More on HONOR and Terror

Yesterday I commented on the art in the modules Enter the Dragons Claw: HONOR and Terror by Night. Done by Jim Holloway and Patrick Zircher respectively these really added to both modules effectiveness. I thought examples would be good.  First, HONOR 

These images really are delightful in capturing the somewhat goofy tone of Ninja fighting Superheroes. The garbage can Jack in the Box attack, the look of concern on the super heroines face, the ninja's toe braking out of the panel box…. Holloway’s art was so distinctive and memorable. This reminds me a lot of his work on Chill where the absurdity of monster fighting was just under the surface.

Next Terror:

Zircher's art here is pure comic book. I really don't know how much art direction Steven Crow gave to Zircher on these panels, but I would love to find out: was Zircher just given the module and told to draw what was in it? maybe. Neither Crossfire or Rocketman are called out in the Copyright notices as belonging to someone, something that V&V was very good at in the early days at least, so these are likely Zircher's original characters. Both of them feel 'right' in terms of name meeting design, you get an immediate sense of the characters powers and motif, and I particularly love how Rocketman's glove/armbands evoke the Marvel C list hero Torpedo while their outward feels like Kirby technology.

Both panels carry the funhouse vibe of this sequence of the adventure, including the "Wait! Something's wrong!" thought balloon. If either of these showed up in an issue of a comic I wouldn't blink and eye - not surprising given Zircher's later career.