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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER by Francesco Francavilla

Magnus, Robot Fighter
(highly suggested to click on the above image for a really bigger view :))

Definitely in a ROBOT mood this week and next (running a Giant Robot Week over my blog), so as topic for my Twart week I went with some good old fashioned roboass kicking, and who better than Russ Manning's MAGNUS, Robot Fighter? :)

I totally went for a vintage Sunday style strip for this. Now I wish I had time to actually do the whole "DAWN OF THE MECH" story ;)
Ink and inkwash on 7x17" bristol board.

Hope you guys enjoy it :)

Cheers,
Francesco

Magnus, Robot Fighter
Artwork and "Dawn of the Mech" © Francesco Francavilla 2010

11 comments:

Cunningham said...

Francesco -

You made me laugh for a moment here, because the color choice of the paper made me think you had created a Magnus, Robot Fighter Tijuana Bible!

Great job as usual.

Mike Hawthorne said...

That, right there, is bad ass!

Best,
Mike

=link said...

Wonderful, but let me make a note for the sake of historical authenticity--most robots do not have legs! They float on turnip-shaped hindquarters that issue a blue flame from their--well, that's how I remember the robots of Russ Manning--whose work I adore almost as much as Wallace Wood's!!!

Francesco Francavilla said...

Bill: HA! Maybe I should do one ;) Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :) (and I still owe you an email @_@)
Mike: muchas gracias, hermano :)
Link: well, wait until Magnus is done with them and they will have no legs, no doubt about it ;) Thank you, glad you liked it even if the robots are old school :)

Cheers,
Francesco

No Point Buck said...

Magnus and The Thing were the first two superheroes I remember identifying as my favourites, and you've managed to nail them both.
As for the retro-robots, they're great! I love the evil diving helmet look on the heads. Also, for what it's worth, a look at the Magnus entry in Wikipedia will show that on the cover of ish #1, our hero using his "steel-smashing strength" to smack down a clearly bipedal mech-man.

Mitch Gerads said...

Just when I thought the finished piece was amazing, i'm even more enthralled by the pencil version!

M!TCH

linkyaco said...

I was wrong about robots with feet. I looked at my pile of old Magnus comics and there are plenty of robots with legs and feet. My bad.

I like ALL of the illos VERY much. Have you fellers ever thot of doing a comic jam...with each artist doing one page of, say, an 8 page script--something short and managable.

Now, for the script, I imagine there is no shortage of would-be and was-been comic writer--if you just post a general call for scripts...or script samples.

-ahem- I am a has-been, was-been, should-be comic writer. I wrote script for comics back in the early '90s--for Fantagraphics, Dark Horse, Innovation, Caliber (I got around). And I've written many articles and a couple books about comics. My most successful book was the Marvel-authorized "Science of the X-Men". I've written for some Italian publishers, as well, and had various books translated into Spanish and Italian. So I really DO get around...the GLOBE!

My point being, that I might enjoy writing a comic script project, eh?

I thought the Magnus pics were GREAT. Maybe you could do a brief Magnus story in the writing style of Russ Manning, with each artist doing his page in his own style.

Just a thought--what do you think?

Francesco Francavilla said...

Thank you so much, Eric, M!tch, and Link :D

Link: Actually I already tossed that idea to the group some time ago. A couple of years back I did a similiar comic jam with a few friends (including fellow twartist Dan McDaid) and turned out to be very fun, so we should definitely do something in here as well :)
When we did it, we didn't use any script: we were literally jamming, even if it was agreed to keep the story a flowing one ;)

Cheers,
Francesco

linkyaco said...

sounds cool. Say, do you still have the jam comic? I think I'd find it fascinating, with all these respectable talents in one comic...

Francesco Francavilla said...

Yes I do. Need to post it sometimes (if the other guys are cool with it :))

Cheers,
Francesco

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