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Prog 2090 - Transit Authority

Started by Colin YNWA, 14 July, 2018, 04:24:10 PM

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Frank

Quote from: Richard on 18 July, 2018, 01:23:16 PM
(The protagonist of the Dredd story) was only a walk away when she got off the bus ... Speaking of buses, I liked the Terror Tale

Top scheduling from Tharg. Dan Cornwell says the Terror Tale script dropped through his letterbox the day after he quit his (hated) former career as a bus driver, which proves The Mighty One has a sense of humour [1].

The names of Martin McDonagh and Woody Harrelson locate Commuter Pain (ouch!) in Oscar season [2], adding further to the observation that Dredd shorts seem to take about six months to see print. The end of year prog's Dredd story will be called Sov Hacking at Harlan Ellison Block and will introduce Judge Mbappé.

I think Harrison's work is his best since pre-digital Durham Red, and, in that, the fine painted technique was covering up some crude figure work. No such problems with his fantastic current style, although legibility issues are valid. I think some of that is down to a palette that aspires to be cinematic but sometimes ends up a little murky [3].

Cornwell cheats by not using colour at all. The one reservation I had about Cornwell's work on War Buds was his fluffing of the nuclear blast montage. Non-representational imagery is tricky, and I wrote it off as the kind of thing he'd get right eventually. 'Eventually' turns out to be page 3 of The Ticket, where the city makes like Cubist Inception.

There's a cartoony quality to Cornwell that currently precludes him from getting more heavyweight assignments, but that's an observation I would have made about the infant Henry Flint's art on Fr1day Rogue Trooper, and will change as Dan adds variety of line and the consequent control of mood to his impressive armoury.

It's a pleasure to watch an artist discovering new dimensions to their work and travelling so far so soon.



[1] ... as well as being a good guy and supportive of new talent. The odd synchronicity between JD & TT doesn't end at the concern with public transport and first names of the protagonists, pointed out by Tharg in the Nerve Centre - the surnames of both characters are also the names of towns in north-west England.

[2] As do the dates on those Lee Carter images I posted earlier.

[3] I'd point to fellow compuscribbler Alex Ronald as an example of how embracing a bold use of non-naturalistic colour, modelled on the colours available in the Fruit Shoot range, can make already great work (as Harrison's work is) a luscious treat for the peepers.

TordelBack

Quote from: Frank on 21 July, 2018, 11:49:58 AM...although legibility issues are valid. I think some of that is down to a palette that aspires to be cinematic but sometimes ends up a little murky

It's not so much legibility itself, it's instant legibility: sometimes pages need a second look to be clear, bit everything is always where it should be when you look again.  I know many wise folk see immediate clarity and encouraging rapid progress of the eye through a tale as a key skill in comics storytelling, but I've always enjoyed puzzling out a page, as long as it actually does make sense: adds value for me, I don't want a 6 page story to be over in a flash.  This has been a thing with Harrison since The Travellers in WD, so I'm sure jumps in viewpoint, scale and angle are things he applies deliberately.


Magnetica

I find Mark Harrison's art on Grey Area has a certain cartoony quality, which it didn't have on stuff like The Vermin Stars or Glimmer Rats.

I think it is that quality that is one of the reasons I prefer Karl Richardson or Patrick Goddard. What I also like about their stuff is the crisp, clear style.

Now I am absolutely not saying I dislike Mark Harrison's art, just that I prefer the other two artists I have named.

But really I am happy to see any of them in the Prog. Indeed generally I think the art is overall of a really high standard right now and I would struggle to name a regular artist I don't like, which wasn't always the case.

Frank

Quote from: TordelBack on 21 July, 2018, 12:01:54 PM
Quote from: Frank on 21 July, 2018, 11:49:58 AM...although legibility issues are valid. I think some of that is down to a palette that aspires to be cinematic but sometimes ends up a little murky

It's not so much legibility itself, it's instant legibility: sometimes pages need a second look to be clear, bit everything is always where it should be when you look again.  I know many wise folk see immediate clarity and encouraging rapid progress of the eye through a tale as a key skill in comics storytelling, but I've always enjoyed puzzling out a page, as long as it actually does make sense: adds value for me, I don't want a 6 page story to be over in a flash.  This has been a thing with Harrison since The Travellers in WD, so I'm sure jumps in viewpoint, scale and angle are things he applies deliberately.

Just to be clear, I really like Harrison's work, his most recent style especially.

On the value of inscrutability, John Hicklenton's Two Torquemadas is a favourite, some pages functioning as Magic Eye posters. After returning to the same image for months/years, staring blankly at it for hours on end, a sudden moment of lucidity strikes and you exclaim OH, HE'S BENDING OVER WITH HIS ARMS BEHIND HIS BACK AND THAT'S HIS HEAD!



Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Frank on 21 July, 2018, 09:49:00 PM
AND THAT'S HIS HEAD![/I]

...And not an enormous but grotesquely deformed cock, as I'd previously assumed.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

TordelBack

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 21 July, 2018, 09:57:02 PM
Quote from: Frank on 21 July, 2018, 09:49:00 PM
AND THAT'S HIS HEAD![/I]

...And not an enormous but grotesquely deformed cock, as I'd previously assumed.

But on the next page...

Jim_Campbell

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

broodblik

Quote from: Magnetica on 21 July, 2018, 05:56:42 PM
I find Mark Harrison's art on Grey Area has a certain cartoony quality, which it didn't have on stuff like The Vermin Stars or Glimmer Rats.

If you look at Prog 1872 and 1873 I believe that was his first work on Grey Area, his art for me was much more clearer and the coloring was much less abrasive. His work here was quite excellent.
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.

Max Headroom