fiflo's figments: février 2015

Fiflo's Figments is a comic art anthology between published short story writer Robert Finch and classically trained artist Gregory Floch. Fiflo, a combination of Finch and Floch, denotes a body of work devoted to waking dream senselessness. In one figment a girl commits suicide and her friends and family say goodbye through a horrific nightmare, in another, a “Hell Bus” harasses wanderers stranded on an interstate in the snow with a promise for a “way out” with the price, a virtual world exists and leads people to neglect the waking world and a starving artist working in a shack gets the deal of a life time when his work is finally noticed and censored by an oppressive government. The work is a combination of pulp, surreal art, and a sense that despite all the darkness and blackness that there is a whimsy to any dream. From a girl's smiling lips as she prays to God to angel's sense of humor as she gives out wishes that ultimately backfire in explosions and wardrobe malfunctions, even through the darkest moments Floch's art provides a view that is more neutral than partial, laughing as chaos and fate plays its part. The art is shamelessly European and the writing lost in its own joke, but despite it all the works come together to form a dream-like vision of absent thoughts magnified. Presenting, Fiflo's Figments.

Breakdown of all Fiflo shorts

Robert Finch and Gregory Floch

Moon and Sun- A young woman makes herself “pure” by showering, anointing herself with oil, and praying to Jesus Christ. She then falls asleep in her bed saying that she'll “meet my love there.” She has a dream in which there is a moon in the sky that rapidly changes to an angry sun that burns her in a blink of the eye. One by one she meets people who care about her. First her father, than her best friend, and finally a strange man who regrets “Not being able to save you.” One by one they wear a moon mask which turns into that of a burning vengeful sun (with the exception of the strange man who has a half moon half sun mask). Finally she is alone in darkness calling for her boyfriend not to leave, with her last sight being of her boyfriend with a sun mask declaring “I've already left.” It is revealed then that the woman had committed suicide with pills due to unrequited love and that each person she saw saying goodbye to her were wishing her luck in the afterlife.

Earth Meme- A young teen in a virtual reality world, Tamara, enjoys spending time growing plants in a farming situation. She goes out clubbing with a close girlfriend and upon drinking with her friend regrets that food in the virtual world can't satiate her real world hungry. She wakes up in a lifeless slummy world where people have forgotten the real in favor for the virtual. On her way to get food she pontificates how she wishes the “real world” would come back, eventually becoming frustrated and returning to her virtual life. Her brother closing the comic paints a mural of a beautiful sunset while onlookers remark that beautiful as it is, that such things are far beautiful in the virtual world.

The Hell Bus- A man known as the Loner drives dangerously aggressive on his motorcycle when suddenly he finds himself out of gas after coming close to being run over. He finds himself in the middle of the snow storm pushing his motorcycle to the promised gas stop in 20 miles when a strange bus flags him down. The bus is a representative of sin itself, decorated with surfboard, cigarettes, bras and boxers. This bus, the Hell Bus, claims that the the Loner has credit with them but the Loner refuses to get on board despite the tempting offer from the snow. However the bus persists and the storm gets worse, wearing down the resilience of the Loner. Finally the Loner gives in and has a flashback to all his most grievous misdeeds. He boards the bus and asks where the bus will take him. The driver states “where else” and rambunctiously drives on the seemingly never ending ghostly highway.

Godman, the Skyline, and Below- In a futuristic dystopic Frederick Floch lives among the lowest of the low, in shacks at the bottom of a massive overbearing skyline. He is a trained painter going through hard times, unable to make a living due to the poverty of everyone around him. One day an upperclassman, a “fluffer” enters his slummy studio and buys all his paintings for a sizable sum in exchange for Frederick to leave the slums and go to the more prosperous skyline to work as a propaganda artist. His previous work is condemned for his depiction of beautiful women, a commodity treated like second class citizens through working as whores in the worst or kept as pets in the best. Thus his work challenges the status quo. A revolutionary, Yannik, approaches Frederich preaching of a possible world where all art can be free and the people would be painted and praised rather than the politicians. However he movement is gunned down and Frederick is brought to the dictators house, the Godman Michaels. The Godman offers Frederick a deal, the most extravagant life imaginable in exchange for only being restricted to paint for him and him alone. Frederick accepts, enthralled with the rich life with scars of poverty from the slums. He lives the rest of his life peacefully.

There's a cure for that- In a pediatric hospital wing, a boy dreams of a prehistoric paradise. By chance, he comes across a transparent door that leads him out of his thought/dream bubble into another, with a medieval castle with a moat where another child, a young girl, reigns as princess. Throughout the hospital wing children are jumping into each other dreams, experiencing each-other's dream worlds. Than day comes. The children rub their eyes and wake up one by one, the dreams/thought bubbles popping into nonexistence. The children begin to talk to one another in whispers, reliving their adventures to the persons next to them. The story ends with a large poster sized picture made from interlinking individual pictures taped together hanging on a white hospital wall showing a childish portrayal of what happened in the dreams that night. A crow sits at a windowsill and then flies off.

The Best Earth has to offer- A space armada arrives at earth, with ships like rorshawk blobs hovering over space and jamming all satellite reliant technology. One by one orbs comes from the ship to every American style fast food joint in the world asking for fast food style french fries in exchange for precious metal. When the aliens leave at first people are shocked due to the shortage of fast food, but the only thing that changes is all the fast food places are decked in gems and fast food equipped spaceships are sent out in star trek like one year voyages to explore new markets.

So Fake it's Real- A sexy angel girl (complete with halo) runs a stand at a comic book convention selling trading cards. The cards are advertised as “Grace” cards and are supposed to give one movie themed fortunes. Most scoff at these claims, but a few nerds decide, hey, what the heck, especially since these cards are samples being given out for free. One card reads “release the Kraken, and suddenly a giant squid bursts from the ground and takes him. Another card reads “Beware the fembots” and suddenly sexy women start firing machine gun rounds out of their breasts. A little girl is given a card that reads “For Sparta!” and there is a cut of her riding on a chariot decked out in full armor cutting heads off in front of an army of ancient Greek spartan soldiers. Seeing these disasters and others and even the angel selling the cards running for cover, a news team arrives on the scene. “Life from San Diego, this is Komiccon”

Punished Modesty- A girl in a medieval style world is being constantly harassed by peeping toms, being modest and uncomfortable about her sexuality. After her hiding places like her room, the woman's restrooom, and even a nunnery being compromised she simply hops on a horse with modest provisions and goes as far a way as possible for some privacy. So she goes into the forest, thinking that she's alone. However, as established earlier, a war had gone on earlier and as she swims skeletons look up from the bottom and leer

Night Ladder- in a dystopian African country the “Valids” are genetically engineered super beings. They are tall Adonises who live a peaceful stress free life. Nanai Cansado, a cop, is on a cold case of his own volition due to boredom with his cushy life and a strive to do meaningful work. He discovers that a Valid child was kidnapped by her invalid (non genetically modified) mother and brought to live with her in one of the camps for the invalids. The invalids are a weak, feeble, downtrodden race which Nanai sees as he goes to find the child. However Nanai finds himself unable to feel sympathy with them, repeating a pattern of apartheid. Nanai finds the child who had been with the invalids so long that she had begun to look like them. He finds her a good home and feels the scenario is over with and feels that justice is done. However the “saved” girl composes a message to her half brother, feeling empty without her family around her. Her new parents rip the letter and appeal to the child to be happy in her new world and new life.

fiflo's figments

jeudi 26 février 2015

cover

mardi 24 février 2015

cover letter

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fiflo's figment: Moon/sun

Figments summary.

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