Wrong is the creator-owned magazine of uncanny and disturbing stories.



Sunday 18 April 2010

Odd Ball by Norman Felchle and Alex Sheikman

Hello,
My name is Alex Sheikman and I am the writer and artist of a comic book called "Robotika" from Archaia Studios Press. So far I have completed the first two volumes that have been collected as "Robotika" and "Robotika: For A Few Rubles More". In a few weeks, one of my short stories will be featured in "Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard" #1.

In between working on Robotika I have completed a number of short stories, mostly working with friends without any spec from any company. Presented below is a story written by a good friend, Norman Felchle, who not only created the idea and did the script, but also did the initial lay-outs (and colored the cover). We always saw this as a type of horror "Twillight Zone" set-up, telling all sorts of stories about people who find themselves invited to the Odd Ball...







If you have enjoyed the story, please do stop by my blog and check-out my postings. I have been working in a sketchbook, in which I try to complete one drawing a sitting. I call them "One-a-Day" and try to update the blog every few days. My blog is: "http://www.sheikman.blogspot.com"

6 comments:

  1. Wow! What a knockout start to "Wrong", really beautiful work Alex and Norman!

    I was over on Alex's blog over the weekend and his work is really stunning, brilliant layouts, his page dynamics really draw you in so that you find yourself clicking on each page for a closer look and talking about clicking on pages to have a closer look, take a look at Archaia Press, who have got to be one of the, if not the most exciting graphic novel independent U.S. publishers.

    If you go on their site you'll see an astonishingly eclectic array of talents - no formulaic stuff - publisher Mark Smylie is evidently a man of vision and the talents he's assembled are a testimony to that vision. Alex is one of many really fantastic creators whose work you can explore on the Archaia Press site - so check it out at:

    http://www.archaia.com

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  2. Gorgeous. Are there any further instalments in the works, Alex...?

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  3. Very nice. I especially like that middle panel on page 2... but it's all gorgeous artwork.

    Btw Alex, I know you didn't create this specifically for Wrong, but it's really interesting that the cover pic has all those mouths because the one unifying motif I suggested Wrong might have would be a disembodied mouth that could serve as narrator, visual theme or just plain scary ident. Possibly the collective unconscious was at work there :-)

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  4. Yes,I really love the mouths too - they're all over the terrible host's cloak as well as the background. An amazing bit of predictive WRONG ESP.

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  5. I want to thank everyone for the kind words. It is very encouraging to hear that folks like the story.

    Nelson,
    Norman wrote 3 more installments and has the next one laid out. It is a matter of trying to fit that into my schedule which is the "sticky wicket".

    Peter,
    You noticed the faces in the cloak! My line width was a bit too fine and with the dark coloring it's a bit hard to see. I would do it differently next time, but I am glad you caught it :)

    That cover is actually a neat piece of collaboration in itself. Norm did some sketches of the Host and I worked up a final look and drew the figure in the foreground. Norm than colored the piece and painted in the faces in the background.

    I have a couple more short weird stories that I did experimenting with storytelling tempos and designs that I drew in my sketchbook and I would like to present here in the next few weeks or months :)

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  6. Well I'd definitely love to see more of your fantastic storytelling Alex.

    I actually though that the line weight on the faces in the cloak was pretty spot on - it's just gives the idea that added subtlety so when it hits you - you think Wow! Yes - very tasty!!!

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