Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Blackstar

As far as I can determine, there is only one television series in the history of the medium that actually qualifies as a bonafide interplanetary swashbuckler (or sword & planet tale). That's Filmation Studios' 1981 animated series Blackstar. Filmation also produced an excellent Flash Gordon cartoon, but Blackstar was cast much more in the Burroughs mold.

This Saturday morning adventure cartoon chronicled the adventures of American astronaut John Blackstar, who, after being pulled through a black hole, finds himself stranded on the planet Saagar, where he joins a rebellion against a malevolent tyrant known as The Overlord. He comes into possession of a powerful magic sword (it's never told how he came by it) which is the twin of one wielded by The Overlord. If the two swords are joined, they become an all-powerful weapon, so Blackstar must strive at all times to keep it out of his adversary's hands.

Of course, this being a Saturday morning network show, he can never actually use the sword as a sword; he instead fires a variety of energy beams from the tip of the blade. Also because of its weekend a.m. timeslot, Blackstar finds himself helped and sometimes hindered by a group of small, pink-skinned, kid-friendly "trobbits." (i.e. "tree hobbits." The producers were apparently unaware that J.R.R. Tolkien had invented the term "hobbit.") Of course, he's got a few cool sidekicks, too – the oddly sexy alien sorceress Mara, a shape-changer named Klone, and a winged, reptilian steed named Warlock.

Most stories are pretty standard "sword & planet" tales, with Blackstar going up against various monsters, discovering lost cities, etc. The antics of the "trobbits" are painfully annoying, though I'm sure kids liked them. (I was probably too old to be watching Saturday morning cartoons in '81, anyway.) Still, they're pretty fun adventure stories, and I always liked the Filmation crew's character and production designs.

One episode that really stands out in my mind is the one where Blackstar's fiancee – also an Earth astronaut – follows his trajectory through the black hole to Saagar. Obviously, she intends to rescue her betrothed and take him back to Earth, but instead quickly falls into the hands of The Overlord, who covets the advanced technology of her spacecraft.

Eventually she is rescued by Blackstar and company, and is forced to take off without him. The episode ends on an intriguing note, however – as she emerges back through the black hole, she contacts mission control and tells them to prepare an invasion fleet! She clearly intends to go back for Blackstar, and this time with reinforcements! Unfortunately, the series ended before a sequel to this story could appear.

Watching the DVDs recently, I noticed a few similarities between Blackstar and my own Perils On Planet X comic. In both cases, our heroes are astronauts who pass through cosmic anomalies. Also, both Saagar and Xylos (Planet X) have green skies. The characters and stories are quite different, but there are definitely some amusing parallels.

Maybe watching the show as a teenager made a bigger impact on my imagination than I thought!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Pin-Up By Steve Conley

This pin-up is by Steve Conley, creator of the pioneering webcomic (and print series) Astounding Space Thrills, as well as various issues of IDW's Star Trek comics. Colors by Ian.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Pin-Up by Noam

Several artist friends of mine have expressed interest in contributing pin-ups to the Perils On Planet X miniseries. Since I really enjoy seeing different artists' interpretations of my characters, I'm happy to let them. This lovely piece (click on it for a larger view) is by the talented Noam, who is illustrating an upcoming project of his own for Ape Entertainment, our mutual publisher.

Nice, huh?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Odyri

Here's a nifty drawing of the Empyri princess Odyri by series artist Gene Gonzales, which recently appeared on his daily art blog. (You really should be visiting it regularly – there's cool stuff there every day!)

Progress on the miniseries continues to be slow, but it's still moving forward. In fact, Gene and I just decided to add an extra two pages of story to Issue #2. More updates soon.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Barreto Cover In Color

Here's Eduardo Barreto's variant cover for issue #1 in cosmic color, courtesy of series colorist, Ian Sokoliwski.

Flash Gordon for Union Carbide

Hmmm... I wonder if that new Al Williamson's Flash Gordon book (see previous post), will include these utterly awesome advertisements for Union Carbide, drawn by the artist?



Click on the images to see them larger.

Al Williamson's FLASH GORDON

This is really great news!
Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic - Coming in early 2009!

Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic, collects all the major works of the artist featuring the character. At 256 pages, it encompasses Williamson’s three stints of depicting Flash in comic book format: the legendary King Comics stories from the 1960s, the 1980 adaptation of the Universal Flash Gordon motion picture, and the Marvel Comics miniseries of 1994.

