Home on the range with some southern comfort

A few words before we start

March is Doubt land issue 2 Month

issue 2 of “Doubt-land” is on sale now for just £1 a copy via eBay to anyone in the world

Just click the link below
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160751571676#ht_574wt_1118

Doubt land is my re-envisaged version of Jim Steranko’s lost / overlooked Outland movie adaptation, which has never been reprinted in English and is very hard to get hold of and is on sale at a bargain price

Home on the range with some southern comfort

Is where Woodrow Decker appears to be in this weeks completed page of 2001

This page I think makes a very interesting contrast with what Kubrick decided to portray in the movie

In the movie after Bowman goes through the monolith he arrives in what at least in part resembles a very posh hotel (we find out much later in the book "sequels" this was actually a hotel Bowman stayed at once) but at the same is mistakenly odd

with ultra bright white floors walls and ceilings all of material quite out of place of a hotel

The message being reasonably clear - this is not real

In the page above Decker starts in space suit which just mysteriously vanishes and then is transported back to a place that could be straight out of a book featuring Tom Sawyer - the same message - this is not real applies

Possibly even more so as it kinds of stretches credulity to suggest that what depicted existed recently in the time frame of the Woodrow's part of the story - it could either be his very young childhood or literally just a story he heard as a child being re enacted for him

In both the movie and the comic the intention is for the actual metamorphosis post  the inter galactic travel of vast distances (which is what the journey though the monolith appears to represent) is to offer the comfort of familiarity

The movie one could argue could be said to be rather cold in this aspect, Bowman is left on his own to age rapidly only meeting him self across generations of each age range in transition

Whereas the comic features a true southern character (who reminds me of "Reb" Ralston from Sgt. Fury and his howling commandos) who is warm, welcoming and provides both a focus and a sense of direction for Decker

In the comic one could argue that this sense is showing more interest in Deckers humanity to make this effort and also of course this is more direct and understandable storytelling

The movie is an enigma or if you prefer possible endless enigmas inside each other

What this comic is - i will leave for now as there only a few pages left to go

It is interesting to note - that at least in my eyes this is the first real scene that really gives any deeper definition to Decker himself, circumstances before this point did not allow that space which is a bit of a shame as it would be an interesting character stay to know the character more full both pre and post monolith

Still things are looking up Decker and the mysterious "Bill" are on the long and winding road

or is decker being lead up the garden path

Lets find out - Next week

Postscript

Where egos dare
Yet more detail about something i did appearing in an exhibition appears at the link below and there is a SPOILER ALERT - of what could be the NEXT project on this blog…

maybe… possibly…  you never know…

http://comixstripped.blogspot.com/2012/03/images-degrading-forever.html