Octobriana Fan's blog

Prague Komiks fest

2011-11-06T12:10:00.001+01:00

Komiks fest 2011 in Prague is now over, it was interesting to meet many international guests, especially a talented Russian comic artist Konstantin Komardin.

During the exhibition "Tigers from East"of Konstantin Komardin and Jozef “Danglár” Gertli. Konstantin was really nice taking the time to autograph the Petr Sadecky 1971 book with this Octobriana drawing on the left.
Fixing a 40 years old issue, since there was (paradoxically) no Russian art in "Octobriana and the Russian Underground".

The second photo is a large painting by Jozef “Danglár” Gertli, depicting a jaded blueish Octobriana veteran holding cigar and AK47 and who seemed to have participate in too many revolutionary "coup".

She does look a bit old on that picture, but hey ... 2011 is marking her 40th birthday! and it doesn't look like the world is yet rid of the need of revolution.

"Heard It Through the Grapevine"

2011-07-04T12:02:00.000+02:00

To start the week, some quick random exciting updates - all related to Octobriana (of course) :

1.The domain octobriana.org has been acquired by cartoonist Karen Ellis

2.Gabrielle Noble posted some Octobriana artwork on her website

3.Juan Garces (Spanish Illustrator) is involved on a personal comic book project with the writer Javier Mora.

4.Steve Orlando is returning Octobriana back to her Samizdat origin

5."Legacy of the Masque" a web-based live-action television show about a costumed crime fighter called the Masque will feature an Octobriana cameo (played by Jolene M. Aldus).

That's all we heard "Heard Through the Grapevine" so far...

Octobriana painting

2011-06-24T18:36:00.000+02:00

Octobriana the "devil-woman" was the subject of a pseudo-scientific study and it has been told in the article that she was derived from no less than six-hundred various sources.
-- Extract from the Book "Octobriana and the Russian Underground"

Really exciting news are coming and while we're struggling to get some more informations, here's a little painting the PPP collective has been working on for the past weeks.

Second batch

2011-06-19T19:04:00.001+02:00

Just another picture batch from my tumblr account ;

NB : Original source is rarely known but here's tumblr links in reverse order -- meganreneel, stunningsexkitten, jchandler1958)

If you know the original source please comment, so I can add it.
Otherwise if you want me to remove a picture, same thing add a comment, and I'll do so.

"The Black Widow of the Amazon"

2011-06-06T23:30:00.001+02:00

"The Black Widow of the Amazon" by : Russell Platt, Boo
with additional art by : Noah Whyler, Jason Martin, Dan Taylor, Daniel Mendoza,Konrad Baumheier.

When I first stumbled upon a drawing made by Russ Platt, I instantly liked it ; his efficient (almost surgical) drawing is mesmerizing.

And basically, that was the first reason to purchase the comics above, the second reason is the "Amazon" mentioned in the title - since Octobriana is also known primarly as "Amazona".

The details on the PDF are on the lulu website or on author's deviantArt link.

A little intro about the main character "Black Widow", she is depicted as a topless humanoid with the recognizable orange-reddish bow-tie (or hourglass) on her lower abdomen, it had me research a bit on this lethal spider .. and it's a really scary lady ... if you're not familiar with it, you can check a National Geographic's video here.

Now without further ado, I'll give you a little peak inside the book, there's actually 2 separate tales with full-page illustrations of the lady spider in between.

The first one (called "Deep in the Amazon") is 4 pages long (story and art by Boo) and you will follow the Amazonian black widow as she confronts a Nazi treasure hunter and his goons. The drawings are quite modern, stylish and close the the look of the "Danger Girls" comic book series by J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell.
My feeling is that the author was influenced by Indiana Jones type of adventure, there's a temple (or a sanctuary) a golden idol, etc ... and before that first adventure is either a 5 pages intro, or a different story which starts with the word "My last job", featuring the lady spider and a villain with a skull mask.

The second story (called "To catch a Widow") is 8 pages long (story and art by Russ Platt), and goes in another direction (than the treasure hunt), there's more text, and this time the scenario is more about the origin of the Black Widow, and my feeling here, is that the author may have been influenced (?!) by Sarah Kerrigan the female Terran psychic turned later as a Zerg mutant (from the Blizzard's StarCraft game).
I already mentioned the great quality of the author's art and you won't be disappointed, it looks great, and it's a good finale for the book.

NB : This is my second review (the previous one was about the "Heart of Empire" CD with the Adventures of Luther Arkwright), sorry if my English isn't perfect, I wanted to share a bit of my impressions on this little book.

Octobriana remake

2011-05-26T14:55:00.001+02:00

This 2 artworks are a remake of an artwork called "send me an angel"
Originally made by Tartanninja.

Random beauties

2011-05-24T11:24:00.000+02:00

Just a few samples of sexy Russian beauties taken from my tumblr account ; I thought, I'd share a bit of these magnificent pictures here on blogspot.

NB : None of the pictures below are mine. I found them on tumblr, where the original source is rarely known (among them are -- and not in any particular order -- allrussiangirls, russiankitschandhighart, Robert Alvarado, and imsexpirate)

If you know the original source please comment, so I can add it.
Otherwise if you want me to remove a picture, same thing add a comment, and I'll do so.

Hipster Octobriana

2011-03-31T18:40:00.000+02:00

Octobriana where does she stands on the hipster scale ?

An obscure Czech creator wearing thick rimmed glasses
Involvement in progressive politics (inventing a party for it - the PPP).
Underground and counter culture for communist outcast.
Rebel subculture
Starving artist and Indie bohemians
And the whole thing is actually a fantastic farce.

Let's face it ... the Walrus win this time!

Octobriana and the Mummy

2011-01-17T11:29:00.002+01:00

PPP Toolkit in Action, last week dices were rolled and the result was 1-4-4-5-3 ; Here is the result :

Returning to the original adventures invented by Petr Sadecky, using more or less the same pattern as 'The living sphinx of the Kamchatka radioactive volcano, 1934' or 'Octobriana and the Living suns of Comrade Mao' - in this 5 pages comics the action takes place in an exotic city were a mummy is rising from her tomb, while Octobriana riding her pterodactyl (nicknamed Pepsi) will save the day.

Hopefully there will be more, maybe a monthly samizdat ?!

PS : The Samizdat "14453" was generated with the PPP toolkit.

"Let Running dogs lie" pencil pages leak

2010-12-12T22:40:00.000+01:00

Little update for a new Octobriana comics in the making "Let Running dogs lie" - a couple of pencil pages have been recently "leaked" (sheesh).

The action (starting here) is taking place inside the Wonder machine and Pro Junior is in deep trouble with Octobriana (almost mimicking the "starbucks" logo) about to spray some (hot) fluids all over him.

And confirming in the process that this comic will be for mature audience only (PPP after all stands for "Progressive Political Pornography").

Artwork credit : John Linton Roberson / facebook profile

PPPUSGT "PPP Underground Story Generator Toolkit"

2010-11-22T15:01:00.002+01:00

As promised in the previous post ; here comes the PPPUSGT "PPP Underground Story Generator Toolkit"

And to help you create the 5 pages Octobriana's Underground Adventure - if you can't find a 6 sided dice - here's the link to a virtual one.

Now have fun!

Coming soon the PPPUSGT "PPP Underground Story Generator Toolkit"

2010-11-18T20:13:00.001+01:00

Since Octobriana is a public domain character she can be drawn and part of any story written by anybody - no string attached.

A strange idea popped up in the deranged mind of a PPP member to make a Script generator for Octobriana's comics (more or less in the spirit of the original comics of the Russian Underground book) -

Using this script generator anyone could be able to receive a short story ready to be drawn or written (that exercise could become someday a comic challenge (like the 24h comics ... why not ?!).

The Toolkit idea is simple - you throw 5 dices and using the toolkit's tables this will generate a story (7776 possibilities) for a 5 pages comics.

After you get the story, you can tweak it a bit and then it's drawing time (optionally you could restrict yourself to a 5 hours time frame !?)

New Octobriana fan's blog banner

2010-11-15T15:55:00.000+01:00

Another little update on the blog : Behold the new long overdue banner featuring the art of Shaun Bryan (already mentioned in the "Octobriana fan's blog" for the "Commie Zombie dictator from Hell" and the (unfortunately) never published 5 pages version of "Octobriana and the Beatles")

If anybody would like to see more of Shaun Bryan's comic-strips (I know I do!),
there are 8 episodes (pages) of his sexy Sci-fi comedy strip 'Cluster & Head'
available only through Facebook, through the Search bar, or this link:
http://en-gb.facebook.com/CLUSTERandHEAD?ref=ts

And please ... if you like it, press the 'like' button, because according to the Prof. Hawking there is a significant correlation between the number of Facebook 'Likes' and the probability of Cluster & Head re-entering Earth's digital domain.

Thanks Shaun, looking forward to see more of your comics!

Octobriana 40th Anniversary Calendar (1971-2011)

2010-11-01T16:24:00.000+01:00

Finally ... the "Octobriana 40th Anniversary Calendar (1971-2011)"
Art by Gabrielle Noble (Gabby), Roy P. Drakov and Peileppe

Calendar 2011

2010-10-28T21:29:00.001+02:00

Good News and more good News.

