CURSED PLANET

Cursed Planet 1
Cursed Planet 2
Cursed Planet 3

Cursed Planet 4
Cursed Planet 5
Cursed Planet 6
Cursed Planet 7
Cursed Planet 8

Our pal Tony Sandoval did this for us:




You can see some of his work here:

Deviant

Paquet

Caligrama

Editorial Resistencia

Interview!

We were interviewed over at the Zudafan blog!

"(...)We want to tell a fun story, first of all, and take the reader to exotic places and situations, kind of bringing back some that unabashed awe that adventure fiction used to have in the early 20th century and that was eventually replaced for the bleaker viewpoint of cyberpunk and the new millennium... and mix it up."

Read the entire interview here.

Gabriel Espinosa Sketch

Time-lapse Coloring

A time lapse coloring of an early design of Nari Sidorova done by Felipe.




Here´s the final image:

The song Felipe used is called "Boy Bomb (Beck vs M.I.A.)", a mash-up by The Illuminoids, which you can download from their website:

http://illuminoids.com/

Andrew Milligan Sketch

Previous Collaborations Part 2

As I was saying yesterday, some people have been curious as to what other projects we have done as a team and sharing samples of those collaborations has been the idea of both yesterday’s post and this one.

So here we go.

VIRTUAL LAZARUS (Working Title)

This one was a story that I had since 1999 if I remember correctly. One of those ideas that come and go, come and go but for whatever reason (artists attached to it, publishers showing interest) hasn’t yet found a home. Several times I tried to leave the story behind but somehow it kept returning. Last year the Sobreiros did some sample pages so we could show it to editors but for truly committing to the full story, first we have to finish other things.

REMNANTS

I heard that Popgun (the anthology published by Image Comics) was accepting submissions and got in touch with the editors. They liked our work and asked to see our proposal. This was a tough one because deadlines were tight and Milton still had a very demanding day job at that time. This story was published in Popgun V1, an excellent (and I must say at a very affordable price) anthology.

Previous Collaborations Part 1

During the past two weeks Felipe and I have been asked if we (Milton, Felipe and I) have had collaborations that preceded Cursed Planet.

We will like to share a sample of these previous collaborations (both those that have been published and those that are still looking for a home):

So without further ado:

LIVING MORPHEUS

I had the full script done a couple of years before Milton, Felipe and I formed a team. When I saw Milton’s art I rewrote it a little bit and they did a couple of pages that were sent to Heavy Metal in late 2005. We never heard back. We moved on and started a second collaboration but we felt that Morpheus was a strong proposal so the Sobreiros decided to “grab the bull by the horns” and decided to rework (we had been collaborating for a year now, learning from each other) and complete the story in late 2006 We sent it again and this time Heavy Metal picked it up! It was published in early 2007 in the “Spring Genesis Special”.

THE HOLY ONE (still a working title)

Co-written with my friend Carlos Garcia Campillo, “The Holy One” was originally conceived about seven years ago. A couple of artists were attached to it but the project never truly took off so we all moved on. In early 2006 Campillo and I talked about it and decided to bring “The Holy One” back from the dead and offer the project to the Sobreiros. It was originally conceived as a 100 pp graphic novel (a Mexican company was going to publish it but unfortunately negotiations came to a stop there) but we have been tweaking it a little bit to divide it into three 48 pp chapters. The good thing is that with all the work we (especially the Sobreiros) put behind this, almost two complete European sized books are ready.





Tomorrow we´ll upload more images, of different stories.

Anatomy Of A Page

There are more sketches to come during the following days but today I’ll like to share with you a step by step process of how we have been working on Cursed Planet.

After the initial idea I wrote down a very loose plot, most of it was being rewritten as the first pages were done. The Zuda competition rules prohibit me from advancing the story forward so I can’t show you the sample plot.

The next step was to do a full script of the 8 pages we were going to submit. Thankfully this time I didn’t have to do many drafts (I think there were in total three drafts where I changed minor things) to reach the desired result. Sometimes I get obsessed with reworking my scripts, especially during the first scenes.

