HUMANOID NATURE: 3/5: TCFKAC, aka, CORALINE

**MattBrady** · 01-08-2003, 12:41 PM

It’s been a few months since Humanoids announced that Terry Dodson had signed on to illustrate the upcoming graphic album, Coraline (now known as The Comic Formerly Known as Coraline thanks to it sharing a name with Neil Gaiman’s recent young-adults novel) written by Denis-Pierre Filippi. Newsarama checked in with Dodson for an update on the project as well as a look at some early pages.

The story follows a young woman, Coraline, who responds to a rich landowner’s ‘Help Wanted’ ad. The job sounds simple enough at the outset – care for and provide distraction for the mansion’s young Master. Sounds easy, right?

”In a nutshell, the boy, Vernere, has become so consumed by his inventing that he has no time or inclination to be a normal child that plays for example,” Dodson said. “He is basically a workaholic at age 11 and locks himself away for days at a time in his workshop. Coraline is hired as governess to help him to return to his normal childhood. It sounds dry, but it's really more of a mystery/adventure story, what with her encounters with Vernere's inventions and then there are fantastical dream sequences - one which features pirates! Through these dreams she is able to resolve the boy's problems.”

As can be seen from the sample pages, the look of TCFKAC required a large chunk of design time. Given the time period in which the story is set, intricate was the buzzword of technology – millions of small, moving parts. Despite the story being fully written by the time Dodson came along, Filippi only gave rudimentary notes on design, allowing the artist to design the look of the entire world of Coraline from the ground up.

“This has been the most time consuming part of the project, because I basically had to design everything, from clothing to boats to houses, rooms, gadgets, etc,” Dodson said. “Almost every page I draw has some new element or elements that need to be designed.

Coraline meets one of the young master's inventions

“But the designing/inventing has proven to be the most fun for me,” Dodson said. “The story starts off in a realistic, approximately 1885, but once Coraline enters the estate of Vernere, the fantastic begins. I believe one of the descriptions on the initial outline for the story called the look of the inventions 'Verne-ish' as in Jules Verne. I had some mental pictures of Disney's 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea but couldn't find any real concrete reference for that. But through the process of research, I found hints of what I was going for in movies like Wild Wild West, City of Lost Children, and comics like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The word ‘steampunk’ was also used in descriptions and my only knowledge of this word was Chris Bachalo's Steampunk comic. So through more research, I found some more out about that, and since what I’m doing takes place in a world of the late Victorian era I added art nouveau/Mucha elements to give it I hope a unique look.”

Dodson has previously said that the schedule of TCFKAC allows him to do the best job possible. Expanding up on that idea for Newsarama, Dodson explained the simple benefit of working on a somewhat open-ended project.

“Basically, I have the ability to have the time to have the final artwork look like how I want it to look,” Dodson said. “Working on a monthly book, I have to take shortcuts in order to speed up the process and if a drawing isn't to my liking, oh well, no time to fix it. Here, I have time to think things through and correct that which I am not happy with. Plus, I could never draw this particular project on any sort of monthly schedule, what with dense 10-panel pages, and the vast amount of research and design work that goes into it.”

Something essential to both the schedule and content of the project, Dodson said, is Humanoids itself – willing to publish graphic albums on a more ‘European’ schedule, that is, when they are completed, rather than a pre-set ship date.

“I’ve been a fan of the European style graphic novel for a long time,” Dodson said. “When I went to France last year, I was amazed by the scope of what I saw. There were a variety of comic book albums everywhere. The Virgin Megastore had a whole floor dedicated to comics. You could even buy graphic novels at the airport snack bar! It was great to see that in France there are comic fans of both sexes and all ages. After seeing this, I knew I wanted to do a European style graphic album.

“As for the publishers, Humanoids had been one of companies that I was most familiar with, especially the work of Jodorowsky and Gimenez. Already being a fan of their stuff, I was genuinely interested in the prospect of doing my own album when they approached me – a project where I am able to do the whole thing myself.

“I was offered a number of projects by Humanoids, and picked the one that least resembled what I work on everyday for Marvel. Also, at this point Travis Charest was already working for them, so it seemed like a safe move. Plus, everyone I have dealt with has been great. It also doesn't hurt to know that the books will get wide distribution in Europe, where comic albums are everywhere and ready by men and women and people of all ages.

”Also, why not? It's something different; variety is good for an artist, or anybody for that matter. The writer, Denis-Pierre is French, so it's fun to get to know him and his culture - and practice my French by communicating with him. Marvel is treating me very well - Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso have plenty of great stuff for me to work on, and if I wanted to do a graphic novel at Marvel, I probable could. However, I’m already doing projects for Marvel so why not try something else? For now, it's nice to be able to have new experiences.”

