Thursday, August 1, 2013

Classic spaceknight fandom & thank The Enigma Force this never was!


We've got a lot to get through here so let's go. This is Unam "The unseen" from Galador's spaceknight Squadron. I decided to leave the shadow in the final panel given that Unam's invisibility comes as a result of his armor projecting a holographic mapping image of his surroundings. Which means that his "invisibility" is the result of a sophisticated form of camouflage not unlike The Predator. Being truly invisible would make you transparent in which light would pass through you which would result in no shadow being cast: http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4016200.html

I just found this Firefall CG video clip on Youtube. Ok it's not top of the line stuff but it's still fun to watch and something different as far as Rom related fanfare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnYyk1zmJrg


Here's something interesting. This isn't just some nice fan art this is actually a panel from a re-creation of a page from ROM #1 illustrated by artist Claire Connelly. It's part of a Sal Buscema & Bill Mantlo homage project to reprint the first issue in which each page is done by an individual artist.
You can see the rest of Claire's page at this link http://thinkillustration.tumblr.com/ (scroll about half way down)   Here's another page I found done by a different artist:  http://plasticfarm.com/?p=2159 


Now I realize I may ruffle some feathers with this last part of my posting but I gotta speak my mind on this. I am so glad this cartoon never came to be! I can already tell based on the animation style that this would have been exactly what I don't want to see a sophisticated 80s comic book series get turned into. That being a rather silly looking cartoon loosely based on a comic book title and written for a mostly pre-teen audience.
Be sure to magnify the art. What's up with the conjoined twins Bug variant? If he has a head on both ends how the fuck is he supposed to take a dump? Why the ridiculously small legs on Acroyer and was it necessary to make Boitron look like Frankenstein's monster? And any toy line based on this series would have been just as dreadful. It would have been nothing like the Mego line from back in the day, but instead figurines with bizarre proportions and utterly inarticulate. Some people may have seen this as being some sort of homage to Bill's legacy but I see it more as a pathetic knock off on the amazing world that Bill Mantlo gave us with The Micronauts. This would be cartoon series is right where it belongs, on the proverbial drawing board.


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25 comments:

  1. exhumanAugust 1, 2013 at 6:44 AM

    Hello! WOW! I love what you did with the Unam custom! That series of shots are amazing! Great job explaining how he becomes "unseen" too! I'm really glad that you are enjoying the customs!
    Dude,..lets move onto that Micronauts that never was,..Holy crap that looked awful. I love the Micronauts and to see them reduced to some kind of kiddie, jokey, ridiculous Saturday morning drivel really makes me sad. I mean someone thought enough of them to try to bring them back,..but we don't want them back like this...don't even get me started on their re-design for some of the characters either,UGH!
    O.K. I've done enough ranting.
    I do love all of the ROM related art you have been posting! Really cool stuff man! Keep it coming!
    Chris-

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 1, 2013 at 9:08 AM

      that's ok, that was a good rant. there's a Micronauts/Microman face book page where i posted the Comics Alliance article i found this on. some of them had the same thoughts but many of them were talking about how cool it would have been. really pathetic they reminded me of all those Star Wars fans who were in denial for so long about the fact that The Phantom Menace was a steaming pile of dog shit.

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  2. RandomnerdAugust 1, 2013 at 8:33 AM

    It's an excellent custom, with great thought going into the fade out.
    What I think that Micronauts was going for was the current trend in certain comic book/superhero animation. An Americanized version of chibi anime that pre teen girls really seem to giggle over. Now, occasionally even I find some of these variations unbelievably adorable. (Yes, chibi Thor, I am talking about you.) Sometimes it works, Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it makes it to the TV screens even though you know it's going to make your eyes bleed (Teen Titans, anyone?) Until the next big fad in animation comes around I think we're going to be stuck with it. And Japanese pop music intros.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 1, 2013 at 9:47 AM

      the less of this crap on TV the better there are already enough things going on in the world that makes blood shoot out of my eyes.

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    2. exhumanAugust 1, 2013 at 10:42 AM

      Well said my friend,..well said.

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  3. The King of ThessalyAugust 1, 2013 at 3:32 PM

    WoW- the character designs for that cartoon look ABYSMAL! It's worse than that High-school Batman cartoon looked. And that looked like my ass on a hot day. http://io9.com/5729984/concept-art-from-the-teen-batman-series-that-never-was-gotham-high/
    Now- a cartoony looking redesign that worked, and would work well as a cartoon, is what they did with the old Red Circle characters: http://www.archiecomics.com/Blogs/tabid/97/EntryId/1282/IGN-praises-NEW-CRUSADERS-RISE-OF-THE-HEROES.aspx and http://comicsalliance.com/new-crusaders-3-covers-archie-comics-red-circle-preview/ and newly http://www.archiecomics.com/Blogs/tabid/97/EntryId/1304/RED-CIRCLE-COMICS-ANNOUNCES-HASPIEL-AND-WAID-TO-TEAM-ON-NEW-SERIES.aspx for anyone interested. I love those old characters. Red Circle to Impact! to DC to Archie... they're classic.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 1, 2013 at 7:52 PM

      i'm so glad i'm getting alike minded commentators so far have a look at my reply to Dan's comment.

