REVIEW The Redder Coltrane story arc

Force Six, The Annihilators

The Destruction of Redder Coltrane

Step forth and accept your annihilation

The biggest story arc from season I is reviewed by the good folks over at the COMICLER. We appreciate the good look. Let’s see what they said.

…the story in review:

…it’s hard not to be satisfied with a completed mission that encompassed sword-fights, high-tech gear, victories, casualties, stand-offs and a whole ton of shots fired.

Pilot syndrome is a well-known scourge of media. How do you hook your audience on undeveloped characters, plot introductions with limited time for world-building and mastering a sense of tone that has not had a chance to evolve naturally? Force Six, The Annihilators finally gets a chance to take off with Season One: The Destruction of Redder Coltrane. Just as the case was with Episode 01, we are treated to action-driven stories with a conservative approach to plot exposition that keeps a sense of mystery about the series. It’s still wholly unclear how much will be divulged in time; however Season One demonstrates that the promises of the original issue are kept with a substantial sense of growth.

The first thing to note would be the team. None of the characters have much in the way of backstories, motivations or even fully-developed personalities. In many ways, they are aesthetic-driven and have similar attitudes supplemented by quirks that help them feel distinguishable from one another just enough to make the team feel like it’s more than a group of skilled killers. Jackie-Five steals the show while characters like Beta-One and Kojin-Two get to enjoy powerful moments that leave the reader fascinated and in need of a bit more of their personal touches. These might not be characters that you can have firm attachments to just yet, but they are more than enough to induce interest. While the characters’ consistent attitudes do well to establish tone, there are some odd cases of phrasing and awkward dialogues that don’t quite add up without a dedicated focus. The writing isn’t something a Harvard professor would pass, but it’s enough to get you through the story with a solid grasp on what’s occurred.

Visually, Drew Spence is stretching his talents much further than would have been expected after episode 01. While 3D modelling-based media are often plagued with the overly-sleek, barren backgrounds that plagued animated series like Beware the Batman, Spence finds a way to keep things visually rich without a need for highly-populated paneling. The variety of scenery, the use of color and the way atmosphere is approached in this comic are truly inventive. There is scarcely a more beautiful depiction of what can only be described as wastelands in any modern media. Mix this with the variety of character aesthetics, with a particular emphasis on stylized weapons and you’ve got some really gorgeous eye candy.

Overall, this comic surpasses expectation with dramatic improvements in the fields of panel-layout, lettering and characterization. While there is plenty of room to grow on the story-telling front, it’s hard not to be satisfied with a completed mission that encompassed sword-fights, high-tech gear, victories, casualties, stand-offs and a whole ton of shots fired. In the end, the vaguely villainous titular character sees his end and serves his purpose. Hopefully, Drew Spence has some long-game plans to prevent these seasons from becoming overly formulaic. There’s hardly anywhere to go but forward for the Annihilators.

Pros:
Action, action and more action
Welcome variety for characters/weapons/landscapes
Greatly improved lettering

Cons:
Underdeveloped villain
Short-sighted plot
No real motivations to attach to

Final Judgement:
8.1

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Episode 10 Forced ENDtry

Force Six, The Annihilators

Episode 10 Forced ENDtry

Enter the Ending of Season I

It’s the final episode of season I. We end at the beginning, backtrack and spin the clock back to Annihilator Day One. Get a great glimpse as the A-gang gathers!  Drew Spence writes and illustrates a graphic comic, mixing science fiction with science fantasy. It’s a superhero space saga as a group of renegades, gifted with special abilities and artificial enhancements, charge and change the fate of all those they come across. They are the Force Six, The Annihilators and this is the story of their rise, fall and ultimate redemption. READ NOW!

 

 

They were a team of specialists assembled to bring order to a chaotic universe. Something went wrong when right became their final choice. See the transformation from Renegade outcasts to Legends. They are Force Six, The Annihilators. Story & art by Drew Spence.

 

We are The Dynamic Universe. We create graphic comics. They sit between traditional strips and a 3-D style of photorealistic drama. Enjoy the science-fantasy action adventure with terrific tints, great graphics and compelling story-telling. Read the comic and enjoy the soundtrack. Story and art by Drew Spence.

