The artists' series - Stephen Platt (P2)

[une_croix]

Last time - http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1842318.html

In 1994 Platt's run on Prophet began - this is early Image, so most titles were written by artist-turned-writer folk or friends of the founders with limited writing experience.

The entire Prophet series (1st volume) was written by Rob Liefeld (later with assistance from Robert Napton).

22 large scans from Prophet issues 5, 6 and 8 under the cut.


Prophet 5 sees the titular character immersed in a VR program, culminating in his murdering a pregnant woman (in a Vietnam-style locale).














Particularly on the cover and that first splash page, the art here is clearly a more refined version of what we saw on Moon Knight - in this instance Platt has inked his own work.







Of course, inking your own work takes a lot longer, which saw Prophet 6 featuring major assistance from Marlo Alquiza, only 16 pages of art, and an announcement that issue 7 would be delayed. Sez Extreme: "Due to the tardiness of the artist we are resoliciting the book for September. We hope you'll agree that Stephen Plat's artwork is worth the wait."

The assists (Platt "breakdowns, Alquiza "finishes") are particularly apparent on the following two double-page spreads.







By Prophet 8, Platt's back on "Pencils" with Alquiza credited only with "inks". In this issue, all pages bar the first and last feature either double-page splashes, or at least double page spreads with panels typically being wider than a single page.



There's lots of liquid being splashed around - be it sweat, blood or sewerage - lots of speed lines, lots ot hair and fabric being blown in the wind, and yards upon yards of veins.







The subsequent issue was pencilled by a young Pat Lee (later of Transformers/Dreamwave) before SPlatt returned for what would be the final issue of Prophet's first series.

Next: Prophet (Volume 2) and Awesome Comics' Fighting American.

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

Their feet... That second cover in particular - it looks like that guy has two butts on his right leg.

[une_croix]

Some might say "More cushion for the pushin'!"... right?

[halloweenjack]

There's something about characters whose muscles have muscles and whose tendons have tendons and whose guns not only have multiple barrels but two--two--sighting lasers each, standing in poses that leave no doubt whatsoever that they completely lack genitalia, that really wraps up the whole Image 90s style so neatly.

[icon_uk]

For a moment I misread that to read that the GUNS had genitalia, and the worst part is I was already nodding in agreement. Freudian nightmare in 3... 2... 1.... URK!

[halloweenjack]

The gun is his penis.

[badficwriter]

Oh you saw that picture of Megatron, too?

[halloweenjack]

Just another Dr. Horrible joke, I'm afraid.

[foxhack]

Captain Hammer's long-lost evil twin!

[afghanant.wordpress.com]

You posting this to be ironic, right?

[une_croix]

Wouldn't that require a capital "A" on "artists"?

[afghanant.wordpress.com]

Touche...

[oldmanrain]

One of these days I have to look into the history of 90's comics. The difference between the 80's and 90's is so stark, with their scarily small heads, I'd love to learn how the transition came about.

[icon_uk]

"The improbable and inexplicable popularity of Rob Liefeld" answers a multitude of questions, but not in comfortable ways.

[joasakura]

I always like to say "It was the 90s. Mistakes were made"

[halialkers]

That first set of scans reminds me of a certain scene in Watchmen......

[halloweenjack]

Note also that guy with the--what are those fin-things sticking out of his helmet? Cooling vanes? Prototype Bluetooth headsets?--with the smiley button with a slash across it on his armor. I wonder if this isn't the very comic that led Alan Moore to believe that most of the comics creators that read Watchmen took away exactly the wrong lessons from it.

[halialkers]

If it isn't this one, it would be one very like it.......

[une_croix]

It didn't stop Moore working with Liefeld for some years after this issue came out... Including an aborted Youngblood relaunch (2 issues) from "Awesome Comics"...

[auggie18]

I'm just going to assume he ends up drawing really well.

[icon_uk]

I suddenly feel less bad about posting the UK Gladiators comic.

This is like the bastard child of Sam Kieth and Liefeld, and yet somehow horrible in it's own right too.

[halloweenjack]

Did you ever see Megaton Man by Don Simpson? It was his satire on superhero comics, complete with grotesquely overmuscled title character, but compared to this it seems relatively restrained.