5 votes in favor of the "Octobriana 40th Anniversary calendar" - no vote against...
Yeah, there's going to be one soon!

Here's a little preview of what's coming ; you probably remember that scene from "The Atomic sun" where Octobriana is running away from a herd of buffaloes :

Octobriana Rock Star

2010-10-16T17:27:00.000+02:00

Octobriana Rock Star by ~octobrianacz on deviant ART

Octobriana Halloween outfit

2010-10-08T21:12:00.000+02:00

It was time for a remake - Halloween is coming, and the last post about Octobriana outfit was a bit old.

Here's the new one :

Octobriana is blond her hair are supported by a scarf (or a leopard skin), another scarf is used for her bra, she wears a snake bracer on her right arm, cowboy leather boots and a pistol attached to her belt (you can add a second weapon which is a kris), a necklace with shark teeth and a round piece in front of her, optionally she can also have a chain across her body, and a snake-skin pants .

Anyway there's room for improvisation but ... don't forget the red star tattooed on her forehead, and the Russian accent.

Poster made by Peileppe

Octobriana Calendar 2011

2010-09-29T20:36:00.000+02:00

Since 2011 is Octobriana's 40th Anniversary (1971-2011)
A question is open : is an Octobriana Calendar 2011 to be made or not ?

There is a poll on the right side where you can vote ... and you can comment on this post too.

Let's hear some feedback comrades!

Pinup Army Girl

2010-09-19T15:10:00.000+02:00

Originally found on a Tumblr's stream ; a really fascinating Pinup Poster featuring a Russian Army Girl with a cute little brown bear.

A bigger version, and a second one can be found at Geliografic

Brigitte Bardot, Bardot

2010-08-18T21:58:00.000+02:00

Octobriana - Brigitte Bardot by ~octobrianacz on deviant ART

This picture above is a proof that indeed the original inspiration for Octobriana was Brigitte Bardot. The original photo of BB used as a reference.

Brigitte Bardot is (like Marylin Monroe) a sex symbol legend (BB is 75 years old now).

Octobriana and Jenny Everywhere by Fesworks

2010-08-16T21:33:00.000+02:00

Twitter.com can be criticized for being an endless flow of useless messages ...

But when an opportunity of having a drawing by Fes Works was twitted on the 7th of August (I quote) :

fesworks Taking requests to draw guest comics or art (might also include my own characters). Must email fesworks @ gmail.com by Monday! (Please RT)

Twitter show it's true value of being an instantaneous way for any artists/creators/writers/superheros/stars/etc... to get in touch with their followers ... So a message with a request for an Octobriana Fan art was sent and Fes delivered a couple of days later the brilliant art above.

Have a look at the post Fesworks - Jenny Everywhere Day and here too.

Thanks Fes for this great Fan Art.

"Let Running dogs lie"

2010-08-13T15:22:00.000+02:00

Maybe you remember that article "Let Running dogs lie" where a potential comeback of Octobriana was predicted ? well, good news everyone ... it's on his way.

Yes, Octobriana returns and team up with a veteran porno-actress (Vladrushka Valentinovich Vostok) fighting Dr Mabuse and many others, the author (writer and artist) is John Linton Roberson and we're lucky because he's updating his facebook profile frequently and gives updates (and drawings) on this upcoming project.

Stay tuned ...

Adding "Comics and Pictures" Page

2010-07-15T18:51:00.001+02:00

Little update - Just above the first posts and below the big banner (that is btw about to be changed!)
You'll see a new couple of links - among them is "Comics and Pictures" where a small compilations of Octobriana's pictures and comics have been added.

New Remake

2010-07-11T11:23:00.000+02:00

Who's Octobriana remake by ~octobrianacz on deviant ART

More artworks

2010-06-29T22:22:00.000+02:00

Octobriana black and red by ~octobrianacz on deviant ART

Octobriana Chibi by ~Ikonoklasta on deviant ART

Octobriana rise from the ground

2010-06-24T22:34:00.001+02:00

Octobriana - underground komik by ~octobrianacz on deviant ART

#Octobriana artwork by Gabrielle Noble

2010-06-10T15:47:00.002+02:00

After Octobriana in Bikini, and while the whole world seems to be into the FIFA opening ceremony 2010 - We can behold a new artwork of Octobriana back to her roots of fighting evil Nazis in Stalingrad's rubble.

You can find more about Gabrielle on her website http://gabbyscomics.blogspot.com/ (beware NSFW)

Illustration (c) Gabby Noble 2010 (used with permission)

#Octobriana in Bikini

2010-06-07T21:45:00.002+02:00

While BP massive oil leak has been sending nearly up to 20000 barrels per day in the Gulf of Mexico for over a month now. And While the financial world is still suffering from the crisis, and we already know we're heading for a chilly summer... and many hopes that 2010 would be a better year than 2009 has been crushed already (I still hope for some change though).

Luckily a little break, a Deviant Art Club is bringing some joy by organizing a "Bikini Beach Beauties Charity Auction", starring (among other Super-Hero) Octobriana in Bikini [NSFW] - notice how the water is crystal clear... (well, who am I kidding ?! nobody is looking at the water).

Credit : Tartanninja (illustration used for this post with his permission) - pay a visit to his page, you won't be disappointed because there are more pictures of Octobriana (posted in scraps as "work in progress")

NB : It's the same artist that made the illustration of #Octobriana's super powers census

#Octobriana "Let Running dogs lie"

2010-05-23T23:10:00.000+02:00

There is apparently another character named "Projunior" that is labeled as "open-source" (his origins are the early 70s underground comics (just like Octobriana) and his creators are giants like Robert Crumb, Don Dohler etc ...) - if you like a refresh on the other open-source characters read the recent post about Octobriana being Public Domain and Jenny Everywhere.

But wait there's more ... maybe a new comic "Octobriana - our beloved revolutionary sweetheart in "Let Running dogs lie" (but don't get overexcited because the project below is dated back to February 2007).

Quote from JLRoberson :

It might be an interesting equivalent of a crossover if a whole bunch of indie[independent] cartoonists on the web did a story each(not necessarily connected) over a period of time having her somehow come into the lives of their own regular characters, if they have them, for a bit. I already have an idea along those lines.

For more details jump back to The Comics Journal Message Board :: View topic - octobriana

and http://jlroberson.blogspot.com/2007/02/something-i-was-messing-with.html

Illustration credit : JLRoberson - used with permission.

#Octobriana little poster

2010-05-20T23:07:00.000+02:00

The picture in that old post titled "In Russia, the Army joins you!" inspired our Khudozhnik this poster below - the message is the same and is still relevant - Let's have a wonderful dream tonight, by imagining an army of sexy female soldiers marching and chanting "Make love, not war!".

Octobriana is "Public Domain" - what does that mean exactly ?

2010-05-15T22:14:00.001+02:00

The last post was an attempt to list Octobriana's super powers - but one is missing ... a very specific attribute inherited by a people's "Super Heroine" - yep, there's one more, and it defines exactly what's so special about Octobriana - she's a public domain character - and that beats the crap out of all the super mutants that have a copyright or a brand tattooed on their back.

See, when artists are drawing fan art for "Power Girl(c)", "Wonder woman(c)", "Wolverine(c)", "Storm(c)" etc ... they have to add something like "This character belongs to DC Comics" or "This character belongs to Marvel Comics" - Why ? because "Power Girl(c)", "Superman(c)" etc ... are like merchandises with a DRM implanted in their very core. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since only their legal owner (and nobody else) can exploit the character and do whatever he wants with the story of their merchandise, so that keep a continuity in their adventure.

And that explains why Octobriana have been reinvented (more or less with the same attributes) by many artists interested in implementing her in their new adventures (see Octobriana comics Timeline). Since she's free - or belong to the Public domain, there's no string attached.

Now you may be wondering why Octobriana is public domain ? well, it has something to do with the fact that her creation is an hoax - she was invented by Petr Sadecky (but in fact created by other artists (Bohumil Konecny and Zdenek Burian) under the name Amazona) - and secondly Sadecky pretended that Octobriana was the product of an Russian underground party (PPP) therefor she belongs to nobody in particular.

That doesn't mean that anyone can re-use Octobriana's illustration from the book "Octobriana and the Russian Underground" or drawing made by Shaun Bryan (like the picture used in this post) - Octobriana as a character is public domain, but all artworks, scripts, movies and story are protected by copyright.

Another instance of a similar heroine is Jenny Everywhere, but an artist who wants to "use" Jenny has to add a little paragraph ; since she's labeled as an "Open Source" character - you can read details about it on this website Who is Jenny Everywhere? and read this very interesting page "in search of jenny everywhere"

#Octobriana's super powers census

2010-04-18T14:28:00.001+02:00

Lately in an attempt to write down the Comic Vine entry related to Octobriana - little research had to be made to list all Octobriana's super powers (a sort of census).

From Petr Sadecky's book "Octobriana and the Russian Underground" in her 2 adventures she's presented as immortal (or Eternal) - and can show some swimming, fighting, wrestling skills, riding skills with various beasts (pterodactyl, buffalo, camel etc ... ), and time travel ability (because of the Wonder Machine)

- Weapon Master (with pistols and dagger)
- Time Travel (because of the Wonder Machine)
- Riding skill (maybe animal control ?!)
- Immortality (?!)

