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The Daily ZARJAZ!

Started by Bolt-01, 25 June, 2014, 09:40:52 AM

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TordelBack

Well that redesign certainly went in a different direction to Worley & Willsher's recent one! 

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I'm off on holiday,  so you lucky squaxx get a preview.

TordelBack

Whuhhh? A week's worth in one day? Wonderfully profligate madness! This is turning out to be a great take, pitched somewhere between the chatty Hogan and messianic Abnett versions of Red. Some great layouts for the big fight scenes, touch of the McMahons about those panels in Parts 22 & 23.

(Editor asleep in Part 19: "populous" = "populace").

Bolt-01


Tord - lettering will be updated for the final pdf once it goes up on the FQP site. Cheers for the spot.

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Dark Jimbo

Hmm, bit of a disconnect between parts 26 and 27 - the Uncle is pointing the gun downward at Durham (who's on her knees), and Carolina's stood far behind them both. Then he's suddenly (somehow) firing upwards through Carolina and into Durham! It doesn't quite read properly.


Loving this properly epic tale, though.  The last panel of part 25 is a corker!
@jamesfeistdraws

Bolt-01

Posted on behalf of Gail:

Hey, hey 2k Boarders.

The lovely Bolt-01 (Dave Evans- mighty editor of FutureQuake productions) has kindly posted this on my behalf. (Can't seem to post or respond on the board anymore?)

I'm Gail and recently I branched out from just writing fiction for my own amusement (or the occasional bit of course work) and tried a few comic scripts.

My friend had sent a few pieces to FQP and passed me their details. I borrowed some of his 2000 AD books and soaked myself in thrill-power. I must admit my reading only covered from late 70's to mid 80's but there was a lot of fertile material in there.

So I came up with, what I thought, was a good idea and committed it to paper. Not knowing much about the how's and wherefores, I then just decided I'd draw it too. It was a short Judge Dredd story featuring Judge Beeny. The theme of the story was Justice Department controlling the population through administering drugs to the water supply.


Anyway, scanned it in and mailed it off to the lovely droids at FQP. Bolt (their leader) was very complimentary but pointed out various problems with the basic idea, its execution and some problems with story structure. And that it had already been "done" in 2000 AD several decades ago. (How would I know that!!?) But I didn't spit venom for long...lol.

My next stab at this comic biz was a short daily strip about Rogue Trooper. This was a bit more successful but I still had some problems with anatomy. (Must practice hands and faces!)


It was nice to get some positive feedback and comparisons with McMahon got mentioned (I wish I was that good). But I have to admit I was aiming for Alfredo Alcala, who was a South American artist who worked mostly for Marvel on black and white and horror anthology strips. 

Any road up, Bolt came back to me with a script for Durham Red. I hadn't seen a proper script before and it was very different to how I'd put together my first 2 attempts. I made sure I would follow the way this was put together for any further strips I might come up with.

I can't remember (it's the Gin and late nights) if the Durham Red script arrived first or if I had already started toying with the idea of a Durham Red "daily". But however it happened I needed to do some research. I was aware of Red in early SD by the wonderful Ezquerra. That also led me on to Abnett and Harrison's version. A plot started to form.

Bolt pointed out from my initial scribblings that I needed to establish a continuity for this. Where was it set within Red's time-line? I had a lot of scope there as the character is thousands of years old. I also thought about how that might affect her relationships with mere mortals. And a lot of my own interest in all things vampire got chucked into the melting pot.

SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION OF THE CURRENT STRIP
So Blood Pact was born. Here I had this former bounty hunter, former Goddess, who had outlived everyone she knew. By a comfortable margin. And I was going to throw her in prison.

Visions of bodice ripping Sapphic fantasy crossed my addled mind and some of these themes stayed. For someone as eternal as Red would she worry or concern herself about gender? I thought it wouldn't even be a consideration for her. What separates friend from food? Again, how would that play out for her? Unaware of any other versions or interpretations I pressed on and as my prison set story developed I realised I had to give Red a physical and psychological overhaul.

Taking visual cues from Ezquerra and Harrison I stripped back her outfit. I decided the prison would be hot and humid. Red would wear functional, minimal clothing. Straps and pouches to carry items and she would need a haircut. Long hair is a right bastard in hot, humid climates. Now, with a few months distance on the finished strip I do think Red looks a bit like an S&M dominatrix. But maybe she always was...lol. 
 
The script just got away from me at this point. Suddenly it was 18 parts. Then 22 parts. Then 31 parts. I sent the script off to Bolt and his proto-droids. There were many problems with the initial script, particularly the last five or six parts. I wanted some sort of bitter sweet love-betrayal ending. But it didn't work.
The droids pointed this out and then Proto-Rich suggested a twist to the ending that I had not even considered. And it ticked all the boxes. All praise due to Proto-Rich.

I quite liked the black and white artwork and I was trying to improve the anatomy (sometimes without much success) and had already discovered FQP could publish this in colour. So with some trepidation I got my hands on anything that would produce a colour. Some of the colouring seems garish and some more subtle. I was also surprised at how different it looks online to how it looks on my screen at home and the originals in hand. So, again, a bit of a learning curve there.

Addressing the poor flow of storytelling between parts 26 and 27. Special prize to Dark Jimbo. Looking back at it I can see it doesn't work. Just needed an extra panel to get them where they need to be...lol. Damn the limiting space of these daily strips. (Says the girl who took over Daily Zarjaz for a whole month.)

Hopefully it won't offend or go against the spirit of the character and I can only offer over-enthusiasm as my defence for any transgressions. So it's been fun and interesting and a bit challenging from my first Judge Beeny strip to this one. I'm looking ahead to a summer of making cocktails and washing glasses whilst cooking up whatever warped fantasy I can. If there is anything rattling around in my head other than Jennifer Lawrence in a bikini I might get it down on paper in the future.

My rambling introduction. My explanation of what I did while Mega City went to crap...lol. Oh, no...that was PJ.

If I have the pleasure of ever meeting any of you I know how impressed you'll be with how white my teeth are!! (See Dogbreath #34- out July)


Bolt-01