Random Acts of Art - 02

All Artwork is by Grady Lyda

When I was 15 years old I planned a series of comix called NEXUS. Carlton Sennett teams up with LaNaRa, a lady from the far future. This duo helps humanity overcome major social upheavals which consequently lead to rapid evolutionary surges that cause even greater problems, inducing further leaps in mankind's development. These images indicate NEXUS 1 - Current Times, NEXUS 2 - Mastery of the Solar System, NEXUS 3 - Intergalactic Exploration, and NEXUS 4 - Cosmic Beings with Unlimited Power.

I had notebooks full of numerous plotlines that propelled the NEXUS heroes into increasingly extreme sci-fi scenarios. But there were other ideas that involved different characters, so I envisioned a magazine that would feature a variety of illustrated stories.

I toyed with various concepts for a monthly book called FOUTRÉ (foo-TRAY), a new spelling of FUTURE that was a play on the French word outré which means unconventional (bizarre, excessive, outlandish).

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. – Bertrand Russell

I was considering a story that takes place during a Halloween masquerade party & I came up with the following concepts for costumes.

SPHINX ...The woman's waist and legs go into the air-conditioned base -- her feet operate pedals that steer the mobile structure... The woman can stand erect but she would look like a begging cat... can't lean over all the time.

CENTAUR ...The man's lower legs are bound against his thighs -- his knees are fastened to the horse's rigid legs. He moves as if he were walking on his knees, operating each artificial foreleg as if they were his own. The rear legs mechanically duplicate the action of the opposing forelegs...

DRAGON & MAIDEN ...Man fits into costume rather awkwardly, in a half-crawling position with legs spread wide, filling only two thirds of the dragon's legs... TV screen shows him outside view thru camera-lens dragon eyes... Maiden's costume is a bit simpler than the dragon's.

NOWHERE MAN ...Worn by Howard Jarlath, Dictator of NowHere. Also called "The Boob," "Jeremy Hilary Boob, PhD," "Boobius Utopius," and "Daffy Old Creep"... Rides atop the Yellow Submarine (Xanthon Submarinion) holding its motor and sporting a pencil between his toes for footnotes...

ADAM & EVE ...Depicts the first man and woman preparing to raise Cain. The body of the woman wearing the costume acts as Eve's head and torso, and Adam's legs and haunches... Adam's head, shoulders, upper back and arms are artificial -- so are Eve's hips and legs...

LADY GODIVA ...Everything below the girl's waist is artificial -- her real hips and legs go through the horse to stand on a wheeled platform which is operated by a concealed remote control device in the horse's shoulders... The girl wears black tights so her legs will be less noticeable when viewed from an unobstructed angle...

AMAZON ARCHER

In the mid-1970s, professional comic book writer Mike Friedrich had already pioneered an independent & uncensored SciFi anthology series called STAR*REACH that was similar to what I had in mind. My first stories were published in his popular monthly magazine.

For more like this, go to  Random Acts of Art - 01  &  - 03  &  - 04