In addition to these classics of sequential storytelling,
Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon features Williamson’s Flash drawings done for commercial illustration and prints, his assists on the Flash Gordon comic strip, a variety of Flash images contributed to amateur publications, and a selection of largely unpublished images spanning his interest in the character from childhood to the conclusion of his career. With an introduction by Sergio Aragones, text by Mark Schultz, and images reproduced directly from the artist’s original drawings, this long-overdue collection of evocative artwork documents the lifelong impact that Flash Gordon had on Williamson and the particular impact that Williamson had on Flash Gordon.

Hardcover, 256 pages,
$44.95

ISBN-10: 193386513X

ISBN-13: 978-1933865133

Flesk Publications
I own much of this material already, in various formats, but to have it all collected under one cover is like a dream come true. Here's hoping I get some Christmas cash this year, because I believe the book is due out in January.

Info via Coming Attractions.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Glimpse Into The Future...

Wow. I haven't posted anything here since June. Cripes!

While it is true that progress on the Perils On Planet X miniseries is progressing very slowly, it is progressing, as this inked page from Issue #2 – showing hero Donovan Hawke decked out in his strato-pirate flying suit – illustrates.

Yeah, it's taking a long time, no question about that. It seems to be the order of things when it comes to my comics projects. But there's no doubt in my mind that when this series finally sees print, that it will have been worth the wait.

I just gave the issues a re-read, and while it's not deep, Perils On Planet X is action-packed, sexy, and – I truly believe – a lot of fun. It should provide a great, old-fashioned, Saturday matinee kick for anyone who picks it up.

To those of you who have been eagerly awaiting it, well, you'll have to wait a bit longer still. But I think you'll really love it when it's finally in your hands.

In the meantime, I'll try to post here more often, and I recommend that you make Gene's art blog a daily stop, as he frequently posts bits of POPX art-in-progress over there.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Damned Dirty... Vampires?

It's been too long since I posted here, but the POPX team hasn't been idle. Gene, Ian and I have all been plugging away, slowly producing some great (or so I humbly believe) interplanetary adventure.

As evidence of our diligent toil, here's a pencilled panel from Issue #2, featuring one of the lost planet Xylos' more nightmarish lifeforms – baylocs, or four-armed vampire gorillas.

This panel is a marvelous example of Gene's skill and imagination. I really love how he made the baylocs look credible, with a variety of naturalistic poses and some very expressive body language.

I mean, it's easy for me to write "Hawke and Odyri come across a large group of vampire gorillas with bat wings," it's another thing entirely to make that scene work visually and also seem somehow believable.

Fortunately, our Mister Gonzales is more than up to the task.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Odyri, Princess of Empyr

Here's another page from the first issue, showcasing Gene's marvelous ability to draw lovely women and Ian's skill with the hues.

This is the moment where our hero Donovan Hawke first sets eyes upon the beautiful Princess Odyri, scion of Empyr.

Hubba hubba.

Inspirational Image #4: Flash Gordon by Williamson

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but Gene, Ian and I are all still busily plugging away at the POPX miniseries... there just hasn't been all that much new to show or talk about lately.

So, I thought it was time to post another image that greatly inspires us on POPX – the cover of King (Features) Comics' Flash Gordon #3, drawn by the legendary Al Williamson.

Although Williamson never drew the Flash Gordon newspaper strip, he's probably the artist most associated with the character other than creator Alex Raymond, based solely on the handful of Flash comic book stories that he's drawn over the years. Williamson always considered himself something of a disciple of Raymond, and it's clearly evident in his romantic approach to figure drawing and his lush, fluid brushwork.

Throughout his long career, Williamson always showed a clear predilection towards heroic adventure, be it in the Western, Jungle or Science Fantasy genres. When it came to sci-fi, space opera and "sword & planet" stories, he had no peer – and his long run on the Star Wars newspaper strip was ample proof of his expertise.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

POPX by Barreto

One of my all-time favorite comic book artists is Eduardo Barreto. I first discovered his work when he took over the art chores of DC Comics' New Teen Titans title, back in the late 80's, and I soon fell in love with his clean, old school, adventure strip style.

About a decade later, I had the great good fortune to work with him at Tekno•Comix, when I was his editor on the Max Allan Collins-scripted Mickey Spillane's Mike Danger. We always got on well, and I found him to be a pleasure to work with, so I've tried to stay in touch with him in the years since.

When Ape Entertainment suggested the possibility of offering variant covers on Perils On Planet X as a sales incentive, I agreed – but only if they allowed me to pick artists that I thought were appropriate to the material.

Eduardo was the first artist I thought of. Fortunately, he agreed to contribute a cover, and the line art for that cover is presented here.

Man, I love his stuff!