steranko's outland

[bennyblanko]

is outland collected anywhere??? is it any good? is it worth tracking down the heavy metal issues it was published in?? (also is heavy metal magazine any good in general? the premise sounds cool but i never hear any buzz whatsoever about it.)

thanks.
bb.

[JKCarrier]

The story of Outland is nothing great, but Steranko's visuals are terrific. I don't know of any collected edition. You can see some of it here:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/8650/out1.html

Like any anthology, Heavy Metal has it's ups and downs. I like the early years ('70s-'80s) a lot -- lots of Moebius, Druillet, Corben, et. al. I kind of lost interest after that, so I don't know what the current issues are like.

[Sir Tim Drake]

This is phenomenal artwork. We tend to think of Steranko's body of work as being limited to the stuff for Marvel. But it looks like he continued improving and innovating even after leaving Marvel. I wonder why this story isn't recognized today as one of Steranko's major works.

[Roquefort Raider]

I wonder why this story isn't recognized today as one of Steranko's major works.


Agreed... And the style shows considerable evolution compared to the SHIELD days... Steranko kept evolving even if in our fannish hearts we still associate him with the Nick Fury material.

I'd really like to see things like outland and Red tide republished.

[berk]

I'd love to see those as well. I didn't even know he'd ever done a complete Outland - all I knew about was the first thing shown in Heavy Metal way back then. Still think it's a shame Steranko didn't do more comics work.

[jam]

iirc, my friend had a collected edition of this way back when. I borrowed it for a read.

wish i'd bought a copy and kept it.

What chance of this ever seeing the light of day again? Lovely, lovely work.

[scratchie]

To answer the broader question, there is a lot of great stuff in the early issues of Heavy Metal (up to around 1982 or so, IMO). In terms of quality presentation of that generation of (mostly European) artists, you can't beat it.

[Shellhead]

I'm kicking myself now for not buying this back in the day. I passed on Walt Simonson's graphic novel adaptation of Alien, too. In both cases, I was disappointed that the comics didn't really match the visuals from the movies. Plus, they were kind of spendy. It's a real shame, because I already was familiar with Steranko's work with Nick Fury, and I really enjoyed Simonson's Manhunter backup feature in Detective Comics. But it really seems like both Steranko and Simonson were working with a lighter range of colors when both movies had so many dimly lit scenes. Maybe they were dealing with the limitations of coloring available at that time, though it seemed like Heavy Metal magazine was certainly working with some darker color schemes.

[MWGallaher]

Well, I've been going through some early issues of Heavy Metal that a friend gave me, and frankly, I find it mostly unreadable. There's some pretty art, but all the Moebius stuff consists of nonsequiturs, and most of the rest of the European imports seem to start and stop randomly. I love the Corben art, but the scripting of his "Den" is pretty sad stuff, and the mechanical font detracts significantly from my enjoyment (on the other hand, the florid lettering on the European stuff detracts even more). Heck, there's one feature ("1996") that actually punishes you for trying to read it, by rendering all the dialog in a painful-to-decode dialect: "Wel, wud lugs lyg anordanary gorbz du yoo iz agjulee thembombd bodyuthu garz preevyuz owner..."

[Rattlehead]

There are some fantastic artists that create and submit material solely for modern day Heavy Metal. Just about every month you'll find an amazing spread of artwork. The stories themselves are hit or miss though. A lot of them are standard 'grim n gritty' tales with hard-boiled protaganists and slutty women. You'll find a gem in there every now and then, but it's not really worth the trouble considering the cover price.

[MDG]

Well, I've been going through some early issues of Heavy Metal that a friend gave me, and frankly, I find it mostly unreadable. There's some pretty art, but all the Moebius stuff consists of nonsequiturs, and most of the rest of the European imports seem to start and stop randomly.
That's why I dropped it after the first 4 or 5 issues. It looked like the editors took stuff that was originally published in a long form and arbitrarily chopped them into chapters, so even if there was a good story, it just turned into eye candy.

Re: Outland: I remember seeing this originally, or at least a couple chapters. The art is good, but I don't know about the storytelling. I browsed it from the link provided and it seemed awfully texty. That's my beef with the (minimal) post-Nick Fury Steranko I've seen, mainly Chandler and the Supes #400 story: It feels like he's letting the text do the heavy lifting and that the pictures illustrate, but seldom add to it.

MDG

[scratchie]

Well, I've been going through some early issues of Heavy Metal that a friend gave me, and frankly, I find it mostly unreadable. Well, that's a fair cop, but the art is lovely!

