Page 28
Scott D on April 24, 2020
We got a short, fun and thoughtful feature from Cosmic Warriors earlier this week, which you can check out on his YouTube page! He's just starting out as a comics reviewer, and his rate of output is pretty high right now so you're never waiting too long before another video's released. Please go show him some appreciation for his efforts.
There are plenty of tricks to make a monster effective, at least to my mind. Size is definitely a great one, but one of the best ways is to make it look alive, and if all the time I've spent watching monster movies over the years has taught me anything, it's a deceptively simple thing to accomplish. Boris Karloff added gravitas to his iconic rendition of Frankenstein's Monster with body language back in the 1930s, while the 1997 special edition release of Return of the Jedi added moving parts to the Sarlacc to make it seem more like a biological creature. Now obviously a comic is a static medium, so we had to use something else for our monster: eyes. Not just glowing, plain eyes (don't get me wrong, I love glowing eyes), but big, white peepers with functioning irises and pupils, and petals that can supplement its ability to form expressions. I think Golden F. did a great job of bringing this bad boy to life. What techniques or facets do you think completes a monster? If you have a favourite, what makes it look real?
On a personal note, taking into account the current global situation, I don't have very much planned for my birthday this year, but I did get to ring it in by staying up past midnight and playing Epic Spell Wars and Betrayal Legacy over Discord into the wee hours of the morning, so all-in-all, I'd call it a good start to the day! I have been sorely tempted to keep note of the family line I've wound up playing in the latter game's campaign. Might be useful material for something in the future.
—Scott D.
ComicFury | Facebook | Twitter 
lady_storyteller at 4:52PM, April 24, 2020
Happy Birthday, Scott! Ouch, those thorns have got to hurt. I'm not sure if I understand your question right when it comes to techniques, but for me the scariest part of a monster are those in the shadow, just out of sight. Keeps you on edge and makes you wonder if someone is watching you. That being said, those eyes. Oh god.
Scott D at 7:54PM, April 24, 2020
Thank you! Oh, yes! The power of suggestion is mighty indeed. The human imagination will always be the biggest, scariest haunted house in the universe, after all, so you can get a lot of mileage out of letting the audience fill in the blanks for you. I think that's one reason older horror films favour the sound design over visual presentation.