Contraband is now in the shops and available to order online from the likes of Amazon, Play, Tesco and Slg's own online store.
Wednesday
Contraband Review in Financial Times
We're quite pleased to see that Contraband has been given a short but favourable review by James Lovegrove in the London Financial Times.
Contraband is now in the shops and available to order online from the likes of Amazon, Play, Tesco and Slg's own online store.
Contraband is now in the shops and available to order online from the likes of Amazon, Play, Tesco and Slg's own online store.
Friday
Playback:STL Reviews Contraband
A few complimentary comments from Sarah Boslaugh at Playback STL:
"All in all, Contraband is an interesting exploration of the influence of technology on a society not too different from our own, and well worth the effort sometimes required to decode the characters' slang and to keep track of what's going on in the story..."
Check out the review here at Playback:STL.
"All in all, Contraband is an interesting exploration of the influence of technology on a society not too different from our own, and well worth the effort sometimes required to decode the characters' slang and to keep track of what's going on in the story..."
Check out the review here at Playback:STL.
Sunday
A Few New Views from Shiny Shelf
A recent review from Mark Clapham from Shiny Shelf who's comics writer himself (gonna track down his piece from Accent UK while taking care of junior this weekend.)
"It’s all very nasty and disturbingly plausible, tied together with the ‘Fight Club’ style, multi-layered narrative, skipping backwards and forward a couple of months between lead everyman Toby’s violent introduction to Contraband’s founders, and his subsequent attempts to get himself, and kidnapped ex-marine Charlotte, out again. Behe’s script is dense and didactic, but this is justified by the self-obsessed, traumatised egotists in his story, keen to blab and broadcast their every impulse to mobile users the world over, always in search of an audience, never interested in the fate of those used to up their hit counts. To his credit, Behe keeps the voices of all his characters distinct. It’s a very talky script, but as with the comics of Jonathan Hickman (‘The Nightly News’ etc) at least the characters have something interesting to say, without ever nailing down easy answers. Elliott’s art suits the story, and is reminiscent of Steve Yeowell’s clear characterisation and open lines. In a story this talky, following the emotions of the various characters is key, and Elliott, aided by inks from Ian Sharman and tones from Cherie Donovan , delivers clear storytelling both in terms of character and plot."
"It’s all very nasty and disturbingly plausible, tied together with the ‘Fight Club’ style, multi-layered narrative, skipping backwards and forward a couple of months between lead everyman Toby’s violent introduction to Contraband’s founders, and his subsequent attempts to get himself, and kidnapped ex-marine Charlotte, out again. Behe’s script is dense and didactic, but this is justified by the self-obsessed, traumatised egotists in his story, keen to blab and broadcast their every impulse to mobile users the world over, always in search of an audience, never interested in the fate of those used to up their hit counts. To his credit, Behe keeps the voices of all his characters distinct. It’s a very talky script, but as with the comics of Jonathan Hickman (‘The Nightly News’ etc) at least the characters have something interesting to say, without ever nailing down easy answers. Elliott’s art suits the story, and is reminiscent of Steve Yeowell’s clear characterisation and open lines. In a story this talky, following the emotions of the various characters is key, and Elliott, aided by inks from Ian Sharman and tones from Cherie Donovan , delivers clear storytelling both in terms of character and plot."
Wednesday
Booklist Review of Contraband
This popped up into our inbox yesterday - keep an eye open over the next week or so for some new concept artwork to show for an upcoming project.
"Virtually tomorrow in England and Belgium (and one presumes the rest of the West), real sex and violence rule the media. The mayhem on Contraband, which broadcasts via mobile phones, is so popular that to meet the demand it pays for new content, which has made even, perhaps especially, young kids (their small size helps them video unobtrusively) entrepreneurs of sleaze. Older young (22) “citizen journalist” Toby is discovered videographing Contraband proprietor Tucker doing something (never specified) illegal and is coerced into finding Charlotte, star of Contraband’s top-ranked video, recording her capture by terrorists in Afghanistan. A complicated chase ensues, which Behe and Elliott relate in chapters alternating between London in May and Belgium in June. The talk is nonstop, fraught with tech speak, Tucker’s terminally cynical take on everything, and extreme-entertainment protester Jarvis’ tough propagandizing. Toby digs his own grave deeper by not divulging that he has met (heck, slept with) Charlotte until just before the showdown. At times barely comprehensible, Contraband is a disturbingly plausible vision of future media heading toward wall-to-wall snuff films." - Booklist 2008
"Virtually tomorrow in England and Belgium (and one presumes the rest of the West), real sex and violence rule the media. The mayhem on Contraband, which broadcasts via mobile phones, is so popular that to meet the demand it pays for new content, which has made even, perhaps especially, young kids (their small size helps them video unobtrusively) entrepreneurs of sleaze. Older young (22) “citizen journalist” Toby is discovered videographing Contraband proprietor Tucker doing something (never specified) illegal and is coerced into finding Charlotte, star of Contraband’s top-ranked video, recording her capture by terrorists in Afghanistan. A complicated chase ensues, which Behe and Elliott relate in chapters alternating between London in May and Belgium in June. The talk is nonstop, fraught with tech speak, Tucker’s terminally cynical take on everything, and extreme-entertainment protester Jarvis’ tough propagandizing. Toby digs his own grave deeper by not divulging that he has met (heck, slept with) Charlotte until just before the showdown. At times barely comprehensible, Contraband is a disturbingly plausible vision of future media heading toward wall-to-wall snuff films." - Booklist 2008
Friday
Contraband Feature & Interview at HDVideoPro
A few weeks ago in Los Angeles, I sat down with HDVideoPro Chief Editor Simon Wakelin to discuss the development of Contraband, working with Phil Elliott and some of my thoughts that went into creating the graphic novel.
Check out an early preview of the three-page feature in the upcoming August Issue, by clicking on the images that follow:
"Q - Do you think snuff videos are the wave of the future “Tyrell Corporations” to foster to a public lobotomized by overt Americana big-dick-look-at-my-gun tv/movie violence?
A - There will always be market for sensationalized violence. People love a buzz – and having the sh*t scared out of them - so this type of content’s qualtity and quality levels will vary according to the number of people paying for it. When creating this story, I imagined this sort of “urban theatre”, where youths prowl city streets secretly film strangers then post these sensational, erotic and violent mobile videos. Men can no longer shower in gyms. Women in dresses avoid seats on trains. Teens run daily exhibitionist mobile blogs featuring candid clips of close friends and family members. But no matter how cool/weird/radical the videos are, Contraband only becomes big business because society demands more and more."
Check out an early preview of the three-page feature in the upcoming August Issue, by clicking on the images that follow:
"Q - Do you think snuff videos are the wave of the future “Tyrell Corporations” to foster to a public lobotomized by overt Americana big-dick-look-at-my-gun tv/movie violence?
A - There will always be market for sensationalized violence. People love a buzz – and having the sh*t scared out of them - so this type of content’s qualtity and quality levels will vary according to the number of people paying for it. When creating this story, I imagined this sort of “urban theatre”, where youths prowl city streets secretly film strangers then post these sensational, erotic and violent mobile videos. Men can no longer shower in gyms. Women in dresses avoid seats on trains. Teens run daily exhibitionist mobile blogs featuring candid clips of close friends and family members. But no matter how cool/weird/radical the videos are, Contraband only becomes big business because society demands more and more."
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