Romantically Apocalyptic

More webcomics Laura? Come on now...

Yeah guys. One more. I'll be more creative next week I promise. But this week, I'm throwing Romantically Apocalyptic your way. Why? Because it's one of the most interesting methods of illustration I've seen in a while. The logistics that go into this comic are beyond impressive.

Each of these comics is a multi-media crazy storm of technique, layering, and loving meticulous rendering. The comic only puts out one or two updates a month, but it's well worth the wait. So far, there are only 27 pages of comic, due mostly to the fact that the artist has had to take frequent breaks from illustrating in order to direct the pilot for the live action adaptation of the comic. Screen shots show that the live action result will be extremely close to the style of the illustrations themselves.

Each comic is a layering of textures, photographs, green screens, digital painting, live (and apparently dead) models. Each of the landscapes in the images are photographs taken by the artist Vitaly S. Alexius who has taken them over the last six years, of abandoned cityscapes and the like, mostly from Europe. The craftsmanship on these panels is absolutely fantastic. While it can occasionally be easy to see the photography aspect in the comics, Alexius meshes the realistic into the illustrative elegantly and effectively.

The story follows the adventures of "The Captain" (A fellow that is clearly off the edge but constructively so) and his surviving assistants in a post nuclear holocaust city. The events through just the first 27 pages address things ranging from fights between the captain and the skeletons left in the city, to arguments with his assistant over the use of the only non-radioactive straw in a 10,000 mile radius, to an encounter with aliens who have come to examine the remains of the planet. The exact year is undetermined, explained as only 20--something something, and the amount of time that has passed since the bombings that have left the city as it is is also unknown.

The comic is of course, not the only thing Alexius is up. So click through her name above to see her personal website and take a look at some of her photography as well as her illustrations.