Jump Cut of the Century!

Which is exactly what happens on this weeks completed page of Jack Kirby’s 2001:-

 And I have to say it must be one of the most dynamic and artistic use of the 4 panel layout that I have ever seen…

But before we get to that -

 Last time we left “He who Hunts alone” upgrading his knife into something else after being “scoffed at”” (He who hunts alone’s” interpretation, not mine) by the monolith

Now he is ready for the hunt, this time for a neo-antelope or similar, (thankfully this time the creature in question goes unnamed saving everyone a recount of the hysterical inaccuracy that has so far appeared) simply dubbed as “the fleetest of prey” and not only has he invented a new weapon but also seems to know exactly how to use it

He stands upright and pulls his arm back the weapon in hand …

And throws…

And then “A new age begins with the first throw of the spear…”

And we dramatically and instantaneously cut to the exact same pose of a figure with the same proportions a couple of film frames on, but of someone else a few hundred thousand odd years into the future wearing a space suit and throwing something else entirely...

These two panels are so artfully combined they are truly brilliant and this is the one point where Kirby has directly referenced the 2001 movie in a way that everyone will immediately recognise, as it is the movies most visually recognisable and definable breakthrough point and Kirby actually takes it further and uses it as a dramatic impetus to shift naturally across epochs in terms of characters, rather than hardware (which is what happens in 2001 the movie)

- it is almost unprecedented transition...

But before we jump into the future, let’s wrap up the threads of the pre-history story…

Well, this is the point where those threads are almost completely dispelled by one caption, which goes on to make it clear that other neo-men "will watch and emulate” he who hunts alone - and his children will carry on what he started and eventually roam the vastness of the space…

And also finally by achieving the level of spear thrower it is stated that “he who hunts alone” will “soon be known as beast killer”

Soon - thankfully being a non relative term in a comic that spans epochs

So we finally have our titular “beast killer” and we will side step the linguistic challenges presented by the use of that term thousands of years before language was even formed…

And instead ask the larger and more pertinent questions:-

What was the point of the schism between “he who hunts alone” and “the others”?

What was “the motivations” of the Monolith of only relating knowledge to “he who hunts alone” and no-one else?

What happened to “The Others” did they die out in starvation as logic might suggest?

Was there any point in this section at all other than to suggest the monolith is directly responsible for the innovation of weapons?

But the story has not finished yet, we are only just literally over half way through and there is more to discover, so we pin our hopes that the future child of “he who hunts alone” who is named as Woodrow Decker will provide not only the answer but also a character which has clearly benefited from “he who hunts alone's” own odyssey….

But will it go in that direction – already there is some uncertainty here as in his first appearance Woodrow appears to be acting in frustration?

… We will see…

I love February as it is

Doubtland Issue 1 Month - In case you was hiding under a rock a few days ago, I finally unleashed the first issue of my redrawn and re-envisioned version of Jim Sternako's Outland - and I even got to hear from Jim himself!

This item is on sale here :- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160727755477 at £2.50 a go and The "Feedback competition" is on, more  details are here  ...

Images Degrading Weekly 20
This week we have a very special issue of Images Degrading Weekly with guest artist Alexander Hunt , who has drawn a fantastic page of Daredevil !

This week we examine the fall of Maxine Lavender and the start of a all new text essay "considering design from every angle"

As ever Images Degrading Weekly is  FREE digital publication, just send me a email to robin.barnard@ymail.com and I will sen you back the issue, it could not be simpler!

That is it for this week!