PATREON

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Interview! ComicBookBin -Drew Spence

The ComicBookBin

Interview with Drew Spence

By Hervé St-Louis
Jul 26, 2017 – 22:27

The ComicBookBin connects with comic artist Drew Spence from The Dynamic Universe. His self-published lead title is Force Six, The Annihilators. It’s a mix of science fiction, fantasy and superhero action. He’s tackled the story-telling task with a mix of 3D art and photographic manipulation. We sit down and get a look at his creative process and hear his thoughts on graphic art and what’s really behind the render.

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ComicBookBin: Hi Drew. I think that we have a good start for an interview here! (the interview started in the middle of a conversation!)

Interview? I’d better choose my words more carefully then.

Now that I’ve read the whole, thing, damn that’s wordy. Might have to make a part I and part II.

CBB: Tell me, how do you feel about 3D comics in the sense of the reaction that people have to them.

Well, it varies. I’ve heard all types of comments- how 3D is easier or is fake art or doesn’t make real comic books, etc. I take those kinds of statements as different than opinion-based reactions like “I prefer…” or “I dislike…” Someone is speaking as an authority and trying to convince me of an empirical truth whereas, the evidence actually points to the opposite. I draw too. Anyone can draw a comic. Anyone can color a page and anyone can throw some word bubbles across a panel and thus, ‘make a comic’. But what some like to do, is draw (no pun) from the greatest masters and legends of 2D work and compare that to the kid who just made his first 3D comic piece and go “See the difference?” It’s a silly exercise and your taste really needs no justification. Like what you like and support the work that you feel is meaningful no matter the chosen medium. If it speaks to you, listen. If it doesn’t, find the right conversation.

3D has established itself quite well in animation and even visual effects yet still has not made an important breakthrough in comics. Why do you think that is and how do you intend to change this?

A breakthrough is code-word for a big financial success after a big promotional campaign. That would require a book that doesn’t look like or work like traditional comics being pushed by the very same entities who’d have a lot to lose if something too different comes along and catches on. Until they have an engine in place, prepared to capitalize on a 3D trend, you won’t see any risk-taking or support from the major 2D players.

Established comics tend to have separate writers and artists, if not a whole team. The grass-roots3D is still so new and experimental, that for most, it’s still a one-creator show. When I look at many of the 3D books on offer, I find – either the graphics or the story has a challenge. So you have these wonderful illustrations doing uninteresting stuff or a great narrative hampered by the rough visuals. Somebody needs to get both parts right. And enough people need to make solid work so that it creates a wave, even if a single artist breaks first and everyone else follows.

All I can do is my part. I create a 3D comic to the best of my sensibilities and hope the readers enjoy it. I consider myself a storyteller first and illustrator second. I don’t want a book that is only worth your time because it looks cool or novel. But, we are telling stories in a very visual medium so I can’t have the limitations of my imagination or skill get in the way of the narrative.

CBB: Would you argue that 3D comics suffer from the same hyper realism fate as photo-comics?

The goal of my 3D work is not to fool you or show you ‘better looking images’. When still pictures serve as the foundation, you tend to lose the comic part. What’s a comic book- other than an exaggeration of a moment or event? Everything is pushed to its limits: fast is the fastest, strong is the strongest, evil is the most evil, etc. Hyper-real is the opposite. If the goal is to tell a fantastic story with extraordinary visuals, why would an artist choose the most faithful medium possible- a snapshot? It actually doesn’t make sense. An artist needs to control the visual punctuation. When and how do I underline? Where’s the ellipsis pause? How do I boldface and add punctuation marks? We know what to do in the bubbles, it’s important to control the volume and tone with the artwork as well.

And the opposite happens in the quiet moments. Can you capture a dynamic moment at rest? Sometimes, the inclusion of details is exactly what taps your emotion. The faithful representation of an idealized moment becomes that much more meaningful. Look at the work of comic legends John Byrne and Barry Windsor-Smith. So much happens when their characters are at rest. The weight, the posing, the heroes’ presence in a static backdrop. That’s where you need to understand the concepts of good photography along with all the tricks that come after. That’s hard to do in any photo-based engine without pre-planning or awareness.

