Church & State I: Final Scene recreation
Art by Gerhard
(Click image to enlarge)
DEAN REEVES:(from ComicArtFans, December 2015)
This is the third in a series of commission pieces I've asked Gerhard to create for me.
The first was the Regency cover recreation from High Society, the second was the street scene from Melmoth, next one after this will be from Jaka's Story (I'm really looking forward to that), and I've actually thought of anther one but I may just have to stop and simply be happy with what I have/will have. We'll see. Besides, he might be getting sick of me asking for all of these little black lines.
The reason this series of commissions began, aside from my selfish desire to have my very own High Society cover, was to highlight Gerhard’s contribution to the epic story that is Cerebus – while I know he didn't contribute to the Regency during the High Society run, his contribution to the cover for the phone book is mesmerizing. His settings helped to ground the book and give it a sense of realism and place, and his backgrounds probably had every other independent creator jealously wishing they could have their own Gerhard. Not to mention that, with his taking over the backgrounds and settings, it allowed Dave to focus on other things that make this book one of the greatest achievements in comics.
Cerebus (or Gerebus if you will) is in the scene to emphasize the scale of it all, and this scene has scale. What I think is fantastic about these piece, compared to the original double page spread, is that Gerhard added details that make the piece stronger. I was originally thinking he was going to leave the upper right corner blank, since in the book that area was completely covered with Letratone, instead he added the lower city, which looks amazing! Through the smashed wall of the hotel you can see the remnants of the furniture of the room where Bran committed suicide. And in the courtyard you can see the impact crater of the Great Stone Thrunk from where he landed after Cerebus blew off his leg and then asked him who Tarim is.
If you ask me, Gerhard has done it again.
The first was the Regency cover recreation from High Society, the second was the street scene from Melmoth, next one after this will be from Jaka's Story (I'm really looking forward to that), and I've actually thought of anther one but I may just have to stop and simply be happy with what I have/will have. We'll see. Besides, he might be getting sick of me asking for all of these little black lines.
The reason this series of commissions began, aside from my selfish desire to have my very own High Society cover, was to highlight Gerhard’s contribution to the epic story that is Cerebus – while I know he didn't contribute to the Regency during the High Society run, his contribution to the cover for the phone book is mesmerizing. His settings helped to ground the book and give it a sense of realism and place, and his backgrounds probably had every other independent creator jealously wishing they could have their own Gerhard. Not to mention that, with his taking over the backgrounds and settings, it allowed Dave to focus on other things that make this book one of the greatest achievements in comics.
Cerebus (or Gerebus if you will) is in the scene to emphasize the scale of it all, and this scene has scale. What I think is fantastic about these piece, compared to the original double page spread, is that Gerhard added details that make the piece stronger. I was originally thinking he was going to leave the upper right corner blank, since in the book that area was completely covered with Letratone, instead he added the lower city, which looks amazing! Through the smashed wall of the hotel you can see the remnants of the furniture of the room where Bran committed suicide. And in the courtyard you can see the impact crater of the Great Stone Thrunk from where he landed after Cerebus blew off his leg and then asked him who Tarim is.
If you ask me, Gerhard has done it again.
Gerhard's 2016 Convention Itinerary:
March 18-20: Comicon Toronto, ON
April 8-10: Wizard World Madison, WI
May 6-8: Wizard World Minneapolis, MN
June 2-6: Wizard World Philadelphia, PA
June 17-19: Wizard World Sacramento, CA
July-August: Gone Sailing Georgian Bay, ON
September 8-10: Wizard World Nashville, TN
November 4-6: Wizard World Pittsburgh, PA
7 comments:
Ridiculously beautiful! Congrats on having such a lovely piece.
Gerhard Art Alert! Four pages from Ger in the Comiclink auction going on right now.
Where can I purchase the Melmoth street scene prints?
While looking at this absolutely breathtaking piece of art, I got that old feeling I used to get while reading Church and State - a level of immersion and creative inspiration that no other artistic/narrative work has topped in my experience; it's the sense of "I am so on board with this", but on steroids. It brought back the memory of the days when a new issue of Cerebus was THE most important event in any given month. How cool is that?
So much want.
Glen - It looks like Ger's revamped website has the Melmoth street scene here, with two different price/size options: http://gerhardart.com/my-store/#jp-carousel-141 I'm not sure how to put it in a 'cart', but he does have contact info there, so you could send him an email via that form. He also doesn't include shipping costs, so you'd have to contact him for that.
I have at least five of Gerhard's prints and they are all outstanding! Great quality too. I just ordered the Harry Potter one for my daughter too.
I'm thinking about having him do a commission for me too, but I haven't thought of what I want yet.
He's a true master of the form...
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