Waiting For Tommy XXXIV
By Richard Johnston |
I probably
first met Nick Locking online. The Warren Ellis Forum, where
this cocky Australian bugger was mouthing off about robots.
Probably Transformers.
Little did I then know that he was an
ex-pat, shipped from Britain to Australia like so many convicts
before him. What's worse, he came from Doncaster. I lived
near there, I have family in Doncaster. In another world we
could have grown up neighbours.
What a hideous thought.
Nick is long haired, lanky, unemployed
though managing to keep a girlfriend, a fact that still astounds
us. He is constantly poor, terribly unmotivated and will give
all he has to buy a small expensive lump of plastic in the
shape of some kind of mechanical figure.
He's also a fantastic human being, an
inventive mind, a source of joy and a heart as big as a planet
but that's all by the by.
Ah, but how the now-ex Warren Ellis Forum
love him. I say love him, we tolerate him. I say tolerate,
we sit around bitching about him behind his back. But only
out of affection. He came back to Britain, stayed, drank,
endeared himself to us all, hell Warren Ellis is writing him
a love letter in the form of a new Wildstorm series involving
big fighting robots. And through that relationship with Warren,
Nick found himself being introduced to William Christensen
at Avatar who was looking for someone totally obsessed with
robots to take over from Steven Grant after he finished adapting
Frank
Miller's original Robocop movie script for the upcoming-in-July
series with artist Juan Jose Ryp.
Well, before that, on Free Comics Day,
you'll get to see a preview of Nick Locking and Jeremy Rock's
Robocop: Simple Machines in ROBOCOP / STARGATE SG-1 from Avatar.
But first, let's get an idea about why Nick Locking is the
only man for the job. And why I am *so* buying this comic.
TRANSFORMERS:
ARMADA HARDCOVER |
RICHARD
JOHNSTON: Nick, you like robots don't you. Tell
us all about them.
NICK
LOCKING: It all started when I was a lot younger,
reading issues of the top-notch UK edition of Transformers
from the tender age of four years old, and span out
from there. Gundam, Patlabor, Gaogaigar, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, The Terminator - if it's got robots in,
I'll watch any old rubbish. People say I cry at the
end of The Iron Giant, but it's never been proven in
court.
RICHARD:
Oh I've been there with the Iron Giant, Nick. "Suuuuuperman".
See, I've made you cry just thinking about it. So why
are robots so much better fighting than standing around?
And why are there so few slice-of-life robot stories,
doing the groceries, going down the pub etc? |
NICK:
It's an interesting question, my ludicrously bearded chum.
Robots exist to destroy, for whatever purpose, but I suppose
it's conceivable that after a busy day's annihilating, Deathbot
5000 may need to pick up a pound of grapes and meet Crushtron
XL for a swift half down the local Cog & Bolt. Excuse me,
I have a pitch to write.
RICHARD:
Well, Epic are taking most anything at the moment I hear.
But Nick, why not talk us through all the different kinds
of robots. Why are they great - or not? Gundam.
NICK:
Gundam features a huge variety of huge robots smacking the
shit out of each other for hours and hours and hours. It's
been going since 1979, and apparently it's more or less the
Star
Trek of Japan. US stations don't get much of it, but G-Gundam
is currently airing on CNX [Cartoon Network] in the States,
and is ludicrously fun. The current series airing in Japan
is Gundam Seed, and is fantastic. I hear there are great plots
and lots of drama and stuff, but to be honest I only pay attention
to the robot battles.
RICHARD:
Patlabor?
NICK:
It's Robocop, but he's 60 feet tall and looks a bit like a
rabbit.
RICHARD:
Gaogaigar? Is that even a real one or did you make it up?
NICK:
Honestly, it's real. Featuring such classic Robo-Names as
The Great Baangaan and Genetic Gaogaigar. Look it up if you
don't believe me.
RICHARD:
Neon Genesis Evangelion?
NICK:
I'm torn, actually, on NGE. It's a fantastic series (albeit
with an incredibly unappealing lead character) up until the
end, when it completely disappears up its own arse and fumbles
the ball dramatically. There's a film that's much the same
- first half some of the best robotic combat ever seen on
screen, second half tedious navelgazing wank. Worth watching,
for the good bits. You haven't seen a robot tear another robot
to pieces and then eat it, or take out a wing of gunships
by smacking them with another gunship, until you've seen Neon
Genesis Evangelion.
RICHARD:
Robotech?
NICK:
I never got into this one, to be honest. I'm told it's excellent,
and the robots are top-notch, but I fear what it would do
to my bank account.
RICHARD:
Terminator?
NICK:
Amongst the best robot-based material produced by Western
cinema. A little dated, but quality always shines through.
I'm looking forward to T3: The Zimmernator, I assure you.
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