CBB: Which 3D app do you use to render the shots?

DAZ STUDIO is the foundation. It is a free 3d rendering suite – backed by their online store, where you can purchase a massive variety of content for every genre and interest you can imagine. For comic enthusiasts, the look can be edited through shaders, which are basically filters to achieve every comic look you could want. There are morphs that can make characters look very Pixar-like or idealized like the  Marvel and DC superheroes.

For traditional artists, it’s used for anatomical reference and a drawing aide for perspective and composition. Some draw on top of the models and figures and sketch directly from the template. There are licenses for video game programmers and even some tools for animation.

The engine is really there for you to customize and you can get as deep as you want. Many digital artists do the photoreal stuff where you can’t tell if it’s CGI or Photoshop. You’ll see Daz at work for book covers, movie posters, story boards, but I make use of what it offers for comic illustration. You just need to remember Daz won’t make your artwork for you. It’s an incredibly powerful environment that places the tools in your hands, but you still need to learn the proper techniques and apply your creative talents. 3D is still not a shortcut for being an artist, it’s just a medium.

CBB: What’s your production process?

Working in 3D is more like film making where I create the characters. Dress them, make a set. Place them, do lighting and such, place a camera and snap a picture.

From there it’s all post-editing. And way after- assemble the book from all the artwork. I can work panel by panel or page by page. It’s all design decisions. My eye and taste is really what I lean on. I’m no graphic expert and I will always push and experiment. What does this do? How can I use this tool differently? What if I…

CBB: I’d like to know more about the current story that you are developing and how it fits in the greater picture of past or current work being developed by your team.

Force Six, The Annihilators is meant to combine all the things that I’m passionate about. That’s why I made the world so open-ended. Almost anything can happen. My story-telling style has the rules set in place, but we have lots of creative and visual freedom. I create many types of music so I added a soundtrack and I will be venturing into video and other 3D forms to continue telling stories.

Force Six, The Annihilators was something I started drawing back in 1984. Yep 1984 as a kid. I kept all my drawings and now, years later I’m redoing all the stories with very minor edits. In the beginning it was very silly and derivative of whatever I was into at the time. Over time, I kept adding more adult sensibilities and their world grew darker. This series is about fleshing it all out and telling the story from the beginning, well almost the beginning.

CBB: Anything else?

Yes, thank you for your time and thank you for all the readers and supporters for helping us spread the Annihilator graphic comic. We have some awesome stuff coming up, keep turning those pages.

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Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title The Dynamic Universe. He is both interested in music and video and has created several works, including the Mark of the Griffin, both a graphic novel and web series. The instrumental group fallout Shelter provides the soundtrack for many of his releases. The band members are Domino grey, Dynamics Plus and Xodus Phoenix. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

Purchase Issue #1 of Force Six, The Annihilators at Comixology.

READ THE INTERVIEW HERE

 

Movie Review The Last Days On Mars (2013)

The Last Days On Mars

 

Mission to Mars with Monsters – and I liked it

 

“The Last Days” for the mission….and the crew!

        I honesty don’t feel like writing a review for The Last Days On Mars, but I’m compelled to do so because the reviews on Amazon.com are so negative. There’s the ego aspect – where it becomes a matter of why anyone would care what I say about this movie. And then there’s the aspect of sharing a movie and hoping someone else sees it and enjoys a small gem that they might have otherwise missed. That’s why we’re here. I have recently seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier and really enjoyed it, but you don’t need a review from me to go see it. Everyone is going to see it — anyone with a passing interest in the superhero resurgence will…go…see…it. The Last Days On Mars deserves a push.

 

Marred Mars Mission

The plot involves a crew sent to Mars in search of life. It’s literally their last day on Mars when a sensor lead leads a history-grabbing team member to make a last-ditch effort to secure his place in history by recording the find first. The site is compromised and his infection sets off the major arc of the movie. As every reviewer has documented; this is essentially a zombie movie that takes place on Mars. As I stated in my review of Apollo 18, the hostile environment adds a new dimension to the perils that this crew must overcome in order to return home. It’s a crew on the brink versus an infected zombie force- verse the dangers of planetary exploration – you know, lack of breathable atmosphere and stuffs.

