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| Savage #3 Cover A by Marcus To & Rico Renzi* |
Without penciling and inking, you'd just have a script, not a comic. As visual people, we respond to pictures far more than words. In an artist's hands, one picture can transport us to another place, another time, and make even the most bizarre people and monsters seem real.
I know I used this panel before, in my lettering post, but I wanted to use it again because I love it so much. Despite Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou's great skills, I wish I could see this picture without the narrative boxes. Triona Farrell's coloring really brings out all of Nathan Stockman's artwork here. Nonetheless, it's Nathan's skills that show Kevin swinging through the trees like Tarzan. It's clear Kev's having the time of his life.
While Triona's coloring helps us see the distance better, Nathan drew all the background first. I'm also intrigued by how Nathan inked parts of the water, instead of leaving Triona to color those areas more darkly. In any case, that inked water helps bring Kevin to the forefront.
When visiting the Big Island of Hawaii, I'll often see a vehicle parked off the side of the road. Just in the middle of nowhere. From talking with the locals, I suspect many of those belong to guys who have gone out to hunt wild pigs.
Here Kevin's going after the wild pigs on his own tropical paradise. I love how Nathan Stockman captures all the crazy, confused action that must go on in a fight like this. Unlike those Hawaiian hunters, Kevin's not shooting an animal from the distance. Armed solely with his dinosaur-claw knives, he risks getting gored, if not killed.
In this small panel, Nathan helps me feel the exhilaration of the hunt.
I recently enjoyed Kim Stanley Robinson's novel Green Earth. It's an edited compilation of an earlier trilogy: Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and Sixty Days and Counting. In Robinson's story, Frank is a scientist working at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. After a massive flood ruins many apartment buildings in the area, he has trouble finding affordable housing. Inspired by dreams of his youth, he builds a rudimentary treehouse in a closed-off section of a wilderness park. There, he finds himself at home amid nature, and at peace within himself.
In case my description of Robinson's novel intrigues you, I don't want to give away too many spoilers. Still, I'll give you another tease. Later in Green Earth, Frank uses his experience in treehouse-building to help design a treehouse complex worthy of the Ewok tribe in the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi."
Okay, back to Savage #3.
I love all the little homey touches Nathan has built into Kevin's treehouse: his weapons, his trophies, and of course, the boar he's killed. There's a picture of (I believe) the emoji he's created which has made him lots of money. I also find myself wondering about the crest on the banner. Is it from the British football team (Soccer to us) his dad used to play for? Or is it the family crest that adorned a cover from Valiant's earlier Savage series?
As the issue goes on, solitude may get Kevin down. Still, due to Nathan Stockman's efforts, I can't help but wonder if Kevin doesn't love this treehouse more than his posh, expensive London flat.
Dragon Dave*Although I didn't credit his work earlier, Rico Renzi colored Marcus To's drawing for Savage #3 Cover A. If you're interested in him, his methods, and his earlier work, here's an interview you might enjoy.
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