In the adventure of Luther Arkwright Octobriana is reading Tarot cards, seduces Luther (or try to), she's mentioning that she's leading a little army (freedom fighters) in Russia and again demonstrates great fighting skills (against the disruptors)

That adds to the list :
- Occultism / Fortune telling (?)
- Sex Appeal (obviously)
- Leadership

From the movie "Octobriana and the Finger of Lenin" we could add (or confirm) :
- Weapons skills
- Resistance to pain (torture)

Then the latest "bio & stats" addition (from Deviant Art) is giving some more :

- Empathy (maybe the political message ?)
- Enhance strength (totally make sense)
- Hypnotic voice (a new one - meant to control people)
- Invulnerability to cold (and for a Russian super hero that is a must!)
- Expert marksman (precision shooting)
and last but not least
- Regeneration (similar to the X-Man Wolverine ability, I guess)

The sources used :
Who's Octobriana? by *tartanninja on deviantART
Bryan Talbot old site (very detailed "role playing character sheet" in the "Gurps" section)
ComicVine.com Octobriana entry (still in progress)

The picture of "Octobriana's character sheet" is by Tartanninja (used for this post with permission) - Thanks Comrade ;)

#Octobriana / #Amazona movie adaptation

2010-04-01T16:59:00.001+02:00

According to a British film site (Revolution Films) an adaptation of the Octobriana comic is in preparation - it will features "Amazona" becoming "Octobriana" ; the story of an Amazon becoming a passionate fighter for true communism.

According to unconfirmed reports which had initially portray the title role to "Lucia Borhyová", it appears that the heroine will finally be played by Anna Falchi (check the picture above - wow!), the Italian model of Finnish origin.

The film, according to its makers will offer plenty of dramatic action and women's curves.

Source : www.komiksarium.cz

Webcomic Beacon #111 – Octobriana

2010-03-17T20:43:00.000+01:00

Last week, there was a recording session, the topic was Octobriana (see previous post).

Following this podcast, I thought it would be useful to have a dedicated page retracing the comics time line of Octobriana's publication from the 70s until now - you'll find this new page above the headline (just below the banner).

NB: I still can't find more information about the Chris Jones comics - (only 3 pictures) ?!

Of course if you find any mistakes on this page, you're very welcome to comment.

The podcast (mp3) is available at The Webcomic Beacon

#Octobriana and the #Beatles

2010-03-09T20:03:00.001+01:00

Hello, dear reader - this is Roy, with some updates :

Last Sunday around 1am our artist (Mr P or Peileppe) had the privilege to join a podcast about Octobriana hosted by Fes Works at the Webcomic Beacon ; the main topic was Steve Orlando's new comic (see previous post) - the podcast will be available soon there so stay tuned.

Anyway I would have been glad to participate but it was too late for me - Peileppe was kind enough to volunteer and he told me afterwards a bit of what was told during the session.

There was a lot of cool anecdotes about Petr Sadecky and Peileppe mentioned the art of Shaun Bryan (thinking there already was a post about him in the blog- since we've stumbled upon Shaun's website back in January 2010).

But except a few comments on facebook, and twitter ... there never was a proper post here - until now.

But it's something that can be fixed easily - here goes :

Shaun Bryan reached awesomeness in this comic featuring "Octobriana, Petr Sadecky & the Beatles" based on script by John A. Short - that (unfortunately) was never published (because of a missing page 4 ?!) -

But rejoice the remaining 5 pages can be find on Shaun's website here.

NB : There is a variation of this comic with the same funny title "if you remembered the 60s, then you weren't really there" that was published in the Octobriana "30th anniversary special" - same script but with a different artist.

Illustration of "Octobriana experiencing a sugar rush" - credit : Shaun Bryan
Used with permission (Thanks Shaun)

Bryan Talbot and #Octobriana

2010-03-05T10:37:00.001+01:00

As far as I know Bryan Talbot was the first to relaunch Octobriana on the comic scene in the 80s - after the first publication of "Octobriana and the Russian underground" in the 70s (1971) by Petr Sadecky ... John A. Short was the second one with his limited series of Revolution comics back in the 90s and many others followed (Larry Weltz, Karel Jerie ...) until the recent comic in preparation by Steve Orlando.

Therefor in my quest of gathering Octobriana comics ; I had to have a look. But Bryan Talbot being a very productive author - the challenge for me was to find Octobriana in all his books with his main character Luther Arkwright.
I didn't want to purchase books where she wouldn't appeared (not that I have anything against Luther of course, but ... my main focus is Octobriana).
Now there was some "out-of-stock" publication that had Octobriana on the cover with "Firefrost" in the title, and that's where I contacted James Robertson and asked simply where could I be sure to get all the books where Octobriana appeared in the Adventures of Luther Arkwright.

His answer was simple and smart - I quote "check out the Heart of Empire CD-Rom: it has ALL of Arkwright on it, as well as the sequel Heart of Empire for only 12GBP! - the info for it is here: http://www.bryan-talbot.com/onlineshop/heart-of-empire-cd.php "

The payment process is made through Paypal and a couple of days later I had the cd.

Here's what you get in the package :

Now, I was a bit puzzled browsing through the cd - and couldn't easily find Octobriana there - since it's a collection of html (1724 files) and jpg (1487 files) ; at first I wished it would be organized as a wiki (allowing search on multiple pages) and the comics would be in pdf format (would be then possible to have 2 pages on screen and easier to browse) ... but after a while I figured how it was organized and got fine, I think the format chosen by James made sense for compatibility purposes.

Anyway long story short - there is the first page, where you'll find Octobriana on the cd :

That's "cd/arkwright/two/colour37.html"

Now the funny style of the cd - (it has many surprises) - intrigued me and the story depicted by Bryan is quite dark and wicked (also for mature audience) - making his hero Luther an interesting character who fights against disruptors and can navigate through parallel universes - (no wonder that Octobriana fell for this guy).

The 30 pages magazine provided with the cd contains the 7 pages of the first adventure of Luther (from 1976) "The papist affair" and get you in the tone immediately since it has semi-naked nuns fighting along with Luther against a crazy bishop which started to disrupt this particular universe - a few other articles follow and even a role playing game scenario is there.

Underground comics as it finest hour.

Exciting comic on Kickstarter #octobriana

2010-03-03T12:06:00.000+01:00

They're back (read my previous post)

More details on this exciting and promising comic "Octobriana and the strike of the contagious brain" :

The author "Steve Orlando" is very knowledgeable - (he even wrote a Thesis on Octobriana)
The drawing is done by Chaz Truog - check some samples of his work on Steve's blog
You can read some more about this project here and here.
And last but not least you can be part of the adventure, since the project is posted on Kickstarter

There's a dead line, though ... 81 days (as of this post's date) - (I understand that's part of the Kickstarter process) - the bottom line is this project will only be funded if at least $5,262 is pledged by may 24, 2010.

Octobriana Fan Art by Marychain

2010-01-15T23:01:00.000+01:00

octobriana kiriban by *marychain on deviant ART

Marychain stroked again with this new Octobriana poster - (her previous Fan Art)
Great job!

Calendar is ready

2009-12-29T15:52:00.001+01:00

Here it is - the Octobriana Revolutionary Calendar for 2010 :

You can purchase it directly on lulu at this address :

http://www.lulu.com/content/lulustudio-calendar/octobriana-2010/8122496

I hope you'll enjoy it
and again Happy Holiday to all

Happy Holiday

2009-12-27T23:58:00.017+01:00

During this month, our PPP cell made contact with the Italian PPP's cell - with "Mr G" to be exact, He's the grand, grand, grand, grand son of a noble musician of the Czar "Nikolaj I Pavlovič", and had to emigrate to Italy back in the 19e century, when the Czar discovered that he was not only playing the balalaika, but was also courting Olga Feodorovna of Baden (his youngest son's wife)...
Anyway Mr G, who is coincidentally like his ancestor a musician as well, published a nice epic poem (in Italian) involving Octobriana, below is a approximate translation in English :

[...]
At that moment could eventually combine with that constant presence in his mind
The sinuous form of a seductive tall and blond as the sun, a creature that goes by the name of Octobriana,
Notorious revolutionary goddess of the East, forcing the anonymity of a Uniform of Siberian delegation - That could only barely conceal his irrepressible sensuality.
Her eyes, blue and transparent like a frozen lake, did not betray in any way the Fire that has always burned in her heart.
A heart that dreams of a revolution - but not the one that might conceive a popular uprising neither a rebellion, nor an anarchy,
Rather something very similar to a bloody and decisive Ascension.
[...]

The full original text can be found on Mr G's blog : http://gozerdammerung.blogspot.com/2009/11/v-2-anstiegszeit-abfallzeit.html

Another good find from another Italian website (what a coincidence!) - 2 illustrations done by Maurizio Ercole, check for yourself :
http://silvano-waltdisneyisnotmydad.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-red.html
http://silvano-waltdisneyisnotmydad.blogspot.com/2008/07/hercules-unbound-ercole-scatenato.html

And ... Finally, Happy Holiday to all - I hope you're having a lot of fun.

