panellogy 011 - don lawrence#1 - storm

... a science-fiction comic series from the eighties, published first in the netherlands.
german editions by ehapa.
drawn by don lawrence, written by martin lodewijk & ...
you can watch don lawrence draw here:
• Video
imperial march snippet by the vienna philharmonic orchestra:
• Video
apologies for the sound-hiss

[@TheSnowabbit]

Wow. The art looks fantastic. I looks like the kind of stuff that would have appeared in Heavy Metal, Epic Illustrated or the Warren magazines back in the day.

[@earlgrey862]

Glad, that you dug it. They are exactly the kind of stories you need as a young adult to protect you from becoming adult. At least I remember the reading experience as a perfect escape from my adolescence back then.

[@sleepyreader666]

Love that City of the damned cover! Thanks so much for showing us this great art!

[@zimmermouse]

Cool! Thanks for posting, at 4:45 I have both Original pages, painted by Don Lawrence. Nice to see these in your movie ;)

[@earlgrey862]

woah, I'm envious

[@Khultan]

Looks fantastic!!!!!

[@streglof]

I would so love for Storm to be made into a movie or TV series, especially the Pandarve series

[@earlgrey862]

would be fantastic ... and you would think that cgi could do now amazing things to envision that world

[@streglof]

earl grey yes unfortunately Storm is completely unknown in ths US

[@GustoTheGamer]

Or in a video game

[@alariachi]

It is so funny that you made a video about Storm. I also recently rediscovered them. Here in holland these books are quite popular. The don lawrence art is really amazing. After lawrence the art was done by romano molenaar. molenaar's art is to my opinion not as good as lawrence's. Molenaar also drew Birds of prey and some other books by the big 2. I am planning to pick up some more issues of storm. Thanks for the er-inspiration. Great video.

[@earlgrey862]

I saw some original don lawrence pages on ebay for more than 2000! euros each (with an super awkward golden frame). For that amount of money - even though I am far from being an expert - you can easily score ten pages of recent american artists. But this pricing shows the rank of Mr. Lawrence here in Europe, while he is more or less unknown in the USA.

[@johan4105]

Better then the Marvel universe in my opinion.

[@Khultan]

I never heard of this.

[@sleepyreader666]

I don't think Don Lawrence or Storm was ever published in the US, so it's a case of the publishers here rejecting him rather than the readers...I hope some day to get ahold of the British editions of these books, or have some US publisher finally pick up these books- hint, hint Dark Horse!

[@earlgrey862]

"so it's a case of the publishers here rejecting him rather than the readers" - I totally agree on that... I wouldn't take his rant against the US-Readers to serious too. But on the other hand statements like the one I quoted certainly didn't work as an application for american publishers - Don Lawrence was maybe not the easiest person to work with.

[@anthonyfarshaw8619]

Actually two stories were published in the US, in "Heavy Metal"-magazine: "The Living Planet" (episode 15) and afterwards "The Slayer of Eriban" (episode 13).

[@sleepyreader666]

I'll have to keep an eye out for those :)

[@anthonyfarshaw8619]

Well, and if you're not short on money: All Storm episodes can be bought in English on "donlawrence dot co dot uk" as special editions called "Storm-the collection".

[@sleepyreader666]

cool

[@comicKkrakK]

amazing looking work! love that painted look in comics. his style reminds me of Ron Embleton, who did Oh Wicked Wanda for Penthouse. The colours are fantastic. Added to my list!

[@earlgrey862]

I did a Google picture search for Wicked Wanda & yes you're right... so much to learn here :)

[@juancholo7502]

I think one of the main reasons it never took off in America is that over here Comics were for a long time considered only for kids. This came out of a panic in the 1950s about too much violence & "inappropriate"/sex in comics that kids could read. After that American comics were extremely censored & made "Child Friendly" to the point that by the 1970s & 1980s most adults thought of comics as only for children. There were exceptions, mostly by Horror "Magazines" & Conan "Magazines" but those were considered to be for small fandoms & the average person wasn't aware of them. Times have changed & I think they would sell well except that the "Left" in America has a new moral panic over "representation" & the "male gaze". sigh. New times same old censorship.

[@earlgrey862]

Rebellion has published (at least) the first volume of "The rise and fall of the Trigan Empire" in English... so I'm definitely hoping they will continue with Storm - especially because it's the better comic series over all

[@Dragonknight761]

Comment #11 I always liked that painted style for comics more than the digital, glossy style that you see in stuff like super hero comics. Altough, I think, I prefer flat colors over both of them in some cases.