[nezchan]

MM was the only hero shaped like a nuclear explosion!

[joasakura]

no, no. you should still feel bad about that.

[protogarrett]

This reminds me of the Johnen Vasquez comic where he analyzes super heroes as 90% meat with a tiny brain located near the groin region.

[thehefner]

Oh, you too?

[protogarrett]

I wish I had a working scanner. I have the comic.

[meatwhichdreams]

Yup, me too. I figure if we x-rayed these characters it would be nearly identical.

[geoffsebesta]

There are things I like about this....

....here and there....

[badficwriter]

Yeah. I'm giggling at those THIGHS, but..

Some of those backgrounds? With the unusual perspectives? Most of the time artists do the bodies right but hate the backgrounds, so you end up with a pretty body floating in space.

Unless the backgrounds were all added in or something...

[equinox216]

For the life of me, I'm never going to understand that 'padding around the eyes and cheekbones' headpiece thing that this guy and Liefield seem to like.

I mean, maybe if you were a BOXER, fighting other BOXERS, sure. But this is all melee weapons and projectiles. Do you really want a separately-colored area on your body that says 'strike here to REALLY incapacitate'?

I assume it's just a set piece to distract from the fact that all the faces look the same.

[une_croix]

Unlike Shatterstar's headpiece (which is a cylinder that goes all the way around the head, Prophet's piece is actually 2 U-shaped thingies literally wired into his face.

At the end of one of the above issues he pulls them off and connects the wires to some of the guys he's downed, and re-programs them into being his assistants for the battle...

[dalf]

Isn't this the guy from Soul Saga? That was the first Image title I ever read.

It was... quite a different experience.

[une_croix]

See part 4!

[foxhack]

There's something about these scans that bothers me.

Some elements seem very good - the composition and panel layout on many pages is astounding - but of course the horrible body proportions ruin everything.

I do notice a slight improvement from the previous post, though. It's like he was trying to experiment while remaining within the Image Comics / Liefeld style of art...

[wizardru]

At a guess, I'd say it's the near-total lack of actual composition. A common 90s gig; every panel is a posed shot and virtually none of them flow from the previous or into the next. It is not telling a STORY. Some of it works, like the grabbing the nazis in the snow bit...but it's very clumsy.

Contrast that fight sequence with this one, for example, from Loki: Siege:

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1831092.html?#cutid1

The words ADD to the story, they don't replace it. You could ignore the text and you can tell what's going on. The fight FLOWS. The Image 90s style was all about every panel being a stand-alone illustration, essentially. That doesn't lend itself to narrative flow.

[philippos42]

Jonathan Taylor Prophet?

Like Jonathan Taylor Thomas? Really?

[s0mnambulance]

From the 17th scan:
"BLOODSTRIKE WRITHES UNCONTROLLABLY, A REACTION TO THE VIOLENT INTRUSION...OR MAYBE IT'S THE FEAR THAT COMES WITH THIS, THE MOST PRIMAL OF ALL GAMES."

Liefeld's writing compliments his art. Tell all your friends.

[geooco.blogspot.com]

The artistic equivalent of acid reflux. Seriously, I hated the 90's so much....

[nezchan]

Clearly this is before Platt learned the wonders of perspective. The shot where they're calmly floating somewhere around a floor full of dead men while discussing Ragnarok and cleaning bills is wonderfully surreal.

[une_croix]

...and unless I can open a second image hosting account I'm almost out of bandwidth for the month.

Part three may have to wait!

(And the finale, Part 4: Soul Saga and Platt's brief return to Marvel)

Mod note

[kingrockwell]

Whoa, it looks like you have fifteen pages from Prophet 8 up there. According to my sources, the story that's taken from is only sixteen. You're gonna need to cut, like, ten of those pages to fit within the 1/3 rule.

Re: Mod note

[une_croix]

Oops - fixed.

Sorry.

[tacobob]

ARRRGH! Posting this art is a direct violation of the Geneva Convention!

[wizardru]

Where the hell is this fight taking place? I mean, I realize the artist has never seen an ACTUAL sewer, but seriously, where is this, The Hoover Dam? And why is the water GREEN? Blood is OK, but actual depiction of grey water is not?