Calendar 2010 (featuring Karel Jerie)

2009-12-16T07:07:00.001+01:00

A little update related to the previous post ...

On the calendar's cover will be the work of Karel Jerie and the painting is mostly blue (that's why Pencil_in_Pain had a stroke of genius in his selection of colors).

Karel is a Czech comics artist and also a painter, and I always admire his composition and creativity. I'm also glad to have receive from him the original artwork.

His painting represents Octobriana hiding in Prague's old streets while a menacing Golem is looking for her.

Now the funny detail about this painting is the star on the Golem's forehead - because in the legend, that's where he's getting his power. So, that makes an interesting meeting ... and a possible geometric problem to solve.

Karel has drawn another sketch for the calendar which involved another potential geometric puzzle and will be a good surprise for people knowing Octobriana, and her origins.

Calendar 2010

2009-12-13T01:05:00.001+01:00

Now that 2010 is very much into the horizon - I'm announcing officially the Octobriana Revolutionar Calendar (officially because that news was already posted on my DA page a while ago).

Because Octobriana is the Spirit of the October Revolution and October is the 10th month of the Year.
We may say that 2010 will be Octobriana's big Year.
Another fascinating fact about next Year, October the 10th - will be 10-10-10 ; (that will probably get Mr H totally crazy about it).

Some details and comments about this calendar :
Back in September (when I was starting to think about this project (note to self - next Year, start the Calendar project earlier)) - I've contacted Pencil_in_Pain ; because he already had drawn a cool fan art of Octobriana (already mentioned in this blog) and Karel Jerie because he has drawn Octobriana many times, and he's Czech ... like Petr Sadecky.

Last week, I receveid their commissions and was impressed - and I salute both for their outstanding work.

As a little side note, I need to explain the change of the sniper gun Pencil_in_Pain originally drawn into a dagger Kris (you can see the original picture with the rifle on his DA page and the new version on the calendar picture above) - I don't like guns too much, and since Octobriana is also featured with a bottle of vodka in front of the Kremlin, I thought the rifle was a bit too risky.
Kudos to Pencil_in_Pain, he had a great idea to make the illustration one mostly red, and the other green (you'll see why on the next post) - Kudos as well for the dynamic of both composition. they're also remarkable.

Now more detail about the calendar itself, it will be publish on lulu.com - and will be available soon (hopefully before the end of 2009) the price will be around 25$.

Some people will think ; it's a bit pricey for a calendar, especially in this time of financial crisis - but this calendar will not be mass produced - so reserved for the true Octobriana fan, ... made in the Petr Sadecky's tradition (actually, the real story of the calendar's project started in a secret base near the city of Minsk where the Russian Colonel Alexej Czsarbakov tried to demonstrate the use of a printed calendar to resolve the root of the financial crisis by selling it to a lost civilization of Alien dolphin living under the former Atlantis .. cf. Mtsyry issue 23).

Final note : Please support the "Octobriana Revolutionar Calendar" and may other similar projects fleurish next year -

PPP still alive

2009-11-29T16:02:00.001+01:00

Last month, I received from Amazon the book that started everything ...

This book, is funny to read, sometime disturbing, sometime scary, many times confusing but always full of surprises.

For example among the unfinished scenarios of Petr Sadecky, he mentions in Mtsyry 12 and 13 dated 1963 the story of the "Okhotoiki an golovami dlya polskov i chekhoslovatskey kompartii" (Headhunter for the Polish and Czech Communist Parties) - which took place in a imagined 1969 (because the script was originally written in 1963), in this alternate universe the Kremlin choose Czechoslovak and Polish Communist Parties to hire and train South American Head Hunters (Jivaro) the plan was to create Havoc in the USA by killing all senators, and politicians - luckily in the meantime Octobriana was preparing a counter attack with Apache and Sioux to eradicate the Jivaro.
While at the same time, in the Czechoslovak government a strong wave of independence was started, causing that later (Nov 1970) the USSR would invade with tanks and helicopters Czechoslovakia. From Petr Sadecky's word "we had little idea that our fantasy would become reality in 1968"

So in the same vein of reality overcoming the fiction - I've discovered recently that a cell of the PPP was still active - and of course I won't give away too many details about it ; since it's still a very secret organization. But fear not, because the new PPP is completely harmless, peaceful and made of the strangest and most useless of dreamers, artists, idealist, philosopher etc ... like the original PPP, they wouldn't find their place neither in Communism, nor in the new World order of Capitalism.
And they're still producing some sort of continuation of Mtsyry - the Samizdat (or more likely Tamizdat in this particular case).

First, let me introduce you to the one we would call Mister P - he's the artist (Khudozhnik) in the group
and like many artists, he's very difficult to manage, for example if you want a painting or a drawing for a specific date, you can be sure he's going to be late for at least 2 weeks - and then, suprisingly when you think he has stopped doing any art for good - he would deliver an unwanted art just for fun.
When Mister P was young, his dream was to draw comics - his favourites comics character were (in this particular oder) Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke then getting a little older he went for Natacha, and comics from Moebius, Gotlib, Rozinsky and so on ... when he discovered the x-men he went a bit funny and stayed in his room for 2 days, he thought he developed a special ability - and was able to move objects ... lately, he got involved in some linux projects (openclipart and Wesnoth), and tried to create a heroic fantasy comics from scratch - he called it "Lore of Lorodun" - but got a little confused and disapointed later when he realized the abreviation was LOL. And that nobody would take him seriously. Anyway I'm grateful, that he gave me permission to use some of his paintings, sketches when I launched this blog back in July. And I'm still hoping he would come up sometime with a full page of Octobriana comics ....
His latest project involved translating a comic based on a French Rock band called "Super Funf".

There's also Mr H - but we don't have many news from him, when young he was very much involved in role playing game, and that must have left him with weird ideas. He's a good scenarist, and was a pretty good dungeon master, his problem was that he enjoyed his story so much, he sometime got a bit upset when the players weren't doing what he expected them to do...
He often asked Mr P to create maps, or fantasy art for him - they wanted to start a project together, and then Mr P was asked to deliver some arts and was given deadline, ... big mistake!
Mr H is reading a lot of news, and is always intrigued about the internet meme phenomenon - don't get him started on the Russian meme or narwhal and bacon (?!).
He has a few interesting theories about the internet being the brain of the subconcious World. His sense of humor is a bit "challenging", he's also convinced that some conspiracy are true - for example after watching the Zeitgeist, he was pretty sure the Twin Tower were an inside job ; and he has other strange ideas about politics and evolution of Humanity. Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure we lost contact with Mr H after those rumors about 2012 being the end of the world. Maybe he's climbing the himalaya ?!

Mrs D - she's our muse at the new PPP - and everyone is in love with her, she is the incarnation of Octobriana, except thats she's a brunette, doesn't have a large eyebrow and she's of Italian descent.
If you'd ask her she would show where her family originally come by pointing her finger to the talon of her leather boots (because of the shape of Italy). She's also a big fan of the "Twilight" serie - which I believe is a big embarrassment for the other members - but everyone can forgive everything coming from a good looking girl.
She has never finished school, her english is very approximative - but her accent is fun to hear. And she has many girlfriends, so like Lydia Borisovna (NSFW) of the original PPP - you can define her as a lesbian who occasionnally loved men. Except that she wouldn't come up with such dramatic sentence as "Take off your clothes and we'll try position 143" - not that we wouldn't want her to - but you know these were different times...

And then last, Mr R (R for Roy), that would be me, I've joined the group in November - just one year, after discovering Octobriana for the first time on an article of the Prague Post. There was a little exam and a secret ceremony to show that I was "worthy" and could be part of the group (involving some home made liquor, I'm sure you get the idea) - but now I'm in charge of trying to put together on facebook and so far has failed miserably - Mr P is against those social group, that to his opinion is a waste of time, Mr H - last time I heard - has developed theory about a World domination that would use social website to control and threaten every members, and finally Mrs D isn't interested at all. My assigned role would be to become the philosoph (filosof) or the writer of the group. And I hope some comics will be produced later - and also a calendar for 2010.

Link to Octobriana and the Russian Underground on Comic Vintage

Who wants to kill Jessie?

2009-11-25T21:27:00.001+01:00

Recently I watched a Czech movie called "Who wants to kill Jessie?" ; and what a good surprise.

I won't tell the whole story but very shortly this film made in 1966 similarly to "Who framed Roger Rabbit ?" is introducing comic characters in real life (except that compare to normal person they can only talk via text balloons).

Now the irony is that what actually killed Jessie were 1968 historical events, as explained in the imdb extract below :

Kdo chce zabit Jessii? (1966) - Trivia: "American remake of this film was discussed with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in the roles of Jiri Sovak and Dana Medricka. Juraj Visny, Karel Effa and Olga Schoberova who played Superman, the gunfighter and Jessie in the original version were asked to repeat their roles. The project broke down after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968."

As a final note. I would suggest to watch the movie opening sequence featuring drawings of the talented Czech artist Kaja Saudek.