There's some pretty art, but all the Moebius stuff consists of nonsequiturs, and most of the rest of the European imports seem to start and stop randomly. Just from memory, there were a few good stories in the early years of HM:

Moebius & O'Bannon's "The Long Tomorrow" (one of the big inspirations for Blade Runner and The Fifth Element)
Moebius & Jorodowsky's "The Incal Light"
Bilal's "The Immortals' Fete"
Findlay's "Tex Arcana" (I've raved about this one in the past)
Lots of good "short stories" by Caza
Kirchner's "The Bus" -- I suppose this is the very definition of "non sequitur" but the strips were short (and funny) and the art was good.
Some funny stuff from Howard Cruse.

There was definitely a very similar sensibility to a lot of the writing, strongly reminiscent of European art films -- Moebius said in a recent documentary that there was a sense that a story had to be "negative" to be any good -- but much of it was at least as serviceable as what was being cranked out at Marvel and DC at the time (damning with faint praise?).

[bennyblanko]

found this ... too bad it's en francais.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/JIM-STERANKO-OUTLAND-EO_W0QQitemZ270161030751QQihZ017QQcategoryZ151107Q QcmdZViewItem

[Roquefort Raider]

Outland was available in French? I didn't know that but I'm not surprised.

I'm not complaining since I take advantage of it, but I think it's a shame for so many good American comics to be more easily available in France than in the US. Our public library (in the French part of Canada) has shelves and shelves of gorgeous US independent comics, all beautifully bound and printed on high quality paper.

It's probably because of that stigma that just won't go away: comics are generally seen as a sub-class of literature in America; like an idiot cousin or something. Closer to video games and Saturday morning cartoons than to actual books.

Some editors in the US have tried repeatedly to reprint great classic material, but often with mitigated results... "standard" comic-book readers would much rather read some more X-Men or Superman books, and non-comic readers won't give them a chance.

[Lone Ranger]

Although I know it has a large number of detractors, I have always been a pretty big fan of the film, Outland. I just really like something about the overall atmosphere.

I was completely unaware of this Steranko work and would love to track it down in one format or the other.

Does anyone remember the Mad parody of Outland? That was actually my first exposure to the film (and the whole notion of a guy taking off his helmet in space). My mind's eye is telling me in was a Mort Drucker drawn story - but I'm probably wrong since I haven't seen it in 20+ years.

I don't think I've ever bought a Heavy Metal magazine in my life - a 'Best Of' collection would be great to see on LCS shelves.

[Shellhead]

Although I know it has a large number of detractors, I have always been a pretty big fan of the film, Outland. I just really like something about the overall atmosphere.

I was completely unaware of this Steranko work and would love to track it down in one format or the other.

Does anyone remember the Mad parody of Outland? That was actually my first exposure to the film (and the whole notion of a guy taking off his helmet in space). My mind's eye is telling me in was a Mort Drucker drawn story - but I'm probably wrong since I haven't seen it in 20+ years.

I don't think I've ever bought a Heavy Metal magazine in my life - a 'Best Of' collection would be great to see on LCS shelves.

I really enjoyed the movie Outland. It's kind of an Old West-type story that was re-themed for a science-fiction setting. The explosive decompression scenes are lame, but otherwise it seemed like a pretty realistic and gritty story. I could easily picture it taking place in the same overall setting as the Alien movies. Best of all is Sean Connery playing against his Bond-typecasting, as a gruff and aging cop.

[Roquefort Raider]

The explosive decompression scenes are lame (...)

...but they prompted so many discussions in our physics class!!! :)

[Kirk G]

is outland collected anywhere??? is it any good? is it worth tracking down the heavy metal issues it was published in??

I ask the questions again...

Has Outland ever been collected in English?

If so, where can we find it?:confused:

[Tony Robertson]

Steranko's Outland was never collected and published in English. There is a French Edition and possibly a Spanish Edition. Vanguard wants to publish an English version but have yet to do so. A fan of Steranko's work (Doctor Vince) meticulously scanned it from Heavy Metal (it took him more than a year !) and we posted it on The Drawings of Steranko website for Steranko fans to enjoy.

[Paradox]

Shellhead didn't know?:

I really enjoyed the movie Outland. It's kind of an Old West-type story that was re-themed for a science-fiction setting.

Specifically, it's "High Noon".

[Kirk G]

Specifically, it's "High Noon".

Dox beat me to it.

I didn't think that anyone didn't know that Outland was "High Noon" remade in outerspace.

Except, it's not scene for scene, but it is close enough to be obvious.
The new version does have some pretty shocking and dramaticly surprising scenes as I recall.

Has anyone seen it recently? I'm thinking of sharing it with my 14 year old daughter and maybe my 12 year old son. Any thoughts on this?

I know it's violent in places, and gorry in a few spots, but it also has a strong moral core, and a hell of a payoff... I liked the loyalty issues, the dependability of friends, the betrayal and company loyalty issues a lot... but the outer space station setting along with all the sci-fi settings would certainly appeal to my kids.

