Alex de Campi: Gojira!

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COMICS & BOOKS

17.12.04 She Briefly Steps Back To Consider The Forest

I thought I'd do a little year-end summary of the creator-owned projects I am working on. Most, you know about already, but some you might not. First, SMOKE:

Three 48 page full colour issues, myself on words, Igor Kordey on pictures, Len O'Grady in the corner with the paintbox. Futuristic spy noir; think THE THIRD MAN meets BLADE RUNNER. Coming out starting in May from IDW Publishing.

Next, a three-volume tween mystery manga, KAT & MOUSE, with Federica Manfredi. See sketches here and here. Should get a final yes or no from the publisher by end January. Think an updated Nancy Drew, but way more hardcore and set in a posh New England private school.

The very talented Croatian artist Seb Camagajevac has stepped in to illustrate my FAUST adaptation. His painted work looks like this:

Yes, that's obviously John Constantine (character copyright DC Comics) – this was a spec piece Seb did for Vertigo some time ago. Anyway, FAUST will be six 22-page issues, fully painted and insanely beautiful. Publisher is lined up; we've discussed the important things and are now just tying down scheduling. So, hopefully, signed (or not) by end of January.

And then my European project. I love this project to the embarrassing exclusion of others. On Tuesday night I wrote another five pages of it (pages from the middle of Album 8 – no, I don't know why either) in the mad creative frenzy that always overcomes me on long airplane journeys. It's a sci-fi epic in the grand old style. Imagine the sagas surrounding the Great Houses of the Iliad; Eugene Onegin; and the tales of the Grail Quest – but with spaceships, teenage girls, and much war. I can't really say more than that, but I think we may have an artist for it now. This puts me in the embarrassing position of owing my editor some wine, as we made a bet that whichever of us found the artist for the book would win a bottle of good red wine from the other. Projected at 9 albums, with a possible 3 album prequel if the book sells. Again, I may be able to put up a sneaky sample or two in January.

I've also dug out an old project of mine, MYTHOLOGIES, a 3-issue miniseries about demons rampaging around Miami, to re-write over Christmas. The story always had a flaw in it, and after having let it lie fallow for almost a year I'm able to return to it with a sharp knife and cruel intent. MYTHOLOGIES is a meditation on religion, the nature of creativity, Cocteau's Orpheus, Frazer’s Golden Bough, Roland Barthes and a couple of other pompous artsy things. But you'll only see all that if you squint hard. Mostly, it's demons rampaging through Miami.

So we shall see how the first quarter of 2005 treats me. Some of this will turn into vapour. So it goes. But overall, things are looking good, and busy.

Screenwriting's going well, too. Had an unexpected gap in my schedule this week so filled it doing a script-doctoring job on a short film - a psychological thriller, a genre I seem to have a good touch for. On the feature side, the supernatural thriller film I'm writing for Chocolate Chilli Films will start to take up a lot of my time soon, too. First treatment is in, and they're happy. Second treatment in January, then the heavy lifting begins. They're nice people to work with, and it's been a lot of fun. And at the end of the day, that’s all you can really ask for.

Happy holidays, and see you all in the New Year.

( 2:39 PM )

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