Sketch Turner, self-described freelance rock musician and comic writer & artist living in the Bowery, New York City (who even calls himself a 'starving artist' in some easily-missed dialogue- push an explosive crate onto some flaming oil drums in Episode 1 to see it) and owner of an excellent rat, Roadkill, is the epitome of the 90s independent comic artist, pinning his future on his in-progress work, Comix Zone. Once they had some time away from blue hedgehogs pinging around pinball arenas, and after some Sega-mandated changes- most notably the design of the main character, as according to a Sega-16 interview Joe was too geeky, so he was redesigned into the beefy grunge-rocker-inspired Sketch Turner, complete with rat sidekick Roadkill (something else Sega fought over, as a rat wasn't considered sidekick material)- Comix Zone was born.Ĭomix Zone, as a premise, is a solid one that brings comics and video games together in a way not often taken, actually making it look like a comic book, with only Batman: The Caped Crusader coming to mind as even remotely similar (in fact, Sega patented the idea, which was pending when the game was released). While obviously very different from the final product, many of the core tenets are there- an artist trapped in a comic book, moving from page to page and fighting against enemies drawn in by a mysterious hand, but while the pitch was approved, the team were assigned to Sonic Spinball and so the concept had to wait. Moving to the US from Czechoslovakia and getting a job at STI, he created an animated pitch for a game inspired by comic books (in particular he cites Dark Horse graphic novels, which makes sense given the general aesthetic of what his creation would become) titled Joe Pencil Trapped in the Comix Zone, as seen above, made on an Amiga workstation. A product of the Sega Technical Institute, a studio probably best known for their involvement in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Spinball and at one point headed by Marble Madness creator and current Sony hardware architect Mark Cerny, Comix Zone was designed by Peter Moraweic who has been interviewed a few times about his work, and in particular I'm sourcing a lot of this from the interview in Sega Mega Drive / Genesis: Collected Works (ISBN 13: 9780957576810). Let's start at the beginning, as this one has quite the development history behind it. Ooh, what an ominous way to start things out! I'm sure this bodes well for my thoughts on this game, often considered a highlight of the Mega Drive's twilight years.
When I did eventually conquer it though, that old expression all Sega fans know came to mind- was my victory really worth the price I had to pay? Comix Zone - IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR CREATOR?Īt one point in my existence, Comix Zone was something of a white whale in the Moby Dick sense- a challenge I could never overcome.
0 kommentar(er)