 

Ruairi Robinson (who I am not familiar with) directs Liev Schreiber (Sabertooth in X-Men Origins Wolverine and Ray Donovan, the TV series) as astronaut Vincent Cambell – he alone holds this movie together with his acting abilities and as the most fleshed out character. Some of the others have that writer’s crutch of a character that behaves, in a way, out of line with their supposed job title. Prometheus (reviewed here) suffers the same fate as you ask “Would a [insert the thing you are supposedly trained to do] act this way?” So a few points are lost as you scream at the screen You Idiot! followed by Serves you right! I mean, it’s a common plot-device to portray characters – so that you are okay with their deaths. They almost deserve it for being so stupid and making such dumb decisions. Maybe that’s okay for the horny teens or the inquisitive homeowner who hears a bump in the night, but for astronauts to slip up- it’s a tough sell. I mean, it’s what you were sent there for, why you trippin?

 

Mars in Motion Emotion

Despite that, there are a few emotionally gripping scenes where all the parts fit together nicely. It’s the music, plus the mayhem captured in a moment that makes this movie worth the memory. The soundtrack is used to solid effect as the backdrop support rises to epic proportions along with the climactic confrontations. Although I enjoyed this movie, it does suffer from not going hard in any direction. It’s not really about Mars-zombies so if you want to see the shambling-mumbling-brains, you’ll be disappointed. If you want the hard science of space operations and a realistic depiction of Mars exploration, well yeah, you’ll fall short. Well, what’s the big idea then? I don’t think there is one. There isn’t any big reveal like the end of Mission To Mars. There isn’t a single morality-heavy speech made by a character that underlies the thing you’re supposed to be taking home after the credits roll. Yes, we went to Mars in search of life, found it and things didn’t quite work out as we expected. Be careful: you may find what you are looking for. That’s the moral of the story.

 

If you can enjoy a sci-fi tale with a simple presentation, give The Last Days On Mars a chance. If you must have extremes to be satisfied, then I suggest flicks that put the zombies on the poster. This one had astronauts and that scene was pretty meaningful. I’m not a movie critic, I just critique movies.

Movie Review: Europa Report (2013)

It’s Mission to Mars Europa with found footage… and a hard Sci-fi edge.

Plot Summary: Footage from a failed mission to discover life on Jupiter’s moon, Europa is used to answer the most important question in the universe…are we alone?

Somewhere between the classic Arthur C Clarke novel Rendezvous with Rama and the Grand Tour novels by Ben Bova, I fell in love with the planets. Reading the vivid descriptions of their surface and atmosphere filled me with a sense of awe and wonder. In works like Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Saturn, Bova brings us the planetary system- scaled up in its cosmic-magnitude. We are there to witness…miracles and to become tourists seeing sites and sights only meant for gods and angels.

Hard Sci-fi delivers the extraordinary in a believable fashion. We stay rooted to real-world physics and the limits of our material universe are not to be circumvented by techno-babble. We need to understand what we don’t understand. That pulls us in to the story and also pushes mankind out and to the dangerous reaches of space to find answers about us from them. Them is always the concept of life or intelligence. In movies like Mission to Mars and Red Planet, we find the discovery of life to be the central goal with numerous and unforeseen perils thrown in. A sub-title of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is “An epic drama of adventure and exploration”. That’s the idea of director Sebastian Cordero and screenplay writer Philip Gelatt. I had never seen any of their previous work so I bought in not knowing what to expect. I’m very glad I did.

I recently covered Apollo 18 -using the same style of found footage, with the viewer piecing together the entire story, which slowly paces towards a revealing climax. Where Apollo 18 was played for horror, Europa Report plays for hard. We have the familiar broken feeds, the camera failing at inopportune times and the constant glitches and even the prospect of being stranded a million miles from home.

