NARNIA: THE WHITE WITCH

One of my favorite projects that I've worked on over the years was the three Chronicles of Narnia movies. They were my introduction to boarding live action films after a long career in comics and animation. While most of the projects I've worked on I have a hard time finding any of my own fingerprints, in that first Narnia movie I can see something of myself in almost every scene.

The job paid very well; I wound up working in Aukland NZ and in Prague, both of which were almost paid vacations for me. Working with Andrew Adamson and Mark Johnson was a delight.

There were so many good experiences with so many different folks. 

While most of the crew moved on to different assignments and I've lost contact with them, many of the storyboards artists I still get together with from time to time: Trevor Goring, Tom Nelson,

Joel Venti, young Rico De'Lassandro and Jim Biehold and a few others. In fact yesterday Tom and Joel and I met for a lunch in Burbank. 

Below is one of my favorite sections that I boarded, where Edmund (Andrew was always chastising me because I invariably called him Edwin)  has wandered into Narnia and is wandering around when he suddenly runs into the infamous White Witch. C.S. Lewis always described her with jet black hair and very beautiful. At the time I always used scrap of Nicole Kidman as a model , because that's who we thought might wind up being cast in the role. When I learned that they were going with Tilda Swinton I was a bit disappointed...until I actually saw her in the film. An amazing performance by an amazing actress.

These drawings were then numbered and put together in an animatic and a scratch track (voices and sound effects) added. Traditionally you added little arrows to indicate where characters were moving, and other necessary screen direction, but the animatics obviated all that. At the time, 2003, this was all an entirely new approach to making films. All in all it was a great experience.

FRANK FRAZETTA AND ALEX TOTH: EC ARTISTS

In a discussion at ProCon years ago Gil Kane expostulated that from the time of their inception in the mid 1930s the comic book ascetic moved forward at a steady progression, perhaps reaching it’s peak in the early 50’s with EC comics. While Gil felt that DC comics tried to maintain those standards with the Silver Age superhero phase, things definitely started going downhill with the advent of Marvel. While Stan Lee’s productions were never short on entertainment, the quality of the artwork and stories were designed for instant gratification rather than any lasting impression. No doubt that point could be argued ad infinatum without reaching any satisfactory conclusion, and I’m certainly not up for the battle. 

Let’s look instead at two of the greatest stories published by EC, Squeeze Play (Shock Suspense Stories #13 1954) and Thunder Jet (Frontline Combat #8  1952). The company had it’s own stable of magnificent free-lancers like Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels, and Al Williamson to mention the most prominent. They also managed to occasionally sneak in a small piece of brilliance by  some of the best in the business at the time: Joe Kubert, Bernie Krigstein, and the artists on the two stories presented today, Alex Toth  and Frank Frazetta .

Alex Toth remains a bit of an enigma to fandom. He was established early in his career as an enfant terrible with his remarkable drawing and storytelling ability and fiery personality. Often one to burn bridges, Alex left the New York comics scene and moved to LA, where he became a force in animation, while still doing the occasional comic job. Artists appreciated the magnificence of his work, but his minimalistic approach was never popular for the most part with fans. 

In Thunder Jet you can see Alex abandon completely the rather busy rendering style he had used at DC comics in the mid to late 40’s and use simple black and white shapes to define the images. In part it was an homage to one of his heroes that he often raved about, Noel Sickles. Alex simply updated Noel’s bi-planes of Scorchy Smith to the modern jet.  The job is a design tour de force. And the cinematic style he uses in his storytelling, he would perfect lated in his animation boards.  This job was written by Harvey Kurtzman, who was usually a bit more anti-war in his point of view. Instead, the tone is definitely more John Wayne, gung-ho…certainly an approach Alex was more comfortable with. I wonder if Alex did his own editorial changes before he turned the job in?

Frank Frazetta is best known for his gut level adventure and fantasy paintings, as well as he work in film with Ralph Bakshi. He also put in a stint working for the infamous Al Capp on Little Ablner. His paintings for book covers and movie posters have never been matched for their sheer energy. While Frazetta had been honing his painting skills since his childhood, comics were still his main source of income at this time.

In earlier stories, continuity had not been Frank’s strength, but in Squeeze Play that all disappears. While Toth had opted for simplicity, Frazetta instead offers us the ultimate in the use of line for rendering in a style reminiscent of Charles Dana Gibson, Joesph Clement Coll and Frank Godwin. He draws a wonderful likeness of Jimmy Cagney as the protagonist, and the girls in the story have a sense of realism that was rarely seen in the medium. Most importantly, the mood captures the post-war cinema verities style presenting us with a crime story unlike any seen before. 

A side note on this job is that it was originally slated for Al Williamson, who turned it down when he realized he would have to draw all those roller coasters…and thus it was passed on to Frazetta. Of course, the night before the story was due, Frank called Al for help in meeting the deadline. And like any good friend, he gave Williamson the task of finishing all the backgrounds that included roller coasters. 

My introduction to both the stories was in a volume of EC artwork produced by Russ Cochran (EC Portfolio #2 1972). I was highly influenced by the jobs. At the time, Kubert, Wood, Kirby and Williamson were my main focus, but after this I started looking at more of what both Toth and Frazetta did in comics and it certainly changed my work a good bit. It also moved me a bit further away from traditional superhero comics, and into cinematic storytelling, all of which was very helpful when I moved to LA myself and started my career in animation and film.  Enjoy. Mike