Monday, January 11, 2010

Stickleback: London's Burning Part Two References

Page One: Mister Peepers and Mister Lug Suddenly Appear

In my previous post I described how I'd forgotten to include Peepers and Lug with the rest of the gang - this episode they suddenly appear in the pit with everyone else. But what Tharg doesn't notice won't hurt him.






Page Two: Hardenbrook The Notary

Is named after the character played by veteran British actor Michael Gough in Tim Burton's 1999 film Sleepy Hollow. Ian asked me to make the character look like Michael Gough, but I'm not very good at likenesses, and luckily the demands of page layout meant the panel he appeared in was so small you couldn't make out his face anyway.






Page Three: "Hargreave"

Mr. Tickle's Christian name is a nod to Roger Hargreaves, creator of the Mister Men and Little Miss books.








Stickleback's Revolver

This unlikely-looking weapon is a LeMat revolver, an American Civil War side-arm that features a standard .42 or .36 revolver mechanism with a secondary 16 gauge barrel capable of firing buckshot (in other words, it's a big pistol with a small shotgun built into it).






The Countess's Boudoir

Since we wanted it to look futuristic (for the 19th century) the Countess's boudoir borrows from the design aesthetic of German Expressionist movies such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

The skull-shaped stand for her masks was inspired by the work of early 2000AD stalwart and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen artist Kev O'Neill.




The Countess's Mask

Surprisingly (since it appears more beautiful than monstrous) the Countess's mask here is based on the Medusa Rondanini, a famous marble sculpture of the Medusa's head. It is probably a Roman copy of a Greek work dating from the 5th Century BCE .

2 comments:

james corcoran said...

Great stuff, where the other masks based on anything in particular? Some seem familiar.

Anonymous said...

The skull-shaped stand for her masks... and I foolishly thought i was a nod to THE PUNISHER!

Loving this story, shame about Mr Tickle