Story & Art by
Branson Anderson
Publisher
Spiral Productions LLC
Synopsis: Nebraska Higgins leads a normal, easy life in Seattle and works as a mechanic at Joint Command’s Control Tower. Joint Command is Earth’s global police and military force established as a union between old Earth governments and Nalardian refugees and powered by their technology. Nebraska plunges into a world of struggle and intrigue after Joint Command kills his father, Arizona, a hero known by his large robotic exo-suit.
Jerry, (a gas-mask wearing Nalardian), Benin Belabora, (a calm but powerful mastermind), and Xing Xing Fix, (the knitting maven of mayhem), keep Nebraska safe from the pursuing Joint Command whilst trying to recruit him to the London Underground. Meanwhile, Nebraska discovers that the experiments which destroyed the Nalardian’s home world have been resurrected, and a force unlike any the universe can imagine is about to be unleashed. Can Nebraska deal with the loss of his father as interplanetary calamities threaten to destroy the world around him? Earth’s fate depends on the potential in a young man’s heart.
The Movie will eat your planet; the Graphic Novel will rip your face off.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/10370567[/vimeo]
Project London is a indie scifi flick in the making; it’s done pretty much with no budget and a lot of passion. When the final product is ready for our hungry eyeballs, I hope Spiral Productions has the heart to kick us a copy, because I’m dying to see it. It’s concept is fresh, it’s effects look ridiculously good for something with less budget than a Syfy original movie, and something with this much heart just can’t possibly suck. No pressure guys.
Until that day, they have graciously sent us a copy of the graphic novelization of Project London, written and drawn by Branson Anderson, and I’ve never seen anything like it. Conceptually this graphic novel is truly one of a kind, using a combination of rough, storyboard-type sketch art and real life images that together create a work that can be described as an augmented reality comic book.
Yeah. Blew your mind there, didn’t I?
It’s a lot of fun to look at. Even after you’re finished reading the page you’ll glance around for a few extra minutes, just taking it all in. But it’s not all daisies in the art department of this book, however. The creator uses a very dark and monochromatic pallet for the work; I can understand why he did it. Not only is it fitting for the tone, let’s face it. Color ain’t cheap, and I assume that like everything else Spiral has done it’s all love and no green fueling the fire. I tried reading it in bed, and had to give up; this definitely isn’t the kind of book you can read with just a bed-side lamp. You need a LOT of light when reading it to fully appreciate it, and visually it deserves appreciation.
The writing isn’t up to what I think it could be either. This graphic novel is an adaptation of the script, so that means it’s very heavy on the dialogue side. And that part of it is great, actually. The problem I have with the writing is that Anderson uses the omniscient narrator too sparsely in the book. Nebraska has some stuff to tell us at the beginning and at the end, but throughout he kind of ignores us for his on panel friends. Some of the art isn’t strong enough to really convey the action on panel and some extra writing here and there could really make some pages pop.
So after reading Project London I only have a vague idea of how the story goes down. That’s kind of a good thing, because I really want to see the movie. But from a writing standpoint it’s not such a good thing. Branson uses the art to help tell the story, in a new and exciting way; in spite of a couple hiccups it’s a success. I definitely give him props for the experimental visual storytelling; I just think he could have better delivered in the writing.
I give Project London by Branson Anderson Three Out of Five Stars.
