When he's not working as a concept designer during his day job at Weta Workshop, Greg Broadmore likes to concoct ray guns, rocket ships and steampunk fiction centered on a macho British blowhard known as Lord Cockswain.
The New Zealander visits Comic-Con International this week to hype new Cockswain escapes featured in the deliriously goofy graphic novel Triumph: Unnecessarily Violent Tales of Science Adventure for the Simple and Unfortunate. Presented by mysterious alter ego Dr. Grordbort, the hardcover volume includes the obscenity-laced "Into the Lair of the Space Wankers," wherein the brutish Cockswain discovers an alien planet that uses tears from children to brew Kuiper Cola, the solar system's most delicious beverage.
Check out the gallery above for an advance look at the adventurer's pulp-fiction escapades.
In "The Psychiatrist" tale, emotionally repressed braggart Cockswain hints at a twisted childhood while channeling Ernest Hemingway by way of Flash Gordon to blow away a Gilded Grsitleback from outer space.
Triumph also packs faux catalog ads for a remote-control punching machine – the Punch-O-Tron – and Broadmore's signature assortment of steampunk weaponry and posters for imaginary movies like Devil Beasts From Venus, plus a cryptic double-spread titled "Moon Maidens."
Broadmore introduced his line of retro ray guns in 2006, then served as lead conceptual designer for Neill Blomkamp's breakthrough alien-invasion adventure District 9. He's reveled in the excesses of Victorian-era gadgetry in Dr. Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory and 2009's Victory: Scientific Adventure Violence for Young Men and Literate Women.
Published by HarperCollins, Triumph retails for $20 and is available for pre-purchase at the Weta website. Broadmore will sign copies of Triumph at the Weta Booth (No. 3513B) during Comic-Con.