Octobriana - experimenting the Social Internet

2009-11-13T22:22:00.000+01:00

The social Internet : A Stateless, classless community very similar to Karl Marx description of "pure communism"

Quote from Wikipedia :

Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will inevitably produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction.^[2] Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed socialism will, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. This would emerge after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat": a period sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers' democracy"

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_marx

Here's my first impressions of my recent experience with the "Social Internet" so far :

On Facebook, excellent surprise the Finnish actress of the Octobriana movie, is there and she accepted my friend request - very cool. I'm a big fan, she always crack me up when she says her line "I'm bored already!". I secretly hope that there will be a sequel of this movie (see my previous post about that)
Anyway what can I do on Facebook - I can poke people, (but I'm too shy to do that) ; join group - there was a Octobriana group there, I join immediately - but it seems that nobody is in charge there anymore - the group is now dormant, too bad...
And I could also make friends with other people, like the new cool artists I discovered on Deviantart.

On Deviant Art, I'm always amazed by the amount of brilliant artworks and artists there - so many good stuff, it's unbelievable - I litteraly spend hours everyday browsing and admiring the talent of those guys there. Lately I discovered the delightful Propaganda poster of Domnx - (jaw-dropping graphics), and also hilarious because of the cunning title and little details (the "Hamster Initiative" ?!).

And last (but not least) Twitter, great way to end the loop - for me Twitter is like fast-blogging ; perfect for unfinished thougt, or for throwing idea like I would do on a notepad, or simply for saving a link during the day in order to watch it later in the evening ...

Image Credit : animated gif by domnx

20 Years ago ... The Fall of Berlin Wall

2009-11-09T21:12:00.000+01:00

The spirit of Revolution at his best!
Octobriana would have been dancing all night, I'm sure.

Octobriana and Vampires

2009-11-07T21:38:00.001+01:00

Octobriana is a Russian Super Heroine - but what's her super powers ? she can't fly, she can't see through walls, she can't become invisible ... and yet, she is special - because she represents the eternal spirit of Youth and the spirit of Revolution - which means, that she's immortal ; That's why she could be out of the gulag after 30 years and still look stunning.

Forever young and immortal as super power - that's not too shabby !

So where's the connection with Vampires?

Vampires becomes vampire by being bitten by another vampire ... so they are dead, but ironically they become immortal in the process. Living a curse, of having to survive by drinking their victim's blood - not a cool super power!

On higher level of symbolism, we could say that if Octobriana is the force of Revolution, setting people free and protecting the working class - Vampires represents the untouchable upper class, the underground society with the real power over the ordinary people, being driven by the need of killing others to survive. But not only they kill their victims, they're also alienating them by transforming them into monster...

If we push the analogy a little further - we could see an economic system that put profit as the ultimate goal, putting the environment at stake and pushing people into cheap labor or slavery - generating financial crisis, fear and unemployment as an excuse for Wars, crime and violence ...

Interestingly (as far as I recall) Octobriana fought against robots, giant walrus, baba yaga, zombies and many foes but never fought against Vampires, ... Yet ?!

Geocities is dead. Long live Reocities

2009-11-02T20:59:00.000+01:00

Good News Everyone, Octobriana "dead" website on Geocities - is still alive! ; (I tried to save at the very last minutes bits and bits using backupurl.com) and the archive of the internet archive.org also has a copy at http://web.archive.org/web/20000615210726/www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3125/oct-index.html

But an even clever way has been found to put the life back in this dead website (and on most geocities website) - This ultimate way is called "Reocities"
Check Reocities : Octobriana Welcome To Artful Online

So, in case you're accessing a page displaying "Sorry, the GeoCities web site you were trying to reach is no longer available." the trick is just to change the first letter from G to R - and the broken link becomes alive again!

Try it with this dead link

Octobriana's controversy : Rebel and Enemy of Communism?

2009-10-21T22:01:00.002+02:00

Just to clarify things a bit and make sure there is no confusion whatsoever - this blog is neither pro-communist - (nor pro-capitalist).

I believe (and I hope) humanity will come up with something better - I mean at building an intelligent society the ants are doing fine, there must be a better way for us ... for the people of all nations, races, beliefs and gender, to live peacefully and respect the environment. Or maybe I'm a dreamer ?!

Giving a super short overview of the Communism era - would be a challenge but let's say it went from a Dream, to a harsh Reality and ended up finally in a Nightmare - for a crash course you could visit the Museum of Communism which incidentally is just organized as "the Dream, the Reality and the Nightmare".

For me Octobriana represents the essence of the "Dream" part - because she's the Spirit of Revolution - the one that was pure, idealistic , Utopian.

This particular theme is presented in the Octobriana's movie (where you can see Octobriana showing a banner with Love and Live written on it for her lover) and in many comics (like the one drawn by Karel Jerie) showing that she was hunted, imprisoned and even tortured. Which means that in fact Octobriana is portrayed as an enemy of communism.

The issue "zero" from Alchemy texts published in September 1996 called "The Legend of Octobriana" by John A. Short is depicting exactly that too : her capture by the Russian while she was in the PPP's cell in Kosice. Her imprisonment in the Dzhelinda prison in Siberia for 30 long years - but since Octobriana has the Eternal Youth, she doesn't need a facelift or plastic surgery to look gorgeous in her (many) returns and that's why her legend is still very much alive.

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 - 2006)

Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work.
Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

Posters credits : Museum of Communism and kox.sk

Happy Birthday Miss Kardashian

2009-10-21T09:00:00.001+02:00

Continuing my selection of Octobriana's "babe" of the week (or OBW) - today I've chosen Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian because it's her Birthday (she was born October 21, 1980)
... I had to add a red star on her forehead - because that would have been a pity if she wouldn't have qualified for the OPPP - (Octobriana's personal posse program).

Happy Birthday Kim!

Picture credit : David Shankbone

Geocities, Octobriana & 2012

2009-10-20T21:28:00.002+02:00

Octobriana ; The Russian Underground: "In the Maya Prophecy Of The 20th Year Of The 11th Ruler, there is written: Zactunlah Pal Tal Ti Caan (The Girl With The White Face Is Coming From The Sky). the prophecy continues: 'Fire will burst from the ends of her fingers. They call her the Avenger. She is the mother of seven red stars'. The Prophecy Of The 20th Year Of The Eighth Ruler says: Enom Chimal, Emo Halal (With her will descend flat shields and arrows)."

The Prophecy Of The Priest Na Puk Tun says: 'The heavens will flame with lightning and the Earth will burn'. Bin Ka Cikbech, Bin Ka Kanantech (We shall honour you and protect you) the Royal Salute of the Maya Indians to their white ruler.
These original texts are pre-Christian and they give descriptions of the 'Devil Woman', which fit in with those from Arabic or Chinese texts: eyebrows meeting in the middle, with a triangle or a star above them, large breasts on a slim body, a black snake on her wrist, and so on. Most sources agree that Mahari was born the daughter of 'the White Warrior From The Northern Lands' (Jutland), and of a native female ruler, and (here the sources differ) of either the old Indian Harrapa tribe (about 4,000BC) or from the middle of the Ancient Toltec Empire (about 6,000 years ago).
All sources absolutely agree that the baby girl was entrusted to a caste of priests, and when she grew up was subjected to some sort of operation (the most frequently used word is literally 'radiation'), which have her immortality. Mahari is a person of strong emotions, but obviously also of considerable intellect, which leads to tragic conflicts. Her father was a 'noble savage', but her beautiful mother had definite tendencies towards perversion. And their child, in its terrible immortality and loneliness, undergoes a crushing cycle of transformation.

This above is a quite scary extract of Octobriana geocities website

The irony is that "Geocities" is doomed - after October the 26th - Yahoo is closing it down
see announcement

Since that specific page will then disappear I saved it here using the backupurl.com service.
I also submit the whole website to archive.org (hoping it's not too late!)

Alchemy Texts : Made in America - [part 2]

2009-10-15T21:33:00.001+02:00

And here comes the 2nd part - of "Octobriana - Made in America" -

I like the ending, it's a great idea - fighting automatic weapon (m16 if I'm not mistaken) with a French-kiss!

The moral of the story is confirming what we see in Hollywood's films - when the producer get away with outrageous blood baths, preposterous carnage, unnecessary violence and wanton, but get censored because of one scene considered "too sexy" for the public - it always amazes me.

Make Love not War!

Comic Credits : comic reproduced with permission of Craig John(art) and John A Short (text)

Alchemy Texts : Made in America - [part 1]

2009-10-14T19:57:00.008+02:00

October's Bonus - a comic originally included in the "Life and Death Special" Issue From Alchemy Text published in 2003 - this 3 pages below (second part later this week) is taking place in Vietnam and will depict the "Epic meeting" between the Armageddon Patrol(c) and Octobriana...

Permission to republish this comic was granted by the authors - so again, a big "Thank You" to Craig John and John A Short.

Second part will follow soon

Nice Octobriana on DeviantArt

2009-10-13T11:17:00.000+02:00

That poster was created as an entry for one of the Remake/Remodel challenges which took place at the White chapel forums. A few other artists have posted their versions of Octobriana there.

This particular poster is pretty cool, I like the bear in the background and the cigar (undoubtedly from Cuba).

Thanks to the artist Alberto Silva for his permission to post that picture in the blog.
His website is here http://www.steelraining.albertosilva.es/.

DeviantArt (DA - link to my newly created page there) is a true gold mine for Octobriana (that's where I first stumbled upon Craig Jones comics - and later found MaryChain Poster) - very rich, talented and vibrant community.

