With the aid of Dennis Davison, artist Todd Tennant has produced a “trailer” advertising his graphic novel version of the abandoned 1994 script for Jan De Bont’s US Godzilla.
Check it out, and then go read the graphic novel itself!
Having just read G-Fan #83, I’m suitably impressed by the new King Komodo graphic serial, Tales of King Komodo, which Todd Tennant (with Mike Bogue) has started in that issue. For one thing there’s a killer scene of a giant octopus attacking a ship! (I admit I have a weakness for giant cephalopods.)
Though I know that Todd has coloured versions of the panels, the ominous, black-ink rendition that appears in G-Fan gives the whole thing an impressive retro-look that more than suits the storyline.
Seeing King Komodo in action again (well, he will be in action in subsequent episodes) reminded me of a project of Todd’s that I’ve meant to detail here — the making of a trailer for a non-existent King Komodo movie. I’d seen some material relating to it and so asked Todd what it was all about.
In 2004, filmmaker Dan Tapia, SPFX artist Vince Akira Yoshida, and artist Todd Tennant set out to make a “trailer” that would hopefully introduce the world to the daikaiju KING KOMODO, a graphic novel story idea created by writer Mike Bogue and Todd Tennant.
Pre-production illustrations and plans were made. Dan Tapia shot the live footage on location at a farmhouse in Canada, but due to a lack of funding the project was put on hold. Vince, Dan, and Todd hope to re-activate this project and finish this trailer sometime soon, but for now and for the record, here is the basic story-line and photo records of what did take place back then.
The Plot: A young girl waking up early in her 2nd storey farmhouse room and looks out her window. She sees something that makes her very happy and wakes her parents, shouting,”They came …. they were HERE! Come see!”
The farmers are then seen walking our of their house onto the front porch (set on a small hill), and look out onto their adjacent cornfield, where there are large “circular impressions” in the cornfield. They walk out into the field and stand in the “impression”.
“See, Daddy! I told you they would come and visit us!!” (implying these are “crop circles” caused by aliens, as in the film Signs).
There is a booming sound heard in the distance….it grows louder and the earth shakes progressively more with each “boom”, as whatever is causing this seems to be approaching. Suddenly a large shadow overcomes the farmers and most of the cornfield. Instinctively, they turn in the direction of whatever is making this shadow.
The final “shot” is from behind the couple looking back at their house, only to see it being smashed flat by a the gigantic foot of King Komodo.
The screen goes black and there is a terribly loud and long ROOOOAAARRRR! … then the words “KING KOMODO IS KOMING!” appear in white.
[Click on images to see them at a larger size.]
The actors who auditioned for the “farmer” and “farmer’s wife” roles seen here were not used in the final shoot. The “little girl” seen here was included in Dan Tapia’s final shoot.
… or at least in a Poster!
Yes, that’s me there!
Now you can get the treatment, too, courtesy of artist Todd Tennant.
Check out his American Kaiju Store for more details!
YOU could win an artist-approved, limited edition print of Todd Tennant’s King Komodo in action (see image below)!
In the lead-up to the announcement of Kaiju Search-Robot Avery’s Top 20 Craziest Kaiju Countdown Number 1 spot, I thought we’d have a contest.
The winner must guess Avery’s Number 1 pick (subject to rules set out below).
If you’ve forgotten the parameters of the Top 20 Craziest Kaiju Countdown, read Avery’s introduction here!
For a complete listing of the films that have appeared to date, go to the Category listing.
One entry per person.
The entrant who picks Avery’s Number 1 choice wins the prize (subject to the following conditions).
Designation of the Number 1 choice should include title, director and year of first release so that we’re all clear on exactly which film you are talking about.
If more than one entrant picks Avery’s choice correctly, the names of all those with the correct answer will be placed in a box and a final winner drawn at random.
The judge’s choice will be final and no annoying correspondence will be entered into.
The judge in case of dispute will be Pazuzu the Cat, as always.
Entries should be sent as a comment to this post. Entries will not be accepted in any other way.
Entries close the moment I post a Backbrain announcement that the Top 20 Craziest Kaiju Countdown Number 1 choice is about to be revealed.
King Komodo is a rampaging behemoth created by kaiju artist Todd Tennant. He is lead mon-star of a graphic serial, Tales of King Komodo, written by Mick Bogue and drawn by Todd, that is currently appearing in the long-running giant monster magazine, G-Fan. If you haven’t seen it before, you should pick up a copy of G-Fan from your local newsagency, comic store or online, and find out what you’re missing (and if you’re into giant monster movies and don’t subscribe, you’re definitely missing out bigtime)!
The print, titled “King Komodo Poster III”, comes on high-quality art paper and is 8.5″ X 11″ in size. It is signed and numbered by the artist.
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Feel free to spread the news of this contest to friends and enemies alike.
Good luck!
Naturally, the giant-monster film industry has to have monstrous office staff. Artist Todd Tennant has revealed his designs for Kenji and Benji, described by Todd as a pair of “off-the-wall, bizarro, bubble-off-plumb kaiju”. The third picture illustrates an “office” shot where both secretarial monsters are typing away on script copies for the next day’s shooting of Guidolon’s “masterpiece”.
These images are conceptual designs for Frank Wu’s proposed feature length version of his short film The Tragical Historie of Guidolon the Giant Space Chicken.
Thanks, Todd.
