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Goodbye Carlos

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 01 October, 2018, 03:57:12 PM

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JOE SOAP

#150
Quote from: Frank on 17 October, 2018, 10:47:06 PM

Once we did the colour wheel at school, I realised Carlos was mostly exploiting the complementary properties of colours at 180 degrees from each other, but the insight or instinct to use that so boldly and in context of the focal plane is rare and particular to the greatest talents:






In a similar aha! moment, I also stumbled upon this complimentary colour revelation. Seeing that the reason why Carlos's magic-marker technique feels like it has more of a kinship with the unique vibrancy of old technicolor films than anything produced today, is because of the complex science involved in the prohibitively expensive and now unrepeatable Technicolor process that could involve both subtractive and additive colour synthesis.

How Technicolor changed movies

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

JOE SOAP

#151
Quote from: Frank on 17 October, 2018, 11:40:41 PM
As a kid, those split panels drove me mad. I was outraged that Ezquerra was cutting corners, and felt sure the writer would be narked that he'd drawn what was essentially one big panel instead of the three I imagined had been described in the script.

I now treasure them and understand this was an example of what Carlos meant when he said he could control the speed of the story. TB Grover had almost certainly only described one panel, but trusted Carlos to make his own decisions regarding storytelling.

It's a smart, economic way of breaking one short-moment down into smaller distinct beats/actions but resisting the use a close-up or different angle to show something significant is happening.

With one panel split you focus on Dredd's dialogue first before noticing the complete action, but don't lose sense of what is apparently – in fitting with the character – a very quick, no thought spared decision for Dredd to nuke EM-1 rather than have it be a drawn-out moment.


broodblik

Is their still any unpublished work from Carlos or is "The Son" his last published work in the prog ?
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

JOE SOAP


2 episodes of new series Spector which, according to Matt Smith in the latest Thrillcast, will be published next Summer along with 2 undrawn scripts.


sheridan

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 October, 2018, 04:33:28 AM
2 episodes of new series Spector which, according to Matt Smith in the latest Thrillcast, will be published next Summer along with 2 undrawn scripts.


So glad that they're going to see the light of day.

Link Prime

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 October, 2018, 04:33:28 AM

2 episodes of new series Spector which, according to Matt Smith in the latest Thrillcast, will be published next Summer along with 2 undrawn scripts.


As in the final two episodes will be published in script form?
Any consideration to allowing another artist to finish it (maybe Colin MacNeil w/ Hector Ezquerra inking)?

shaolin_monkey

It's times like this I wish the forum had a 'like' or 'heart' button.

Loving the explorations of his work. Keep them coming folks!

SIP

So, I guess that means the last Strontium Dog story printed in the prog with Wulf's son was the absolute last Johnny Alpha strip  Carlos had drawn?

Magnetica

Quote from: Link Prime on 18 October, 2018, 01:27:03 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 18 October, 2018, 04:33:28 AM

2 episodes of new series Spector which, according to Matt Smith in the latest Thrillcast, will be published next Summer along with 2 undrawn scripts.


As in the final two episodes will be published in script form?
Any consideration to allowing another artist to finish it (maybe Colin MacNeil w/ Hector Ezquerra inking)?

I assume they are doing that in deference to Carlos i.e. no-one should replace him on his final story, and this way we still get to see how the story pans out. Guess we can all imagine how Carlos would have drawn it.

TordelBack

Quote from: SIP on 18 October, 2018, 01:44:22 PM
So, I guess that means the last Strontium Dog story printed in the prog with Wulf's son was the absolute last Johnny Alpha strip  Carlos had drawn?

Looking that way. In its own tragic way, this leaves the strip at a perfect spot: Johnny has a new partner to lighten his load and his mood,  the Doghouse is back up and running,  but now under mutant control, and the old Mutant War gang are all back on the streets and spaceways.  That's as close to both a new beginning and a happy ending as we're likely to get.  I'd be sad but satisfied to leave it at that. I've really no interest in SD without Carlos.

IndigoPrime

I'll be amazed if SD continues now. I'm in two minds whether I'd want any more (Hector Ezquerra inking someone else would be interesting, if you could get someone who had a similar feel, if not actual style). The issue will probably be a combination of whether Matt Smith reckons it all works as a wrap-up (although, in-universe, we'll still see more Durham Red, presumably) and whether John Wager wants to write any more. It'd be a much tougher sell if Wagner also would no longer be involved. At that moment, what's the point? 

SIP

#161
Quote from: TordelBack on 18 October, 2018, 01:54:43 PM
Quote from: SIP on 18 October, 2018, 01:44:22 PM
So, I guess that means the last Strontium Dog story printed in the prog with Wulf's son was the absolute last Johnny Alpha strip  Carlos had drawn?

Looking that way. In its own tragic way, this leaves the strip at a perfect spot: Johnny has a new partner to lighten his load and his mood,  the Doghouse is back up and running,  but now under mutant control, and the old Mutant War gang are all back on the streets and spaceways.  That's as close to both a new beginning and a happy ending as we're likely to get.  I'd be sad but satisfied to leave it at that. I've really no interest in SD without Carlos.

I feel the same, the strip is forever associated with Carlos for me and couldn't see it being the same without him. I'm sure we will see the character again in the future, but it was as good a conclusion as we could have hoped for all things considered.

I'm not very good at articulating these things, but not only have we lost arguably the prog's greatest contributor, but I feel that certain characters have gone along with him.

Please don't take that as me making light at the loss of Carlos, which has felt like a gut punch for me. I can easily say that almost 40 years of reading comics and drawing can be directly attributed to him.

broodblik

I can't see that Johnny Alpha can continue without Carlos, but this is also depending on John Wagner perspective. John might have a vision or a future for Johnny.

The Spector strip I believe was in collaboration with John Wagner. I would like the 2 episodes to be published. An artist like Colin MacNeil can continue with it. Just my view.

Again, I must say that I will really miss his work in the prog.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: broodblik on 18 October, 2018, 02:56:40 PM
The Spector strip I believe was in collaboration with John Wagner. I would like the 2 episodes to be published. An artist like Colin MacNeil can continue with it. Just my view.

Creator-owned by John and Carlos, which (any other considerations aside) would make putting a new artist on the later episodes a tricky proposition.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

TordelBack

#164
Quote from: SIP on 18 October, 2018, 02:27:18 PM
I'm not very good at articulating these things, but not only have we lost arguably the prog's greatest contributor, but I feel that certain characters have gone along with him.

I hear ya. While it's utterly trivial in comparison to the loss of a great person, I do feel Johnny Alpha, and one of my favourite comic strips, went too.

I'm sure the reality of comics means that SD will return one day without either creator,  but I can't see it being welcome for a long time. If John has different plans, I'll obviously take them as they come.

On another note entirely:  don't really have the artistic vocab to describe things properly,  but Jim's reference to Carlos' trick of having the gunshot and the impact in the same panel really struck a chord - that's the thing I remember most from my earliest encounters with his work (that and Blanche Tatum's bosom  :-[) ,  but for young me it was more that the gun always seemed to be firing at the reader,  out into 'our' space,  and then drawing our eye back into the comic to see it hit its target. An amazing thing to see on a page.