A really interesting Entertainment Geekly article (only article of its kind, unfortunately) from January 2014, that I think can strongly, strongly be applied to one's understanding of Satan Ninja 198X.
http://www.ew.com/article/2014/01/23/80s-genre-entertainment-geekly
Aw man, great article—and great post!
a mixture of raw brutality and endearing innocence
That's a great descriptor for the '80s that I don't think I've heard before. And yeah, it totally applies to the comic. In fact, I think someone would be hard-pressed to find an '80s retro product that embodies that more than SN8X. Just look at the main character, a dude who's starry-eyed, idealistic, and naive, yet he's now wielding Hell-spawned assassination powers.
Another interesting point from the article is how it says that you can imagine characters from 80s set period prices actually in there world going to see actual 80s movies, which is imaginable because of the way these pieces are made, in a way that they share the same world as these movies. So with this comic, I can actually imagine characters going to see such movies, or listening to synth music, because of the way the comic is done.
This serves as a good segue to a very minor behind-the-scenes dilemma that's come up a few times: what real-world '80s things do we want to reference as
actually existing in the SN8X-verse, and what real-world '80s things do we want to reference as being
fictional within the SN8X-verse.
For instance, take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, we could have made a parody version of them that actually exists in the SN8X-verse (I could totally see them butting heads with the Satan Ninja clans in the sewers), but instead we made a parody version of them that exists as a fictional franchise within the SN8X-verse.
Say, for instance, that Ket and Darwick end up in a situation that would be perfect for us to use a parody of the aliens from
Critters. Well, we wouldn't feel comfortable doing that now, since we've already established a fictional parody of
Critters (see the Kreepies poster in the Issue 1 arcade scenes).
It's a minor thing, but something we have to to think about once in awhile.
It also states that the 80s are now an "actual cultural and artistic force", which I think is strongly relevant now, with examples such as this comic, Stranger Things and synthwave music. These aren't simple parodies just existing to poke fun at the time, they actually relish and create an actual feel of the time
Thanks! I'm glad to see someone saying this comic creates an actual feel of the time, as that's definitely one of our goals with it. Even though I don't think there's any single actual '80s product that quite matches the tone of our comic. The closest I can think of are movies like
Big Trouble in Little China or
The Last Dragon, but those are both missing some essential SN8X elements.
, which, as was stated before, is a mixture of "a mixture of raw brutality and endearing innocence", which can come from the fact that things like teen movies can be seen as innocent but action and horror movies relentlessly raw and bloody.
Not only that, but there was a lot of stuff that was super appealing to kids, but had some ultra non-kid-friendly elements.
Robocop, for instance. Or movies starring kids that were too scary for a lot of kids to even watch, like
The Gate. And then there was
Temple of Doom, which was very kid-friendly for the most part, but then it had the brutal heart-ripping out scene.
Plus, it also brings up the then kickstarter Kung Fury, which, while pretty different from this comic, the intentions of which are stated for making the film do seem to kind of resemble your reasons for making this comic as well.
I totally agree with the
Kung Fury director's statement as to what draws him to the '80s. It's simultaneously super cool and yet super dumb.
But anyway, it's an interesting read. Bet you never thought this comic would get an artistic analysis, did you? Well, now it has.
Hah, thanks Matty. Awesome post.
