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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 15, 2017 10:45:58 GMT -5
Pencils for the cover of what would have been The Deserter #1, a victim of the DC Implosion in 1977:  According to Comic Attack.net at comicattack.net/archives/9917"The Deserter, a story written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Dick Ayers and Romeo Tanghal. Initially planned for Showcase Comics #107, the feature was instead green-lit as its own series but canceled before publication. The plot revolves around Aaron Hope, a mysterious stranger who arrives in Cooper’s Canyon, Arizona Territory in 1874. Hope reveals little about himself, not even his name, and raises the Sheriff’s suspicions (and the Sheriff’s daughter’s intrigue) due to his pacifistic views and lack of weaponry. Refusing to carry a gun, the Deserter instead relies on his ingenuity and innate courage to outwit a group of thugs bent on overtaking a nearby town. Meanwhile, a bounty hunter arrives in Cooper’s Canyon looking for Hope with a story about how he deserted the Union Army during the Civil War ten years before. While a fairly good story, it uses the “gimmick” type of character that typifies comic book Westerns; a standard Western tale is enhanced by giving the protagonist a distinctive quality. In this case, the Deserter refuses to use firearms out of an aversion to killing. The subplot with the bounty hunter tracking him as part of a personal vendetta over the war is also an interesting angle, and had the series at least completed its planned trilogy, we might have seen how it would all turn out." |
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Post by MDG on Nov 15, 2017 11:29:24 GMT -5
^^^^ Seems kind've late in the game to try to launch a western, since demand among comic fans was pretty soft for non-superhero titles. Jonah Hex was hanging on, but, like Conan at Marvel, was the one character that clicked in a genre that didn't have a wide fan base.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 15, 2017 11:46:19 GMT -5
^^^^ Seems kind've late in the game to try to launch a western, since demand among comic fans was pretty soft for non-superhero titles. Jonah Hex was hanging on, but, like Conan at Marvel, was the one character that clicked in a genre that didn't have a wide fan base. DC was going full-out with the "DC Explosion," launching over 50 new series in all kinds of genres: SF; Horror; TV tie-ins; war; super-heroes; sword and sorcery; and reprints. The Deserter and a reprint title, Western Classics, were the only new Westerns planned, IIRC.
Jonah Hex, and for that matter, Scalphunter, in Weird Western, were doing okay. (Probably because thet were both almost always good.) In fact, both survived the Implosion; Scalphunter only lasted till 1980, but Jonah made it until 1985, when he was transformed into the execrable Hex in the midst of COIE and only lasted till 1986. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 15, 2017 13:04:28 GMT -5
Likewise Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik's Void Indigo, which lasted one Marvel Graphic Novel and two issues under the Epic imprint before being deemed too violent and explicit.
I think I would have liked it better had it been Hawkman, as was his original plan.
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Post by badwolf on Nov 15, 2017 13:57:16 GMT -5
Likewise Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik's Void Indigo, which lasted one Marvel Graphic Novel and two issues under the Epic imprint before being deemed too violent and explicit.
I think I would have liked it better had it been Hawkman, as was his original plan.
How on Earth could it have been Hawkman?? |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 15, 2017 14:53:13 GMT -5
My wife found this book recently:  Over the years, Disney studios started lots of projects that were shelved for one reason or another. This book collects art from many of them. I looked through that when it first came out, back when I worked for Barnes & Noble. Famously, Salvador Dali designed some sequences for a planned sequel/continuation of Fantasia. At one point, they were going to re-release it with some new material.  There was also supposed to be a WD cartoon about Gremlins, during WW2. Roald Dahl created a children's book as a promotional piece for Disney, but the animated feature was never made. It was re-released a few years ago.  On a similar not, the theatrical release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was supposed to coincide with the release of a Wonka candy bar, from Quaker Oats. There was a problem with the manufacturing process and the candy bar was delayed until well after the film came and went in theaters. My brother got one on a family trip to Kansas. They never had great distribution and I don't think they had too many people raving about them. The other Wonka-brand candies came later. Famously, there is the film adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, which was to include a sci-fi/fantasy theme park, which was designed by Jack Kirby (well, visualizations of some of the attractions), which was later used as part of a film crew cover story that was used by the CIA and Canadian intelligence to bring out some of the US embassy personnel from Tehran, as seen in the film Argo (which gets a lot of the details wrong). Kirby is depicted in the film, portrayed by the late Michael Parks as a more cultured artist type, who use a cigarette holder. Kirby had no direct involvement with the operation, as those designs had sat around for a few years, after the project went bankrupt. Make-up artist John Chambers (Planet of the Apes) is the one who showed it to the intelligence people.   That would have been something to see, if it had been built. |
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Post by MDG on Nov 15, 2017 16:56:59 GMT -5
Over the years, Disney studios started lots of projects that were shelved for one reason or another. This book collects art from many of them. I looked through that when it first came out, back when I worked for Barnes & Noble. Famously, Salvador Dali designed some sequences for a planned sequel/continuation of Fantasia. At one point, they were going to re-release it with some new material. in 2003, Disney made a version of this based on existing materials. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2017 19:18:18 GMT -5
Famously, there is the film adaptation of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, which was to include a sci-fi/fantasy theme park, which was designed by Jack Kirby (well, visualizations of some of the attractions), which was later used as part of a film crew cover story that was used by the CIA and Canadian intelligence to bring out some of the US embassy personnel from Tehran, as seen in the film Argo (which gets a lot of the details wrong). Kirby is depicted in the film, portrayed by the late Michael Parks as a more cultured artist type, who use a cigarette holder. Kirby had no direct involvement with the operation, as those designs had sat around for a few years, after the project went bankrupt. Make-up artist John Chambers (Planet of the Apes) is the one who showed it to the intelligence people. That would have been something to see, if it had been built. Those designs were featured recently in an issue of Heavy Metal...  -M |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2017 19:19:23 GMT -5
and spawned action figures that were NYCC exclusives...  -M |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 16, 2017 12:32:51 GMT -5
I think I would have liked it better had it been Hawkman, as was his original plan.
