January 9th, 2007 | researchmaterial
…you’re kidding me, right? I’m as big a fan of Charlie Stross as anyone, but if you delete the date and author names off this cover… couldn’t this cover have been published at any time since 1977? In fact, mightn’t it have looked a bit dated in 1977? (Unless you were still listening to Yes or something, I suppose.)
WARREN ELLIS
jwz - 30 Jul 10
Jean Snow - 30 Jul 10
I mentioned last week that I’d be a guest this week on game developer Grasshopper Manufacture’s podcast (Flower, Sun, & Podcast), and the episode (5) is now up and you can download it here (it should be on iTunes too). Check it out if you want to hear me ramble (and ramble) about mostly game-related topics.
Pictured, the Grasshopper conference room — complete with ping-pong table — where we recorded the episode. Big thanks to Grasshopper producer Esteban Salazar for inviting me on the show.
Kieron Gillen - 30 Jul 10
Catching up a little with stuff that happened when I’m away. I’ll talk Generation Hope later, but here’s the two comics I’ve got out this week.
My Thor In Hell and Hel arc continues. Here’s the five-page-preview. Enormous metal seriousness. My dual influences remain I, Claudius and the cover of 1980s Metal albums. Assorted random reviews: IGN. A Comic Book Blog. Weekly Comic Book Review.
The concluding party of my two part character-study/fight-comic. Preview here. And no reviews which I can find, but pleased to see that at least some people thought it was funny. Few things make me worry more than writing comedy.
Oh - here’s Seb’s review of the first one, which will give you a taste for it.
Coilhouse - 30 Jul 10
So… any Mad Men fans in the ‘haus? No spoilers in the comments, please, because I’m not sure if Mer and Zo have had a chance to catch last Sunday’s Season 4 premiere. But without giving away any plot points, I just want to ask: what was up with Don Draper pulling a Dov Charney with his horrible Jantzen pitch? Our colleague Copyranter eats this kind of American Apparel shit for breakfast. The Portland-based swimwear company was portrayed as a stodgy, conservative business to whom Draper declares angrily, “you’re too scared of the skin your two-piece was designed to show off.” I guess he (and/or the show’s writers) never saw Jantzen’s Vargas-inspired campaign, which ran in LIFE in 1947 (below). Dear readers, I proudly tag this post “Stroke Material” and present you with my stash of vintage Jantzen advertisements from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. Sun-kissed beauties with Bettie Page smiles and space-age swimsuits – as well as a few clever parodies – after the jump.
Read the rest of Vintage Jantzen: The Pin-Up Powerhouse
Post tags: Advertising, Fashion, Stroke Material, Ye Olde
Kung Fu Monkey - 29 Jul 10
Coilhouse - 29 Jul 10
Photo by Ben Corrigan.
Ryan Francesconi‘s wonderful music has been lilting around the edges of my life since 1995 when I briefly worked together with him and Dan Cantrell in the Toids, an experimental folk group that riffed off various Eastern European idioms in tandem with Francesconi and Cantrell’s eclectic compositional styles. Back then, Francesconi was one seriously intimidating guitar/tambura/bouzouki shredder! He reveled in playing faster, smarter, better than anybody. He’s a shredder still, and no one can approximate his style… but over the years, wisdom seems to have smoothed over some of the sharper, more Malmsteinish edges of his virtuosity. Lately, the music he makes has deepened into an expression of something far more present, and pure.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on a quietly stunning record Francesconi released earlier this year, called Parables. A series of songs for solo acoustic guitar, it reflects his interest in American bluegrass, Bulgarian folk, jazz improvisation and Baroque lute music. Recorded live (no overdubs!), the music is graceful and green with nods of kinship to everyone from Nick Drake to Herman Hesse to the forests of the Pacific Northwest– which is where Francesconi lives when he’s not trotting the globe.
Speaking of– if you’re a fan of Joanna Newsom, the name Ryan Francesconi is probably already familiar to you, since he’s been one of her key players for several years, leading her live touring performers in the Ys Street Band and arranging/playing on just about every song on her new triple album, Have One On Me. They’re kicking off their summer West Coast tour of the States tonight in San Diego, California. Newsom had this to say about Parables:
“Ryan Francesconi is one of the most awe-inspiring musicians I’ve known. On “Parables,” he distills his many realms of artistry [...] into a beautifully minimalist, poetic, intricate, emotionally realized study of themes, variations, organic counterpoint, and such devastating forays into fractal-metric out-lands that it is nearly impossible to believe he’s picking those strings with just one hand. This is solo music that sounds like an ensemble, an ecstatic and measured reconciliation of West African / Balkan / Baroque / bluegrass influences, which ultimately resembles nothing I know.”
