The President of Scatterlands
March 14, 2013 § 1 Comment
Warren Ellis’ webcomic Scatterlands is a post-apocalyptic adventure in an organic city (that can bleed) patrolled by some sort of lethal religious zealots. At it’s center, Princess Amira, a beautiful girl in danger, is questing for a “songline.”
Almost daily since February 18th, a panel with a caption has been posted on Ellis’ blog. Elements of Jason Howard‘s art for the strip has a retro feel to it, and with its damp setting, Scatterlands feels like Flash Gordon filtered through the mind of J.G. Ballard.
Ellis and Howard are consciously emulating the daily newspaper strip, a form that anyone born before 1995 can get nostalgic for. Alley Oop, about a time-travelling caveman, was one of my favorite syndicated adventure strips, and everyone loved Stan Lee’s Spiderman – including President Ronald Reagan, who admitted to reading the comics first when he got his morning paper.
Knowing that J.G. Ballard one wrote a short story entitled, “Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan,” one can’t help but think that The Gipper himself would’ve enjoyed this dystopic future in a comics strip format.
Ellis says in the first post that strip is improvised, and “just a bit of fun.” If you’re a Gipper or not, Scatterlands is worth a look.
Alley Oop, 9 April 1939
[…] his newsletter, Warren Ellis has confirmed that he and Scatterlands collaborator Jason Howard are working on an Image title called […]