{"product_id":"tim-eldred-captain-harlock-armored-trooper-votoms-a-portrait","title":"Tim Eldred | Captain Harlock \u0026 Armored Trooper Votoms | A Portrait","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eTim Eldred is one of the very few American artists of his generation to build a real career inside the world of anime and manga, at a time when that influence was still rare and unfashionable in Western comics.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eAcross two decades of work for Eternity Comics and CPM Comics, he became the primary American artist for \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eLeiji Matsumoto's \u003ci\u003eCaptain Harlock\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, drew the only English-language \u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eArmored Trooper Votoms\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e comic ever produced, and eventually created and drew his own \u003ci\u003eStar Blazers\u003c\/i\u003e series for Argo Press.\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--\u003e\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eEldred's path into professional comics started as fandom. Long before any studio would hire him, he was already producing his own \u003ci\u003eVotoms Viewer's Guide\u003c\/i\u003e, a substantial fanzine built from scratch: consulting translators, tracking down reference material, and hand-lettering English text over stills from a series that had no official release in America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt was this fanzine, circulating through anime fan networks, that eventually caught the eye of the people at Central Park Media\u003c\/b\u003e (CPM) and helped set in motion the licensing of \u003ci\u003eVotoms\u003c\/i\u003e for American release, years before Eldred ever got the chance to draw it professionally.\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--\u003e\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHis break into published comics came through Eternity Comics, an imprint of Malibu Graphics, where he connected with the staff in June 1989, four months before \u003ci\u003eCaptain Harlock\u003c\/i\u003e #1 hit shelves.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe assignment had already gone to Ben Dunn, the artist who'd brought the \u003ci\u003eHarlock\u003c\/i\u003e license to Malibu in the first place, so Eldred spent the next year watching issues roll out one by one while working on his own titles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eHis way in was Emeraldas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e, Harlock's female counterpart: when Eternity spun off a four-issue \u003ci\u003ePirate Queen Emeraldas\u003c\/i\u003e miniseries, Eldred took over the art from Ben Dunn starting with issue #3.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eFrom there he moved straight onto \u003ci\u003eCaptain Harlock\u003c\/i\u003e itself, finishing #12 from Dunn's rough pencils before taking full command with #13. What followed was, in Eldred's own words, \"a nice long run\": 15 issues drawn back to back, spanning \u003ci\u003eDeathshadow Rising\u003c\/i\u003e (#1–6), a Christmas Special, \u003ci\u003eFall of the Empire\u003c\/i\u003e (#1–4) and \u003ci\u003eThe Machine People\u003c\/i\u003e (#1–4). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e17 issues of original Harlock material in total\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e, on top of the two Emeraldas issues that got him there. Eldred worked in close visual dialogue with both of Harlock's core sources: Matsumoto's own manga linework and the character designs of the 1978 TV anime, whose art director Kazutaka Miyatake had also \u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003edesigned the extraordinarily complex Arcadia\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e, a ship Eldred has since described as \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003eone of the hardest things he ever had to learn to draw consistently.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--\u003e\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eArmored Trooper Votoms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e came next, and it was the project he had always wanted to make. Based on Ryosuke Takahashi's 52-episode 1983–84 \"real robot\" anime, with mechanical designs by Kunio Okawara, \u003ci\u003eVotoms\u003c\/i\u003e had already spawned OVAs, novels, games and a manga by Minoru Nonaka serialized in \u003ci\u003eComic BonBon\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen CPM Comics secured both video and publishing rights in 1996, Eldred finally got the assignment his own fanzine had helped make possible. \u003cb\u003eHe worked directly from his VHS tapes\u003c\/b\u003e, extracting frames and building them into his layouts as visual reference, so the finished art stayed as close as possible to the Japanese source rather than reinventing it as an American comic. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eVotoms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e #1 was published in July 1996\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e, planned as the first of a four-issue miniseries opening with \u003ci\u003eRoots of Ambition\u003c\/i\u003e and building toward the start of the original TV series. \u003cbr\u003eIt never got that far as single issues: the American comics distribution market collapsed at exactly the wrong moment, and only that first issue ever reached stores. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEldred was allowed to finish the art regardless, and the complete story appeared a year later as the \u003ci\u003eSupreme Survivor\u003c\/i\u003e graphic novel, released in sync with the anime's American home video debut.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eBeyond Harlock and Votoms, Eldred's career sits at the same crossroads, with titles like \u003ci\u003eStar Blazers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eM.D. Geist\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCyber City Oedo 808\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eStar Blazers\u003c\/i\u003e stands apart from the rest: rather than adapting someone else's assignment, Eldred created and drew it himself for Argo Press, running the series well past a dozen issues and staying with it longer than almost anything else in his career.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003eNone of this happened in Japan, and none of it was a simple translation job.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e These were original American comics or Amerimanga, made from scratch, inside licensed Japanese universes, years before \"manga influence\" became a marketable label in Western comics. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-GB\" style=\"mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaptain Harlock\u003c\/i\u003e's own afterlife in European pop culture, where Albator has remained a defining pop-cultural touchstone since its 1980 broadcast on Antenne 2, is part of what makes this body of work worth preserving: an early Western reinterpretation of Matsumoto's universe, made by one of the very few artists who ever got to work inside it directly.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tim Eldred","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54002840437064,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0799\/6974\/7272\/files\/tim_portrait_fixed.png?v=1788617608","url":"https:\/\/sultansofmanga.com\/products\/tim-eldred-captain-harlock-armored-trooper-votoms-a-portrait","provider":"Sultans of Manga","version":"1.0","type":"link"}