The Strangeness of Brendan McCarthy

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Kirby Book Review

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:39:00 +0000

For all you JACK KIRBY fans out there, the new Mark Evanier book KIRBY: KING OF COMICS is finally out.

I've already read most of it in one sitting. It's got lots of wonderful Kirby artwork, and good description of his life and times. It's interesting to me that his work just kept getting better. I had always thought his peak was the silver age Marvel stuff, but the
later DC and after, is just as good. It feels very modern, even the crazy 'hipster' dialogue! At the time though, in the 70's, I remember Kirby was considered old hat... But he really was doing some of his most creative material in that period. I mean, just check out that OMAC mini series! Talk about "out there"! Obviously, the stuff for Pacific Comics, when he was getting too old, is a bit dodgy... But, as Barry Windsor-Smith noted, Kirby really was the 'Picasso of comics'. He stayed strong and vital almost right to the end.

The book reminds you of how good Stan Lee was too. All the original Marvel characters created in the early 60's were definitely a product of the two of them. Jack's creative imagination in the later DC New Gods stuff was just as strong, but Stan's way with character dialogue was magic and Jack could never reach that level on his own. It would be interesting to speculate on the possibilities of the New Gods if they had been by Lee/Kirby at Marvel!

Some of my favourite Kirby stuff is that really bizarre late run on the Black Panther (King Solomon's frog etc) and Captain America and the Falcon (the Perfect Man stuff) for Marvel... and let's not forget the "monster" material from the late 50's, pre-Fantastic Four.

The only thing that casts a depressing cloud over his wonderful career is the incredibly shoddy way he was treated by the comics' companies themselves. What a bunch of total shysters! It is truly disgusting... Just as Jack Kirby is remembered with genuine love and affection, the crummy little accountants and lawyers who screwed him over are, rightfully, totally forgotten.

But leaving all that aside, the incredible power of the artist and his singular vision is inspiring. His creative legacy is monumental.

Long Live The king: JACK KIRBY!

Brendan

PS By the way, there's a big new STEVE DITKO book coming out in a few months from Fantagraphics. I shall be first in the line for that one!

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Design > Thunderbirds

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:34:00 +0000

Brendan: "These designs were from a version of the THUNDERBIRDS live action movie that was developed by Working Title Films in London, with the director, Peter Hewitt, some years ago. I was hired to design new versions of the vehicles and costumes. I was going for a sixties style, to evoke the flavour of the original TV series, but obviously, updated. The idea was that the Baldwin brothers were going to play the Tracy gang with Robert Redford as Jeff Tracy. As we all know, this version didn't make it as the producers grew nervous and then hired Star Trek's Jonathan Frakes to start over from scratch... I can assure you, I had nothing to do with what followed."

Site Update

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:22:00 +0000

If you were a visitor to the old ‘Strangeness of’ site you may be wondering where all the other sections of the site have gone. Well I’ve been giving them a dusting down and updating some of the information. You’ll now find the Comics section up and running, just click on the ‘Comic Work’ icon in the top right-hand corner. I’ll be adding more to the site bit by bit over the next couple of weeks. Please let me know if any on the links don’t work or if any of the graphics won’t download.

Anthony Minghella (1954 - 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Some thoughts on the death of Anthony Minghella from Brendan:

Anthony's death really took me by surprise earlier today. I worked with him on a bunch of his film and TV projects some years ago, largely before his career took off with 'The English Patient'.

He had written these beautiful scripts for Jim Henson's TV series 'The Storyteller', which I boarded and did the conceptual designs for. While I was working on the TV series, he asked me to help him with visualizing a new feature he had written: It was a smart comedy called 'Seven deadly Sins' where the sins, Lust, Greed, Envy etc are little creatures attempting to corrupt a man who is too wholesome for his own good. It never got off the ground, but our paths crossed again when he came to LA. I was over there finishing up the 'Coneheads' movie with director Steve Barron.

Anthony had recently arrived in Hollywood, so we both decided to go down to the local DMV together as we both had to pick up a driver's ID... He wanted to tell me about another film he had planned, a follow-up to 'Truly Madly' called 'Mr Wonderful' for MGM, to see if I'd like to work on it with him.

Whenever we chatted together, the conversation would often swerve off into quite surreal realms... a verbal tennis game with each of us trying to top the other. Something to pass the time. At one point I suggested to him that he should capitalize on the success of his British TV series 'Morse' and create a new detective based on the singer in the rock group ELO, who would, in this case be blind, as some sort of physical impediment was the rule in these types of TV shows...

I declared that the series was to be called "Blind Jeff Lynne" and would feature the actual Jeff Lynne with a white cane and an impenetrable "brummie" accent, maybe even subtitles. Anthony stared at me ashen-faced and gravely told me that Jeff was a close friend of his and was actually losing his sight and going blind. Anthony was a bit shaken up and weirded-out that our conversation had strayed into such an unfortunate coincidence. I was quite shocked and apologized. I really had no idea... We sat together in silence for a long while and were eventually called to pick up our licenses...

As we left the building Anthony roared with laughter, his whole Jeff Lynne story a well-acted sham. So, alright, he got me on that one.

But every time I bumped into him in the years that followed, he would always sing a lick from an ELO song and rib me about falling for his ruse. As many others have remarked, Anthony was a very funny, good-natured man.

Later, I worked on another movie with him that he'd written called 'Prince Charming' for Working Title Films in London. We spent a few weeks locked away up in the Lake District, visualizing the script. We had some great, interesting conversations about all sorts of ideas, from occult magick to cutting edge physics... and inevitably, Jeff Lynne.

God Bless you Anthony. It was a lot of fun!