Octobriana's poll : And the winner is ...

2009-10-11T12:15:00.001+02:00

Selected by you - dear readers - the actress that would be perfect to play Octobriana is officially Ivana Milicevic by 34% (funnily enough Petra Nemcova has scored 0% ; maybe she's too "sweet" for the role).

Full Result :

Ivana is now an official Octobriana's "babe" of the week (or OBW) ... and thanks to her red star on her beret - she's also qualified for the OPPP - (Octobriana's personal posse program).

More about Ivana
on wikipedia
on imdb

Ivana noticeably appeared as a Russian Intelligence Officer (Dasha Fedorovich) in the game Red Alert 3 -see the post here.

There are 2 high-resolution wallpaper (1920x1200) ->here and here -
and Dasha profile here.

It seems that we're never too old for video games.

NB : Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3: Uprising
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the EA logo, Command & Conquer and Red Alert are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Octobriana : Oil Painting and Poster

2009-10-08T22:16:00.000+02:00

This illustration below made by "Peileppe Production" is part of an experiment to render a photo into a Painting - you can see the whole project here.

I think the last effect is quite interesting in just 4 colors :

Credit : Both illustrations are inspired by a photo of the actress Noora Piili which played the main role in the movie "Octobriana & the Finger of Lenin".

Another lost comic : "Sleep to Dream"

2009-10-06T07:55:00.000+02:00

Found another Octobriana's lost comic, see low-resolution preview of the page 1 below :

Back to 1997 - Tiger Mountain offered a comic preview called Filling In The Blanks!

The comic, called 'Sleep To Dream', was written by Stuart Taylor and drawn by Dave Roberts. It was supposed to launch a new comic series, around major plot lines from the Revolution Comics mini-series (see Alchemy Texts).

In this comic Octobriana's sidekick was Carl Malone, a 40 year old UFO and conspiracy nut. He was also the writer of "The Conspirator" - a magazine dedicated to UFO, aliens, conspiracy (obviously) and paranormal in general.

Now the interesting part was that - "The aim of the story was to establish Octobriana as a figurehead for the oppressed. Octobriana fights for the ideal that everyone should be free to express their own ideas and philosophies, without fear of oppression." - those were the words of the writer and publisher Stuart Taylor.

Unfortunately neither his mail contact is working - nor Dave Roberts

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
D.K.R@tesco.net

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
staylor@paragon.co.uk

So I wouldn't be able to get permission to post the comics here - but the online comic is still accessible at >
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~rad/octo/OctoStrip/OctoStrip1.html

Octobriana by Gom on Odosketch

2009-10-03T20:49:00.001+02:00

Cool stuff, today not only you get an artwork by the talented French comic artist Gom - but you also get the chance to see his drawing in progress - Thanks to Odosketch

El Che [odosketch]

Bonus sketch "El Che" by Abraao

Viva Octobriana

2009-10-01T19:48:00.000+02:00

This is it - We're now officially in October 2009 - and this month, Octobriana's fan blog is going to be busy finding new artwork all over the Internet ...

First contribution by Peileppe - notice the Lada VAZ 2101 - and the cc-by-sa license of this artwork.

NB : Many cliparts (at least 5) were provided by ocal.

Octobriana : Anime version

2009-09-26T22:30:00.000+02:00

After the South Park version of Octobriana - If you ever wanted to see an Anime version of Octobriana - check this below

Made with Anime Character Generator

And if you're wondering "Why the Anime Characters looks like that ?" - I recommend this nice article : http://www.cjas.org/2009/04/24/a-second-glance/

Last thing, the New York Anime Festival which is an annual anime convention held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan, is opened from September 25th to 27th, 2009.
NYAF’s Exhibition Hall is open to the public on Friday from 1 PM to 7 PM, Saturday from 10 AM to 7 PM, and Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM.

http://www.newyorkanimefestival.com/

Octobriana: Alchemy Texts

2009-09-26T02:05:00.000+02:00

Lately, in my quest for Octobriana's comics - I had the chance to get very valuable documents from Alchemy Texts, and I'm starting to get a clearer view of my favorite Russian Super Heroin (which is really cool!)

Among all the issues, we discover Octobriana's many enemies, like the mad scientist Hans Ingersol, the Russian witch Baba Yaga, Mani the Norse God, giant robots, Maiden America etc.. and discover a new meaning for "Sex Bomb" because Octobriana is riding a thermonuclear missile on a few occasions.

And also thanks to the "30th anniversary special" issue - I could get a better view of Octobriana across time - below is a brief "Time Frame" (which I hope is accurate - otherwise please comment)

1971 - Origins - Octobriana and the Russian underground - The living sphinx of the Kamchatka Radiactive Volcano 1934 & Octobriana and the atomic suns of comrade Mao
1979-87 - Bryan Talbot- The adventure of Luther Arkwright
1992 - Larry Welz - Cherry meets Octobriana
1992 - Reima Makinen - Octobriana and the 10th circle of hell
1996-97 - Alchemy Texts, Revolution Comics, Artful Salamander, Evolutionary Comics
1998 - Nikolai Dante : Octobriana Seduction
2001 - Alchemy Texts "30th Anniversary Special" - a must see issue! [1]
2002 - Finnish Movie "Octobriana and the Finger of Lenin"
2003 - Aaargh! Magazine with Karel Jerie
2004 - Alchemy Texts "the 2 certainties of life" and "Made in America"
2007 - Octobriana by Chris Jones ?
2009 - Orlando' comics announced for October

Octobriana has a posse

2009-09-24T19:39:00.000+02:00

Starting from today, I will start to post Octobriana's "babe" of the week (or OBW) - today I've carefully selected a Russian Cheerleader and ... thanks to her red star on her uniform - she's also qualified for the OPPP - (Octobriana's personal posse program).

See more Cheerleaders on these 2 websites below
Russian Cheerleaders
English Russia - Russian Cheerleaders

Photo on the left : credit "Red Army"

Octobriana : South Park Character version

2009-09-23T20:27:00.000+02:00

How Octobriana would look like if she would appear in a South Park Episode ?

I had to investigate this ... and found flash tools to create South Park characters and made these 2 Octobriana below :

Using images.southparkstudios.com

Using http://www.sp-studio.de/

As a final note, I would recommend watching the episode South Park : Major Boobage
Why ? Because, it's like watching the 1981 cult classic "Heavy Metal" within South Park, and for the first time in the serie (if I'm not mistaken) Kenny has the lead role!

From Russia with Love

2009-09-22T22:50:00.000+02:00

Another great Fan Art and this time from "Mother Russia", drawing made by "Drew Lenk" for the Czech Magazine AARGH (see previous post)

Original link : drew_lenk: Октябрина для чешского журнала "AARGH"
and a translated version of the Russian blog in English.

Great Work, the design reminds me of J. Scott Campbell's Danger Girl

Nice Octobriana on DeviantArt

2009-09-18T21:35:00.000+02:00

link to the Original : octobriana_by_marychain.jpg (JPEG Image, 687x824 pixels)
This artwork can be found at http://marychain.deviantart.com/art/octobriana-89200127
and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

The Dark Princess by Karel Jerie

2009-09-16T20:41:00.000+02:00

A nice cover today - from a work by the Czech artist Karel Jerie, an interesting preview of what an Octobriana avenger would look like.

You can notice, the PPP logo on top - that looks a lot like the "DC Comics" logo from 1976 and stands for Petr Sadecky's fictitious political party : the "Progressive Political Pornography".

Noticeable as well, the name "Mr Burian" - which stands for Zdeněk Burian, an hommage to the talented Czech painter that Sadecky plagiarized.

The last name "Bobo the Final" must be an inside joke, from Charles Jerie alias Karel Jerie.

Thanks Karel for this cover.

Another lost comic : "The Commie Zombie Dictator from Hell"

2009-09-15T22:57:00.000+02:00

Darn, another one ... another Octobriana's comics that got lost - if you've been following this blog you already know I was on the quest to find the Chris Jones comics that looked so promising and is nowhere to be found.

And now this .... A comics with an uncanny title "Octobriana and the Commie Zombie Dictator from Hell" originally found on this website http://www.alchemytexts.com/Oct_Sample_01.html - the 2 first pages got me hooked, and I was really curious about the following pages ...

After some "googling" I could found that the artists (Andy Nixon and Shaun Bryan) have produced some comics under the name Bomb Dolphin Studio - and later I could find Shaun Bryan's Gallery - with a collection of nice illustrations (2 of Octobriana and others definitely NSFW), but unfortunately their mails at bombdolphin.freeserve.co.uk are not working anymore... So, no way to get in touch with them.

Too bad, it seems to be another dead end for this comic .... and I will never know how Octobriana would defeat Lenin's reincarnation as a zombie.

Image credit : Shaun Bryan

Women: the secret weapon of Red Alert 3

2009-09-10T10:44:00.000+02:00

Today I made a little compilation to make a point

Watch Red Alert 3: Soviet Cutscene Theater Pt 2 (HD) Online
http://www.videosurf.com/video/c-c-red-alert-3-girls-67790893

And the final (short one) is the EA official advertisement - with High Quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcoxUAd7AFU

Read the youtube's comments too, I like the one talking about "Whoriffic game[sic]" - Red Alert 3 gamers are sort of complaining that their favourite game is moving away from the RTS (Real-time strategy) and moving toward Porn ?! I guess they're right ... you would have hard time to stay focused on a mission when a video of Ivana could pop up anytime ...

