Victor Santos’ Comic Series Polar Gets Madds Mikkelsen to Star
Variety has reported that Madds Mikkelsen will star in Polar, based on the graphic novel series by Victor Santos and published by Dark Horse Comics.
Mikkelsen will play the world’s top assassin Duncan Vizla, also known as the Black Kaiser. Vizla is retiring when he’s pegged as a liability to his former employer. That leads to Vizla being hunted by an army of ruthless killers forcing Vizla to get back into the game.
This isn’t Mikkelsen’s first comic based role as the actor was Kaecilius in 2016’s Doctor Strange.
Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund is helming the film based on Jayson Rothwell’s adaption.
Polar: Came From the Cold, Polar Vol. 2: Eye for an Eye, and Polar Vol. 3 No Mercy for Sister Maria are all out now.
US company IDW Publishing and French publisher Glénat are launching a new joint initiative, “Original Graphic Novel”, focused on the creation of original comic books, to be published both in France and the United States.
Right from the opening pages of the first issue of Violent Love, it’s made quite apparent that this tale of eventual bank robbers and lovers Daisy Jane and Rock Bradley is greatly influenced by stories and films in the same genre; Dylan Todd’s striking designs connect with the cinematic aesthetic by having the creative team page look like it came right from the bottom of a movie poster. Though the influences aren’t even hidden all that well (Daisy seeing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Frank J. Barbiere and Victor Santos are definitely crafting something different and unique both in its method of storytelling and flow of visuals.
He also uses color, or the lack thereof, to emphasize the importance of certain objects or actions. For example, when Daisy sits in the hotel room where she and Charlie just engaged in a hot and heavy game of extracurricular activities, her entire body is black as the eye is drawn to the muddled orange/red hat in her hands. The previous frame reminds the reader of its importance to her, also using the color red to deviate from the use of green to shift in time. This in effect not only deepens the impact of these kinds of moments and objects but also elevates and accentuates Santos’s ability as a visual storyteller.
Violent Love #1 isn’t the first crime romance story we’ve seen, and it certainly won’t be the last. Over the years there’s been Bonnie and Clyde, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, and more. This book reminded me of a combination of them. It had similar themes to those films, and while it isn’t accidental, it can form an intriguing narrative. Within the first few pages of the comic, Violent Love gives us a little glimpse at the ending of the story, without giving us every detail.
