Note: The art looks a little crude now but this was well over 20 years ago. Why am I re-posting this from 2015? Well, I was chatting to a new animation studio who were interested in reviving the Paranormals as an animated series.
It turned out to be another waste of time. Someone just out of college who wanted me to pay for the series. That last part I was only told much later in the discussion.
Serious animators and studios I WILL talk to.
___________________________________________________________________
Someone asked whether, if an offer was made, I'd work on continuing the old Fleetway series. YES!!! But it is not going to happen sadly. Now if Tonka gave permission to use those characters...
Up-dating this I really ought to include the Fleetway covers. They are still gorgeous.
As I mentioned The Paranormals, that should have replaced Fleetway's The Supernaturals, because they had lost the rights from Tonka Toys. So Gil Page asked me to put something together. Here for the first time is the synopsis:
THE PARANORMALS: AGE OF CHAOS
“The Great Battle between the forces of
Light and Darkness is over.
The great champions of both sides have
fought and many died.
Now the Great Power calls upon
others as a new age begins…
an Age of Chaos where the only
certain thing is uncertainty!”
Synopsis.
From the Dawn of Man on,humans and others have been summoned by The Great Power –just what this “Great Power” is no one knows. Champions are given special powers to fight and maintain the balance between the forces of Darkness and Light.
Once summoned,no one can ever return to Mortal World;many have tried but failed. They are doomed to live and fight….and some to die and be replaced by others.
The Great Power is seemingly impartial,favouring neither Darkness or Light,nor any particular champion. When the two sides battle it is in the mystical Spectral Realm where they are given assistance by The Spirit-walkers;those who have had a peculiar talent or ability and then died –their spectral essences pulled into the Spectral Realm to carry out their tasks for either sides champions. These Spirit-walkers include:~
[Darkness]
Hallowe’en Hal & Pumpy
Ripper the Scarecrow
Claws
Wilberforce [“Wolfie”] Edwards
[Light]
Andrew “Handy” Hands
Quesquedada
Gobble
Spooky
There are also those who appear to sometimes walk in Mortal World and help out the forces of Light.
The Behemoth -2.5 metres tall, blue-skinned, the Behemoth wanders the swamps and dead forests of the Spectral Realm. Seems unable to speak beyond grunts but is a powerhouse often appearing as the forces of Light seem about to be defeated.
The Wraith –a traditional looking,shrouded,unfeatured ghost carrying a ball and chain. Wraith seems to appear without warning to guide the Paranormals to Mortal World when the forces of Darkness cross over there.
Mr Noman—a featureless suited individual who seems able to cross back and forth between Spectral Realm and Mortal World;often intervening. His/its exact function has never been defined.
Grave-digger Jones –seems to ‘maintain’ what vegetation there is but is often a messenger for the Great Power. A ghost? No one knows.
Two new champions have been called to Spectral Realm…
Kapitan Willie Scharf; leading a German infantry unit advancing into France. He encounters a group of refugees who mention finding dead German soldiers near an old farm house. Scharf takes some men to investigate and observes Waynward-Knight shooting two of his own men. Becomes The Teutonic Knight.
Captain Henry Waynward-Knight; a complete psychopath hated by his own men and responsible for murdering unarmed civilians and enemy troops who surrendered.
Becomes The Terror.
WHERE IS THE SPECTRAL REALM?
The Spectral Realm is a limbo. However,there are rifts that create entrances to Mortal World. The main entrance/exit can be found in the disused London Underground system;there are many disused tunnels,platforms and so on. The deepest tunnels are around 300 feet below ground. The main rift between Spectral Realm and Mortal World is situated in a lost system some 500 feet below the surface,abandoned in 1901 while being built due to terrifying events there.
When one considers the number of graveyards, tombs, plague pits and other sites and the variety of individuals buried there then there is ample room for expanding the number of characters ---the Jubilee Line when it was built went through several monastic graveyards---and the London Underground has a rich history of ghostly goings on.
The entrance is via a huge area of rock resembling a skull on platform 13 of the Prince Albert Line,close to which is an area of undug earth and a tree which looks as though it has been blasted by lightning –the area is usually shrouded in a thick mist.
Going through this entrance a person would find themselves in a darkened,crumbling ruin with 13 floors:this is the headquarters of the Champions of Light. Normally,those chosen to take part in the eternal struggle appear close to the Spectral Realms swamps."
In the last post I checked the Spectralrealm yahoo group on which there are a lot of old and cranky character sketches. Awful in fact.
I was pitching the ideas to Gil Page and an editor whose name I cannot recall. The editor kept saying it all needed to be less serious "we need a bit more tongue-in-cheek for the kids" So I got out the note book and started scribbling as the editor looked on saying "That's it. Yeah more like that!"
"Pencils"
However, The Paranormals first story was finally published in Tales Of Terror III in 2013. My pencils are hardly "existing" as I tend to rough sketch a panel, ink and move on. However, I was asked whether I could show what my rough pencils looked like so I scanned pages 1-5 and compared to my usual pencils these are detailed!
