Side by side 6 - final

The original Bolt page 6.

Woah, panel two is so full of random nineties kitch! This page also has some more of what I would term graphic effects. It's also about 2 or 3 pages squeezed into 1. Here is the only time in the original story that the reporter ( She is given the name Wendy Winters in the new version) is seen, though her prior bad experiences with The Bolt are shared through some hasty exposition. I believe her head piece was originally intended to look like an "Electra" style head wrap but looked more like bandages hence the idea of a back story where the Bolt had fallen on her somehow. I like the newspaper headline as a finishing touch. It was left out of the remake due to page count, deadline, wanting the story finished or all three.

The Electrifying Bolt -page 10

The Electrifying Bolt- page 11

The Bolt leaves Timberr's dignity intact in the remake but his heart shaped boxers still end up on display. The remake also shows the chainsaw actually destroyed by the fall. I guess Bolt just carelessly dropped it. Lots of homages to the original story in these panels including the sound effects panel. The whole thing was an exercise in producing a comic completely digitally for the first time. Some of it I still feel is as cringe worthy as the original but it was definitely a very worthwhile learning curve particularly learning about colouring which as stated in an earlier post, is a whole new ball game for a .

So there you have the Electrifying Bolt fly's again with help from Michael Stoneburner providing a new script. Hopefully there is not a remake of the remake in another 20 years but I'd settle for a animated series or movie. Hollywood? Hello? Anyone?

Side by Side 5

The original Bolt _page 5

This original page really highlights how you can cram too many of your influences into one page!  Among the 90's greats that are all being emulated (not very successfully), This page is very much a tip of the hat to Larry Stroman who incorporated a lot of abstract geometric shapes and lines into his comic art.

The Electrifying Bolt - Page 8

The Electrifying Bolt - Page 9

I'm still not sure changing the wings for a "chopper" was the best choice but Mike's "Squeaker, Squeaker, Squeaker" Sound FX definitely was.

I'm not sure the new panel 1 on page 8 is actually better than the original. Panel 3 on the same page is a recreation of panel 4 on the original. Ironically I think the original has better perspective than the redone panel in which I actually did use perspective.

Panel 4 on page 9 is actually a favourite of mine. It's not dramatic or particularly cool but it is a time when I just let the drawing flow without overthinking it. In my opinion it has a bit more of a "Style" than the other panels.

The Bolt: "Side by side" - or "Why am I showing you this?"

As I stated in an earlier post I used a lot of the layouts from the very first Bolt comic from waaaaaay back even I don't remember when. All I know it was sometime in the nineties (at a guess 92ish). I thought it might be interesting to show the pages that had a similar layout side by side.

       

A thing of beauty: The original Bolt page 1.

Well at least this one is in colour.

I can identify quite a few artistic influences in the top panel alone: it has a bit of Mcfarlane, Liefeld, failed Lee, possibly some Breyfogle and some Perez effects. As you can see the styles are all blended seamlessly. Sigh. Wait til I show some other pages, it actually gets worse haha.

Other points of difference include:
The original VW is a little off model ( as pointed out by my father who was a mechanic
The original VW passengers were a LOT more hostile to The Bolt, calling him some not very politically correct names, hence the substituted grawlix.
The original was theoretically set in the Sydney area, whereas the new version is set in fictional Edensburgh.
The original Bolts power wasn't so much "electical" but more "blasty" hence the stars on the logo and inspite of being "electrifying".
The bolt's origin is different in the new version.

Importantly, the new version has a far superior script thanks to Michael Stoneburner. Mike is the one who coined the hilarious term "stay-at-home-weight-lifter".

Fun fact: The bus number 775 is number of a bus I frequently got stuck behind on the afternoon commute home.