Here’s the full script of Cursed Planet’s first page:

Cursed Planet

Page 1

Panel 1: Rectangular Panel. We are in the future, in a planet with an atmosphere similar to that of our Earth. We open in what seems to be a savannah – similar to those of present day Africa – but I think it’s convenient to use colors not normally associated with this kind of terrain, to make it look bizarre from our perspective. This doesn’t just apply here but along our entire story. In the background we see a spaceship – I suggest that we think, as our starting point, what we know as “flying saucers” and from there you guys propose something but if you want to go in a different route, please go ahead – that’s obviously damaged, even missing part of its structure.

I suggest that panel 3 and 4 are slightly bigger than 2 and 5.

Panel 2: We pull in towards the entrance to the spaceship.

Panel 3: We still see the entrance of the spaceship but now, having just entered scene, we see a motorcycle that has no wheels and never touches the ground (if this turns out to be too similar to Star Wars please think in a different design) and is being driven by one of our main characters, Gabriel Espinosa. I don’t have a clear idea how Espinosa is dressed so that’s entirely up to you (just please keep in mind what we have talked about the setting and all that) but it’s important that Espinosa carries a backpack. If we can see details, he should be obviously scared.

1 Balloon (Espinosa): There’s no time.

Panel 4: We don’t move from the entrance. Espinosa leaves the motorcycle and is hastily entering the spaceship.

2 Balloon (Espinosa): It has to work…it has… it will work.

Panel 5: We remain seeing the spaceship’s entrance but we don’t see Espinosa anymore.

Panel 6: We pull back but we still se the entrance to the spaceship. In the foreground we see that some – the more we can see, the better – aliens of humanoid shape but with “reptilian” features, with scales and greenish colors red or yellow eyes. Their clothes are reminiscent of a “tribal life style” – although both their clothes and weapons must be seen as “bizarre”, seen from our perspective.

And here is what Milton came up with. As you can see he did some changes in the layout I was proposing and in the number of panels present in the page. If I ever need something very specific I write in the script, if not I like the artist to have the final word on what’s seen in the page (within certain limits of course, you’ll surely know horror stories about artists that completely ignore the script, and worse writers that don’t complain about that) as long as we talk about it and share the same goal. Unfortunately Milton was inking as he did this, not scanning just pencils so we can share with you the whole process. Anyway, here is the black and white page:

Then came Felipe´s turn. Here´s the page with flat colors.


Let there be light and shadows.


And then let here be some extra effects, notice for example the sky or the spaceship.


Then came Balloon Placement (lettering was also handled by Felipe). There he suggested showing some "alien dialogue" and I thought it was a neat idea, altough he didn´t reveal what the aliens were saying. That remained a secret util few days ago, a clever reader (BlueMaxx in Cursed Planet talback section over at Zuda) revealed to all - me included - what the aliens are saying in this page and the following ones.


And finally to see the page with letters, please go here:

http://www.zudacomics.com/node/391

Tony Kilmer Sketch

“Blonde, a little bit shorter than Sanderson and Milligan. He has a prominent scar inhis left cheek.” was the brief description that I gave the Sobreiros. Milton and Felipe ignored my description and changed him a little bit and made him a redhead.

(I believe this was entirely Felipe’s “fault” and that he did it for reasons that only his Brazilian mind – full of Samba, Capoeira and Soccer - can understand but I was happy with the result so I never questioned his motives)*

Tony Kilmer, is the son of an important and very wealthy diplomat stationed in Saturn’s moon, Titan. He lived most of his life surrounded by the peaceful “Hommo Delphinus” of Titan´s Inner Sea.

When the “Ressurected Lords” and their zealot followers declared a holy war against the local population, Tony witnessed the horrors of blind fanaticism. In a matter of days entire tribes were rapidly enslaved or those who resisted, promptly exterminated.

Using all their resources, Tony and his father formed a resistance movement that managed to contain the zealots until the Terrestrial soldiers arrived. Hundreds of “Hommo Delphinus” owe their life to the brave actions of the Kilmer family.

