Heavy Metal
What would you do if you arouse up to witness a adult male - eating tiger in your chamber ? That ’s the kind of question posited by Brendan Columbus in his unveiling comic serialSavage Circus , determine to debut in the landmarkHeavy Metal Magazine#300 . Drawn byBatmanartist Al Barrionuevo , the series will run across ten issues of thestoried substitute anthology comicsmagazine , following policeman Brady Harrison . The stage setting ? One wild Christmas Eve pursuance to subdue forty escape humanity - slaughtering beast from the travelling eponymous Savage Circus , go by Vietnam Vet and presumed buff of fauna , Lewis Savage .
The story is the first by Columbus , son of the fabled film managing director Chris Columbus , and sure enough looks to be a rollicking story in the flowering . An heroic tribulation of an adventure , Columbus seems to be take the best of the retro - style of past times and combine it together with some ripe ol' twenty - first century popular pulp to create an original and tantalizing , if not twisted , legal action - pack gladiatorial saga revolving around the years - old struggle of man vs beast . A true aficionado of the nostalgic adventure trend , Screen Rant caught up with Columbus to discuss his approaching release .
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Screen Rant : What concerned you in Heavy Metal Magazine ?
Brendan Columbus : These guys are willing to do anything . Do whatever they want . Savage Circusstarted as a film playscript . I bring it around to a mates of places , the reaction was skillful but every individual person was enquire me to strengthen down the content , tone down the violence , tone down the gore , ‘ Cause they ’re not going to spend 80 million clam to make an R - rat escapade / beast flick from a guy wire who ’s never sold a script before . I knew it would n’t get made , but I really enjoyed the way I write it .
And my crony Dylan Sprouse was like , “ hey dude I just met with these guys at Heavy Metal , they ’re really nerveless , they kind of have the same involvement as us . More just nerveless , gritty stuff , less studio apartment perceptiveness and more just like , good taste sensation . ” So I met with them , and they went over the humour with all the fierceness and hooey , and if anything they made me notch it up ! Really sell it on me instantly .
Well it ’s getting made as a comedian . Artist Al Barrionuevo has a distinctly naturalistic style that he brings to what he does . Can you tell me a petty more about the feel you ’re trying to elicit in what I ’m sure is a very nonrational fib ?
So , ab initio I acquire … ‘ cause I know nothing about the mental process of pen a comic , I ’m a big comic book fan but never that good at the nuts and bolts of writing one , I assumed the creative person meet with someone else and they kind of control panel it out , but then I was talk to [ Heavy Metal Publishing CEO ] Matt [ Medney ] , and Matt ’s like “ yeah , you should believably take up paneling issue one ” . ( laughs ) So , I really had to discover , and just- I was devouring comics like a lunatic , trying to learn this- it ’s different , ‘ cause it ’s not like storyboarding as much , ‘ stimulate there ’s more motion allowed in storyboarding- but I had to , learn kind of , the way the panel lives out , and I wanted it await kind of like one of those Amblin flick . Kinda likeGremlins , but even more visceral gore , so Al was actually a perfect mate I conceive .
It ’s like … Topps release these “ dinosaur Attack ! ” cards in 1988 and that ’s the variety of visceral , mad vehemence I was going for .
Ok , you ’re kick the bucket with a retro / hyper - real vibe .
Yeah , the stakes are higher than you ’d normally get with the retro stuff , like you could get your subdivision ripped off , but I still want the heartfelt … It ’s still Christmas Eve duringSavage Circusso we ’re goingfor like the Spielberg vibe . That ’s the way of life it works . ( laughs )
The chronicle you ’re telling is that there is a circus zoological garden with all these awful man - eaters and they all get unleash on this poor unsuspicious town on Christmas Eve when their train derails . Can you tell me a little more about that ?
I think when I was it write for the action successiveness , I always thought ofIndiana Jones , each activity sequence leads to the other . I do n’t think you’re able to go to the bathroom onceduringRaiders of the Lost Ark. You just got ta see every picture ! Everything ’s built like these serial occasional Seth - piece . It really works with strip too .
So your protagonist Brady Harrison is facing a metal glove , and you want to just be as torturous and try out as potential ?
The gauntlet he go through … when the train break apart you experience an attack you ’ve never seen before ; forty different species all at once . And then the night go bad on , you kind of go laser - focus on each role of the animals . So , for example like inRipley ’s Believe it Or Notcomics back in the day , they do one Thomas Nelson Page on the backstory . You ’ll see that on the African Elephant they have . You ’ll get his backstory and then you ’ll see a one on one versus Brady through that . stacks of stress on the animals ’ characters to make the activeness raise and kind of scary .
Tell me about the ringleader of the Savage Circus . Why would you have this character who has a travelling carnival with only the worst brute ?
He ’s not a scoundrel , Lewis Savage is more ofan " Indiana Jones " type , I always of think of agrizzled old Kurt Russel badasswith a whip who helps along the way , but in his crazy way . He ’s like theRipley ’s trust It Or Notof the most fascinating animals in the world , because what else ? ' I do n’t want to go a menagerie and see another elephant again . I want to see an elephant that ’s shoot down 8 people ! '
That ’s just screwball enough to mould ! This is your first outing . What sort of mark are you trying to make with your storytelling ?
I need to be able to show that I can do big set - pieces while keeping a nice emotional story at the core with some very funny dialog throughout . The comic almost reads like a comedy sometimes because I tried to make it light and glad and I like that juxtaposition with the darkness of what could happen . But it ’s more of a unclouded - hearted comic that just goes disconsolate than you suppose . I really hope people enjoy it !
see out this exclusive sneak peak ofSavage Circus , boast an early narrative in the life sentence of the enigmatic Lewis Savage .
Heavy Metal Magazine#300goes on sale August 19th fromHeavy Metal Publishing .
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