As revealed when the project was announced, Dodson is handling all the art for TCFKAC - from pencils to digital inks and coloring. “As good of coloring jobs I have had in the past, it's never exactly what I had in mind,” Dodson said. “How could it be? How could someone guess what colors you were imagining or what kind of lighting or mood? Again, the big attraction of this job is to do the whole thing myself. I will color the whole thing myself and will only have someone assist because of time constraints. The finished product takes a lot of work, but I have been given a great amount of freedom and the feedback and criticism I have received from Humanoids has been top notch.”

While monthly projects such as Spider-Man/Black Cat and fill-ins on Wolverine will continue to pay the bills for Dodson, projects such as TCFKAC have found a spot on his workload for the foreseeable future.

“My Marvel schedule can be very busy at times and so in order to do other work I have to schedule it carefully,” Dodson said. “The Coraline schedule allows me to fit in all my Marvel work and yet allows plenty of time to be able to do the quality of work I want to do and usually don't have the time to do at a regular company.

“It's great to work on stuff that comes out regularly and playing with the icons of the industry, but it's also nice to work on more lengthy involved projects,” Dodson said. “The combination of the two is ideal for me as an artist.”

Humanoids anticipates a fourth quarter ’03 or early ’04 release of TCFKAC, which will have a new name by then.

Interest in Humanoids piqued? Click here to enter Newsarama’s Humanoid Nature contest, and have a shot at winning a Humanoids Starter Pack!

Aaron Weisbrod · 01-08-2003, 01:02 PM

An interesting story with jaw-droppingly gorgeous art?

Yeah... I think I'll be buying this when it comes out!

Euro-trash,
Aaron Weisbrod

sythspawn · 01-08-2003, 01:52 PM

This looks like fantastic fun for a huge Dodson fan like me. I can't wait to see it!

Jeremy Holstein · 01-08-2003, 01:54 PM

Anyone else get a giggle out of seeing "Spiderman/Black Cat" referred to as "Monthly"?

dexstar · 01-08-2003, 02:17 PM

Looking good Terry!

PresidenteForLife · 01-08-2003, 02:17 PM

I guess this explains why he turned down the Wonder Woman monthly. Too bad. It would've been nice to see Adam Huges...er...Dodson draw a book that someone will actually see.

Brandon Peterson · 01-08-2003, 02:24 PM

A great artist doing great work for a great company. What more can you ask for? I'll take 2 copies, please.

pmpknface · 01-08-2003, 02:47 PM

I remember hearing about this a while ago. Now that we've got a little more preview art I'm even more psyched for this book!

Humanoids is certainly an up-and-coming publisher. With books like this, Metal Hurlant, and last year's MISS: Better Living Through Crime I'm starting to have more and more trust in their products.

FYI - "MISS" was awesome.

PresidentForLife - I thought many people saw Dodson's run on Harley Quinn and was enjoying Spider-Man/Black Cat (or waiting for it at least). Hughes is good, but when's the last time he did any sequential work?

mario boon · 01-08-2003, 05:54 PM

now this is what I would buy from Dodson.
From what we've seen, it's very low on the cheese cake, wich is only a good thing. I mean have you seen his previews of Wolverine/Punisher? Fighting in a toy store? They look like choir boys! Totally wrong casting of artist!!

I probably will buy this when it comes out in Europe. It will be cheaper and in hardcover.

PresidenteForLife · 01-08-2003, 08:43 PM

[quote]Originally posted by pmpknface:
PresidentForLife - I thought many people saw Dodson's run on Harley Quinn and was enjoying Spider-Man/Black Cat (or waiting for it at least). Hughes is good, but when's the last time he did any sequential work?

It's been a while since he worked on Harley, and I'd hardly call Black Cat a monthly. Quarterly, maybe.

You're right on at least one point. Terry Dodson is no Adam Hughes.

Brandon Peterson · 01-08-2003, 09:00 PM

Though I'm sure Terry doesn't need the likes of me defending him, I believe the biggest delays in the Black Cat mini have been from the writing end, as Kevin Smith has publicly apologized a few times for late comics as he has been involved in filming Jersey Girl as of late. Also, Terry isn't Adam Hughes, and I don't think he's ever claimed to be, but Adam's influences are very apparent, along with Micheal Golden and a host of other artists influences. Hold a piece of Terry's current art next to Adam's current art and the differences are quite apparent. The whole "Hughes clone" label has been very inappropriate for Terry's work for some time, at least in my opinion, and I know several artists that would agree with me. Anyway, good is good, and that's good enough for me.

