A Few Thoughts on American Gothic and the VCs

[Dounreay]

I had high hopes for American Gothic, cowboys and vampires seemed a damn fine idea to me, but its been a serious let down so far.

The art seems scratchy and rushed, it just does'nt seem very wild west or gothic. OK , not the most rigourous criticism ever but it just don't sit right with the story. It looked more like war story art for some reason.

The main characters, and there only seem to be two so far, don't really grip you do they? There's an interesting plot idea but nobody to really care about in it.  Compare to Tiger Sun Dragon Moon for instance.

Four progs in, I can't see it changing any for the better I fear.

And a quick note on the VCs - why are a veteran combat crew taking on an intelligence role? OK, OK, my reality chip needs reseting. Just a bit puzzled about the change in direction in this strip.    

[Capt.Zeep]

Yeah, I'm not sure about the art on American Gotheek either, it has the look of 70s-80s second-string stories, a bit heavy-handed and looking like all the reasons I used to hate b&w strips, before I came to like the styles of Dom Reardon, Frazer Irving et al. who use black ink and contrast to far greater effect.  As for the story, well it still has time to develop so I'm prepared to give it a chance, and maybe the artwork will improve or I'll get used to it or something.  I'm kind of 50/50 on it at the moment.

The VCs, though, is looking good at the mo in my O.  I was initially disappointed when Ant Williams took over the art from Flint, who seemed the natural and obvious successor to McMahon and Cam Kennedy, but AWs style has developed, he's got rid of the dodgy CGI, and the whole thing has a cohesive stylized look combining high contrast light and shade with an unusual colour palette which perfectly suits the craggy-faced vets and the twisty plot.  And as to the plot, I think it's a good development from the slam-bam make-it-up-as-you-go-along style that GFD used to favour - fun at the time, I loved the original VCs when I were a lad, but this more intrigue-laden plot certainly tickles my grown-up fancy.

 

[Byron Virgo]

Well, you see what both of you are missing is the fact that the art on American Gothic seems to be very specifically based upon the art of French artist Jean Giraud (aka Mobius), who drew the classic Blueberry strip, probably the most classic of all modern Western comics, as well as also bearing a number of similarities to the EC artwork of people like Wally Wood and Bernie Krigstein.
On the other hand, the story seems loosely based around a variety of eastern european folklore and legends, which has a nice historical synchronicity by haviong these old Europe beasts travelling to the old west, just in the same way as many European imigrants became the new pioneers/settlers in the west.

[Richmond Clements]

Gotta say, I think American Gothic is great. The art's very nice indeed, and adds brilliantly to the atmosphere.
It has the feel, to me at least, of Clive Barker's 'Cabal', with it's secret society of monsters who're just trying to get on woth their own life.

There's an interesting plot idea but nobody to really care about in it. Compare to Tiger Sun Dragon Moon for instance.

This I don't understand. Are you saying that TSDM had characters you cared about? Because I for one had not a clue who was what in that strip.

And the VCs has probably had a change of direction for no other eason than the writer and editor thought it needed one.

[Byron Virgo]

"It has the feel, to me at least, of Clive Barker's 'Cabal', with it's secret society of monsters who're just trying to get on woth their own life."

Not too dissimilar to a certain strip appearing in the next FutureQuake too...

"This I don't understand. Are you saying that TSDM had characters you cared about? Because I for one had not a clue who was what in that strip."

No, I think (and I'm sure he can correct me if I'm wrong) that it was as incomprehensible as Tiger Sun...(his apparent opinion, not mine).

[ukdane]

Gotta say, I think American Gothic is great. The art's very nice indeed, and adds brilliantly to the atmosphere.

Care to tell me WTF is going on, who the main protagonists are, and why I should give a stuff what happens to them?

I saw a preview of some of the artwork for this somewhere, and it looked great. BUT what I've seen in print doesn't resemble it at all. Has it been reproduced badly, or was there a problem with the inking?

As for the script, I had high hopes from I.E., but so far I'm not impressed. I'm not giving up on it yet, but so far, it hasn't lived up to my expectations. :-(

[Artificial Idiot]

Bah! I love American Gothic! So far it's impressed me far more than SCB and the extremely unimpressive Tiger Sun. I do actually care about laChance, and I want to find out more about him and where he came from and what's going to happen to him... Which is more than I can say for any other the characters in the other one off's I mentioned.

I think it's main strength is that it has a nice balence between the old West and even older fantasy elements. One never seems to quite overpower the other, and it never gets too unrealistic (in my opnion).

I have to agree with Rac on the art. I like it, it has a nice feel... Reminds me a bit of Young Middenface, but only a lot more solid and black...

[Tordelbach]

Sheesh Byron, bit early for 'shrooms isn't it?  While I actually like Collins' crowded busy art on American Gothic I can't see that it bears ANY resemblance to Moebius' airy spacious art on Blueberry, certainly not in terms of composition anyway.  

[Trout]

I quite like it, partly for the relaxed artistic style, which is a conscious change, according to Mike.

I also enjoy the mood and the pace of the story, and it's one of the best parts of 2K right now, for me.

- Trout

[Byron Virgo]

The characters are blatantly influenced by Mobius' work on Blueberry! Can't remember the specific panels now, but there were a couple that I thought were almost direct lifts!

[The Enigmatic Dr X]

I am enjoying both, more so that a lot of the recent strips.

For my money, the VCs is the best re-invention of an old strip (way better than, say, Savage or Robo Hunter) and if old tales could be updated as well as this one has then I would have no problem seeing more stuff re-done.

[Mr C]

I'm enjoying American Gothic at the moment. Love the artwork, it does feel "british old school", but I love that whole style.

Regarding Anthony Williams art on VC's: Does anyone else reckon that it looks like he's trying to riff on Eduardo (100 bullets) Risso's style? The lighting and general style looks quite similar, and a few panels of Smith looks very much like Agent Graves.

[ukdane]

Heh, I see what you mean about Smith/Graves... but Mr Williams has got a long way to go before matching Risso's artwork- (which I doubt he's copying from).


At least he's quit with the computer effects that so harmed the series, was it, 2nd book?

I just feel that his artwork is too cartoony for this series.

On the otherhand, I enjoyed his artwork on Kola Kommandos- a series which when I read back to back a few years back, I enjoyed despite the views of the hive mind! - it seemed to suit the story better.

In fact I think on a humour strip he'd probably do just the job- but on VC's, I'd still prefer to be seeing Mr Flint's art (or another artist).