given what happens subsequently…

This aside for a moment the game of squash is being used to introduce drama to a moment where not much really exists as such, I mean when is the last time you saw a cutting edge cop tv show that had such questioning?

Quite interestingly (and this says probably a lot about the failings of the movie and by inferral what the adaptation has to try and deal with) there is no good cop / bad cop here its a plain matter of fact discussion little emotion here, almost as it the confession didn't matter and the game did

but as we have clearly seen the game is more or less meaningless - it seem to exist just to inject some variety and a change of pace into the movie..

anyway O'neil's decision to leave Montone does not seem to really make sense given what happens subsequently…

As we will find out starting next week

Tomorrow we will have a bit of a breather as I have made it around half way through the Outland project, so I will spend a little time to have a look back and reflect and see if I have progressed

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

Sorry I could not resist quoting the title of Mike Oldfield's song - after all it has connotations that fit Outland perfectly..

for example...

Just take a look at O'Neil's shadow in the drawing above - okay you might have to look closely as it has yet to receive a liberal pouring of ink

It actually spans the width of more than one page and aside from the planet sized squash ball completely dominates the whole panel

So you would think that O'Neil clearly being bigger the Monotone and "dominating" O'Neil would be wining the game?

This is where the analogy mentioned yesterday falls apart as its Monotone is winning the game...

But perhaps O'Neil is playing a different game and for different odds?

I will wrap this all up for the conclusion of part 2 of the serialised Outland tomorrow

Monday 21 February 2011

"We are going to need a bigger court"

Yes it's that infamous line from "Jaws" paraphrased for this drawing here...


This in reaction to the Steranako's stylistic depiction of a squash ball which even accounting for the perspective is almost looming like a planet, especially compared to the tiny figure of Monotone (who one wonders if he would be knocked clean through the wall wrecking ball style when the ball comes his way... )



Perhaps this is slightly deliberate, the ball representing Outland itself (90% shadow) and the two opposing forces fighting over it "as if their lives depended on the outcome"

Well - okay this analogy almost completely falls apart - why? Find out more tomorrow


===================================================

Meanwhile in some weird parallel dimension is this - what relevance does this have to this blog?

Have I sold out? Does this mean any faithful reader now will see lots of adverts?

Well If anyone wants to know the answers to any of these questions (yes it does have some relevance to this blog), just ask - post a comment or zap a email... in the meantime..

Thursday 17 February 2011

Logo-a go go

So here we go on a Squash court...
But this Outland after all, so let's go down the check list:-
  1. Lots of Shadow - Check - But it has to be said this page has the contrast between a fine lined background and oversized thick lined characters
  2. Pipes - yep - Even though this is a squash court, somehow the pipes get in
  3. Company name / Logo - Absolutely!
The Company name / Logo is not something I think I have mentioned that much before, but it is fairly ubiquitous throughout Sterankos adaptation.

For example in the page above alone - behind O'Neil are what must be 3 foot high letters spelling out "CON - AM" all the way down the length wall of the court, Followed by "27"and the company logo itself on the next page

A lot more subtle use appears on the T-shirt of the other person playing Squash - the number "27"...

Still add this all up and its enough to make wonder where the Merchandising outlet is - where you would probably get the CON AM 27 Flamethrower (and possibly even Toilet paper) (a prize for anyone who remembers which movie infamously featured both)

Anyway shameless internal product placement aside - the other person playing O'Neil at squash "as if his life depended on it" - is none other than Monotone..

Could this be the strangest place for a confession ever?

Maybe - find out more - next week

------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of logos..

Meanwhile in some weird parallel dimension is this - what relevance does this have to this blog?

Have I sold out? Does this mean any faithful reader now will see lots of adverts?

Well If anyone wants to know the answers to any of these questions (yes it does have some relevance to this blog), just ask - post a comment or zap a email... in the meantime..

Wednesday 16 February 2011

"As though their lives depended on the outcome"

You might have noticed that yesterday I was poking a bit of fun?

Well that was in part because "As though their lives depended on the outcome" is directly from Steranko's dialogue for this page...

Well to my mind that sentence seemed, well possibly a bit over dramatic...

In the movie it's just a game with a bit more edge to its competitiveness, but here Steranko wants to lead the reader into something deeper and more dramatic

Again its both the text and the images almost using the movie as a frame of reference to make something a lot more interesting and compelling

But what is the context of this game...?

Find out a bit more, tomorrow

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Court is now in session...

So if you have been following so far, O'Neil finally has his quest defined and needs to be asking hard questions of Monotone and what better place to do that than in court?



After all O'neil has just found out there is a drugs racket...


Yeah I know puns like that simply are not cricket... but you know I think this is supposed to be squash..

with some ice?

Find out tomorrow....

Monday 14 February 2011

It's a Conspiracy!

