SPECTATORS - Part 71
Plus, a new Artopsy from Niko Henrichon!
Happy Birthday to Hamburger K. Vaughan!
Defying all natural laws, my mail-sorting dachshund turned 16 years old over the weekend. You can see pics from his annual bacon bacchanal (as well as shots from a recent surreal walk with Hamburger’s executive assistant Milkshake) over at my dumb Instagram.
But no pressure. I mostly use social media to try and steer folks over here to enjoy the hard work of my collaborators Niko Henrichon and Fonografiks, who have now completed a staggering 177 pages of Spectators, which we hope will eventually be one of the longest (if not greatest) standalone original graphic novels ever created. In color, at least. Partial color?
Anyway, for now, let’s rejoin restless spirits Sam and Val, finally ready to resume their original quest…
Pa-kahh! Excited for you to see next Monday’s pages.
Hey, how was Comic-Con?
Thanks to Alex De Campi for sending me this gem that her friend picked up at the show by artist Robert McKeone:
My family and I were discussing the origins of this relatively recent meme that Robert’s art is cleverly referencing, and it got me wondering: How the hell old are you?
Sorry, I know that’s rude, but the below poll is relatively private (we here at Exploding Giraffe can’t see which button you click), so if you’ve got a second, please let us know which grouping best describes you:
Results next week!
Thanks to all you generous paid subscribers in The Tower who joined us for a chat after my interview with The Cull writer/co-creator Kelly Thomson.
We were discussing various physical objects that we covet, and reader Jon Auerbach shared this awesome tidbit:
My TV writer friend (support the strikers!) wrote me into Agent Carter Season 2 as the name of the SSR headquarters front - the Auerbach Theatrical Agency. So I’d like the sign that hung above the door, perhaps signed by Ms. Atwell! (https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Auerbach_Theatrical_Agency)
That’s too cool. Can’t any industry-connected folks out there help Jon secure this incredible prop…?
Regardless, we promised a rare variant cover of The Cull to one randomly selected responder, and our intern Genesis the Exploded Giraffe has chosen Jenny H., who wrote:
I’d love my very own avocado tree. I can eat them everyday. I like the idea of reaching out and pulling one straight from the tree.
Classy answer, Jenny! Enjoy your swag, non-edible though it may be…
Okay, time for me to get back to the picket line (parking is much tougher now that our siblings in SAG-AFTRA have joined us, but I ain’t complaining), so please let me turn the controls over to my creative better half for another of Niko’s awe-inspiring artistic autopsies.
Have a great week, and I’ll see you for more free Spectators next Monday!
Let’s do an Artopsy about my adventure with director/writer Darren Aronofsky and the Noah project.
It all started in October 2008 when I received this email from Travis Wood, a producer who works with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky:
That was quite a surprising message. I didn’t really know what to think about it. At the time, I had only seen Requiem for a Dream from Aronofsky. That movie was impressive and deeply moving but I always thought of it as a “one time” movie since it’s so emotionally intense that it’s kind of painful to watch. To this day, I haven’t watched it again.
But there was no doubt in my mind that Aronofsky was a fascinating creator with some amazing storytelling skills. But can he write a story? You’re probably aware that Requiem for a Dream was a book first, written by Hubert Shelby Jr. So I decided to make up my mind by getting both The Fountain movie and comics.
And I loved both! Each has its own unique taste. Therefore I was convinced I should give this collaboration a try. But I had no idea what the project they wanted to do was about.
After signing a very strict non-disclosure agreement, they sent me a movie script that was all printed on red paper with my huge name watermarked in the background of each page. I guess it’s a pretty common Hollywood practice but this kind of security measure was all new to me.
I realized, from the title, that it was a retelling of the biblical Noah story. My first impression was a bit of disappointment, to be honest. I mean, I like mythology and epic religious tales but these stories have been told so many times in all sorts of forms. I was afraid I would be bored with this kind of project. But I obviously gave it a read anyway.
This Noah version was much different than what I expected and I really enjoyed it. When you read the Old Testament, the part about Noah is in fact very brief and we don’t get a lot of details about how it all happens. There’s Noah who builds an ark to save all the animals and when the water recedes, Noah seems troubled and basically gets drunk. But nothing is really specific about what happens on the ark during the flood.
This new version extrapolates on a lot of pre-existing elements with an intensity that I really enjoyed. There were brutal giants, Conan-like action sequences, and operatic family drama. So I decided to go forward with Aronofsky’s project.
I was quickly introduced to Aronofsky and his co-writer and long time collaborator Ari Handel, and we started to work on an adaptation of the movie script to a comics version. I understood the movie project was not approved yet and by doing a comic book, it could trigger some interest and maybe get the ball rolling in Hollywood. Aronofsky was well-considered in Hollywood networks but probably more like a successful and creative indie movie director than a blockbuster mainstream filmmaker. A grandiose project like Noah kind of required some of that blockbuster aura, but until then, we still were allowed to do a comic book. As a matter of fact, in comics, we have an unlimited special effects budget and we can have as many crowds of extras in backgrounds… as long as the artist is willing to draw them.
By dissecting the script, scene by scene, we concluded that the comics should be around 250 pages. I used my contacts in the French/Belgian market to finance and publish the project in French, at Les éditions du Lombard, split across four separate books.
And when the whole thing was done, we did the English version and all the other foreign versions. Along with Pride of Baghdad, it’s the comic I made with the most foreign versions.
While we were working on the last of the four books, the Noah movie was greenlit. Black Swan had been such a hit that I think the movie studios were convinced to give a go to Noah, with a huge budget and a prestigious cast. The timing was great for the comics since we published the completed book around the time of the movie release.
I will show here a bunch of drawings, not often seen, which were used as preliminary sketches and illustrations for the project. In a future Artopsy, I’ll talk more specifically of the published artwork, the pages and covers.
This was one of the the very first Noah drawings I did. I was quickly told to aim for another shape for the ark. They had in mind that very geometric, rectangular shape that we see in the book and the movie. The ark is traditionally pictured like a long boat but it doesn’t really need to move in the water, it just needed to float…
[BKV back here to taunt that Tower members get access to a dozen more extraordinary, never-before-seen images, an opportunity to ask Niko questions directly, AND a shot at winning a signed copy of the Noah hardcover, so I hope you’ll join us!]