Gibson / McMahon animated film work

ming · 22 July, 2012, 10:13:58 AM

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...

ming · 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).

Frank · 22 July, 2012, 11:37:06 AM

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 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.

blackmocco · 22 July, 2012, 03:12:44 PM

Always wanted to know more about this. Kev O'Neill was involved as well, as far as I remember.

Spikes · 22 July, 2012, 03:28:27 PM

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!

ming · 22 August, 2012, 12:40:04 PM

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.

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.

Trout · 22 August, 2012, 12:43:58 PM

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!

Steven Sterlacchini · 22 August, 2012, 12:59:03 PM

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!

Bolt-01 · 22 August, 2012, 01:19:10 PM

Astounding. I'd love to have seen this come to fruition.

Trout · 22 August, 2012, 01:24:43 PM

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!

hippynumber1 · 22 August, 2012, 01:33:40 PM

These are amazing!

blackmocco · 22 August, 2012, 02:47:38 PM

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...

James Stacey · 22 August, 2012, 02:57:57 PM

Will someone please explain to me why it's been years since Mr Gibson has been in the prog?

Steven Sterlacchini · 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.

blackmocco · 22 August, 2012, 04:46:31 PM

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...?