May 24, 2000...July 2000
(24 pgs.)
TITLE:
Guys and Dolls is
the name of a musical by Frank Loesser. It was filmed in 1955 with Frank Sinatra
and Marlon Brando. Within the context of Promethea it refers to the 5 Swell Guys
and the Painted Doll both of whom play a prominent part in the plot of this
issue.
SYNOPSIS
Sophie manages to sum up previous versions of Promethea as
well as her own using her mother, Stacia and a nurse as hosts. The Prometheas
manage to defeat all the demons but the Painted Doll blows up himself and Benny
Solomon which leaves the demons in our world where they hide inside Mayor
Baskerville.
QUOTES
"A hospice ringing with the cries of the maimed. It's no
better than when I was in Londinium in the 1940's..." - Demon (who was obviously
active in our world during WWII in London), pg 1
"...this is all somehow
connected with magic" - Kenneth
"Kenneth, get real! This is a diversion by
the painted doll! Magic has nothing to do with this..." - Bob, pg. 3 (Bob
showing why he's such a great leader ([Not])
"Jeez, is that Sophie's mom? She
is way too old for that outfit..." - Promethea(5), pg 5.
"You're useless. You
kids, you're useless in an emergency! We should barricade the door" - Trish
Bangs, Pg. 6 (against the entire Goetia, I don't think so)
"What puzzles me
is which of us is Promethea now? The original little girl Promethea?" -
Promethea( )
"All...of...us...are" - Prometheas( ), pgs. 8-9
"We are love"
- Promethea( )
"We are beauty" - Promethea( )
"We are art and we are mind"
- Promethea(6)
"We are Promethea. I'm rather afraid you're all going to die,
poppets" - Promethea(3), pg. 10
"Sophie are you okay alone. We taught you
cups, swords and coins, but not wands. We didn't teach you will...- Promethea(
)
"Then I'll improvise. That's Sophie's specialty" - Promethea(6), pg
11
"Marchosias said she was strong but he did not say there were four of her"
- Demon, pg.11
"It looks like Dolly Demon here is up past her bedtime. Come,
Miss Purgatory, you're leaving" - Promethea ( )/Bill, pg 14
"So you used to
be a man? You know, Hon, we should talk sometime" - Promethea( )/Bill to Roger,
pg 15
"What are you shooting at, ludicrous creature. We're from the Howling.
We can't be killed" - Demon
"Really? Now there's a challenge" - Painted Doll,
pg. 16
"Just let her go. It's easy letting go is easy. We let go of being
children. We let go of being young. We let go of Being Promethea. We...let
go...of...everything" - Barbara almost dying, pg. 24
NOTES & ANNOTATIONS
Page 1: Note the bat winged stone
head that provides the frame for the panels on this page
Page 1, Panel
4: Crowley-Mathers feud 1904,1905 : Information about this and some history
about the Golden Dawn can be found here.
Here
is a good biography
of Crowley and a biography
of Mathers
Pages 2-3 top panel: Nice demons seen here. Note how
they refer to Sophie as Sophia Bangs and they refer to Promethea as 'that whore
with the caduceus'
Charming
Lower panels: Note the two demons with
their snake tounges providing the edges of the panels
Page 2 Panel 2:
I'm assuming a teddy bomb is a bomb inside a teddy bear.
Page 3, Panel
2: Buer and also here as
well as here
Pages 4-5: All the panels here appear to be circles formed in a pool
of liquid (probably the pond all the Promethea's are looking down at in panel
1)
Panel 1: The entire Howling is swarming
on that hospital
A quote from Crowley's
Confessions Chapter 20
Goetia means "howling"; but it is the
technical word employed to cover all the operations of that Magick which deals
with gross, malignant or unenlightened forces
Page 5 Panel last:
Sophie's pen is the Wand of her will. She is following Barbara/Promethea's
instructions of 2 panels ago.
Pages 6-7 Middle panel: Note that the
creatures' tounge provides most of the artwork in this panel. This time flowers
and leaves instead of snakes
Poem: Sophie crosses out the storylike
beginning of "There were..." and changes the present tense to the past "Hell
is..." to "Hell was...", "sacred law" becomes "holy writ"; "lovers" becomes
"loved ones"; attempt is simply crossed out and not replaced; the "love" on the
doctors' face becomes "compassion"; "angel" turns to "seraph"; "strife" to
"harm"' "event" becomes "eventuality"; "As for" simply crossed out; "woman" to
"mortal"; modern "writers" to ancient "scribes".
How to fix up a poem when
you're in a hurry and the demons are knocking at the door
Page 6, Panel
3: Note that Stacia really is wearing glasses with lights on the
sides.
Page 7 Panels 2-4: Sophie's pen is transformed into her
caduceus
Pages 8-9 Four of the Prometheas lined up with a different
sun symbol behind each one. From left to right the versions are
Page 20 bears the following instructions from JH Williams:
MICK PLEASE USE
SUPERFINE + SOFT BLENDING LINEWORK IN PANEL 5 MAKE IT SCRATCHY
LONG + SHORT
CROSSHATCH
PLEASE USE SPLOTCHES IN PANEL ONE – THANKS
A variety of techniques appeared to have been used in panels 4 and
5.
Ink is applied with sponge to create the fine, smoky texture to the left
of the demon's wing in panel 4. Fine crosshatching in panel 5 provides dramatic
contrast to panels 3 and 4, which are rendered in the slick, photo-realistic
technique.
Prior to PROMETHEA, photo-realism was the primary stylistic
signature of the Williams/Gray team. (See SON OF SUPERMAN.)
On PROMETHEA, JH
and Mick vary the density of detail and texture as the narrative demands.
The checkered Painted Doll motif (derived from DC’s '60s ‘go-go checks’) and
the decorative panel borders are hand-rendered. JH refers to a fine spray of
white paint as "splotches in panel one," usually applied with a toothbrush. The
effect both leaves room for colorist Jeremy Cox, and imparts the original art
with texture.
The caption: "Siege of the South Tower, Incident 5: Blow-Up
Doll" is pasted on. All dialogue is hand lettered, in ink slightly lighter than
Mick Gray's preferred FW acrylic ink. Traces of blue pencil remain in every
panel;
it appears that only the panel borders and lettering lines show traces
of graphite. J.H. draws the PROMETHEA double page spreads on separate sheets of
DC company paper, joined on the back with Scotch tape." -- Michael Draine
Pages 22-23: The Temptation of St. Sonny sounds like a reference to
The Temptation of Saint
Anthony, a biblical story which has inspired various paintings throughout
history by famous artists like
Bosch
Breughel
and
many others. Just
scroll down a little bit.
Page 24 Panel 4: Note that as Barbara's life
ebbs away the sun symbol has its' eyes closed.