Because it's a scientific fact, that men are getting dumber when they see beautiful women ;)
see article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6132718/Men-lose-their-minds-speaking-to-pretty-women.html

I quote the article :

When a man meets a pretty woman, he is what we call 'reproductively focused

That's why sexy conscripts on the battlefield would totally make sense.
(Sex bombs, not actual bombs ... no injuries, no fatalities, ... everybody wins!)

I rest my case.

Hot Russian girls (Sasha Dith)

2009-09-09T18:09:00.000+02:00

A little treat for you posted at 9h09 on this September, 9th 2009 !

One of the most talked about videos of the year. A Russian military officer is captured and interrogated by a striking lady wearing a full length fur coat and nothing but black lingerie and boots underneath. She is assisted by four hot and dirty lady conscripts.

Sasha Dith - Russian Girls
Watch Music Videos at www.roxwel.com
http://www.sashadith.com/

Kind of an intense clip - and also a complex message here.
But remember one thing "Make love not War!"

And notice that those sexy conscripts can wash cars too !

Octobriana: better in 3D

2009-09-08T23:24:00.000+02:00

I 'm always amazed when I see talented people making 3D models from 2D sketch (that apply for Poser, Blender or DAZ Studio) - I'm more "old school" and only understand people who can draw and paint on flat surface.

But you have to admit, that there is a certain benefit to render a model in volumes - especially in Octobriana's case, because the 3D suits her very well...

Full pictures on the following blog and Deviant art page

Russian Meme - How it works

2009-09-07T10:53:00.000+02:00

You may all have seen this "Uncle Sam" poster for recruiting soldier

Now you may also be aware of this Internet Meme
(One of my favorite is "In America you log onto the internet, In Russia the internet logs onto You!")

You may be wondering where this explanation is going ?

Well it's about this post, I felt the need to explain it a bit further, because I tought the joke went a little flat for some reason - while to be honest having a laugh on the army's account - is always a good sign, a sign that we live in a free country.

Octobriana : Superhero Movies I'd like to See

2009-09-07T00:19:00.000+02:00

Octobriana's character is fascinating and would be a real asset for "avant garde" movie producers - symbolizing Revolution, Freedom, the indomitable Youth Spirit - this "Russian Wonder woman" has so many layers ...

And even if she was created in the early 70s ; for some reason today she seems to get a renewal of interests - maybe because our world has changed in a way that freedom and free spirit are now able to express themselves without censure (or is it the opposite? or is it that the gap between the people having free speech and the oppressed people is bigger than ever ?)

For sure, she would be a unusual super heroine for a movie based on a comic -
Maybe like the "Watchmen" ?

For another point of view on this read the article below (written a little more than a year ago)
Superhero Movies I'd like to See: Radioactive Man, the Tick, Atom Ant and Octobriana - Associated Content

Now the real question : "Who would be the perfect actress for the casting ?" ... you can still vote (Elizabeth Berkley, Elizabeth Berkley, Elizabeth Berkley, Elizabeth Berkley ;)) and as the article's author (Timothy Sexton) I believe Lucy Lawless would be perfect for the role, but ... I can't change the poll entry.

Octobriana: Chris Jones and the lost comic (update)

2009-09-05T20:42:00.000+02:00

Little update to my previous post
Octobriana Fan's blog: Octobriana: Chris Jones and the lost comic

I forgot to attached the second picture of the Chris Jones set -I want to give thanks to ever3st - (who kindly provided a link to a website to help identifying the picture's source)

Maybe that will help ... the search is still on !

Octobriana : The two certainties of life (part 2)

2009-09-05T11:35:00.000+02:00

After the small Animoto interlude -

Like I promised, I'm posting the second part of the "The Return of Octobriana / The two certainties of life"

So don't forget "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

And again, I want to give a big "Thank You" to both authors (Craig John and John A Short) for giving me permission to republish their comic on my blog.

Octobriana : Animoto Interlude

2009-09-04T21:41:00.001+02:00

For fun I created yesterday this little video promoting the blog on Youtube.
First I used Animoto, and the whole preparation took less than 1 hour - there's also a nice feature to publish the animoto clip to Youtube -

So now there is a (new) channel for Octobriana on Youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/user/RoyPavelDrakov

Octobriana : The two certainties of life

2009-09-03T19:47:00.000+02:00

Some exciting news, Today - I feel privileged to be able to present to you dears fans, a 12 pages re-publication of "The Return of Octobriana / The two certainties of life" from the talented artist Craig John, based on a story by John A Short.

[...to be continued]
The next batch will arrive later this week

In the meantime, I would recommend a visit to John A Short website, for his smart review about Octobriana : http://www.alchemytexts.com/Octobriana.html
You can also visit Craig's website : http://www.craigssketchpad.co.uk/

I also want to give a big "Thank You" to both for giving me permission to republish their comic on my blog.

Octobriana: Chris Jones and the lost comic

2009-09-01T23:51:00.000+02:00

Thanks to the Octobriana's fan group from Yahoo - I recently found 2 cool drawings of Octobriana fighting the nazis ("A la Indiana Jones" style) ... and of course, I wanted to get more information on this interesting comic - and then my quest has started...

The problem was the very limited information for this search ; I could only read on the lower right of the picture "Chris Jones" and that was it.

So the first thing I did was to search on the picture itself - using Tineye.com - but no luck = 0 result

And after a solid hour searching (darn!)... I had to give up and conclude that :

There were loads of Chris Jones in the comic industry and that didn't helped
Chris Jones could be a Christopher Jones ?!
Google Image has no trace of this picture (for some mysterious reason)
This comic is terribly difficult to find (and my "google-fu" isn't that strong after all).

But I can't actually believe that there is no trace of this comic anywhere on the internet (?!)

So the quest is still on ...

Octobriana: Good news everyone

2009-08-22T15:02:00.000+02:00

Always scanning for upcoming news related to Octobriana - I just found this fantastic news :

An upcoming 4 issue mini-series from Atomic Pop Art Entertainment is in preparation as we speak - and will be ready in October 2009 (good choice).

Yes, Octobriana is back!

The story will take place in 1968 (again). And will involve a "plague" that turn lovers into deadly zombie, and Octobriana (here depicted as a "sex Goddess") will save the day - bottom line, this comic will be for a mature audience.

The authors are Steve Orlando of Outlaw Territory and Chaz Truog of DC/Vertigo's Animal Man (I like his drawing style - he's good, check his drawing of Red Sonja)

The tag line : "She fights for her birthright. She fights for your heart."

Read more in About Octobriana - Forums
And you can already enjoy a 4 pages of the comic Preview [NSFW]

Octobriana : August 21, 41 years ago

2009-08-21T23:48:00.000+02:00

A few days ago, I was joking about the Russian army that was getting sexier, but today 21st August is indeed a sad anniversary :

1968 – Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring

see August 21 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more detail on this.

Which reminds me of Karel Jerie's comics starting precisely during this event - when Octobriana looking for her father, would be captured and tortured by Petr Sadecky and his henchman ... I think it symbolizes the Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) being forced to become Russian - with a red star not a tattooed on her forehead but burned into her flesh by a Russian tortionner, while Petr Sadecky is watching (being the guy who escaped to the west with Czech artist's work in his luggage, pretending later that this work was made by a Russian underground party (PPP) and selling the whole thing to a British editor ...) - there's only 4 pages, but crammed with lots of historic facts ...

Anyway, there's a happy ending to Karel Jerie's comic - and that is my conclusion for tonight. Everybody loves happy ending!

Elizabeth Berkley as Octobriana

2009-08-20T00:17:00.000+02:00

Maybe you didn't notice but there's a poll on the upper right of the blog, the question is quite exciting -

I know that Noora Piili has played the role of Octobriana in the movie "Octobriana & the Finger of Lenin" (posted here) - and also that Amanda Lear was also asked to be Octobriana in a movie that was never done (unfortunately)...

But let say that another movie would be made - who would be (or would have been) the best actress for the role of Octobriana ?

I have voted for Elizabeth Berkley - if you have seen her in "Showgirls" you probably understand why I voted for her ;)

And one last interesting fact : Octobriana is spelled "Oktyabrina" in Russian - Credits to Rockambole for this information.

Remembering Woodstock

2009-08-15T19:16:00.000+02:00

Exactly 40 years ago about 400,000 people were having the time of their life at Woodstock.
The Eternal Spirit of Youth at his best.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Audio slideshow: Remembering Woodstock

Also in Russia, a couple of years ago there was a similar festival ; but less music and more motors.

In Russia, the Army joins you!

2009-08-12T21:01:00.000+02:00

Let's have a wonderful dream tonight, by imagining an army of sexy female soldiers marching and chanting "Make love, not war!" ... Oh Yeah, let's dream, of a time when the Russian Federation would raise an army of sexy female soldiers, just like below ...

And there's more because the sexy soldiers come in different flavors, as you can see ...

source : New Russian Military Uniform - EchoPic

(Bonus song "Make Love Not War" by John Lennon)

Octobriana: Does she looks like a bolshevik?