Just hours after the “Ressurected Lords” surrendered, Tony suffered an assassination attempt that nearly cost him his life. Witnesses say that Kilmer was at the verge of death when some “Hommo Delphinus” allies arrived and using their extremely advanced healing techniques (one of the few times that a human has seen the “Dolphin-Men” use them) saved Tony, although they sacrificed themselves in the process.

The scar that Tony bears in his left cheek could easily be removed using surgery but he says its there as a remembrance of what occurred in Titan, something that he, or no one should ever forget.



* For the record: I think Felipe dislikes or at least is indifferent to Samba, Capoeira and Soccer and that, I think, is a crime or at least should be a felony in Brazil ;).

And now I got the strange feeling that Milton or Felipe might be tempted to draw a Mexican (probably me?) with a big sombrero, bottle of tequila in hand, taking a siesta. Ouch!

James Sanderson Sketch

“Afro-American man, tall and in an excellent physical shape” was the only description that I gave the Sobreiros.

After a couple of late night talks with Felipe, I thought that the Sobreriros would come up with a taller, muscular and bald soldier; I was pleasantly surprised that they had taken a different route. Seeing their interpretation of Sanderson helped me bring down to earth a couple of ideas I had been having trouble with.

James Sanderson is a quiet man but not in a gloomy or moody way. He’s Jericho’s oldest friend and has served under his command since both became super-soldiers.

Sanderson was born and lived in the City State of New Venus until, what was later called, “The Automaton Uprising” happened.

Leaving a destroyed world behind, James survided in a wandering refugee camp for three years where unfortunately his wife was one of the first victims that fell under the dark legacy of the Automatons: a strange virus that slowly mutated humans.

After chaos broke in the huge refugee camp, Sanderson met Jericho, who was part of the rescue teams. That’s when James decided to become a soldier of the New Terrestrial Republic.

Nari Sidorova Sketch

Since the beginning I wanted to have a woman among the first group of super soldiers that we introduce to the reader. I had a vague idea Nari´s physical appearance. This is what I told the Sobreiros:

“Woman of Japanese/Russian ascendance, slim but athletic physical complexion, of medium height and brownish hair, please try to show her mixed heritage in her facial features.”

I didn’t have a clear idea of what personality Nari would have until I saw what the Sobreiros´ did.

That’s when I decided that to fit in this group Nari would have to push herself to the limit. Now in combat she’s respected – and sometimes feared- by those that have fought by her side.

No one knows when Sidorova developed a strange, dark and sometimes even morbid sense of humor that contrasts with her sexy appearance. Some say that it was because her mother and a very young Nari were survivors of the Martian holocaust but that is a touchy subject that’s better left alone if you don’t want to end with a broken arm.

Nicholas Jericho Sketch

Months ago, when the main characters were conceived I gave Milton and Felipe very brief descriptions. I didn’t want to be too specific here and let the artists envision our main characters without any influence except that provided by the “high concept” of the series.

When first we talked about it, I told them that the series could be roughly described, in a Hollywood-pitch kind of way, as “Flash Gordon meets Lost”.

The physical description of Major Nicholas Jericho was:

“Nicholas Jericho is a tall and sturdy man with light brown skin.”

I remember that first I envisioned – long before presenting the pitch to the artists- Jericho’s personality akin to that of “dark characters" like the Authority’s Midnighter but then decided that wasn’t a wise decision for our protagonist.

He became a “clean, square jawded” hero molded after (not referencing there just trying to channel by memory, with the distortion implied by that) that of Gordon, Rogers or the “space heroes” of yesteryear.

Welcome to the CURSED PLANET workblog!

CURSED PLANET is a sci-fi comic that’s currently competing over at www.zudacomics.com.

Art chores are being handled by Milton and Felipe Sobreiro and it’s written by yours truly, RG Llarena.

We plan to use this virtual space as a place where we can share with you things about CURSED PLANET in particular and our work in general.

If you would like to support our work and vote for us, please click the banner below.

Hope you stay with us and using your vote as our secret weapon, together we can start unveiling the secrets that shroud the place where our story begins, the secrets that cover the CURSED PLANET.