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76 – Beware Of False Profits
Posted on May 25, 2011 by Dawn
Those that know me might look at the last panel and think...this looks like something Dawn's shown me before? I use to love the Samurai Jack cartoon and it has been one of the many influences in my artwork. Well when Clint wrote in the script that there was a huge horde of Zombies closing in on the boy and girl...I immediately thought of the "Jack and the Spartans" episode of Samurai Jack where the Spartans are being surrounded by the enemy. I just loved how that looked, just a vast darkness of attackers. I sadly can't bring up the episode, but I can bring up my mock 300 trailer using the scene: I love Genndy Tartakovsky's animations. Which his version of Star Wars: Clone Wars is still my favorite by far. I mean the episode where General Grievous slaughters the stranded Jedi...awesome! Why do I like this part so much? Because it's hard to make a character like a Jedi work without seeming too much like another Superman character. All powerful and almost nothing can hurt him. That's why it's so important that Superman had Lois Lane and the many other mortal characters that could be hurt. We care about him because of how much he worries and cares about the others that could be snuffed out so easily. Same thing went with Return of the Jedi. Luke became a Jedi in that episode and was pretty damn powerful by the time he's fighting Darth Vader on the new Death Star. But the most powerful part to me in that entire scene was when Vader finds out about Leia and tells him that he will bring her to the dark side. We worry with Luke because Leia isn't as powerful. Suddenly there's more at stake and we want to see Luke win for not just himself, but for all those that aren't as strong as he's become. In Episode 1-3, we have a whole bunch of Jedi that are as strong or stronger than Luke. I didn't feel like they were fighting for anything, just felt like they were following habits. So Genndy Tartakovisky's challenge was to make us worry about the mortality of these characters and have something threaten their cause. Now I've seen this work in the past. And that was in "Seven Samurai". All the Samurai are masters and have several advantages against the bandits that threaten the village: they're skilled and intelligent. They defeat the bandits easily at first, but Akira Kurosawa decided to show that these strong Samurai are also human. They make a few mistakes and also grow weary, causing us to worry about them and worry about the outcome for those that live in the village. And this is what I started seeing again in Genndy Tartakovisky's Star Wars: Clone Wars. These Jedi were powerful, but they are soon run down to exhaustion with their nerve about ready to snap. You see sweat dripping from their brow, and the Padawan doing the one thing that you know the others are fighting not to do...charge/run in a panic. They're suddenly human and you connect to them through that fear and panic - causing you to worry for them in this crazy cat and mouse game with General Grievous. Oh boy, I've started going on a rant. Started out with me just wanting to talk about what influences my art and it is now in danger of me ranting about the Star Wars prequels. Well I know others that are far better at pointing out the errors of the prequels. This is what happens when you spend years studying to become a film editor (though I dropped out) and have to write so many reports on film/tv. Going to sleep now!

8 thoughts on “76 – Beware Of False Profits”

  1. The Letter J

    LOVE this – just an incredibly fun way to kick off the new episode.

    Oh, and please tell me we’ll see “Wild” Will again. 🙂

  2. Clint

    Thanks for the love, I do enjoy writing out our little “media interludes” and I know Dawn enjoys drawing them.

    As far as “Wild” Will goes, we do intend to recycle ’round these parts. Some might even recognize the green-clad babe on his arm as having made an earlier appearance.

    And hello you, good to see you amongst the healthy (or at least the posting) again! I think you still owe me an email when you get the chance 🙂

  3. SteelRaven

    Already hate ‘Wild’ Willy. Don’t get me wrong, I already LOVE the character but if he was a real person, something tells me he would be the first person I would punch in a bar fight.

  4. Clint

    😀 <--- "Wild" Will grin for ya.

  5. Connie

    Also, the thing is with Genndy is that he can tell a damn fine story without dialogue. His pictures tell thousands of words. The Clone War cartoon made me love SW again… and then I had to go watch EP3 and go ‘WTF was this?!’ Rant rant rant… says the girl running a SW Larp next weekend…

  6. Clint

    Dexter’s Lab, Samurai Jack, the original Clone Wars shorts… Tartakovsky is just a master visual storyteller.

  7. Dawn

    A late comment, I know. I’m thankful for Clint for answering so many questions while I’ve been busy. Thanks hun.

    @The Letter J – Glad you’re enjoying it so far. Most of it I feel is all thanks to Clint, though I do my best to convey his ideas through art.

    @SteelRaven – Hah! Too true!

    @Connie – Ya, the prequels crushed my soul. But atleast people like Tartakovisky and “Knights of the Old Republic” got me to love the genre again.

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