Stan Lee drawn by ME!

[shannonh]

This is part of a contest with MTV and Stan Lee. It's called "The Seekers" and winner gets to draw the graphic novel. This is from Stan Lee's script:

“THE SEEKERS”
INTRODUCTION
Open with an alien space ship landing on Earth 200,000 years ago.
Two figures in spacesuits step out of the ship. They see cavemen sharpening the points of their spears. One spaceman says, “It’s beginning.” The other replies, “We must make sure it doesn’t go too far.” The first asks, “How can we stop it?” The second replies, “There are ways.”
*************************************
LAS VEGAS— THE PRESENT
A new, lavish, billion-dollar gambling palace opens its doors for the first time. The owner brags that it’s built to withstand the strongest earthquake. Unnoticed, somewhere in the rear, part of the marble floor crumbles and a deep hole appears where that portion of the floor had been.
A gorgeous, nude girl floats up to the surface from within the hole. Then the marble floor closes around the hole, as if nothing had ever happened to the floor.
The nude girl looks around, getting her bearings. Like a stranger in a strange land. She sees a shop in the casino’s lobby which has women’s bathing and sport clothes in the window.
She presses a small button on the jeweled, hi-tech-looking bracelet she’s wearing and the bracelet buzzes and glows strangely for a few seconds. Then, the store window slowly turns unsolid and she calmly walks through it. Once she’s inside, the window slowly and silently turns into solid glass again.
She reaches out for the first garment she sees on a shelf, an extra long t-shirt. Seconds later, the proprietor sees her, now wearing the t-shirt.
“Strange. I didn’t see you come in,” he says. “You sure look hot in that shirt. That’ll be $50.”
She doesn’t reply. Ignoring him, she starts to leave. His tone turns angry. “Wait a minute. You haven’t paid. Stop!” But she keeps walking away.
Passing by, a typical Vegas wise-guy sees her and gives a low, appreciative whistle as he sizes up the situation. “Hey, no big deal,” he says. “I’ll pay for the little lady,” as he slaps some bills in the shopkeeper’s hand..

[Kplan]

Your storytelling is really strong on the first and last pages.

There is a bit of a disconnect in the middle. That marble floor we see is supposed to be in the background of the interview, and I'm completely disoriented when I get to it -- I thought we'd gone to a new scene in a bathroom or something. You can't tell that the owner interview panel is in any way connected to what comes next.

The close-up of the janitor which follows is also confusing/disorienting, as you can't really tell that it's the same guy in the next panel. In that sequence, you went from an extreme close-up to a long-shot of him. Which, filmically, is backwards. Then you switch angles several times without clearly establishing where everything is...this is also confusing.

The owner of the casino and reporter are particularly well-drawn, but the designs of both characters are off. By that I mean, she looks like she's someone attending a charity event, not reporting on an event. She doesn't even look like she knows how to hold a mic (again, it's well-drawn if she were suppose to awkward, but she's supposed to be a reporter). He looks like some schlub the reporter grabbed for an "on-the-street" interview. Look at Steve Wynn or Donald Trump for reference of a casino owner-type.

Overall, I'd like to see more balance of darks and lights and some loosening up the figures (i.e., body language) especially on the first couple of pages. But your first and last page are the best, and the body language on the last one is great.

Keep it up!