NS: Spencer & Locke's Debut
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scans_dailySo this comic is coming up. Did you ever want Calvin & Hobbes cross with Sin City? Well, Action Lab has something for you!
From an interview with David Pepose, the writer and co-creator, this is what he offered to Comic Book Resources:
Locke’s childhood looks awfully adorable at first, but man, it goes dark. As a writer, what appeals to you about that juxtaposition, and how is it useful for playing with reader expectations?
I’ve always been a big fan of mash-ups and remixes, and Spencer & Locke is very much in that vein – our initial high concept was pitched as “what if ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ grew up in ‘Sin City’?” So while we’re very much a dark parody of both Bill Watterson and Frank Miller, I think there is that sense of reader expectation – which we’re able to play upon or subvert to better build up our story. Given this is very much an homage to one of the most iconic comic strips of all time, there’s a lot of tropes and iconography we’re able to play around with, and I’m just excited for readers to see how we’ve turned a childhood classic on its ear.
But I also think that our flashbacks to Locke’s childhood give us some very cool avenues to pursue. Not only do the flashbacks give Jorge an opportunity to stretch his artistic muscles by playing with different visual styles, but they cut deep into who Locke is and why he’s turned out the way he’s turned out. Locke might be a cop, but that doesn’t mean he’s isn’t without rough edges or outright character flaws – sometimes some very prominent ones. But it’s hard not to empathize with a character when you’ve gotten to know his story, and once you read “Spencer & Locke,” I think you’ll wind up falling in love with these characters almost as quickly as I did.
Spencer is obviously Locke’s childhood toy, his imaginary friend, but what does his relationship with Locke actually represent to Locke? Are there aspects of Locke’s personality that can only manifest through the fiction?
Detective Locke is a deeply scarred individual, someone with a chip on both shoulders and a mean streak a mile wide. And in that regard, Spencer is very much the opposite in this buddy-cop dynamic – Spence may look tough on the outside, but it’s easy to see that this cat is one big softie underneath. Beyond sharing a sort of Riggs/Murtagh buddy-cop DNA, Spencer absolutely is a reflection of Locke – Spence represents Locke’s conscience, his savagery, his very intuition as a detective. But what I like most about Spencer and Locke as characters is how they play off each other, how they each have very distinct personalities, philosophies, and points of view – and as you’ll see as the series progresses, this dynamic is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Beyond the obvious “Calvin and Hobbes” references, are there other inspirations for the fictional partner motif? You’re having a zeitgeist moment, as Terry Moore also has a fictional friend/animal partner (a gorilla in his case) in his new series “Motor Girl.”
Pfft, who needs a gorilla when you have a giant imaginary panther? Step off, Terry Moore, we got your number!
But seriously, Terry Moore is a huge name to be lumped in with, so thanks for the compliment. Ultimately, the “Calvin and Hobbes”/“Sin City” mashup was the driving force behind “Spencer & Locke,” but a lot of my favorite movies have been about psychology and mental illness. “Memento” in particular was a big inspiration – it’s the story of a hero who winds up taking a crippling affliction and twists it into something that’s actually positive. So on the one hand, while Locke is broken enough as a human being to need to dream up a friend like Spencer, we’ll see during the story that Locke’s twisted imagination might be the very thing that helps save his life.
Now here's part of it:
Here's the rest of the preview. We'll see more of this title in the future when it debuts in Spring sometime.
What do you guys think?
From an interview with David Pepose, the writer and co-creator, this is what he offered to Comic Book Resources:
Locke’s childhood looks awfully adorable at first, but man, it goes dark. As a writer, what appeals to you about that juxtaposition, and how is it useful for playing with reader expectations?
I’ve always been a big fan of mash-ups and remixes, and Spencer & Locke is very much in that vein – our initial high concept was pitched as “what if ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ grew up in ‘Sin City’?” So while we’re very much a dark parody of both Bill Watterson and Frank Miller, I think there is that sense of reader expectation – which we’re able to play upon or subvert to better build up our story. Given this is very much an homage to one of the most iconic comic strips of all time, there’s a lot of tropes and iconography we’re able to play around with, and I’m just excited for readers to see how we’ve turned a childhood classic on its ear.
But I also think that our flashbacks to Locke’s childhood give us some very cool avenues to pursue. Not only do the flashbacks give Jorge an opportunity to stretch his artistic muscles by playing with different visual styles, but they cut deep into who Locke is and why he’s turned out the way he’s turned out. Locke might be a cop, but that doesn’t mean he’s isn’t without rough edges or outright character flaws – sometimes some very prominent ones. But it’s hard not to empathize with a character when you’ve gotten to know his story, and once you read “Spencer & Locke,” I think you’ll wind up falling in love with these characters almost as quickly as I did.
Spencer is obviously Locke’s childhood toy, his imaginary friend, but what does his relationship with Locke actually represent to Locke? Are there aspects of Locke’s personality that can only manifest through the fiction?
Detective Locke is a deeply scarred individual, someone with a chip on both shoulders and a mean streak a mile wide. And in that regard, Spencer is very much the opposite in this buddy-cop dynamic – Spence may look tough on the outside, but it’s easy to see that this cat is one big softie underneath. Beyond sharing a sort of Riggs/Murtagh buddy-cop DNA, Spencer absolutely is a reflection of Locke – Spence represents Locke’s conscience, his savagery, his very intuition as a detective. But what I like most about Spencer and Locke as characters is how they play off each other, how they each have very distinct personalities, philosophies, and points of view – and as you’ll see as the series progresses, this dynamic is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Beyond the obvious “Calvin and Hobbes” references, are there other inspirations for the fictional partner motif? You’re having a zeitgeist moment, as Terry Moore also has a fictional friend/animal partner (a gorilla in his case) in his new series “Motor Girl.”
Pfft, who needs a gorilla when you have a giant imaginary panther? Step off, Terry Moore, we got your number!
But seriously, Terry Moore is a huge name to be lumped in with, so thanks for the compliment. Ultimately, the “Calvin and Hobbes”/“Sin City” mashup was the driving force behind “Spencer & Locke,” but a lot of my favorite movies have been about psychology and mental illness. “Memento” in particular was a big inspiration – it’s the story of a hero who winds up taking a crippling affliction and twists it into something that’s actually positive. So on the one hand, while Locke is broken enough as a human being to need to dream up a friend like Spencer, we’ll see during the story that Locke’s twisted imagination might be the very thing that helps save his life.
Now here's part of it:
Here's the rest of the preview. We'll see more of this title in the future when it debuts in Spring sometime.
What do you guys think?
no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 02:40 am (UTC)...Isn't that just "Tracer" Bullet?
no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 02:56 am (UTC)Speaking of which, this post should have the "trigger warning: child abuse" tag.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 02:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 01:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 07:15 am (UTC)Plus, that first page's art isn't a great first impression. I get that they're trying to evoke Watterson's style, but it feels really flat. The whole concept feels kind of forced, honestly. I don't see how this has legs to last even four issues.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-31 12:33 pm (UTC)(“Amateurs.”) \