I just noticed that blurb on Ian Gibson in the introduction to the Titan Robo-Hunter volumes contains the following statement:
"In 1981 he worked on an animated science fiction film with Mike McMahon, which is still in pre-production."
Anybody know any more about this? I'm assuming it never went anywhere but it would be nice to hear a little about what was done, or at least planned. A huge shame this never saw the light of day...
Well I went ahead and just asked Mick about it.
"This was to have been an animated film from Animation City. It was to be set in North London in the near future and would have featured aliens, Merlin and Morgana, plus ancient Romans."
Sounds fascinating, but now I'm even sadder that this didn't develop further. Anyway, Mick hinted that he might try and find some old material from the project to post on his blog, so I'll update this as and when (or someone else will).
:)
Quote from: ming on 22 July, 2012, 10:53:09 AM
Well I went ahead and just asked Mick about it.
"This was to have been an animated film from Animation City. It was to be set in North London in the near future and would have featured aliens, Merlin and Morgana, plus ancient Romans."
Sounds fascinating, but now I'm even sadder that this didn't develop further. Anyway, Mick hinted that he might try and find some old material from the project to post on his blog, so I'll update this as and when (or someone else will).
That belongs on the DVD shelf of the Sandman's library of unwritten books, alongside the pilot episode of the Strontium Dog TV show and a box set of the many different film versions of Dredd that preceded Stallone.
Mick's blog (http://tuggingyourcoat.com/) is a treasure trove that's always worth a visit anyway, but a link to anything he unearths relating to that project would be fantastic,
Ming.
Always wanted to know more about this. Kev O'Neill was involved as well, as far as I remember.
Quote from: ming on 22 July, 2012, 10:53:09 AM
Sounds fascinating, but now I'm even sadder that this didn't develop further. Anyway, Mick hinted that he might try and find some old material from the project to post on his blog, so I'll update this as and when (or someone else will).
:)
Nice one!, ill keep my eyes peeled for any updates.
Just when you think that your pretty much aware of everything 2000ad related, past and present, little things like this pop up!
Unholy Grail!
After a bit more leg-work, and Ian Gibson very kindly jumping through various technical hoops to deal with some scanning, I now have some images from the aborted animated project that Mick McMahon and Ian Gibson worked on in the early 1980s.
Mick said that he has some poor-quality copies of some character designs but no copies of any colour work, but Ian luckily still has a promo booklet put together for the project, which is where the images below come from. I've cleared sharing these with both Ian and Mick, so here they are...
From Ian: "My input to the project was only in the form of character designs in pencil. Whereas Mike got to do some spectacular colour pieces for them. I guess they knew where the talent lay!! They are beautiful. Mike at his best!" Ian only sent one of his designs, thinking Mick's work was by far the best, but if I can persuade him to send more I'll post them here.
(http://i.imgur.com/6K2ZR.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/Ah4gy.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/R2GY5.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/MSM8I.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/UvSvc.jpg)
This looks like it could have been a very interesting project, and Madge Poltergeist is such a lovely character design. It's a shame this never got to see the light of day, but at least there are some designs and concept pieces, so it's nice to have been able to share them. Once again, many thanks to Ian and Mick for humouring me and helping to getting the info and images out there.
:)
I would buy a Madge Poltergeist solo comic. In fact, I would lead a campaign to get her into the prog, and I know nothing about her!
Oh man! That looks sooo cool.
I think Ian and Mick's work would translate brilliantly to animation!
Excellent work Ming for researching and sharing!
Astounding. I'd love to have seen this come to fruition.
Quote from: Minty on 22 August, 2012, 12:59:03 PM
Excellent work Ming for researching and sharing!
Indeed. Great work.
Now... Madge Poltergeist for President!
These are amazing!
Yep, incredible stuff and Ming- you're a man amongst men for tracking this stuff down. Astoundingly good design work. Sadly, these designs would have all had to be greatly simplified to work for animation. No artist in their right mind would have been able to replicate this detail for one drawing every 1/12th of a second.
Beautiful stuff. Wish there was more...
Will someone please explain to me why it's been years since Mr Gibson has been in the prog?
Looking at the colour work I think it could work if digitally animated, in that kind of 'toned down' pixar style.
Quote from: Minty on 22 August, 2012, 03:31:56 PM
Looking at the colour work I think it could work if digitally animated, in that kind of 'toned down' pixar style.
Yep. Would be a piece of piss to do now but back in '81 this would have been impossible to produce as hand-drawn animation with this amount of detail.
Hey Ming, I was always under the impression Kevin O'Neill was involved with this as well? Is that true or was that a separate thing? Or am I pulling that one out of my arse...?
Yep, sorry I meant now.
They'd have been screwed even a few years ago, to get it done anything like as cool as the concept work without spending a fortune.
I'm fighting with Trout Block. Madge Poltergeist for 2000 AD!
(James, go read Thrillpowered Thursday - Aug 9 chapter - for the story about Gibson leaving the comic.)
Yeah talking to Ian when he was doing that very last Samatha Slade was quite eye opening!!!!!
Thanks Grant, good, and sad to know. I like to think of all being rosy in the garden of Tharg, especially with such a defining artist.
aw that looks fabulous, shame it didn't come to fruition. If the film never gets made, I'd be happy to see it as a strip in the prog. Excellent Geekeology there Ming!