How on Earth could it have been Hawkman??
Think about it: Golden Age Hawkman, reincarnated Egyptian prince. Silver Age Hawkman, alien policeman. This would have been a post-Crisis merging of the two, an alien who is the reincarnation of an Egyptian prince coming to Earth and connecting with the human reincarnation of his lost lover. Of course, it wouldn't have been as gross or violent as Void Indigo.
On another note:
Whennnn will someone get the abandoned script for Lord of Light and give it to Steve Rude to adapt into a graphic novel using Kirby's designs? Whyyyy has this not been done, especially after the film about the making of the script?
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Post by Duragizer on Dec 3, 2017 22:32:25 GMT -5
Crimson Empire III, the third and final part in the Crimson Empire trilogy, was supposed to be about how Kir Kanos, last of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guards, was going to seek out Luke Skywalker to exact revenge for the emperor's death. It was supposed to be published in 2001, but for some reason, it was cancelled.
Crimson Empire III eventually was published in 2011/2012, but the entire plot had been overhauled. No longer was it about Kanos confronting Luke. Now it was about some fanatical remnant of the Empire emerging to strike back at its enemies — a story which had been told a hundred times over in the Star Wars Expanded Universe by that point. It was passe, and a disappointing conclusion to Kanos' story.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Dec 4, 2017 0:43:23 GMT -5
Godzilla vs. Kiss. (As per the latest Back Issue)
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Post by berkley on Dec 4, 2017 1:05:55 GMT -5
How on Earth could it have been Hawkman??
Think about it: Golden Age Hawkman, reincarnated Egyptian prince. Silver Age Hawkman, alien policeman. This would have been a post-Crisis merging of the two, an alien who is the reincarnation of an Egyptian prince coming to Earth and connecting with the human reincarnation of his lost lover. Of course, it wouldn't have been as gross or violent as Void Indigo.
On another note:
Whennnn will someone get the abandoned script for Lord of Light and give it to Steve Rude to adapt into a graphic novel using Kirby's designs? Whyyyy has this not been done, especially after the film about the making of the script?
I don't think I would have found it nearly as interesting as a Hawkman story, myself. Also, there's a good chance it would have been watered down or interfered with editorially in other ways than just the violence. Besides, the mere thought that regular DCU superheroes like Superman or Batman might show up (even if they never actually did) would spoil the atmosphere of the thing for me. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2017 1:10:48 GMT -5
Crimson Empire III, the third and final part in the Crimson Empire trilogy, was supposed to be about how Kir Kanos, last of Emperor Palpatine's Royal Guards, was going to seek out Luke Skywalker to exact revenge for the emperor's death. It was supposed to be published in 2001, but for some reason, it was cancelled. Crimson Empire III eventually was published in 2011/2012, but the entire plot had been overhauled. No longer was it about Kanos confronting Luke. Now it was about some fanatical remnant of the Empire emerging to strike back at its enemies — a story which had been told a hundred times over in the Star Wars Expanded Universe by that point. It was passe, and a disappointing conclusion to Kanos' story. Most likely Lucasfilm, which had to approve every storyline, rejected the original story, so it never saw print, and they didn't do the third series until they got a pitch form a writer they liked and it was approved by Lucasfilm. -M |
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Post by berkley on Dec 4, 2017 1:12:50 GMT -5
I don't think Steranko's proposed sword & sorcery series Talon has been mentioned yet:  I imagine there are more than a few other Steranko projects that never got off the ground, but this is the one that springs to mind right now. |
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