Friday, February 29, 2008

Amp Collector

gundala1


Here's the Indonesian super-hero, "Gundala", and as you can see, he's pretty goddamned kick-ass.

Sure, his origin is a bit goofy. But what super-hero's origin isn't, somehow? In brief, he was a scientist named "Sancaka", and he was working on an "anti-lightning strike serum." Whatever the hell that means. Did it heal folks who had been struck by lightning? Or did it make people immune to lightning strikes? And if that's the case, did it somehow neutralize electrical impulses within the body? 'Cause that would kill your brain! So probably not that. Anyway, he was in the lab when his girlfriend broke up with him. He lost his shit, and ran outside, smack into the middle of an electrical storm. (Ironic!) And then he was -- you guessed it -- struck by lightning. This had the surprising effect of transporting him to Lightning Land, which I'm pretty sure is a level in a Nintendo game. The king of Lightning Land, Kronz (or "the Kronz", as I like to call him) adopted Sancaka as his son and military commander, and renamed him "Gundala." Which seems awfully forward to me. Even I wouldn't do anything like that, and I'm so pushy, it borders on sociopathic! Admittedly, I've contemplated "adopting and renaming" Gadfly Lad. But his girlfriend probably wouldn't appreciate that.

"The Kronz" ordered Sancaka to attack "Cloud Land", a.k.a. Seattle, Washington. After that, Gundala had all kinds of adventures, both on an alien planet and back on Earth. Not a bad life, if you ask me.

The above image shows off Gundala to best effect, with some sweet giant wings on his cowl. He looked slightly less kick-ass in his own comic, circa 1969:

gundala2


Dinky, timid wings. Is there anything more pathetic? Still, he's workin' the "bastard face", so that helps keep his kick-ass factor out of the toilet. And you know what? He was so popular, they made a movie about him! Let's take a look!

gundala3


Ye gods. Kick-ass factor: negative 50 points! Remember those days, aging nerds? When you could get cast as a super-hero, even if you had the body shape of a super-hero fan? Those were dark times, my friends. Thank goodness for the advent of male body image disorders, huh?

11 comments:

Bill S. said...

The grid in the initial image makes me think of one of Gilbert & George's "stained glass" artworks.

His head wings look tacked on. They add interest to an otherwise standard costume, but it's the wrong sort of interest -- i.e., "I'm interested why he thought wings sewn to the cowl was even remotely a good idea?" Unless they actually grow out of his head, in which case, he needs to have the power to separate his head from his body so that it can fly around independantly, yelling at his body when it goes the wrong way. Comedy would invariably ensue.

Only Thor and the Flashes can have wings on their head and not look stupid. That is my decree.

Gus Casals said...

And what kind of sound effect is " DUERR" ? Is it the sound of Duela Dent's back breaking?

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

What abour Captain America? He's got wings on his head. And I bet there are some women heroes who sometimes have wings. They're not on their heads though, I guess.

When I saw the grid, I thought of one of those slider piece puzzles with the one piece missing so you can move it around to get a picture. I got one with Superman on it once for Easter and boy did that provide minutes and minutes of fun.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention the kickass belt. Well, mildly interesting severely oversized belt.

(ps I posted some new art with Deuce of Hearts in the costume you designed. And she looks ADORABLE. So thanks again.)

Scipio said...

Like Gustavo, I am unable to get over the hump that is "DUERR".

I shall spend my remaining days performing bizarre experiments on the interaction of exotic materials in the hope of finding any real-word way of creating that sound effect....

captain koma said...

You have got to check out "Dark Nebula" please just do it.

captain koma said...

try this link Dark Nebula Origin

Anonymous said...

Dark Nebula was covered when BB did the Southern Squadron. I do still hold that his loose sleeves and tunic waist were revolutionary at the time.
--Lord Morgue

DUERR! My new war cry!
Ooh, Namor has wings on his feet. And Angelina, the character Alan Moore sued Todd McFarlane over, had wings on her head, although being an angel you'd think they'd be more traditionally placed.

Nate said...

Thanks for that. I gotta go purge now.

Jeremy Rizza said...

Bill S.: As for myself, I don't even like the wings on the side of the Flash's cowl, and I only like the wings on Thor's helmet when they're great-big. I guess when it comes to wings on super-hero costumes, I'm a "size queen"!

Gustavo: Maybe it's the Indonesian version of "DUH!" As in, the bad guy asks Gundala, "You ain't gonna electrocute me, are ya?" And Gundala makes the lightning shoot out of his hands with a "DUH!" sound. ...No? Well, it's just a theory.

Jon: "Minutes and minutes of fun?" Haw! Also, it sounds like my last date with Klup. That little fucker better step up his game, is all I'm sayin'.

Silvercat: You're welcome! Also, I totally agree about the belt. (Size matters!)

Gyuss: Er... you're welcome?!
Scipio: I understand. And yet, it's still better than most Steve Englehart sound effects.

Captain Koma and Lord Morgue: Yeah, "revolutionary" is one way to describe it. Heh.

MaGnUs said...

Hey, it's Captain Ame... oh, wait, it's not.