Black Planet
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Black Planet is a seven page comic strip feast, marking the triumphant return to horror comic art for London-based gothic artist Vlad Quigley after many years working in Fine Art... featuring the modelling skills of two of the world's premier models: Alison Dupri & Jodie Moore... to be published in US horror comic magazine Carnopolis.
Black Planet, on the surface, is a vampire space opera as would have been found in such 1950s science fiction comics from EC and Atlas Comics... and the art itself is a nod towards such classic 1950s artists as Frank Frazatta, Wallace Wood and Al Williamson, drawn at nearly twice the size of modern comic pages - at the scale that all US comic art were drawn until the mid 1960s.
However there are several undercurrents within. It is a parable of exploiting a world's resources and, mirrored in the medieval wood cuts of a time when the cultural dichotomy was more clearly at war, Vlad's Irish ancestral tensions between male rational civilisation and female Celtic mystical beliefs.
Also, following discussions with friend who suffers from Hypnogogia, it is a suggested Freudian look at the nature of the Succubus. The title itself, Black Planet, could be taken as a homage to the 1980s gothic punk Sisters Of Mercy song - however it was also to be the title of a similar vampire space opera Vlad first suggested to the Vampyre Society's Velvet Vampyre magazine in the early 1990s, before switching to drawing Joe Dracula horror comedy comic strips for that magazine instead.
Written in verse based on Edgar Allan Poe's essays on rhyme "Take away this element of novelty - of originality - call it what we will - and all that is ethereal in loveliness is lost at once"... The illustrative borders and asides, hand rendered by Vlad from medieval religious woodcuts, are used to subtly metaphorically enhance the tale. For instance the use of spiders on a certain page, with the connotations of the Black Widow, is no coincidence. In another example, the use of butterflies is an echo to the chilling description of erotic death & undeath by Carmilla in J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Victorian vampire classic, "Carmilla, the Vampire Lovers": "But to die as lovers may - to die together, so that they may live together. Girls are like caterpillars while they live in the world, to be finally butterflies when the summer comes".
The Artist: Vlad Quigley Acknowledged as the founder of gothic modelling & described as "Roy Lichtenstein meets Guido Crepax", British Gothic Punk artist Vlad has worked with many of the world's most famous women as his muses - including Hollywood actresses, supermodels & Playboy models. Vlad's career began as a horror comic artist, he has been published & exhibited throughout the world and he is listed in Who's Who In Art. Now stricken with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Vlad has forsaken his work with models to concentrate on his first love: horror comics. Currently Vlad is working with Evelyne Bennu on a graphic novel adaptation of the classic first ever vampire novel, Victorian Penny Dreadful "Varney the Vampyre or the Feast of Blood" ...to be serialised in Carnopolis magazine.
Featured Art Model: Alison Dupri US brunette model Alison was originally one half of the Playboy-modelling identical twin Dupri sisters, until tragedy struck with the untimely loss of her sister Melanie. A valiant fighter and a true survivor, Alison showed incredible strength of character by returning to modelling in tribute to her twin's memory so that she'll never be forgotten. Her discussions with Vlad on the subject were incredibly moving and her courage, love and honesty really shone through. Black Planet is dedicated to the memory of Melanie Dupri, the Voodoo Marassa and to all twins.
Featured Art Models: Jodie Moore Hollywood's most successful porn star, blonde Australian-born Jodie Moore is currently running for election as Lord Mayor of the Australian city of Brisbane. Her election manifesto includes combating discrimination against homosexuals... and importing endangered African wildlife to a purpose-built safari reserve in the Australian Outback for their protection against extinction.
Carnopolis Magazine Edited & published by the visionary Billy George, Carnopolis is a modern slant on the classic 1960s/1970s Harris black & white horror magazines (Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella), 1940s/1950s EC horror comics (Tales From The Crypt, the Haunt Of Fear and the Vault Of Horror) and French erotic fantasy magazine Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal. Aimed at a sophisticated literate audience influenced by the mature content of European comics, Carnopolis proudly brings together the world's greatest horror comic artists! In addition to Vlad Quigley, contributors include such legendary talents as Bill Wray, Dan Brereton, Bill Skaar, Marco Polo & Robh Ruppel.
The artist, the editor of Carnopolis and the models are available for interviews to discuss this project further. Please send correspondence via Vlad's official website: http://www.vladquigley.com
