This is the comic I made for this year's festival. I don't know how big the screens you guys are using so it might be that the text is difficult to read, or you have to pan around horizontally... I really hope not. This is a byproduct of the format I used for this page. I uh, I printed this on A1 size (84x59cm). Keep in mind most comics are printed A4 or smaller. Sadly I didn't take a picture of it in the show as I 1) don't carry a photographic camera with me and 2) don't hang around my exhibit due to shame that I'm still trying to eradicate.
Also I guess this would be needed so you get both the macro and the micro view of the piece as the people in the show did. Pay attention to overarching elements in this thumbnail, they help with understanding the comic.
And yes, about understanding the comic. Hm, this is my most recent work and it's riding on this wave of post-analysis I've been indulging in lots on this blog so everything and I mean everything in this comic is calculated to support a thesis on instinct, determinism, id/superego clash etc etc the things we've been discussing here for the last 5 months. As such I have a very lucid idea about what I've done but not so much if I've accomplished it in the eyes of other readers. Now I could preempt you and tell you what it's about and so on but I'd rather if you'd feel compelled to read it carefully and make up your own mind. I just say these things to urge you to trust me that it's not just a 'whacky' collection of events, it will reward patient and exploratory readings.
On the technical level this page is an exploration of the digital way to make comics, as it was made at 1200 dpi in A3 size (that's a lot of pixels) completely in Manga Studio 3 Ex within the course of 13 days or so, about 3-4 hours of work a day. The work I'd otherwise put into 4-5 pages of comics went into this single page. The reason I went this way was because I wanted to make a comic that felt like a plot of a whole 2 hour movie in a single page. Sorta like a trailer. Condensed storytelling. I wanted to see if it was possible. It is. Successful? You tell me. Just keep in mind that there could be like, heh, 10 pages of comics between each panel.
The theme of the show was the number '13' (and obviously, bad luck). The format of the comic uses 13 panels, and the top part of the page as far as layout goes is the exact 180 degree rotation of the bottom part. The theme is very vaguely bad-luck-ish but that's as far as I tried to stick to it. I don't think '13' makes for good stories, personally, so I decided to veer off-path just as much as I needed to tell a good story. I am content with this to the degree that while I was preparing it on a piece of paper I brainstormed a lot of little quirks and ideas I wanted to put in it and after I was done I counted and realized about 80% of them made it in and not in a disruptive way. It felt 'right' to put that sort of effort in a single piece of art.
There are some bits of text here that do not translate very well. There is a 'gag' in the naming of the characters (especially the name of the father) which is also pertinent to the storyline but you'd have to have done some sort of Hellenistic studies I guess to get it. I'll just spoil that little bit because most of you have not read about ancient Greek drama theater. All the characters in this comic are named after marginally related characters in ancient Greek dramatic theater. All that is, besides the father figure. To draw a useful parallel to Shakespearian drama: imagine this comic where everybody's named stuff like Tristian and Benvolio and Martius but there's one dude inexplicably named Burt. Completely outside of the drama paradigm. I wonder why... hmm.
There's also a few other plays on words that do not translate, but nothing that spoils the story, I think. It's just a shame you heathens can't read Greek.
Also, here's the variation page that was put up right next to the main page. It reads "Variation for Impatient Readers". It's a joke about how people really just skim over the text in the comics presented in these festivals. On that panel that I didn't have a clean background to leave I just threw in an upside-down Manos Antaras as his severe stare seemed to fit the stark emptiness.
There is a surrealist painter involved in the original comic. First one to note in the comments who he is and how he's exploited cruelly by me, gets my admiration. Obviously, besides this, I welcome all communication and well-meaning critique as this is very new and it would be very applicable for me right now to better my art.
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Page 5 of 5.
Oh my, the yellow page. Everything happened (down to the Super Mario stand-in taxi driver) like in the comic. The actual drawing here is a bit rushed in places but I... was in a rush. To feed, to clean up and finally to sleep were incandescent bright priorities at this point, not a silly comic. You're not supposed to make a full story in a single day now I know.
I'm not aware if it's customary in heathen lands for taxi drivers, especially when they pick up people from commute stations, to try to fit in as many people as possible and then entertain their brains by trying to figure out the optimal route that hits all the drop points, but in Greece it's something of a high art. Although of course, completely illegal. I have sheldom taken taxis when I travel abroad because as I've found, they're too expensive. Your savage, heathen lands happen to have developed and trustworthy public transportation systems in place that suit the populance and therefore you don't resort to taxis a lot. In the highly magnificent pillar of civilization that is Greece, if after the train ride (which is dependable but smelly) I wait for the bus to take me home, I might be waiting anything from 30 minutes to three times that. Completely up to the drivers whim. I dislike that position so I customarily spend the 5 euros for the cab ride from Kyfisia to Drosia (which is "wherever the hell home is").