Pick up Parables on vinyl over at Drag City (they’re currently sold out of the CD), or in Mp3 format from CD Baby or iTunes.
Post tags: Events, Faboo, Music, Personal Style
Coilhouse - 29 Jul 10
Nick Cave’s participation in the remake of the new Crow has been confirmed, and I’m finally starting to get excited. The Crow, a film based on James O’Barr’s eponymous comic book series, was a sort of holy grail to me and my darque little crew back in the early nineties. Unapologetically dramatic, The Crow had everything an angsty kid could want: love, destruction, hot bloke in makeup, great villains, pretty girls. There was one year when I watched the film at least five times.
Now, I haven’t actually seen it in over ten years, for fear that it won’t hold up. I’m told it doesn’t. Still, the concept of a shiny new remake of my childhood/adolescence favorite is an uncomfortable one. Nostalgia and Brandon Lee’s death on the set veil The Crow in shimmery, inviolate mystery, and, had it been anyone other than Nick The Stripper doing the re-write, I would have probably shunned it. As things stand though, I think there’s reason to get at least a little fired up, especially with new rumors of Cillian Murphy possibly signing on to play Eric – almost as weird as casting Brandon Lee! If only Stephen Norrington could be replaced… Yes, then I can almost picture it. Until we know more, let us remember The Crow that once was. I leave you with a question: who would you cast as the ideal Eric?
The Crow is available on YouTube in its entirety.
Post tags: Comics, Fairy Tales, Film, Stroke Material, Surreal, Uber
Coilhouse - 29 Jul 10
A patchwork biography of Igor Oleynikov: Growing up in Lubertsy, Russia ? a small town outside of Moscow ? his entrance into the art world was at the Russian animation studio Soyuzmultfilm in 1979. Since 1986 he has been illustrating children’s books and has done 25 to date.
Children’s book illustration is a lot like veterinary school ? the common misconception being that medical school has a much higher barrier of entry, and yet the opposite is true. Children’s book illustration is a notoriously difficult nut to crack.
Oleynikov’s work is testament to the talent involved in the field. His paintings are lush and yet his tones are muted just enough to give everything a dream-like quality. In addition, they possess that air of danger and foreboding so often found in literature for young readers. Really, I could look at these all day. See more after the jump and even more here, here, and here.
Read the rest of Igor Oleynikov
Ectoplasmosis - 29 Jul 10
When I found this last weekend, I watched it obsessively a number of times. It just seems right. Not exactly a vision of prophecy, but for a myth of collapse it will do?
Apocalypse -Cthulhu- Now by Cthulinos [Youtube]
Apocalypse Now intro – In case you’ve forgotten the visual pun [Youtube]
© ECTOPLASMOSIS!, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us | digg it | reddit it
I had a poster of that image when I was in elementary school, it was a freebie from a bookstore, some time in the early 80’s…..strange to see it again.
Looks like Asimov’s is on a retro kick, judging by the previous month’s cover. Straight out of Doc Savage:
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0612/art/ASF1106cover.jpg
That’s more Edgar Rice Burroughs. But, yeah, retro abounds…
I think this is Michael Whelan image; I distinctly recall it being in Works of Wonder, a book of his art (Being at work, instead of at home, though, I really can’t check right now…)
I was surprised to see it on the newsstand the other day…
Yah, it’s a Michael Whelan piece; “L’Echelle”, if memory serves. I think Waldenbooks gave away prints, back when they had a specific SF/Fantasy book club.
I may have lived too long.
You’re not being fair on claiming this is the face of Sci fi nowadays. I believe you’re looking at something that speaks not about a unknown future but of a comfortable past…
I mean, people that buys this magazine needs to be reminded of something that happened many years ago.
They don’t want to be frightened.
Or challenged.
This is a device-souvenir of “better times”.
It’s Asimov’s 30th Anniversary year, and as part of the celebration they’re doing retro covers. Their sister mag _Analog_ retains more modern covers.
No, apparently, they don’t: http://www.analogsf.com/0701/art/AFF_C1_JAN.jpg
I’ve edited science fiction magazines, anthologies etc etc. I don’t think anyone has produced a ‘modern’ looking science fiction magazine since Analog produced the bedsheet issues back in the ’60s. I literally don’t think anyone who’s connected with SF these days has any idea *how* to create a 21st century sf magazine design. There are a bunch of reasons why. First, these mags are all text, all the time. That’s just not a very 21st century magazine kind of thing. Second, SF is so caught up in it’s own nostalgia that it can’t see to what’s actually “new”. I did, at one time, wonder what kind of SF magazine Dave Eggers might have designed. I don’t like him much as a writer, but he’s an interesting magazine designer.
