Scans_Daily

It's no secret what a fan I am of Saint Seiya/Les Chevaliers Du Zodiaque/Knights of the Zodiac/Los Caballeros Del Zodiaco/etc, the manga/anime franchise that has been running off and on since the late 80's. I thought I knew about most aspects of most iterations of it, but gosh is it interesting to be proved wrong!

Some time ago, in an Off Topic Tuesday, I mentioned the astonishing detective work that youtube lost media bloodhound Ray Mona had put into tracking down the full Saban pilot for Sailor Moon (In retrospect it deserved to be it's own post) and find it she did.

Coincidentally, some time earlier I had asked if anyone knew the provenance of "Star Storm" a 20 second live action trailer for some sort of a Saint Seiya adaption.

It appears that Ray Mona had a similar question, but she is waaaaay more determined that I could ever be in finding out more, and that has turned into a new 90 minute documentary about trying to track it down (including finding Saint Seiya creator Masami Kurumada's assessment of it), and in the process discovering SO much more than anyone could have guessed.

It's absolutely worth the full watch, and not just because there is SUCH a twist in the tail at the end, which means that there will be a second part to the documentary. I'm actually tempted to post the twist because it's up separately on her youtube channel, but I can't deprive anyone of the experience of being slammed in the face by it after watching the whole thing (I'm not going to lie I was wheezing as I watched it) so if you want to spoil the fun for yourself, it's out there, but that's on you, not me.

It used to be the tradition around these here parts to post fan art on Thursday, comic themed, but not comic published, art by fans or professionals.

So share your commissions or interesting art you've seen. (If in doubt, check with the artist it's okay to post it and if they say no, then it's a no!)

( Just for fun )

So this week has already seen two rather different incidents in the world of long running manga and anime franchise, Saint Seiya. One good, the other... well, I'll get to that.

( Saintia Sho anime launches )
( Meanwhile in Netflix-land )

But some folks can just pull off "chains" as a look.

( The ultimate case in point, Bronze Saint Andromeda Shun )

And so to that end, I'm going to spend the next couple of posts to showcase a couple of artists who are not only well and truly alive, but who have a vibrancy to them that re-energises me just looking at them.

Here's the first, a chap by the name of Patricio Oliver, an Argentinian artist who has a blog here and who is a regular contributor to the always worth a wander through Project: Rooftop.

He has a very stylised style which could annoy the hell out of me, and in lesser hands probably would, but these are beautiful, with a very Erté feel to it.

( The Guardians of the Galaxy )

( A purely notional (alas) New X-Men cartoon )

And a fun assortment of 1920's style New Mutants, for no reason other than the 20's were fun

( So why not... )

( And because I like the use of contrast - Northstar )

But this is how I first cam across Patricio's work, as he shares my abiding affection for Saint Seiya (Which was HUGE in South America, amongst other places, back in the day)

( The Bronze Saints of Saint Seiya )

I keep meaning to post samples from Saint Seiya, a 1980's manga/anime/toyline which I'm a big fan of and which was one of the spurs behind the creation of Sailor Moon (they wanted a marketable manga/anime/toyline on a similar theme, but using girls rather than boys), so here is one I've been pondering about posting for a while.... (28 and a bit pages from the 171 page long Volume 10 of Saint Seiya)



( First the badass moment )

( Now for the slashy part.... )

I've long had a soft spot for the manga (plus anime and toyline) Saint Seiya... The armour designs were nifty and the mythological references were great fun.

( And today's lesson is that gentle /= weak )