Corrections are made as I ink.
Anyway, it is odd but these pages -the story- fit right in with the whole Return Of The Gods but I never realised!
It turned out to be another waste of time. Someone just out of college who wanted me to pay for the series. That last part I was only told much later in the discussion.
Serious animators and studios I WILL talk to.
___________________________________________________________________
Someone asked whether, if an offer was made, I'd work on continuing the old Fleetway series. YES!!! But it is not going to happen sadly. Now if Tonka gave permission to use those characters...
Up-dating this I really ought to include the Fleetway covers. They are still gorgeous.
As I mentioned The Paranormals, that should have replaced Fleetway's The Supernaturals, because they had lost the rights from Tonka Toys. So Gil Page asked me to put something together. Here for the first time is the synopsis:
THE PARANORMALS: AGE OF CHAOS
“The Great Battle between the forces of
Light and Darkness is over.
The great champions of both sides have
fought and many died.
Now the Great Power calls upon
others as a new age begins…
an Age of Chaos where the only
certain thing is uncertainty!”
Synopsis.
From the Dawn of Man on,humans and others have been summoned by The Great Power –just what this “Great Power” is no one knows. Champions are given special powers to fight and maintain the balance between the forces of Darkness and Light.
Once summoned,no one can ever return to Mortal World;many have tried but failed. They are doomed to live and fight….and some to die and be replaced by others.
The Great Power is seemingly impartial,favouring neither Darkness or Light,nor any particular champion. When the two sides battle it is in the mystical Spectral Realm where they are given assistance by The Spirit-walkers;those who have had a peculiar talent or ability and then died –their spectral essences pulled into the Spectral Realm to carry out their tasks for either sides champions. These Spirit-walkers include:~
[Darkness]
Hallowe’en Hal & Pumpy
Ripper the Scarecrow
Claws
Wilberforce [“Wolfie”] Edwards
[Light]
Andrew “Handy” Hands
Quesquedada
Gobble
Spooky
There are also those who appear to sometimes walk in Mortal World and help out the forces of Light.
The Behemoth -2.5 metres tall, blue-skinned, the Behemoth wanders the swamps and dead forests of the Spectral Realm. Seems unable to speak beyond grunts but is a powerhouse often appearing as the forces of Light seem about to be defeated.
The Wraith –a traditional looking,shrouded,unfeatured ghost carrying a ball and chain. Wraith seems to appear without warning to guide the Paranormals to Mortal World when the forces of Darkness cross over there.
Mr Noman—a featureless suited individual who seems able to cross back and forth between Spectral Realm and Mortal World;often intervening. His/its exact function has never been defined.
Grave-digger Jones –seems to ‘maintain’ what vegetation there is but is often a messenger for the Great Power. A ghost? No one knows.
Two new champions have been called to Spectral Realm…
Kapitan Willie Scharf; leading a German infantry unit advancing into France. He encounters a group of refugees who mention finding dead German soldiers near an old farm house. Scharf takes some men to investigate and observes Waynward-Knight shooting two of his own men. Becomes The Teutonic Knight.
Captain Henry Waynward-Knight; a complete psychopath hated by his own men and responsible for murdering unarmed civilians and enemy troops who surrendered.
Becomes The Terror.
WHERE IS THE SPECTRAL REALM?
The Spectral Realm is a limbo. However,there are rifts that create entrances to Mortal World. The main entrance/exit can be found in the disused London Underground system;there are many disused tunnels,platforms and so on. The deepest tunnels are around 300 feet below ground. The main rift between Spectral Realm and Mortal World is situated in a lost system some 500 feet below the surface,abandoned in 1901 while being built due to terrifying events there.
When one considers the number of graveyards, tombs, plague pits and other sites and the variety of individuals buried there then there is ample room for expanding the number of characters ---the Jubilee Line when it was built went through several monastic graveyards---and the London Underground has a rich history of ghostly goings on.
The entrance is via a huge area of rock resembling a skull on platform 13 of the Prince Albert Line,close to which is an area of undug earth and a tree which looks as though it has been blasted by lightning –the area is usually shrouded in a thick mist.
Going through this entrance a person would find themselves in a darkened,crumbling ruin with 13 floors:this is the headquarters of the Champions of Light. Normally,those chosen to take part in the eternal struggle appear close to the Spectral Realms swamps."
I was pitching the ideas to Gil Page and an editor whose name I cannot recall. The editor kept saying it all needed to be less serious "we need a bit more tongue-in-cheek for the kids" So I got out the note book and started scribbling as the editor looked on saying "That's it. Yeah more like that!"
"Pencils"
Corrections are made as I ink.
Anyway, it is odd but these pages -the story- fit right in with the whole Return Of The Gods but I never realised!
The Paranormals. Character designs from the animated series that never happened!
I have discussed this comic that was to take over from IPCs The Supernaturals but dont think I showed these the animator
of the proposed TV series sent?
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