Following Shaquis post on the background to her wonderful winning entry into the Sword art competition, I thought i'd post something I prepared earlier (in finest Blue Peter fashion) as a possible entry to the competition. Aurora was intended to be a TV21/Countdown style magazine distributed to SWORD operatives at Moonbase Central and Mars Base. The idea being given the delay in communications between Earth and the colonies, there might still be a place for a 'digest' magazine of all the latest news and articles happening back home.
Aurora came about as a result of a blogserial I invented back in July. You may recall seeing rather strange and apparently random articles with the SWORD Flash heading, appearing for about a week a few months back. Basically what happened was that Woodstock handed over the editorial reigns to me while he took off to the Baltic for a much needed rest. Just prior to his departure, Woodstocks internet connection at home went on the fritz, meaning he couldn't post. Knowing I was due to take over the blog for a week and not having anything readily available to post and probably fuelled by boredom and too much caffeine, I concocted a plan to keep myself amused and to try and add a little 'backstory' to the blog. I thought it might be fun to suggest that Woodstock sent his articles from a base on the moon and I, being geographically and physically a few hundered miles away anyway, be stationed on Mars.
To reinforce this little ruse, I didnt tell Woodstock what I was planning and added the first part of my story with no introduction or explanation. Each part was subsequently added, fleshing out the story as it went on, supported by a small photo or illustration. The basic premise was a 'disaster movie' idea, a solar flare knocks out and disrupts communications (woodsys internet failure) on the Moon and communications between the blog and Moonbase fail (woodstock goes on holiday). In order to keep channels open, Mars Base steps up to the plate to keep the blog going (Wotan starts his blog schedule fo a week). During Mars Base overseeing the blog communications, an asteroid is detected on course for Earth.
Probes are dispatched from Jupiter base and casualties ensue. Local defences attempt to deflect the asteroid as it approaches the inner system, but although the main body of the asteroid Damocles is deflected, the trailing debris cloud rakes Moonbase and Woodstock is feared lost! A rescue operation from Mars Base lands on the Moon and eventually (on the day Woodstock gets back from holiday) he is found safe and sound in a crater on the moon.
Unfortnately, life imitated art again during my stint on the blog and in my enthusiasm to tell the story, I managed to almost completely wreck the template for the blog by changing the settings and graphics and also contrived to lose a scheduled article that Woodstock had prepared for that Thursday with the SWORD Solo strip! It was only deft action by the resourceful Philo Toad in providing fresh scans, that an actual disaster was averted!
Wonderful Wote! Seems to me you and Shaqui were working along the same lines destroying moonbase! We now have the cover by you and the first strip by Shaqui and pin-up art by Andy and Mike. When does Aurora go into production?
ReplyDeleteAs for the art comp, all art forms were eligible including paints, inks, photoshop, models and sculpture [although none of the latter two were submitted].
Would have loved to see model entries for the competition!
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a digest magazine of the type you describe, is a fascinating idea! Like it, Wote!
As for those scans ... "hey, it's what I do!" (identify that quote, heh heh .... apart from me saying it here, I mean)