SWITCHBLADE HONEY [Archive]

MattBrady

05-26-2003, 08:33 AM

<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/SHCover.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/SHCover_t.jpg" width="175" height="262" border="0" hspace="2" align="right"></a>AiT/PlanetLar Publisher Larry Young has provided Newsarama with a four page preview of July’s Switchblade Honey by Warren Ellis and Brandon McKinney. The black and white, 88 page story is in what Young calls “God’s own format: the Original Graphic Novel.”

Young continues: “Lushly rendered through the magic of the synthesis dead-tree technology with the miracle of Photoshop, Brandon McKinney's strong lines and lush tones give life to Warren Ellis' strong words and harsh truths. Available the first week of July with the Diamond preorder code MAY03 1905

Cover design by Brian Wood and lettering and book design by Ryan Yount and Whiskey Island.”

As previously reported, the project has been in the works for over a year, and was announced well before Ellis signing an exclusive contract with DC. As Ellis describes the OGN on his website:

<blockquote>"The alien Chasta put their war machine into gear and we were immediately in the worst fight we've ever known. And we've risen to it as if we were the Marines. Direct. Brutal. Occasionally stupid. Allowing people to fight and command regardless of suitability. Allowed the service to become even more corrupt than it was when we were hunting new colony sites.

"And we've lost.

"The solar system will be annexed by the Chasta within the next thirty days.

"We can't be the US Army anymore. Now we have to be the Viet Cong."

<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/Other_Publishers/SHOrbit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/Other_Publishers/SHOrbit_t.jpg" width="175" height="266" border="0" align="left"></a>"I'm giving you a ship and sending you out into space as guerrilla fighters. Get clear of the system, find yourselves somewhere to hide between sorties, prepare yourselves.

"And strike from behind. Shoot from cover. If you can't give them hell, give them shit. They'll throw a ring of steel around the system as they close in on Earth -- so poke holes in it.

"You'll be on your own. No support. Naval vessels won't even recognise your callsign. You don't exist."

72 pages, black and white, illustrated by Brandon McKinney. From Ait/PlanetLar in summer 2003.</blockquote>

Click on the thumbnails for larger versions.

<center><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_21.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_21_t.jpg" width="150" height="232" alt="page 21" border="0" hspace="2"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_22.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_22_t.jpg" width="150" height="232" alt="page 22" border="0" hspace="2"></a>

<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_23_Lens_Flare.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_23_Lens_Flare_t.jpg" width="150" height="232" alt="page 23" border="0" hspace="2"></a><a href="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_24.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/AiT/Page_24_t.jpg" width="150" height="232" alt="page 24" border="0" hspace="2"></a> </center>

Harry Tzvi Keusch

05-26-2003, 09:42 AM

I am very wary about comics from Warren Ellis. Sometimes I am very disapointed (see BAD WORLD and some of the STRANGE KISS sequells from Avatar Press), other times it's a pleasure.

I will wait to see the price tag on this. BTW, what is the page count on this - 88 or 72 (both numbers appear in the article).

Oh, and lest I dorget - First post. :p

Slappy san

05-26-2003, 10:32 AM

The mechanical stuff looks nice....the people look yuck.

Tellos0

05-26-2003, 11:28 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Harry Tzvi Keusch:
I will wait to see the price tag on this. BTW, what is the page count on this - 88 or 72 (both numbers appear in the article).<hr /></blockquote>Price tag is $9.95, and I cant remember the page count.

Raj

05-26-2003, 11:50 AM

72 pages, black and white, illustrated by Brandon McKinney. From Ait/PlanetLar in summer 2003.

Cloak & Dagger

05-26-2003, 12:22 PM

Where does Ellis FIND these artists? It's like the guy is some kind of talent scout for comic artist. He'd make a great scout, come to think of it.

ctsmith83

05-26-2003, 01:46 PM

I'd like to know how Ellis manages to continually punch out these projects with amatuerish artists. His big company works have decent artists, but his Avatar work (and the like) looks like it's been drawn by artists who aren't quite adept at their craft yet. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

Larry Young

05-26-2003, 02:03 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Cloak & Dagger:
Where does Ellis FIND these artists? It's like the guy is some kind of talent scout for comic artist. He'd make a great scout, come to think of it.<hr /></blockquote>Lucasfilm illustrator Brandon McKinney has been a professional artist for over fifteen years. He's worked on illustrations for the three Indy movies, the five Star Wars movies, and Mask of Zorro. In comics he's worked on Godzilla, Elfquest, and his own Journeyman.