[@earlgrey862]

I wouldn't want painted colors in each comic neither, because it takes a lot attention away from the actual story. But in Lawrence's comics it works perfectly and the comics wouldn't be half as good with flat colors.

[@deddyahmad2879]

legend

[@WaveOne11]

Still desperately waiting for your 2nd vid about Don Lawrence.. :)

[@earlgrey862]

WaveOne11 I certainly will do, even though for the moment life and work stands a bit in the way. But it's duly noted, I promise.

[@sibranowitschbrimborium282]

Geil ! Meine Jugend :)

[@mehernoshtarapore8902]

Number 19 art of the cover very richard corben style

[@jimiarisandi]

thers no 3d at that times all by the very bare hand . amazing patient

[@brushonfire8800]

Hi Earl Grey, I have a question about storm I was hoping you have some insight into... basically im wondering if the story of storm is really enhanced by a full grasp of the text and dialogues? Im asking because the english version of storm is available to order from europe but it is very expensive at over 500 euro and then I have to pay a high import fee to canada. Considering a series like this I like to buy the whole set at once because with the import fees and everything it makes more sense. I am considering that maybe I could find a cheaper set online in german. Recently I bought the complete set of "el mercenario" from splitter. I think it was a good choice because the chances to get it in english at this point are so low, with the publisher stopping only halfway through the series. Similarly the french editions are out of print so the splitter edition was the best choice to get the whole set. I find it perfectly OK because the story is so simple and with a basic online dictionary I can grasp enough of the verbs to understand what is going on. Im wondering if this is reasonable to consider with Don Lawrence stories? Lucky for me Trigan is being published in mass market and relatively affordable english paperbacks starting last month.

[@earlgrey862]

interesting question. I find it very hard to find my way through a book with enough patience if I don't understand the language. But if you enjoyed your "El Mercenario"-experience you maybe should give the Splitter ones a try. some remarks and tipps: - Don't buy the older German softcovers (from Ehapa and other publishers) because the printing quality in the new Splitter ones is much superiour. - Check out a Trigan story without reading the words... just as a test... because Storm is a bit more intricate and complex than Trigan but not much.... you will still get who are the good guys and who are the bad ones :) .... And like in the Trigan comics: the caption boxes are for the most part not necessary to understand the stories. - the first 22 albums are essential because they contain the Don Lawrence run... afterwards it's Roman Molenaar & very okay, but... (the last published album was Vol.31) - the splitter albums have a cover price of 15,80 Euros each and it's actually very hard to get them for cheaper. If you see a significantly cheaper offer please take a second look: because if sth is to good to be true....

[@Admeralsarms]

where can i buy the complete collection in English?

[@earlgrey862]

there was an older edition done by "the don lawrence collection". Rebellion, the publisher behind the british 2000ad magazines, starts publishing the older series "Trigan" from Lawrence in March next year.

[@muhammadnurhadiakmal9785]

Already finish the story or still on going?

[@earlgrey862]

the story is still ongoing... but by a different artist of course

[@TaylorTalksComics]

Where is the best/easiest way to collect Storm in English?

[@earlgrey862]

www.donlawrence.nl/home/ don't know if it's the best... it's definitively not a cheap way

[@TaylorTalksComics]

earl grey yea... he doesn’t appear to have any English copies there. I’ll keep hunting! Either way, I have the new paperback “Rise and fall of the Trigan Empire” coming my way tomorrow because of your videos! Cant wait.

[@SandroSensei]

@@TaylorTalksComics Storm The Collection is in english. The whole set costs €575 but the paper quality is very good, its leather bound also. I have them in Dutch. Just browse the website and you’ll find.

[@WaveOne11]

Where to get these comics in english?

[@earlgrey862]

WaveOne11 difficult, I guess... there was a series of "don lawrence collection"-books, but they are selling now for exorbitant prices (according to a quick check on Amazon).

[@WaveOne11]

earl grey yeah I noticed, pretty expensive stuff :/ would be awesome if you could make another vid of storm or trigan empire (if you got). I appreciate the english commentary you did on this one..

[@earlgrey862]

I'll certainly do a follow-up on Storm. As to Trigan: I got some of them once as a kid, but the hell knows where they had been gone. As I remember: They were quite similar to Storm but with a simpler, more "historic fantasy"-orientated plot

[@anthonyfarshaw8619]

It may be expensive, but you can buy them on the official Don Lawrence site. www.donlawrence.co.uk/shop/index.php?hg=2&sg=25