Something Stinks! (8)
Last Updated (Monday, 21 June 2010 09:32) Written by Administrator Wednesday, 16 June 2010 00:00
Here's another "I can draw like the pros page".
Script Notes
The source of the better-quality writing!
When I returned to this comic I was interested by some of the out-of-place nuggets of quality writing that appeared in it here and there. I remembered, even after 30 odd years that it must have come from the 1977 novelisation. So, I was happy to find that I still had it - and settled down to read. It's quite an enjoyable read too. However, the writing style is weirdly inconsistent. It wavers between a shooting script in one paragraph - and beautifully poetic literature in the next!
Chapter 1 is indeed lovely:
"It was a vast shining globe and it cast a light of lambent topaz into space-but it was not a sun"
Good grief! Our George is a gifted writer!
"Long streaks of intense energy slid close past its (Tantive's) hull, a multihued storm of destruction like a school of rainbow remoras fighting to attach themselves to a larger, unwilling host".
...their faces as worry-wrinkled as their uniforms,"
I immediately suspected that George Lucas - the credited author - was either a bit of a magpie, or he was assisted by another writer to spruce it up. Or... to fill-in bits. Well, apparently, Alan Dean Foster was the helping hand. He of Splinter of the Mind's Eye and the Alien novelisation.
It's a nice book to still own. Pity I painted the inside-back cover with black poster paint. Weird!
Art Notes: Something Stinks!
I'm guessing that this page is from around 1982 when I was in secondary school. So I was about 14 years old. You can be sure that I kept all knowledge of this stuff from my classmates who were all into AC/DC by then. What I did let slip was enough for me to be branded "Spacer". It was pretty hurtful but I suppose if they'd waited until I was in art college with long hair and dressed like a cross between a hippy and a head banger it would have taken on a certain caché. After my 2000AD comic was kicked from one end of the school to the other - before I'd even read it - I decided to keep a low profile where Sci-Fi and comics were concerned! Good old sellotape.
Anyway, my mind was set: I was going to be a comic artist.
Pheuwww!
"the dark smoking patch adds to the rebels terror!"
Check out the brown smoke. I reckon the Empire's chosen to enter the ship via the Sanitation Block!
Typography
Marvel's version 1977
That "WHINE" type looks good doesn't it? Mini-me can't take any credit though. It's from Marvel's expressive - albeit somewhat iffy first issue. I'd like to name the letterer but I can't find a credit for him I'm afraid.
On Friday: Big-time blasting and violence!
Comments
LOL, George is a magpie. After the following, I believe you.
"Long streaks of intense energy slid close past its (Tantive's) hull, a multihued storm of destruction like a school of rainbow remoras fighting to attach themselves to a larger, unwilling host".
BTW: I thought the Lucas / Foster writing was bloated and over indulgent, often slowing down the pacing by these unexpected moments when the narrative would break out into poetic prose. I don't know if it improves beyond the first chapter as that is far as I've re-read in recent years, but the example you gave was perfect as I remember reacting to it with mild shock.
(Usual payment to my Cayman Islands numbered account.)
Always happy to collaborate.