Geek Syndicate
DB: When I came up with it I was trying to do this other thing called Bambridge Scott and the Sartorial Malady. It was basically The 39 Steps but it was two drunk blokes running around in the 1930s trying to find the King’s tweed because whoever wears this tweed will be the King of England. I started this idea about six times and I kept drawing I think it was the first four pages in varying styles as the years had gone on because it just changed every time, because by the time I got round to doing it I thought “I’m going to have to start again and I can make it better”. I got about eight pages into it and I just went “this is crap! I’ve wasted all this time; it’s just not workable as an idea”. There’s this thing that you should only write about what you know, but this would of actually literally only been interesting to myself, and hardly anyone else and I was like well that’s not very good so I kind of chucked it away and I was sitting there thinking “well I really want to do something, I really want to write something” and I think it was because at the time all I really knew was the 1930s and being drunk. I was kinda doodling something and my girlfriend has like a 1950s sort of dress, and there was that whole thing of write what you know. I know B movies, I love them. They’re my favourite genre of film; I think they deserve their own genre? Although I don’t think they’re really posh enough to have a genre? GS: Last year Geek Syndicate had a running feature which was the Godfathers of Sci-Fi, about the movies that defined an era and created a genre, they inspired so many people. Dan was also a fan of this type of movies. DB: I found a load on YouTube. I watched The Forgotten Land and was like “I want to do this! I want to do B-movies”. I only found this out afterwards, but Mars Attacks is still going as a comic but I didn’t want to do Mars Attacks because, I like it, and I’m talking about the film, but even though it’s old by standards now, and even something that’s only two years old is old, it’s not a B Movie, it’s too flashy and there’s too many effects. It tries to look real almost. The mistake is that modern things are made to look too real when you want that suspension of disbelief. B-movies are theatre. GS: It’s as if you know that the actors know they’re in a movie, and they want you to know that this is a movie, whereas modern movies are no, this is real. We’re making this as real as possible. DB: They try and make it so that you don’t have to think. I don’t mean all films; I want to avoid sweeping generalisations. That’s obviously a rocky road to go down, but I think a lot of SciFI films are now; well you don’t have to think. You’re kind of assaulted by these kind of rich, lavish backgrounds. I don’t want to use Star Wars as a reference but it is a prime example of this shoving so much in there that you’re just overloaded. It just overloads the senses. GS: You’re right because in those old 50s black and white movies, a lot of it is the clever use of how the directors would use what they had at hand and you had to think ok, that’s what’s happening and they made you think about it rather than bringing it all on screen DB: Well it’s like that thing, King of the Rocketmen. You’d never imagine that basically a man with a bucket on his head would be fantastic...but he is! It’s great! It’s that thing of, and I’m thinking of The Rocketeer now because I love that film GS: That’s one of my favourite movies! It’s a classic. DB: But it’s that thing of, and I’m not going to use The Rocketeer as an example to compare it because it’s different, but there’s that thing of ?????e????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e???????????e??????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????????e?????????????%?e???????%?e???????????U?????????????????? L??M??????????????????????????????????????????%?e????????????????????$?????????????????????????????????'?e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????$???????????q???????????????'?e??????????????t?????????????????????????????????????'?e????????????????????????????????????????????????$?????????e??????????????????????????????????????????e???????????????????????????????????????????????e??????????????]????'?e?????????????$?????????????????A?????????????????'?e???????????????????????M?????????????????????????????????????=?????????????'?e???????????????????????5??????????????????????????????????????????????????$?????????????Q?????$????????????????????????e????????$???????????????????????????????$???????????????Q???????????????????????????????$????((??((