And yeah, the dude in the front got of literally 100 meters later from where he got in. I guess the slight rain and his expensive suit wouldn't mix. This should have been an observation panel in itself really, but, much like a panel needed between 'I headed home' and the fucking toilet that would establish what 'home' was, I was too tired and cut corners. Perhaps a few more panels of the small-talk that occurred between me and flirty mcsexy eyes over there would be prudent because it was interesting how I assumed the role of THE GREAT OBSERVATOR. I noted everything she said with her friend, her bag, her clothing, how she laughed. I judged and spared with the kindness reserved for heart-struck fools. I wondered how our love would be and her body's contour on my satin sheets high in my castle of solitude soon to be renamed. All in all, I should have made another page. But. 24 hours. Tired. Not a robot - sadly. No, wait, not sadly! I'm happy to be a human being, to have tender fleshy meat-thing emotions that when upset can send me spiralling out of daily control and into patters on slow but assured psychological self-destruction.
:(
I hope you liked the comic and you don't feel too irritated by proxy. It was a turning point of me definitely towards the better, so it's an experience that - besides the occasional milking for comics and party conversation - is actually pretty important to me, in all its mundanity. Honestly, I could have gone on narrating from that point onwards to today (it would take about 3,000 pages of comics, I think) and it would be a consistent call-and-response model. Echoes of the choices I made during that time resonate to everything that happens to me today. I wouldn't make that comic because I don't think that when I die and St. Peter asked me what I did with my life I should answer 'oh I made an existentialist comic starring myself working through adolescence to maturity'. It's just not the right thing to say. The right answer is:
"I did everything I desired.
I became a human being.
I live forever."
So, yes, still working on that.
P.S. My friend Esseb (yes I know, what an informative website!) also attempted this, and it turns out I didn't mess up as much as I thought! Some of the outfits are ridiculous but I needed them to be different from each other!
P.S.2 Tomorrow I will have at least 100 of the 500 books I'm printing. If those run out during the festival (which, here's hoping, will happen) I am sure from the 21st to the 23rd or 24th, I can run back and get more. Excited about the festival, excited about everything. Yet another good day with brilliant and kind sunlight. I hope everything is well in your life too, reader.
-Helm
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Page 4 of 5.
The whites here were put in photoshop after the fact, as while I was drawing this the deadline was looming and I decided to just finish the story and do the highlight work later. It didn't take more than half an hour later on at home with photoshop, but you'd be surprised what strange judgment calls you make on what is worth doing after 20 hours of drawing or so.
If you notice this page is generally more discreetly drawn, it is because I switched mostly from the pentel brush to a regular 0.2 and 0.1 pigment marker. This is my usual style really, the brush is something of a new thing. So when I revert to markers, there's instantly more control. I still used the pentel for the SEAS OF UNCOMFORT and the EMOTIONAL RAIN effect. A half-empty pentel + textured paper = lots of interesting dry brush effects one can try.
I am really fond of the 'longing stare' panel. The little Beholder thought bubbles are a nice visual trick I think that really explain the mentality in question.
Sadly for anyone who might to reassemble the girls in photoshop, I think I kinda confused myself at some point so it might not work out completely. Still the point carries through, I hope.
Kyfisia is just an Athenian suburb, 'high-class'. It is my stepping stone from downtown Athens to home (I live in Drosia, even further out, "with the wolves" as we say). It takes me about 30 minutes to get from Athens to Kyfisia with the train, spanning about 15 stops along the way. I didn't think it would be possible to meet her again given that she'd probably get off at any point between these 15 stops, so this is why the inner conflict quickly turned academic. I should have explained this point a bit more clearly in the comic but I was getting tired and my storytelling was deteriorating. I hope it still makes sense without the extra knowledge of how the Greek train communication system works.
Robert Mitchum is a bit of an inside joke between myself and Thanos in that he encapsulates all there is about being a man. I made this once and it sorta stuck.
On other news, as far as I know book is being printed (will call to be certain tomorrow), I am planning a NEW COMIC (it's basically subverted pornography). I found out Manga Studio 4 EX was out and successfully stole it (I swear if I ever become rich enough I will pay you the 300 dollars, SmithMicro software) and it has a very really really interesting new features I'm going to try in the next few days. I'll wrap up this comic in a couple of days from now and then Vavel festival is going to happen so expect a stopgap post with pictures and reflections on the event (I hope you don't mind). Then it'll be back to posting comics and also perhaps a few comic theory posts about the comic I'm going to make next. Actually, this is something I want to discuss with you... usually I don't really talk about the comic I'm making in detail until it's done. Would you be interested in following and providing feedback to the process of creation before it is finalized? Keep in mind that this is a cost/benefit thing. On one hand the mechanics of the comic are laid bare and you won't be 'surprised' by it when you read it in the end. On the other hand, the mechanics of the comic are laid bare and you will get a good glimpse at how they work. Also you will be implicated quite directly through feedback with making a comic better. How's that sound? Let me know in the comments, along with any questions or observations about the page above.
I am in good spirits today. The weather outside is beautiful too.
-Helm
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