2009-08-12T20:20:00.000+02:00

Since there are many versions of Octobriana out there, I figured it would be funny to go back to her origin and with a little drawing put some of her characteristics.

So Octobriana is blond with massive hairs arranged vertically, more importantly she has a red star tattooed on her forehead, (I guess if there is only one thing to represent her it has to be this Red Star) - she also have a large eyebrow (because of her Mongolian/Amazonian descent - her father was a shaman from the Amazon/Mongolia, and her mother a Russian scientist?!) ; then optionally a very tight bra, a chain across her body, a bracer in a shape of a snake (maybe alive?), a green snakeskin pants, cowboy leather boots and pistol, also finally a primitive necklace with dozen of large sharp teeth (which I think is also a device to detect atomic radiation ...)

NB : Picture above was created from scratch by Peileppe

Octobriana: Don’t Mess with Russian Girls

2009-08-08T11:51:00.001+02:00

GORBACHOV: THE MUSIC VIDEO - BIGGER AND RUSSIANER from Tom Stern on Vimeo.

Well, this is definitely Russian ... no doubt about that!
And the underlying message is that Gorbatchev saved the day of many young Russian women who were presumably attacked by Stalin look alike zombies

Oh, and one more thing ... this article Don’t Mess with Russian Girls
Just in case you were thinking that those Russian women were helpless - well, think twice before you jump into conclusion.

They're not as weak as you might imagine. But, if you know Octobriana (and you should by now, since you are reading this blog ;)) you already were well aware of the fact, that Russian women can kick serious butt and they rock.

Octobriana: SF4 Anime (Cammy is back)

2009-08-06T22:20:00.000+02:00

Everyone know that I'm a big fan of Octobriana, but only a few that I'm also a fan of the Street Fighter character "Killer Bee" Cammy White. I wonder what these two ladies would do together, if they met ... would they work as allies, or more likely be enemies ?!
Since Octobriana (Red) represents revolution and Cammy (White) the institution ... I figure a serious ass-kicking would follow.

In the meantime, here's a little treat for you dear reader, found on RuTube

Street Fighter IV: Aratanaru Kizuna / Уличный боец 4 :: Видео на RuTube

I'm sure you will enjoy the Russian "voice over" of this 1hour video ;) but unfortunately I couldn't find another version ... Anyway Russian isn't it Octobriana's native tongue ?!

NB : This video is originally from the SF4 movie 'The Ties That Bind' included with the Collectors edition of Street Fighter 4.
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC & Arcade
Published by: Capcom
Developed by: Capcom / Dimps

There also a 5mn youtube video of the epic fight between Viper / Ryu and Cammy (of course)
here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIag3-8yhIw (make yourself a favor and press HD)

Octobriana : 100% Czech - but she's Russian right ?

2009-08-06T19:09:00.000+02:00

Above is the back cover of the Aargh! Magazine (mentioned in the previous post) - and this page symbolizes pretty much Octobriana's background story - the upper left picture is from Bohumil Konecny, and the others are from Zdenek Burian - the guy who took credit for this work was Petr Sadecky, the publisher is/was Tom Stacey (hence the below copyright).

All these artists are 100% Czech, and Octobriana (formerly Amazon[i]a?!) is Russian ... I told you already ... Those people from Czech Republic have the creativity and the talent!

This article on Stripburek - Czech Comics by Tomas Prokupek is giving a nice overview of the Czech comics (komiks) in general, and a paragraph about Octobriana, very insightful.

NB : Art in this post is (c) Tom Stacey and also (c) Aargh! www.motkomiks.cz

Octobriana - Aargh! Magazine number 4

2009-08-05T21:54:00.000+02:00

As promised in the last post, the focus is back to Octobriana with the Czech komiksovy casopis "Aargh!" number 4 (Summer 2003 Edition) that I received today (it has been quite difficult to find this 6 years old mag ; I must have been lucky to get one of the last issue available...)

So without further ado, here's my little review : it's about a hundred page - First impression "Very nice cover by Miroslav Schonberg" I was hoping there would be more Octobriana "komiks" material inside the magazine, unfortunately - just the 4 pages from Karel Jerie (posted in English on this Polish website here)

Another nice surprise, there is a long article on Petr Sadecky, but since it's in Czech - I will have to decipher it, before writing about it (but from the pictures, he seems to have been in Africa ?!).

Those people from Czech Republic have talent!

NB : Arts in this post are (c) Aargh! www.motkomiks.cz

Mosquito Coast, tale of a genius inventor

2009-08-01T22:02:00.000+02:00

Another post, not directly related to Octobriana, (but I promised the next one will definitely be about her - In fact, I have one surprise for you readers coming soon next week - a comic magazine I've been looking for, is on his way).

Anyway, back to my current post, the movie "Mosquito Coast" based on the book by Paul Theroux (which I had read long time ago, but never had seen the movie).

The movie is very close to the book (to what I remembered from the book) the selection of actors is brilliant (River Phoenix and Harrison Ford, what a treat!) - I won't tell the whole story here, but it's a very interesting subject, about a genius (and stubborn) Allie Fox unable to accept to follow the crowd, will go against all odds, to build his own vision of a perfect society in South America (acting a bit like a selfish bastard toward his family in the meantime).

The only thing, that puzzle me is the giant fridge (?! that supposed to represent the ultimate invention...) ; but I guess this fridge is just a symbol. This story, somehow reminded me of El Che Guevara (see previous post), fighting with his small group of soldier in the Bolivia's jungle ... maybe that's because it ends badly for both.

The movie has been posted on youtube here
More information on the movie can be found on wikipedia here
Paul Theroux's book can be found on Amazon here

El Che Investigating a Legend

2009-08-01T21:24:00.000+02:00

Exceptionally today, this post won't be directly about Octobriana, but to a very real man representing the spirit of Revolution with a big R (and also controversy).

A man that is too often only a mono chromatic face on a t-shirt and unfortunately not well known, so if you have 1hour 35mn to spare, I would recommend you to watch this video retracing his life, and discover what means integrity in a man, a true believer of freedom.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8008270432750882980

You can also have a look afterward, to this Top 10 things people don't know about El Che.

I didn't know he was suffering from asthma, and went to Ireland and later to Prague (so in theory, he could have met Octobriana's spiritual father (Petr Sadecky)).

Also as a side note, (I wonder how El Che would react to this) his grand daughter Lydia, made the headline recently by posing naked for Peta.

Petr Sadecky : "The great illusionist"

2009-07-21T21:31:00.000+02:00

Last week end, I tried to explain to friends, who was the artist behind Octobriana, and that was not an easy task. Because his creator did a very good job to mix fiction and reality.

Actually I've been reading many articles, and can't really figure the whole plot.

Anyway, in a nutshell Petr Sadecky (photo on the left) who was a student in Prague, was also a member of a secret Russian group (PPP?) who collectively create Octobriana as the "Eternal Spirit of the October Revolution" - then after Petr escaped (with material from that collective work) to West Germany and then England, he published a comic book "Octobriana and the Russian Underground", that became an inspiration for many artists.

Which part is true, I don't know - but many articles also point the fact that the art used in the comic, wasn't Petr's work - but was done by another czech artist (Bohumil Konecny)...

Octobriana and the finger of lenin

2009-07-14T22:34:00.000+02:00

The whole 24mn movie from "Drakov Picture" is available for viewing and download here

Octobriana and the Zombie dictator from Hell

2009-07-13T19:58:00.000+02:00

Just found these 2 pages of Octobriana in what seems to be a comeback series called "The commie Zombie Dictator from Hell" -

Pencils : Shaun Bryan, Inks : Andy Nixon and script by John. A Short

Alchemy Texts: "Artwork and Samples Pages from Octobriana"

Very dynamic start, I wish there would be more than 2 pages ...

(On the left is a screen capture of the website where I applied an effect from the facebomb website)

Eternal spirit of youth

2009-07-08T19:43:00.001+02:00

It is often said that the spirit of youth is indomitable. No matter what you throw at them, no matter how hard you try to keep them in line, the young will always fight back. Whether it be through music, film or literature. However, this conquering spirit is not the sole domain of the Western youth, as the tale wrought in Petr Sadecky's book, Octobriana And The Russian Underground, more than attests.

from the Octobriana's beginner guide

Always an inspiration

Welcome to Octobriana's blog

2009-07-05T12:13:00.002+02:00

Welcome to Octobriana's blog

As a comics fan, I always get very excited to discover hidden gems like Octobriana - my perception of this Russian wonder woman, is that she represents the "Eternal Spirit of Youth" - of what the October Revolution could have lead to, if it didn't ended up as a totalitarian communist regime - Octobriana represents hope in the future.

I would recommend reading this introduction by Stuart Taylor
http://www.reocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3125/int-octbeginguide.html

This blog is a way for me to gather Octobriana's information and artworks, talk with other Octobriana's fan around the globe and to post "news and updates" related to Octobriana.

You can expect a post every month and more frequently when time allows.

Finally, even though the character Octobriana is Public Domain, artworks published here isn't - by default images and videos published in this blog are copyrighted by their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes or review only.

No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source (see respective links provided on each post).