In 1972, Kitchen Sink Enterprises published and distributed Fever Dreams, an underground, fantasy comic that included two stories written by Jan Strnad: “The Unicorn Quest,” with art by John Adkins Richardson and “To Meet the Faces You Meet,” with art by the now-legendary Richard Corben. Flash forward forty-eight years — years that delivered to comics fans numerous first-rate Strnad/Corben comics collaborations — and we are now on the cusp of having a high-quality, feature-length, hybrid live-action/animated movie adaptation of “To Meet the Faces You Meet” to enjoy. But this isn’t just any adaptation, it’s an adaption with a script by J. Allen Williams of Parallax Studio, and the man himself, Jan Strnad, that is actually inspired by and respectful of Corben’s conceptual designs, and what’s more, Williams, who is the director and producer of the movie as well as a co-writer, has welcomed the input of Strnad and Corben at every stage of the production.
the cleaned up version posted below
that will appear in the Kickstarter-exclusive reprint
of “To Meet the Faces You Meet.”
As his fans are undoubtedly aware, Corben has, from the beginning of his career as an artist, had an abiding interest in animation, and has himself produced a variety of short films over the years, the most ambitious of which were the animated short film, Neverwhere (1968), which included the earliest appearance of Den and won several awards, and The Dark Planet (1989), an anthology that included “The Tower of Blood” and “Relief Station.” In addition, in 1981, Corben’s Neverwhere graphic novel was adapted to the big screen as a sequence in the film “Heavy Metal,” and in 2012, his story, “King’s Crown,” was adapted for the TV series, Metal Hurlant Chronicles. And now Corben has given his blessing to the forthcoming movie adaptation of “To Meet the Faces You Meet.”
Why am I telling you this? Because, although the animation for the film is complete, and the lead character, MEAD, voiced by Patton Oswalt, has been recorded, Parallax still has work to do. Actors need to be hired for the lead human parts and their performances, filmed and combined with the animation. Now, I have no doubt that the film will, no matter what, eventually be completed, but the fact is, the more money Parallax has, the more leeway they will have to hire experienced actors who best embody the characters. And that is why, on 09 May 2020, the studio created a Kickstarter campaign for their movie.
To learn about the campaign, which includes a variety of levels and rewards, you should visit Parallax’s official “To Meet the Faces You Meet” Kickstarter page. Corben fans, however, should know that, while everyone who contributes to the campaign will get their name in the credits of the movie and in a special-edition comic, other reward possibilities include 1) a Blu-Ray of the completed film, 2) a special, oversized, Kickstarter-exclusive edition of “To Meet the Faces You Meet” with the original Fever Dreams cover art and masthead, 3) a 12.5 x 18 inch print of the original Fever Dreams cover art and masthead, and more!
the Kickstarter-exclusive reprint (left)
and the original comic (right).
of “To Meet the Faces You Meet.” Compare with
same page scanned from the original comic
that appears earlier in this post.
As a Corben fan myself, I selfishly hope that you, dear reader, will seriously consider supporting this project, because the fact is, I want the film, I want the oversized, remastered reprint of “To Meet the Faces You Meet,” and I want the poster of that cover.
And last but not least, I want comics fans to support the “fever dreams” of two legendary creators: Jan Strnad and Richard Corben!
For if they feel the love, who can say what dreams may come?!
Ragged Claws Network 