I don't know if this was a conscious consideration, but I remember in the initial run of AF (and in my opinion, on display here as well) being very excited about the opportunity for a different visual vocabulary for Michael Twoyoungmen's magic vs that which had originated from Euro/Asian origins like that of Strange or Doom.
Amazing page, and a glimpse at Native American Magic, the look and vibe of, like Wendy’s Friends and the Great Beasts, I bought into hook/line/sinker as things that existed well before this guy started creating them…. You are a master JB. Grateful for this page like no other.
The trick is to be blatant about it! Present the fantasy as reality, no questions asked. Like Stan with the Blue Area on the Moon, or even Mary Shelley with the pseudo-science of FRANKENSTEIN.
I like that you lumped them both together. Though the Blue Area (and I'd also add the Savage Land) are not sci-fi concepts that are just universally accepted like the Frankenstein Monster is, they should be!
That is ultimately what the original Star Wars (it really is one of the best examples of this) did so well. So much was so new on so many levels (not just the visuals but also the story, the music, the treatment of language) that if anything was presented in a half-ass fashion then it all would have fallen apart, and the whole would not have emerged as so much greater than the sum of the parts.
One minor thing, the phrasing in the captions seem to suggest (to me at least!) that the demons Shaman is facing are not N' Garai. I imagine they are all the same, right?
"Edited to clarify
Edited by Athanasios Kollias on 06 October 2021 at 6:26am