And so the picture is revealed...

In full...


So we have O'Neil behind the computer console asking questions and pointing the CCTV over Outlands suitably seedy bar area - to discover a convocation of people together - with Yario and Spota popping up on the computer console as having prior arrests for drug related offences...

If that was not enough to chew over their arrangements seem to be in conjunction with not only Monotone but also Shepherd itself

The full extent of the current nastiness is now revealed and goes all the way from the to right down to the bottom

This is where all the setup has lead to, O'Neil is up against the entire establishment

Monotones previous "error of judgment" in shooting the no longer knife wielding man is beginning to look a whole lot more premeditated....

and Montone himself has suddenly got a whole other side to him

Tough questions are sure to be asked - starting tomorrow

Thursday 10 February 2011

Master of all he surveys

That would be Shepherd who is clearly dominating the conversation...

Making sure his flock stay on his chosen path..

But where does that path go....

Find out next week

Wednesday 9 February 2011

"I could have danced all night.."

Well, these dancers apparently had to, as like everything else in Outland, they worked shifts, so the bar was never closed...

Perhaps then it's not so surprising to find the bar almost has every inch covered by CCTV...

As it's starting to look like a Spearmint Rhino nightclub..

or is that just me?


and who is this guy loomed over every one else, could it be?

Find out tomorrow

Tuesday 8 February 2011

The blind behind the blinds?

So here we go, with lots of ink added:-

I suppose it's not too bad - as you can hopeful see the main reason i left the gaps in-between the white lines wider was to make sure the faces of Montone and Yario was not that much covered over

As both are squarely in O'Neils sights neither aware of this...

Its' a nice great big picture of Montone here, ironically the biggest so far and yet obscured by the monitor panels

But who else is O'Neil watching ?

Find out more tomorrow

Monday 7 February 2011

Behind some blinds?

Now its my turn at a stylistic statement of sorts..

As in Sterankos original, we have monitor screens superimposed over the big bottom panel to indicate that those are the things that O'neil is looking at through the camera - and each monitor has tiny immaculate white lines across it

My best guess is Sternako drew the picture and then put the white lines on afterwards - well I am no good with white line, certainly not that good as the lines are so thin they are almost invisible

Last time I tackled the problem, I decided to do my own thing - so I have done similar here...

Only this time I thought it would better if i did the lines consistently as each screen over laps each other and kind of form panels within panels

Thats left it looking like everything is happening behind a bunch of half opened blinds

Will it turn out any better after the liberal pouring of a lot of black ink?

Find out tomorrow

Thursday 3 February 2011

"I get the feeling, somebody's watching me.."

The somebody in question being none other than O'Neil himself...


who complete with a cup of coffee seems to be focusing on Montone...


But there has to be a bit more to this?

Indeed there is - as we will find out - next week

Wednesday 2 February 2011

"Not bad for a wreck..."

So says Lazarus - who as she says so is finally truly "reborn"...

But let's step back a bit for a moment and look at the bottom panel...

As with the previous page - for the first time ever it is one solid long panel

In fact if we look at both pages together we see the panel actually carries across both pages, just like the top one:-


If you remember I pointed out how the traditionally tiny and multiple panels in the bottom half of the page had got bigger , just on the previous two pages - well I guess this was done to lessen a bit of the change to one almighty two page 2 panel spread

All this is done to totally emphasise the story on this particular two page spread, story telling by layout and panels

and in the bottom panel, amongst all the machinery Lazarus and O'Neil both experience major revelations that change the path of both of their courses for the rest of the story

Lazarus discovers that she is despite the gruff exterior not only actually clever or qualified but does actually care after all - to coin a phrase her heart gets 3 sizes bigger and from this point on becomes a lot more involved in things overall

Whilst O'Neil discovers that the reason for the sudden dramatic increase of deaths on Outland is not too do with the scenery or the relentless work ethic but due to the workers being drugged with a drug that makes them work like horses before they literally explode..

O'Neil now has a definitive mission, someone is supplying these drugs, but whom and why he has yet to find.

As previously mentioned this moment is a lot more compelling in Steranko's vision of Outland than the movie as there is absolutely no real clues beforehand that this is where things are headed - while the movie almost goes out of its way to explain whats going on to the audience before O'Neil even knows anything

Tomorrow - we revisit the land of CCTV - this time O'neil is the one behind the camera...

Tuesday 1 February 2011

Its in the bag...

A bit of gallows humour there, as O'Neil seems intent on getting something from the recently deceased former knife wielding guy Monotone blasted with his rifle....

Who has already been bagged , boxed and ready to be "buried at sea" (read as thrown off the next shuttle halfway on the journey)

and while extracting (or having just done so)  O'neil talks on the walkie talkie..

But to whom - and what is the meaning of the two page width large panel below?

Find out - tomorrow