SWITCHBLADE HONEY is his finest work to date.

L.

heeBGB

05-26-2003, 02:30 PM

Interesting to note that this project is being promoted mostly on the alleged strength and popularity of it's writer, yet the preview consists of five pages of contextless, script-free art.

Larry Young

05-26-2003, 02:48 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by heeBGB:
Interesting to note that this project is being promoted mostly on the alleged strength and popularity of it's writer, yet the preview consists of five pages of contextless, script-free art.<hr /></blockquote>If you promise not to comment on the 72 dpi art scans and attendant quality loss on the lettering, I'll offer up that .pdf that's been up for a while all over the Internet...

<a href="http://www.ait-planetlar.com/SH.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.ait-planetlar.com/SH.pdf</a>

Dan Feeser

05-26-2003, 03:20 PM

"Warren Ellis space adventure." I preordered this in Previews based on those four words. I'm really looking forward to this.

Harry - I can see not quite liking the Strange Kiss books, but Bad World is amazing. No it's not sequential storytelling, but damn, is it rereadable. Scary and funny all at once.

Todd VerBeek

05-26-2003, 03:44 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Slappy san:
The mechanical stuff looks nice....the people look yuck.<hr /></blockquote>By contrast, my first thought was that they people look nice, but the mechanical stuff looks... mechanical. :)

COREMARK

05-26-2003, 07:20 PM

I will be picking this book up, Ellis' work is always a good read, and I think the art looks decent as well.

Kid A

05-26-2003, 08:23 PM

Journeyman and Orbiter were good. I will buy this as well and nothing you can say will stop me! Hear me? NOTHING! :mad:

OMAR

05-27-2003, 02:39 AM

A new space story from Ellis, while Ministry of Space goes unfinished. Somehow I'd rather have the color book that is published by an A-list company, but maybe that's just me.

What's next, he has the kid at Kinko's run off a few copies of his grocery list and sells those? Bet he'd still get coverage from Newsarama...

ctsmith83

05-27-2003, 01:08 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Larry Young:
Lucasfilm illustrator Brandon McKinney has been a professional artist for over fifteen years. He's worked on illustrations for the three Indy movies, the five Star Wars movies, and Mask of Zorro. In comics he's worked on Godzilla, Elfquest, and his own Journeyman.<hr /></blockquote>So he's mainly been a storyboard illustrator. This sequential work, unfortunately, still looks amatuerish. The backgrounds and ships look decent enough, but the figure and facial work just doesn't do it for me. It looks like late 80s, early 90s Tim Vigil Silver Wolf work to me. Sorry... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

Bink

05-27-2003, 02:40 PM

I'm floored by this stuff, especially the way the use of perspective, blacks and tones give the work a cinematic immediacy and veracity. Brandon's past comics work has been competent and engaging, but Switchblade Honey is a giant leap forward for him. I think the expressions are vivid, the faces solid and dimensional. I'm impressed by this art, and mystified as to where some of the commentary is coming from.

(CT, you realize that storyboard work IS sequential, I hope.)

JH

ctsmith83

05-27-2003, 04:18 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Bink:
I think the expressions are vivid, the faces solid and dimensional. I'm impressed by this art, and mystified as to where some of the commentary is coming from.<hr /></blockquote>Like I said before, I've seen this kind of figure and face work many times before in the 80s and early 90s and I didn't like it then. It looks the same to me and I expect a different level of artwork today. I'm not seeing the same level of competency that you are, sorry. I have looked at a number of AiT/PlanetLar projects that have been highly recommended and the artwork on almost every one of them has made me put the book back on the rack. I guess I just have different expectations and artistic tastes.

<blockquote>quote:<hr />(CT, you realize that storyboard work IS sequential, I hope.)<hr /></blockquote>Yes, storyboard work is sequential, but it is a different form of sequential art. Being a good storyboard artist will not necessarily make you a good comic book artist and vice versa.