A wonderfully photographic and movie-like piece from Tim Conrad today, from the 7th issue of Epic.
Seriously, this is like you just got home after a night out, flipped on the tube, and this flick is about halfway through. And you just have to watch the rest of it.
Got mixed feelings about this, Pete:For me Conrad is 2 thumps up, and the story is pretty evocative of a certain kind of 70s exploit movies about UFOS that I really like.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, I don't like very much the "good aliens" approach. I stick to something more creepy and disturbing. Have you read The Allagash Incident? Its a one shot published by Tundra about a famous case of alien abduction. The results are so so, but at least the aliens are a real bunch of creepy bastards.
Thanks for posting!
-Manuel Ruiz
I wonder if Conrad has a history with UFO's, like Barry Smith does. He also did a piece for Epic called 'Contact' that was even more about friendly aliens...
ReplyDeleteIt would sure be worth reading, despite the friendly ets. Sigh...How great could it have been if Conrad would have done a graphic novel from the unused draft William Friedkin supposedly got for his chilling Bermuda Triangle movie. He was gonna shoot it after The exorcist, but some reasons, among them Spielberg next flick, a certain Encounters, made him to direct the superb Sorcerer instead.
ReplyDeleteThat draft could be the Holy Grail for those who, like myself, preferthe eerie aliens.
At least we have Communion...brrrr...
Manuel Ruiz
That does sound good. Communion the book creeped me out like hell, by the way. The film... not so much.
ReplyDeleteYou see Pete, this is the kind of thing that disappointed me about Epic, as print quality and artwork aside UFO does seem like it could easily have been one of the more forgettable Future Shocks in 2000AD at about a third of the length.
ReplyDeleteYou can't complain about Tim Conrad's technique of course - although here its a bit too photo (movie still?) referenced for my taste - but his skills and those ten pages could surely have been used for something more interesting.
Like that Neal Adams piece about... erm, well I'm not sure really - Vietnam, Geronimo, and a hairy rock star going all cosmic (I think that was in the same issue)...
-sean
I completely see your point, Sean ( cursed with the mutant power of even-handedness, me ), and I always wished this one was longer, but for me, Epic was a revelation.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit, a big part of that was the print quality ( Heavy Metal never came into our town so Epic was like nothing else as far as we were concerned ) but it was also a thrill watching 'Marvel' artists branching out into new techniques.
These days, I can see the faults around art over story throughout the mag's run, but still can't help loving this stuff.
That Neal Adams piece, by the way, was 'Holocaust'. And yep, loved that too!
I bought Epic when it was brand new, after over a year of hype in Stan Lee's soapbox about "project X" which he eventually declared to be a new mag called Odyssey...until Stan learned that title was already in use, so Epic became the title.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it became all too apparent that Epic wasn't a new sensation at all, but only Marvel's attempt at a much less erotic rival to Heavy Metal.
Neal Adams' story with the big gal giving birth to a planet was already quite dated in 1980, being a 5 year old Eric Burdon album project that was shelved.
Epic seemed to excel in paintings & single illustrations more than anything else. I can't think of any short stories thst I would deem as absolutely classic, apart from Barry Windsor-Smith's "The Beguiling."
Bob Larkin & Scott Hampton receive honourable mention for "This is Only a Test" & "Godfather Death."
Regards,
Chris A.
Dated is right! The groovy bell bottoms and other anachronistic seventies fashions in Neal's story were quite out of step in 1980.
DeleteGene Poole
To be fair Chris, Epic did also have its share of pretty alright work, like Charles Vess' Children of the Stars, the Bolton/Claremont Marada and even some Cerebus.
Delete-sean
Good catch!
DeleteLoved the Sim-Gerhard Cerebus in full colour! Now that was classic, and made me want to see the Aardvark in an animated feature.
Liked John Bolton on Marana- whatever became of him?
Regards,
Chris A.
Marada
DeleteSorry guys, these are all good points well made, but no one's ever gonna convince me Epic wasn't great. It was just one of THOSE comics for me, y'know?
ReplyDeleteNo, I liked Holocaust - its the thing besides the BWS cover that stuck in my mind from that issue.
ReplyDeleteSure, its a bit form over content, but thats ok because besides looking good, it does actually convey something. Mainly that Neal Adams is proper crazy... but thats him, the personality of the artist comes across.
Thats more my problem with something like UFO - maybe Conrad did have history with an alien encounter or something, but you won't get any sense of it from the story.
I must have missed the issue with the Barry Smith aliens, but I bet you at least learn something about him from it.
-sean
I remember there used to be a great online radio show where Vincent Zurzulo interviewed comic legends.
ReplyDeleteOne week he had Neal Adams on, who spent 5 minutes talking about Batman, then 55 minutes talking about his Hollow Earth theories.
In 55 minutes he didn't pause for breath once, and Zurzulo wasn't able to interject at any point.
The next week, Chaykin was on, and when Vincent said he'd had Adams in the week before, Howie went: 'Boy, I bet THAT was a trip, huh?'
Re: Smith. His lifelong series of UFO encounters was in a strip he did in Streetwise, and he goes into great detail about it in Opus 1 & 2 as well. Whether you believe him or not, it's fascinating reading.
Have you ever been in the presence of Howard Chaykin in full flow?
DeleteWhen that geezer thinks you're a trip...
Theres plenty of competent technicians around, but thats what you really want from comic creators, a bit of uh... personality.
Who else but Neal Adams would give us Batman on a pterodactyl?
(Ok, possibly not the best example as far as most readers are concerned)
-sean
Neal's comic book work of the '60s & '70s was peerless. He still did some good cover work here & there in the '80s, but by 2000 his drawings became quite wobbly & never recovered. His surface inks also became scratchy & unappealing, due to using sharpies & microns instead of traditional brushwork with Indian ink, as well as crowquill legwork (The old greats used the Gillot 290 & Hunt 102, for example). Neal discarded all of these...unfortunately...but I still enjoy his prolific & superb work of the '60s & '70s.
DeleteRegards,
Chris A.
Linework, not legwork
DeleteExactly!
ReplyDelete