What do you think? Are the hooker scenes too much? Are the pleasure rooms too obvious?

[jam]

Steranko's Outland was never collected and published in English. There is a French Edition and possibly a Spanish Edition. Vanguard wants to publish an English version but have yet to do so.


Oh lordy please let it be so. I just hope they publish it in a format that allows us to appreciate those brilliant centre-spread layouts. And don't run them across two pages with an almighty fold down the middle hiding detail ...


A fan of Steranko's work (Doctor Vince) meticulously scanned it from Heavy Metal (it took him more than a year !) and we posted it on The Drawings of Steranko website for Steranko fans to enjoy.

I haven't laid eyes on this since they were published in Heavy Metal ... as far as I'm concerned, they still look fantastic. Many thanks to Doctor Vance for all his hard work; this old man certainly appreciates it!

p.s. graphic book layouts ... maybe you've seen my complaints about Star Hawks elsewhere on this forum (I've just seen in the latest Previews they are still selling that, with its unreadable format!). I bought a Star Trek Ship Spotter book a while ago -- they had these great starship images -- but across pages!!! WHY??? WHY??? putting a lousy great fold right down the middle of the picture and ruining the image. Please may Vanguard not make the same mistake with Steranko's Outland ...

[jam]

Has anyone seen it recently? I'm thinking of sharing it with my 14 year old daughter and maybe my 12 year old son. Any thoughts on this?

I know it's violent in places, and gorry in a few spots, but it also has a strong moral core, and a hell of a payoff... I liked the loyalty issues, the dependability of friends, the betrayal and company loyalty issues a lot... but the outer space station setting along with all the sci-fi settings would certainly appeal to my kids.

What do you think? Are the hooker scenes too much? Are the pleasure rooms too obvious?

I've just finished watching it again. I guess I was in a bad mood because I didn't enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed it in the past.

I wouldn't be so sure of watching it with a 12 year old. The sex "scenes" on top of the bar (I suppose these were supposed to be holograms) are a bit much. There is also some swearing (the "f" word). The unrealistic exploding heads might not go over too well.

(I think I am a bit prudish, though. When I watch a film like this it often occurs to me that it could be made viewable by younger children by dropping elements that -- to my mind, anyway -- don't really add to the story. So you should take that into account when weighing up my opinions, such as they are).

I loved Sean Connery's performance in this -- not a super hero like Bond but a man who is obviously frightened by his situation but facing it down because he needs to. I thought Frances Sternhagen was excellent as a McCoy-style Doctor, and I was always disappointed that she didn't seem to get more work after this film. (Cliffie's mom on Cheers is just about all I remember seeing her in). The English actress playing Connery's wife (I've forgotten her name!) just didn't seem strong enough to have appealed to Connery's character.

I liked the design work -- I liked the typography of the signs, I liked the designs of the locations. But boy did they get the computer interfaces completely wrong!

I guess Peter Hyams isn't thought of as a top-rank SF director but I've always enjoyed his work : Outland, Capricorn One, 2010 ... all good stuff in my book.

[Kirk G]

Steranko's Outland was never collected and published in English. There is a French Edition and possibly a Spanish Edition. Vanguard wants to publish an English version but have yet to do so. A fan of Steranko's work (Doctor Vince) meticulously scanned it from Heavy Metal (it took him more than a year !) and we posted it on The Drawings of Steranko website for Steranko fans to enjoy.

You know, I just went to the Drawings of Steranko website, and poked about... and I couldn't find OUTLAND anywhere... How about a link?

[Kirk G]

I don't mind the exploding heads... cause the kid needs to know the dangers of outer space...and it's pretty mild, as I recall.

[MDG]

You know, I just went to the Drawings of Steranko website, and poked about... and I couldn't find OUTLAND anywhere... How about a link?
There's a limk right on the front page. Here's the beginning

http://www.geocities.com/tony_robertson_99/out1.html

[berk]

Yes, thanks for that link.

Funny - the general look and style of the artwork matches quite well with my memory except for one thing: I thought it was in black & white.

Love Steranko's work, though. Wish he'd do more.

[Shellhead]

I didn't think that anyone didn't know that Outland was "High Noon" remade in outerspace.


I was a teenager when I saw Outland in the theater. Teenagers aren't notorious for their in-depth knowledge of ancient history, aka anything before they were born. And researching stuff was a lot harder in pre-internet days.

[Kirk G]

There's a limk right on the front page. Here's the beginning

http://www.geocities.com/tony_robertson_99/out1.html

WOW! That was GREAT!
When does this get published in English?????
I WANT IT!
:biggrin: