The Shadows project is under way, at last. I'm working with the texts I started to create in 2009. Yes, you read that right, 2009! As a totality, they form an assemblage/collage/cut-ups of various texts. You can imagine the problem(s) - where it ends (does it have an ending?) - how to end it - how to make them form something like a 'story'. That was the biggest challenge, namely; should it even be a story? Did William Burroughs worry about that when he assembled his cut-up 'novels' of the early 60s? I doubt it. Mind you, I have tried not to go too far down that particular route of literary dead (end) roads.
Here I've posted some key influences/inspirations. Initially I saw it as a booklet but have since decided to make it a 'comic'. What is a comic anyway? A collection of sequential art. Right? Perhaps it won't be a comic in the normal sense then, if there is a normal comic since...when? The 60s underground comix? They at least, despite the radical nature of the content, followed a more or less traditional panel format. many comics have since broken the old form. I don't know the extent to which mine will, but suffice to say, yes, there will be panels, but also, I may break up that idea too.
You can tell it's a work in progress. I am still playing with presentation ideas and techniques. meanwhile, here's a list of inspirations/influences:
Sin City by Frank Miller (party for the visuals, also the noir aspect)
Hardboiled literature (pulp fiction, Chandler/Hammett etc)
Film noir (the mood, ideas/visuals)
Pulp sci-fi
John Zorn's incredible Spillane homage and The Bribe album
Elmer Bernstein (big, brassy mood music made for menacing action!)
Las Vegas grind (for the sleaze)
You get the idea. So visual poetry takes a back seat but has not been abandoned completely. I'll be turning to the Olympia and rattling off some typed work as and when I feel I need a break from inhabiting the Shadows.
Thanks for calling in - TTFN! Do check out Spillane at the bottom of the page - a masterpiece!
No comments:
Post a Comment