Storyboard > Highlander 2

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:08:00 +0000

Some of Brendan's storyboard work for Highlander 2

Dave Stevens (1955 - 2008)

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Some thoughts on the life of Dave Stevens from Brendan:

I'm sorry to hear that Dave Stevens has died. He was a very nice guy and was personally very helpful to me when I first went to California, many years ago.

I was about 23 years old, trying to make a living in London as a comic book artist and subsisting on scraps from 2000AD. I really liked Dave's Rocketeer strip published by Pacific Comics. It made me think about getting a new comic going, with Pete Milligan and Brett Ewins and maybe in the USA. The British scene was too small. I wanted to break out of the 2000AD waiting line and make a splash somehow!

The Rocketeer came out just as the 80's revolution in comics was starting to build and was a big inspiration for me. It was different and it was good.

I called Dave cold when I got to LA. He was friendly and invited me over to his studio. I decided to walk to his place from my cheap motel in Hollywood, along Beverly Boulevard, which looked not too far on my tourist map... I had no idea that streets in LA can go on for days... And nobody walks! I got totally lost and even though I was about 2 hours late, he was really kind and funny - and he was the first comic book artist I met who actually knew people, like Steranko, Wrightson and Eisner.

He was also a very good looking, handsome guy and there were plenty of glamorous women hanging around (usually those Betty Page "rockabilly" look-a-like gals). This, I thought, was what the life a comic artist should be, instead of getting vomited on by sweaty drunkards back in England!

Dave was kind enough to give a good reference to a Pacific Comics' editor up on my behalf and eventually, Strange Days was born. Dave was a big fan of Paradax! but really hated Freakwave and later, SKIN and didn't mind telling me, either. He tended to go for 50's and 60's comic book art, and loathed anything too chaotic. We shared an enjoyment of Carmine Infantino's DC work and Royer-inked Kirby. He introduced me to the work of bondage artist Eric Stanton, which explained to me the elusive 'kink' feel in Ditko's Dr. Strange.

I bumped into Dave now and then over the years, whenever I attended the San Diego Comic Con. He once turned up in London and called me up to meet him at the Raymond Revue Bar in sinful, rainy Soho, of all places. He had accompanied some gorgeous lady over to London, who was dancing at the Bar on a touring floorshow. That was the last time I saw him in person.

Dave was one of the first people to get a creator-owned character onto the silver screen ( but sadly The Rocketeer movie was less than a triumph, being somewhat corny). But he was philosophical about how it all turned out though.

I thought he really was a "star" comic book artist, that rare breed with cool looks, a great attitude and talent to burn!

Dave Stevens, thank you!

Kirby Clever Men

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:44:00 +0000

An unused page from Brendan's issue of Solo

TV Pitch > Zyboria

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:39:00 +0000

Brendan: “ZYBORIA was created with Ian Pearson, one of the original writers of the hit animated series REBOOT. ZYBORIA was a pitch for a one hour follow-up TV series to REBOOT, the idea being to reach the "Star Trek" audience with a more "adult" themed animated mo-cap cgi Sci-fi show. It was pitched to HBO and the SciFI Channel about 6 years ago as I recall. No takers though. When I was living in Hollywood, I subsequently re-wrote it into a feature-length film and it was taken up by Francis Lawrence (I AM LEGEND) for a short while. but after touting it around the studios with no luck, I had to mothball it and get on with some other new projects. Shame really, as it was a very good story”.

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:08:00 +0000

Movie Pitch > Admiral Polo

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:04:00 +0000

Brendan: "ADMIRAL POLO is a kind of "Black Adder in Space". A cod-elizabethan sci-fi animated romp".

SWIMINI PURPOSE promos

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:44:00 +0000

All the promotional material for SWIMINI PURPOSE...

SWIMINI PURPOSE covers

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:07:00 +0000

The evolution of the cover to SWIMINI PURPOSE...

Early/Unused Ideas

Artist’s Proof Edition

Final Published Cover

Dan Dare final cover

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Here is the final published Dan Dare cover.

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:40:00 +0000

Design > Coneheads

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:29:00 +0000

Some design artwork for the Coneheads movie.

Photo > Brendan & Beldar

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:26:00 +0000

Brendan with Dan Aykroyd on the set of Coneheads. Brendan was the designer and storyboard artist for the film.

Movie Pitch > The Garden

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:13:00 +0000

Brendan: "THE GARDEN is a new cgi feature I wrote, a rock n roll musical cross between Yellow Submarine and Happy Feet, with Flowers as the main characters".

Design > Mutant Turtles 2001

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:06:00 +0000

Here are some more designs from the Steve Barron 2001 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles proposal...

Original McCarthy Art for Sale

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:20:00 +0000

If you’ve ever fancied owning some original Brendan McCarthy artwork several pieces are now up for sale on Rufus Dayglo ’s Artdroids site. Artwork includes the cover to Brendan’s recent issue of Solo plus some of his design work for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You can find all of the pieces on sale here.

The Turtle designs aren’t from the original 1990 film (which Brendan did do storyboard and design work for). These are from a movie proposal put together by original Turtles director Steve Barron in 2001 which never got to the production stage.

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 08:22:00 +0000

Artoon of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:40:00 +0000

Showreel from 1995

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Brendan: "I recently found this old VHS showreel inside a cobwebbed cardboard box in a storage room. It features art and designs from over a decade ago. Some of what's there looks a bit dated, as you'd expect, but it's a fun little romp nonetheless."

Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd

noreply@blogger.com (JohnK) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Here's some of that exclusive artwork I was talking about. Brendan recently did some storyboard work for Tim Burton’s new film Sweeney Todd...

Brendan: “I worked on designs for the opening credits for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. It's almost shot for shot how I boarded it!”

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opens in the UK on January 25th.