And Grant, never been a Samantha fan but that was a riveting account and you almost converted me (i'm a "its-all-been-downhill-from-Verdus kinda guy!)
Some fantastic examples, would love to see more.
Wow, Ming's brilliant isn't he? Our ThreeA guide, sharing those amazing origins of Rogue Trooper with us and now this absolute gem! A real asset to the board. Thank you sir!
And my Grudness, what a discovery. This would have been amazing! The design work from both artists is Nothing short of beautiful. I adore Madge's elephant dress, it's sublime! Thanks again for doing all the detective work Ming.
Very glad that people are liking this stuff - I think it's mind-bendingly wonderful... Mick just wrote to let me know he's put a blog post together about it, and it looks like he dug up quite a few amazing additional images. Rather than just post the pics here I'll provide a link to the post.
http://tuggingyourcoat.com/2012/08/23/very-early-concept-work/
Sterling work Ming, thanks for going the extra mile on this, :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
And though im a McMahon nut through and through, ive gotta say im blown away by these concepts/designs. Just incredible.
And just checked out the additional images that are now up on his Blog, as well. Stella stuff, far too good to have been hidden away all these years.
Could work be re-started on this, i wonder? Lets get it in the Prog NOW!
I asked Mick about Madge Poltergeist via a comment on his blog: "She ran a B&B is all I can recall"
I can't remember the last time I took such an instant liking to a character based on a single image, she's just perfect.
Quote from: ming on 24 August, 2012, 12:21:23 PM
I asked Mick about Madge Poltergeist via a comment on his blog: "She ran a B&B is all I can recall"
I can't remember the last time I took such an instant liking to a character based on a single image, she's just perfect.
Yes. She is! Also, running a B&B is perfect for her. Is she in the public domain? We need to Creative Common the hell out of Madge!
Didn't get around to checking this yesterday and when I did today I remembered I'd not been to his blog for a while and so looked through that.
WOW two bits of Mile McMahon Roman art, given my love of all things Roman I almost had a nerdgasm. Those designs and pictures for the old project that was abandoned were nice enough BUT the Blog post for a new possible project 'Roman's of Dacia' have got me all of a tizzy! I'd be so happy if that happened.
http://tuggingyourcoat.com/2012/07/20/romans-in-dacia/ (http://tuggingyourcoat.com/2012/07/20/romans-in-dacia/)
Yesterday I got in touch with Derek Hayes, the surviving half of the Animation City outfit, and pointed him at Mick's blog post. With a bit of luck I'll hear more from him about the project in a week or so. Anything further that I can dig up will be posted here.
Great stuff! These concepts have really caught our collective eye, havent they.
Once again David very good work! Ill look forward to seeing what Mr Hayes has to say.
If Ian Gibson is still lifting a brush he should be in 2000AD. End of. Al Ewing and Ian Gibson could not fail to come up with something Zarjaz.
Quote from: ming on 25 August, 2012, 06:34:29 AM
Yesterday I got in touch with Derek Hayes, the surviving half of the Animation City outfit, and pointed him at Mick's blog post. With a bit of luck I'll hear more from him about the project in a week or so. Anything further that I can dig up will be posted here.
Thanks, Ming. Please tell him we're planning a Madge Poltergeist movie franchise.
Looking through those concept images actually made me feel sick. I can draw a bit but that just made me feel so completely useless that I had to stop looking.
I'm lying in bed looking on my phone- once I'm up I'll gird myself and have a proper look on a big screen.
Well done again Ming for getting these out there.
I want to write Madge Poltergeist.
S'true.
Derek Hayes just got in touch to let me know that he's put together a blog post about the Unholy Grail project... Some fascinating insights into how the story might have panned out, and a few more glorious pieces of concept art. Madge Poltergeist for Queen!
http://derekwhayes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-unholy-grail.html
(http://i.imgur.com/soSSqIA.jpg)
Some truly glorious art on show, there. Most definitely the great 'What if..'
Sigh.
Quote from: Judge Jack on 16 August, 2013, 01:41:12 PM
Some truly glorious art on show, there. Most definitely the great 'What if..'
Sigh.
I guess the animated feature will probably never happen, but I wonder if this could be turned into a comic? The story sounds great, and Mick and Ian's designs are stupendous... I suppose Mick might struggle to take this on (stuff like Kestrels may take priority) but it would be amazing if Madge Poltergeist & Co. could find an audience somehow.
Anyway, hopefully there'll be further updates from Derek H somewhere done the line.
Indeed, it would be nice if something could still come from this.
(But if not, then its been great fun to see, and learn, about this 'lost' project).
Tharg, are you listening? ;)
Quote from: ming on 17 August, 2013, 06:49:48 PM
I guess the animated feature will probably never happen, but I wonder if this could be turned into a comic?
Or hung in a museum.
This work is, without any hyperbole, utterly breathtakingly beautiful.
Glad to see this stuff being appreciated! Hopefully Derek's blog will get a bit of traffic and encourage him to post more on this project...
http://derekwhayes.blogspot.co.uk/
I have just had a look at that blog, amazing stuff, great Sherlocking Ming.