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  4. IADWAugust 1, 2013 at 6:09 PM

    Awesome post mate - I really like the idea of the ROM comic being redone with a series of different artists. That collaborative feel shows how wide ranging the characters appeal is and you get to see all these different takes.

    That's kind of like the DVD Batman: Gotham Knights, where each chapter is done by a different animation house. I'm pretty much over the pokemon style of manga, but the darker Afro Samurai / Spawn / DMC stuff I still think is hot and I'd like to see a series in future split episodes amongst different studios with mature feels to them, and stay away from the happy meal type illustration animation of the Micro's above.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 1, 2013 at 7:49 PM

      "happy meal" type illustrations. brilliant mate that was just fucken brilliant. over at this Micronaut/Microman face book page there were all these nauseating fan boys having a fucken circle jerk over this it was really pathetic. i only wish i had had a chance to drop that happy meal reference on em before i deleted the posting of the art work as you see in this posting and got out of that fb page.

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    2. The King of ThessalyAugust 2, 2013 at 1:21 AM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. RandomnerdAugust 2, 2013 at 6:09 AM

      Yeah, I read some of that. I get being excited over just the prospect of having your favorite comic made into a cartoon, but over enthusiasm leads to things like, oh, lets say, the Green Lantern movie? And it really does smack of the Ben 10 cartoon. Which people who aren't forced to watch their kids cartoons probably won't be familiar with. (No, I'm not dissing Ben 10. It's not as horrible as certain other shows. But it's not Justice League). But if you're going to come up with something "original" why not try and make it, I don't know, maybe, actually original? This concept design didn't bother me as much as it did you guys, I'm sure. But it didn't blow me over either. Because I've seen it before. On every other cartoon out there right now. Time for something new. And not just cookie cutter cranked out in fifteen minutes. Please. Even the kids are starting to notice.

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    4. RandomnerdAugust 2, 2013 at 6:19 AM

      (And I realize the hypocrisy of the above statement when I have a 'Lil Death doll sitting on my desk and a Chibi Thor cup in my cupboard. I'm a horrible person.)

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  5. Omega Agent1August 1, 2013 at 8:29 PM

    Shlomo it's about time for you to put together your own custom. ROM is your guy, he deserves a spot in the man cave. Let's do it.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 1, 2013 at 8:55 PM

      well thanks man but i'm not sure if custom figure fabrication is where my talents are. especially when there have been so many made over the years for ROM. close to two dozen by my count. as for any man cave i'm not sure what you're talking about. i think there's a gay bar in S.F. called that but i'm pretty sure you weren't talking about that place :)

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    2. The King of ThessalyAugust 2, 2013 at 1:12 AM

      Man-Cave? That shite is for jocks... Us comic-enthusiasts have Nerd-Caves! Yamean?

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    3. ~P~August 2, 2013 at 2:16 PM

      Some of us have SANCTUM SANCTORUMS.

      ;-)

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    4. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 2, 2013 at 2:54 PM

      hey ~P~ i'm sure you probably don't have the time for it anyways but id sure like to see you take a crack and doing a rendering of that ROM #1 re-creation. i will if i get a chance but as of this moment all the pages are spoken for already. by the way it's a shame that Marvel Team Up poster didn't have a version that included ROM, Dr. Strange and Man-Thing as well as opposed to a variant combo of just two of the before mentioned 3 favs.

      Delete
    5. The King of ThessalyAugust 2, 2013 at 4:07 PM

      Hahaha- Sanctum Sanctorums! -By Hoggoth!: You sure do, you sure do...

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    6. Omega Agent1August 2, 2013 at 6:29 PM

      Ahhh this was good and I have officaly been schooled. The nerd cave, the man cave and the sanctum sanctorum.

      OK, here we go. I'm a football fan comic book reading son of the Most High God. What is my bat cave called?

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    7. The King of ThessalyAugust 3, 2013 at 6:13 PM

      -The Flash Thompson Emporium?

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    8. Omega Agent1August 3, 2013 at 7:24 PM

      lol

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  6. JosephAugust 3, 2013 at 2:28 AM

    Cool lapse on the unseen and theory

    I dig that redo of issue 1 by an artist a page cool homage.

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 3, 2013 at 2:55 AM

      thanks, more cool stuff comin up in a couple of days.

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  7. zhaanmanAugust 3, 2013 at 10:51 AM

    Coming into this conversation late but Wow that looks So Ben 10 I can feel your pain on this one!! That's just a Big No in my book!!! Loved the Unam shots very cool my friend!

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    1. Shlomo Ben HungstienAugust 3, 2013 at 11:14 AM

      and tomorrow i'll underscore even further why this would be cartoon would have been nothing short of a slap to the face to the original Micronauts.

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