I guess these guys are seen as the stylemonkeys for SF magazines: http://www.ttapress.com/discus/messages/541/4607.jpg
Yeah. I don’t especially like that art piece, but there’s an actual design aesthetic in play on that cover.
I think NEW WORLDS may have been the last modern-looking sf magazine, though INTERZONE definitely had its moments — Ian Miller’s period of involvement, for instance — http://www.sfcovers.net/Magazines/INZ/INZ_0034.jpg
Waldenbooks gave away posters of that image in the early to mid-eighties, along with a contest to win the original painting. I remember this b/c I actually won the contest. It was about the only time in my life I remember receiving a a registered letter, and I was about 13 at the time. I ended up turning down the prize, though b/c the painting was valued at something like $13000, and I would have had to pay the tax on it. Waldenbooks did send me a framed copy of the print, though. A few years back I saw it in a volume of Michael Whelan paintings, and there were comments that the rights had reverted back to him.
I think Interzone, on and off over a long period, has produced some wonderful art. There was time, at the very beginning of the 90s, when they were using beautiful cover stock and at was all matte finished and gorgeous, when it was all you could hope for in an SF magazine. Here’s a question back at you: what should a 21st century SF magazine look like? I don’t know that any top artist or designer has actually been given a shot at designing one. Certainly, neither Asimov’s, Analog or F&SF have looked to significantly change their designs in the past twenty years.
No modern looking SF magazines?
The lamented SF Age had a contemporary design, and was full colour throughout. It did OK, that is, it made a profit, but not as much profit as the other, non-fiction magazines of the same publisher, and was therefore discontued.
The latest incarnation of Amazing stories had a modern design, and was full of illustrations (also full colour throughout). Paizo discontinued it because (see above) its gaming magazines made more money than Amazing Stories.
Since our 200th Anniversary issue Interzone has gone full colour throughout, and we’ve modernised the design. The modernisation of Interzone was met with shock and dismay by a lot of its older readership (or what was left of it), and by most other editors in the SF magazine field, who all – at the time – thought the change was too abrupt: people were feeling futureshocked (yes: we’re talking people that are supposed to be Science Fiction readers here). Our very first cover (IZ #194) by Ed Noon was denigrated for being too anime-like.
We are constantly trying to upgrade Interzone’s looks with the means (and budget) available, which unfortunately are not that big. But keep in mind that a huge part of the older SF readership is deeply conservative. I mean try printing white letters on a black background, or try anything slightly adventurous or playful (that is: anything were text is *not* black letters on white paper), and then hear all those ‘forward-looking’SF readers complain. People even complained about the fact that issue #200 through #206 were gloss laminated throughout. You know, like *all* your glossies have been for years.
The old Interzone hardly had any design to speak of. Its stock was made of the cheapest paper available, so much there were different paper qualities in a single issue. The covers of the old Interzone have *never* been matte finished, they weren’t even sealed. Don’t get me wrong, the old Interzone had great stories (and I was a lifetime subscriber), but design-wise it was never much of a high flyer.
We have tried to catch everybody’s eye by upgrading Interzone’s look. From #200 onwards we were full colour throughout, full gloss, burst bound, and we have tried to improve exterior and interior design all the time. Due to changes in the UK postal rates we had to change the format in order not to fall into higher mailing costs, but we still are full colour throughout, and we still try to have a modern design.
We’re the only SF fiction magazine that has interior, full colour art with every story (likewise, Realms of Fantasy is the last fantasy fiction magazine doing that). Obviously, though, people that do receive the magazine regularly hardly take note.
People hardly notice: see SF Age, see Amazing Stories, see Interzone.
I need to get me some recent copies of INTERZONE.
Mark R. Kelly has done a wonderful service to illustrators by putting up a gallery of covers from 2006, both magazine and book covers, on the LocusMag.com site at:
http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Monitor/DirectoryCoverArtists.html
I’m curious, Warren, what you think of contemporary SF book cover illustration, which is IMHO more representative of the “face of science fiction in 2007″ than the digests, whose readerships are on the decline. Two illustrators I would call attention to: John Picacio and Stephan Martiniere.
I’ve loved John Picacio’s work for years — I even have a signed print from him around here somewhere.
This whole thing came about from simply surfing over to the ASIMOV’S site from Charlie Stross’ site and seeing that dumb cover. I’m a couple of years out of date on the genre in general.
But that link is marvellous. Thank you.
Most welcome. And I’m gratified to learn you know John’s work, as he’s at the forefront of SF&F illustration today. See his online gallery at: http://www.johnpicacio.com/galleryBook.html