"Homesick Swedish Maus" and the Last Days in American Crime

Here's the post for page 58, which was another scene in the airplane, which I was definitely getting tired of drawing. It's awkward having characters trapped in any location where they can't move around and things like that. With a limited range of motion, it feels like there are a limited amount of ways to draw them, which can be a bit suffocating.

Just a little escape was a cutesy title to lead from "trapped in an airplane" but I had no idea how much more meaning it was going to have on me while drawing the scene. I really felt like the characters needed to escape, too.

I was relieved for them to make it to the airport terminal, and it was almost as claustrophobic to have a large open space for the characters to be in as it was to be confined in the airplane. The customs agent is modelled after a buddy of mine, loosely. My guess is you'll never guess who it is - but he'd be somewhat honoured to know that he was my choice for a jolly Frenchman who believed more in the spirit of the law than the letter of the law.

Graphic novel news
In graphic novel news - I'm finding I' jealous all the time. There are so many really neat sounding graphic novels out there, and today I've got a sample of more of them. I WISH they were my idea, but at the same time, I'm glad these things are out there to read though - for sure.

F. Gary Gray to Direct 'The Last Days of American Crime' (Cannes)
Gregg Kilday
hollywoodreporter.com

Are you kidding me? This thing looks AWESOME! And it's going to become a movie with Sam Witherspoon, or whatever that guy from Avatar - Sam Worthington - that's the guy.

Cannes -- F. Gary Gray is now attached to direct The Last Days of American Crime, a heist movie in which Sam Worthington is set to star, for IM Global and Radical Pictures.

The project ... is based on the Radical graphic novel written by Rick Remender. Karl Gadejsak will write the screenplay set in a near-future where the government plans to implement a form of legal mind control, making it impossible for its citizens to commit unlawful acts. Worthington, the star of Avatar and Terminator 3: Salvation, will play a career criminal, who must put together the last heist in American history on the last night that crime is possible.

The actor’s Full Clip Productions label is also producing alongside Automatik Entertainment.

Gray most recently directed Law Abiding Citizen.

The project was announced Monday by IM Global founder and CEO Stuart Ford and Radical founders Barry Levine and Jesse Berger.

“This is such a powerful, iconic piece of material - we really believe this movie can bring something fresh to the noir universe and become an explosive action feature film. We're delighted to be working alongside the super talented Radical team, Gary and Sam,” Ford said.

“The Last Days of American Crime graphic novel is one of the most coveted titles in the Radical catalog and our most successful international seller,” Levine added.

Click to read more.

Representing History in Art Spiegelman's Maus II
By Derek D. Miller
studentpulse.com

Here's an incredibly powerful example of the places that graphic novels can go. And this scene in particular really shows how powerful the images can be even in a seemingly innocuous scene. This post really illustrates all of this.

Spiegelman's Maus II is a graphic novel and I believe Spiegelman chose this format because it is the only way to discuss the Holocaust while simultaneously conveying the impossibility of doing such a task. The Holocaust was such a horrific event that there is no way of truly representing it. Spiegelman realized that everything is a representation. He also realized that representing every aspect of the Holocaust was something that simply cannot be done. It is impossible to capture something free of representation. Spiegelman wanted to write a story about the Holocaust but he was very cautious in his construction. Maus: Volume II is constructed with precise self-awareness and self-devaluation to tell to a story about the Holocaust, while also writing a story about the impossibility of trying to capture this tragic event within the extremely limited parameters of representation.

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Nick Frost: Zombies, Cops, & Aliens, Oh My! PAUL & Beyond
Lucas Siegel,
Newsarama.com
On a much lighter note, but in the same vein as mice, is Nick Frost's graphic novel idea, barely mentioned, about a Homesick Swedish Mouse, which is the tentative title of his upcoming work.
Could be interesting.

Nrama: Would you like to write outside of film and TV?

Frost: Well I'm writing a graphic novel at the moment!

Nrama: What can you tell us about that, that's our bread and butter!

Frost: Well it's not what you'd expect. It's provisionally titled "Homesick Swedish Mice." My wife is Swedish, she's not a mouse, so I had this idea about a group of Mice who become marooned in London. Grandfather Mouse passes away and his final words to his son are "Take me home." So then it becomes about a group of mice trying to get from London to Sweden in a toy boat. So yeah, doing that at the moment, as well.

Also, I've written a film about a wrestler, so I'm hoping to shoot that later this year or early next!

Click to read more.