The cost of curiosity may be too high a price to pay

Command Crew

The crew is quite believable and we have actors fleshing out familiar characters with Sharlto Copley [District 9] and Michael Nyqvist [The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2009]. The hardware and footage feels authentic and that leads to a nice level of immersion. There’s a small moment of…upset when you find the crew ‘pushing it’ and your stomach knots up as you start thinking ‘get the hell outta there’. That reminds me of an episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk takes in an opinion from Bones McCoy who votes for survival. Kirk snaps on the P.A. and reminds everyone that theirs is a mission of discovery and personal safety is not part of the prime directive. If you can appreciate that attitude then you will enjoy the core theme of Europa Report. Mission to Mars dropped the space rock a bit with the overly done big-reveal ending. Europa Report avoids this by staying true to its hard Sci-fi roots and allowing small events to have major impact. If you enjoy your science fiction leaning more towards science and enjoy the journey that a well written novel takes you on, see Europa Report. It’s was certainly worth the trip for them and it is certainly worth the trip for you.

These are a few other reviewed movies that gave me a similar feeling.

Apollo 18 (although horror-themed)

Oblivion

Solaris

and Moon (2009)

Battlestrux Graphic Novel: Dreadnaught Fantasy

Battlestrux Graphic Novel: Dreadnaught Fantasy

Dreadnaught Fantasy is a digital graphic novel I created a few years ago. I was experimenting with photo manipulation and rendered an early Battlestrux story as my demo. In other titles, I used models as my digital actors and so, this is one of the few books that remain in its original style. I hope you enjoy my work.

The Story centers around the first Earth Battleship that is capable of unassisted space warp. The E.B.S Odyssey represents mankind’s first leap into outer space and the hopeful ambassador in an alien universe.

You can read the full novel which is found on TheDynamicUniverse.com website link Dreadnaught Fantasy

-Dynamica Comics

Page sample

Read the Graphic Novel here.

FREE MUSIC “M.O.P.H.O. The Last Analogue Transmission”

FREE MUSIC “M.O.P.H.O. The Last Analogue Transmission”

Battlestrux Year One: Captain of a Starship Track Spotlight

A lot of my earlier albums had songs called Captain Dynamics Plus and then a more specific subtitle like “Planet Industry” or “stardust Memories”. These are short stories based around the idea of Dynamics Plus being a starship captain and having adventures. I enjoyed making and listening to them, but I didn’t know how to expand the idea beyond an album interlude.

Enter the MOPHO

Whenever reviewing a piece of gear for Producer’s Edge digital magazine, I always crank out a good number of tracks to both explore the unit and to familiarize myself with its workflow and tendencies. The Dave Smith Instruments MOPHO is a monophonic analog synthesizer that I found to be a joy to work with. You can read the review here. I was using both the surface knobs and the soft-editor and generating a ton of usable sounds. That inspired me to start using the MOPHO to create entire tracks by itself. If you are unfamiliar with synthesizers, you can think of a monophonic synthesizer as only being able to generate one sound at a time. Not entirely true, but true enough to realize that it takes a lot of programming and recording in passes or layers to make an entire song. It’s the equivalent of having one musician play every instrument. Easy enough, but now add in the fact that the musician has to make the instrument (sound) first!

One of the tracks caught my ear with an arpeggiated phrase that sounded like something I would have used in a CDP interlude. I hadn’t made one in a while so I thought ‘why not?’ and began writing. I now had a song as full as “Cosmic Centipede Episode V” from Foresight Wars. That in turn inspired a full length album based in the Captain Dynamics Plus universe. I had a lot of fun creating this song and we can explore some of the lyrics in the following Track Spotlight.

* The samples used in this song and more are available for sale on the www.StudioAVX.com Website.

Product page = Griffin Avid presents: MOPHO Drum Kits and Samples

M.O.P.H.O. Last Analogue Transmission

Chorus:
And this composition (Captain of a starship!)
The Xodus Phoenix expedition (Blast off Rocketship!)
My Final mission (A-shaped spaceship)
The Captains’ last Analog Transmission (The Last Transmission!)

My survey ship
the Phoenix Xodus receives a transmission

Xodus Phoenix is the nick name for a Producer’s Edge staffer. Xavier said that his name sounds like a cool Lenzmen alter-ego so I used it here knowing he’d get a kick out of that.

