Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Who are you at Supanova? Ew ew - Ew ew

Eddie Campbell and Daren White
Eddie, is like Tom Cruise, a foreigner who married a local and because he's talented he becomes one of us.
I met Eddie at my first Brisbane Supanova and he seemed really cool. I didn't get him to sketch in my Japanese themed sketchbook which i was shoving under the nose of every artist i met. But we talked about the use of second person future-past tense in How to become an artist - ("You will eat a mango with your fingers, they will become sticky and sweet. You will write a story about it.") Talked about how he must have been a patient chap when doing promo stuff for "from hell" because it either was questions about Alan Moore or the journalist had no idea who Alan Moore was.
I also got a look at the painted pages for Batman: order of the Beast which looked beautiful. BOOTB was a great little book which i think due to its price and subject matter (coupled with people's fatigue with the whole Elseworlds franchise) didn't get much of a look in by fandom (here or abroad). A personal favourite, i thought it would get a bit more attention at the Ledgers, (for Daren White's writing and Campbell's art) so if you can grab a copy.
The Alec Macgarry stuff runs hot and dry for me; how to be an artist is fantastic, but after the snooter didn't click - though I'll probably grab '3 piece suit' - a collection of short pstories because i'm a short story nut. i think the Bacchus stuff is really cool.
In terms of mainstream work (ie men in tights), last year Eddie did Captain America 28,29 (or 29,30), the thought still does my head in (Its like Carl Barks doing Sin City) but it was kind of cool. otherwise, X-Men 400 and some hellblazer comics were also done by a freelancing Eddie.
Coming up, i think I read somewhere he's doing more Batman, a noir detective comic for a book publisher and another Alec book in colour (I may be making this up, i'm not sure)

Daren White, wrote Batman:order of the batman and wrote it well. In my book though his claim to fame is putting together the excellent DeeVee anthology. I never read the Inspots/Fox comics stuff but if it was anyway as good as DeeVee i may have to track it down. Filled with local and New Zealand talent, there was rarely a dud - sometimes the art was a bit iffy but the writing always intelligent.
I was flicking through some of the issues over the weekend and I couldn't help but stop and read. They'll be a new issue out in Brisbane and I'll be first in line to grab a copy. Daren's Playwright is a fascinating study of a creator, kind of like Alec but more depressing, the scope is a bit larger and its a bit more satisfying (this is why i don't do reviews). I hope there will be a graphic novel of the Playwright soon but for some reason not holding my breath. DeeVee provided a lot of local talent world exposure; Ord, Mutard, Tang, Carvan, etc so its a shame its not published more often.
I haven't met Daren, but he was nice enough to provide a prize for last years 24 Hour challenge, so he's either easily persuaded or a nice guy.

The two, and I'm sure others, will be in Artists' Alley for Supanova weekend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark

We did meet briefly at the SupaNova before last. I recall selling you a 2001 and Molotov ;-)

The Playwright graphic Novel is quite likely and I'm looking forward to getting it out there. It's actually a romance, although you wouldn't know it form the chapters that have seen print so far.

Me and Eddie did write more Batman and hope to grab more in San Diego this year. Two issue's of Legends of the Dark Knight were finished last November and have been drawn by Bart Sears, I believe. I don't really know his style (other than the Violator mini with Alan Moore) but Joey C says he's changed his style to suit our story, which is an ER episode with the Joker. Quite Dark but understated. It should be out in December.

I'll give you a yell at the Con.

Cheers

Daren

Anonymous said...

...and while I think of it, Eddie's "The Fate of the Artist" is with Mick Evans for digital production at the moment. It'll go any day now. 96 pages, fully painted paperback. Very Noice. Probably his best work.

Mark Selan said...

Thanks for rattling my brain, it was you that sold me Molotov, sorry.

The Joker in ER sounds interesting, not as interesting as the Joker in the OC but what is?

Please yell at me at the con - something nice.