Amora the Enchantress (now with her lovely sister Lorelei) Appreciation

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For me, Worldengine is an execution-over-idea piece. I would say that the execution and storytelling were handled masterfully. The creators all communicated with each other on this story, and the end result is really a very beautiful-looking product. Mike Deodato, known in the 90s for being given to excess (in terms of skin, muscle, design, and whatnot), manages to rein it in here just a little bit and channel those energies in the most appropriate moments. As a result, he was able to showcase some of his storytelling, compositional talents. Mostly, I find that these are particular techniques that when done well, they really work for me.

Let's take a look at some of them.

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Gutters are awesome things. Imagine, just by introducing a space in the middle of a picture, you can change the way the reader perceives how time flows throughout it. And when you put them around an entire splash, like a frame, like in this page of Thor and the Enchantress in a post-coital cuddle?
It highlights the moment, and to me, it makes it last just a bit longer than it otherwise would have if the frame didn't exist. "Relief," as in "bas relief" in sculpting, is the best term I can come up with for it.

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We're taught to read left to right and up to down, so I get impressed when someone breaks or comes close to breaking that orientation without confusion. This page of Thor and Amora comes close, with the three inset panels moving in a clockwise direction.
Placing the panels close to each other is important here, and the visual connections also help. Thor's blond hair moves right into the upper left, with the blond hair, and his bracelet moves right into the bracelet on the lower left panel.

I imagine that composing a page like this isn't easy. If Deodato had done it with even a modicum of sloppiness, people could easily mistakenly join up Enchantress' head and butt there and she'd look like a dwarf with a giant head.

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To be honest, there are a very few instances when I notice lettering. I think lettering is an "invisible" art, meaning it works best when you don't notice it's there and it just blends into the story. That's what happens in Worldengine.

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Deodato loved doing these. To amp up tension, he'd draw panels at an angle, but he'd also rotate the contents. So it wasn't just a differently shaped panel; it was a panel rotated towards you in some way. It's a good effect that simulates the third dimension.

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don't even really have an explanation for this one. I just like it when windows and doors are used as panels.

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Ah, polyptychs. The act of inserting gutters into one picture to control both the pace and direction in which the reader's going.

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And then there's this page, where Deodato uses three polyptychs and twenty panels.

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So much effort was put into Worldengine and I think it's a highlight of the 90s. Sure, it's full of 90s elements, but it's a case where they were utilized to serve the story. Warren Ellis wrote it in such a way to highlight the skills of his collaborators, and they made the most of it.

[Charlie_1981]

Great Addition and good analysis of the World Engine Saga and some of its things

I always thought that's what might have been Thor´s book if Ellis had decided to continue or if at the time, Marvel had chosen or attempted to delve into the character of the Enchantress with a miniseries or something similar, something I always try to think , dream and imagine if some day become reality, the character clearly needs it with great urgency and necessity, it´s hard to understand that a character born in 1964 and currently being in 2015, Marvel continues to do nothing with her or that few writers really think about her for their stories and fall into the usual things without risking and go beyond.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

The Green Outfit is always a classic and iconic regarding the character in the same way that her leggings or stockings with the loop circle depending on what the artist think on that moment when is drawing her.

I know that it's her iconic look but it's pretty much the only look that I see her in while many characters have gotten several new looks over the years.

[Charlie_1981]

I know that it's her iconic look but it's pretty much the only look that I see her in while many characters have gotten several new looks over the years.

Well, a little above and specifically in the saga of World Engine that Ellis wrote and Deodato Jr. drew and that 616MarvelYearisLeapYear has posted, you can see the only time in which there has been a change from the way Amora dresses and the colors she used.

And well, if something works, why change? she could use green for every costume she uses but there are always variations, some will work other not.

[Charlie_1981]

new pic

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Well, a little above and specifically in the saga of World Engine that Ellis wrote and Deodato Jr. drew and that 616MarvelYearisLeapYear has posted, you can see the only time in which there has been a change from the way Amora dresses and the colors she used.

And well, if something works, why change? she could use green for every costume she uses but there are always variations, some will work other not.

Just saying that many characters that are much bigger characters than she have gotten several different looks over the years so just thought that Amora should get a new look every now and then as well, leaving the old classic look as always being there to fall back on when needed, maybe have her show up and operate outside of the whole Asgard world and such, and not as a villain or close to it.

[juan678]

Fantastic Pic Post