Cover for my school's junior thesis project. It's the life and story of "Alexander the Great" in a short comic book.
Inside cover of my Megas Alexandros comic book. I chose the vase of Achilles here to show a sort of foreshadowing effect. Also because you know how in movies they always do these sort of things to attract the viewers attention.
The first page can be read without the inside cover and I think that plays out well. The background of the first panel I didn't know what to do with it, at first the whole comic was going to be colored but later on I had to add 5 more pages or so for the sake of the story, and the details that went into it was almost overwhelming. Whatever free time I had, I used it to relax or do other homework. Well, just goes to show you nothing ever goes according to plan.
Page 2. This scene takes place when Alexander was a boy, it shows his mother's love for him and her contempt for her husband, King Philip II of Macedon.
Page 10. This scene is at Gaugamela, 331 B.C. Alexander and his Companion Cavalry are at the second panel. The phalanx are at the third one. I wanted to show all of Alexander's forces but the phalanx were the most dynamic and iconic of the Macedonian army. If you notice, behind Alexander there is a cloud shaping to look like almost horns. In the Egyptian and Persian culture, Alexander was known as the "two horned one" not because he was the devil, but because goat horns were the sign of the Gods back then. Also, I wanted to continue the scene with Alexander riding Bucephalas back and his father hugging him to say another famous quote, but the battle of Gaugamela was to be the most important part of the story.
Page 14: Macedonians vs. Persians. This scene depicts the Alexander's toughest battle at Gaugamela.
Page 15. The Persians were well known for their numbers, archery, and the infamous scythed chariots. However, Alexander taught his men exactly how to deal with the chariots. One solution is this one depicted here. The other was the "mouse-trap", but much more difficult to draw.
Again I had difficulties transitioning Alexander to Bucephalas like in page 9, and this in a way slowed down the intensity of the action, but it had to be done. Good thing was that I incorporated the same technique for when he rides the black horse, the scene where he says "To Glory."