-it’s a series of blips from a far distance
set a course for it
[here’s your mission:] Ascertain the source and maintain an orbit
Sir, I have visual, it’s a spaceship (of an unknown kind)
It’s sending us a analog signal (well, let’s reply)
We can’t respond in digital (we’ll have to go inside)

A small reference to the difference between analogue and digital synthesizers- that the signal coming from the spaceship is so old, our modern equipment can’t understand the message.

The line has died A magnetic storm has arrived
take the ship down planet-side.
Send an away team while we wait for the waves to subside

Part II [Down and Away]

Can you hear me captain? Yes barely, boost his chip
It’s clearly an earthship, buried up to its tip
fairly certain the ancient rocketship has real analog circuits
powered by Curtis chips.

Dave Smith Instruments, the company that makes the MOPHO, has used Curtis Chips in its analogue synthesizers.

We’re stopping the rover and walking closer
There’s lettering on the hull, but its’ covered over
It reads MOPHO what?
M.O. in Code
Mike, Oscar, Papa, Hotel, Oscar
come in over?
Mopho. Find me a reference
the storms too intense
We’re losing communiqué
there’s too much interference
Captain, we’ve entered the main bay
proceeding down main passageway into the command gangway
Captain, the signals split
I can’t receive you but I can still transmit
I hope you’re getting all of this
Look here, we have a dead astronaut slumped over holding a yellow box.

The MOPHO looks like a yellow box in appearance and the dead crew member is holding one in his hands.

Sir, data package, live feed, it’s the ship’s ID
This doesn’t make sense; it’s logged under military defense.
MOPHO the letters meant Mass Obliteration Planetary Heavy Ordinance
There’s a red button sir.

The MOPHO features a red “Push It” button. Before the unit was released, many of us synth-heads were speculating what the button does. It starts the sequencer running and in context of this song, it’s the Red Button that arms/ detonates the MOPHO bomb.

I’m sure it’s a control
Yes, wires leading to the console.
No! Don’t press it.
I’m sure this resets it.
Blast off, emergency Lift-off

The Hull is peeling away!
Atomic yield phase shields raised
Planet Surface giving way.
massive waves of radioactive rays
displayed in an azure haze of Fallout blaze
(planetary shockwave!) gaining a range, mass action engine engage
burning inertial stage, surfing immersing in flames

The above section describes the scene of the starship Phoenix Xodus pulling away from the planet as it breaks apart after being destroyed by the MOPHO device.

Part III [Doctor Atomics sees the Light of Destruction]

The Ark is part of the pardon of Cain

Biblical and religious references abound. The flood, in this case, is a flood of flames and destruction. The Ark is Noah’s Ark which is the spaceship ferrying the crew members away.

the arc is part of the stay from acidic rains in face of his reign

This arc is the rainbow, a promise that the world would not be destroyed again by flooding.

shaping the plane and breaking the chains lights fade in the age of half-life decays
awaken a wraith and awaiting his rage

Describes the anger in using a weapon of this nature to wipe out a planet and its entire civilization. If our concept of God can wipe out the surface of a planet, what kind of terrible entity (us) would use a weapon to destroy an entire planet?

We become gods ourselves based on our destructive abilities.

[it’s the God]
birthing and cursing in his domain
[insert control rods]
the world spins on his lathe
action reaction a vain
attracting your acting a play
a pact to enact a delay
it’s an act of faith

The chance for a few humans and animals to survive gives us another chance to live properly.

we wait as he pulls the reins
plays the strings of fate
it’s the endgame of your ways

There is a pause while we wait. The reins hint at the four Horsemen.

But yet, there is a warning, which is about a coming Judgment Day. That’s considered the Endgame of our Ways.

Sir the gravity gauge
well, check the display
It’s confirmed we’re pulling away.
We were almost burned
Set course for return
Close mission.
Coded: Analog Transmission

Summary

A ship receives a mysterious transmission and investigates. They find a powerfully destructive device at the source of the signal. The explorer group triggers the bomb and escapes as the planet breaks up. This is a song inspired by the DSI MOPHO, I hope you enjoy it.

-Dynamics Plus

www.TheDynamicUniverse.com