FireLight · 01-08-2003, 09:10 PM

"...a workaholic at age 11 and locks himself away for days at a time in his workshop."

So she's basically the DeeDee to his Dexter...

...but older, taller and more endowed.

coreybean · 01-08-2003, 09:34 PM

Couldn't one argue that Hughes is an Alphonse Mucha clone? Who's aping who?

beta-ray · 01-08-2003, 10:21 PM

Agreed Mr. Peterson, although comparisons can be made (as one can make with most art), Dodson is quite different from Hughes. I like both (and am a big Golden fan as well). *shrug*

This looks pretty good as I am a fan of Dodson as well. Not sure how it will fit in with the rest of Humanoids publishings (doesn't have that European "feel"), but I will probably be picking it up.

Regarding the Humanoids stuff, I haven't been so entranced by the stories... However Charest's work on Alpha/Omega stunned me and am drooling over what he will be doing for them next!

PresidenteForLife · 01-09-2003, 06:01 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Brandon Peterson:
Though I'm sure Terry doesn't need the likes of me defending him...

I stand by what I said.

On a totally different subject...

How's that internet porn these days, Brandon?

Brandon Peterson · 01-09-2003, 10:10 AM

[quote]Originally posted by PresidenteForLife:

I stand by what I said.

On a totally different subject...

How's that internet porn these days, Brandon?

Well, that's an intelligent response to what I said. I was hoping for a "your momma" joke or some decent swearing, but that'll do I suppose. I'm sure internet porn is doing fine these days.

dexstar · 01-09-2003, 04:14 PM

[quote]Originally posted by PresidenteForLife:

How's that internet porn these days, Brandon?

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brandon Peterson · 01-09-2003, 04:33 PM

[quote]Originally posted by dexstar:

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, that's not painful. A bizarre, rude innuendo isn't painful. What's painful is being some guy who goes on message boards anonymously to tear people and things down so he can feel better about himself, perhaps giving himself a grand title while doing it so he won't feel so small.

Frank Cho · 01-09-2003, 10:05 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Brandon Peterson:
Terry isn't Adam Hughes, and I don't think he's ever claimed to be, but Adam's influences are very apparent, along with Micheal Golden and a host of other artists influences. Hold a piece of Terry's current art next to Adam's current art and the differences are quite apparent. The whole "Hughes clone" label has been very inappropriate for Terry's work for some time, at least in my opinion, and I know several artists that would agree with me. Anyway, good is good, and that's good enough for me.

Bravo! Very well said, Brandon!

Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson are great talents in this field. Not to mention, good people.

I can't wait to see this published. It looks like a winner.

Frank Cho
LIBERTY MEADOWS

Chad Spilker · 01-10-2003, 12:27 AM

Wow!
This looks, easily, to be Mr. Dodson's best work to date. The attention to detail is phenomenal, when compared to what a monthly schedule allows him. I can't wait to hold this book in my hands, and savor every page!
Keep the good stuff coming, Terry (and Rachel)!!!

Chad Spilker
http://www.spilkerart.com/

Wade @ Sighnub.com · 01-10-2003, 10:39 AM

Mr. Dodson is an amazing artist, and I can't wait to see some finished pieces from this book, because what I've seen so far is incredible.

And by the way, THAT is how a woman should be built - makes Jennifer Aniston look like a sickly Catholic schoolgirl.

Elayne Riggs · 01-10-2003, 11:33 AM

[quote]Originally posted by Wade @ Sighnub.com:
And by the way, THAT is how a woman should be built...

They're building them now?

- Elayne

**MattBrady** · 01-10-2003, 02:29 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Elayne Riggs:
They're building them now?

Yeah - I got mine that way. It was like one of those teddy bear places at the mall...

MattB

Wade @ Sighnub.com · 01-10-2003, 03:34 PM

[quote]Originally posted by Elayne Riggs:

They're building them now?

- Elayne

Oi vey! I think everyone knows what I meant, and that it wasn't a sexist comment or disgusting innuendo. I appreciate that an artist is drawing a woman a little more realistically than a pencil with breasts.

And yes, whether you are Creationist or Evolutionist, I think you can safely say that women are built. Either according to a design by a creator or gene by gene, cell by cell.

So there!

Thanks for the fun Elayne!

IdFungus · 01-10-2003, 05:28 PM

[quote]Originally posted by PresidenteForLife:

I stand by what I said.

On a totally different subject...

How's that internet porn these days, Brandon?

One big difference between Adam and Terry is Terry has shown he can do a monthly comic.

Black Cat's delays are Kevin Smith's production slowing not Terry's. Terry is patiently awaiting the next script.

...Brando, you do porn? You gotta share bro!

- IdFungus