As I explained in the first post of this series, Satanic Mars is a game with all kind of influences, so it's possible to find references to classical comics, cinema and television series, all spiced up with chosen heavy metal and punk music (the author deciding that the game's background includes Lucifer really doesn't matter and it isn't the first time that something like this happens in all kind of works as you can read in this article of Wikipedia).
Below I will present you some examples that, if you have the chance, you may be interested in consult to take inspiration creating adventures for Satanic Mars, some of them appear referenced in a more or less veiled way in the game and others can perfectly fit with the spirit by which it was created.
Comic magazines
The emergence of adult comic magazines with fantasy and science fiction stories (and in some cases with their erotic touches) as well as social criticism and black humour, carried out by writers and illustrators daring to explore new ways in the Ninth Art, supposed a revolution its effects continue to be observed nowadays in all kind of artistical manifestations of popular culture.
Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal
This revolution began with the apparition of Les Humanoïdes Associés, French publishing house created by Jean Giraud ‘Moebius’, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet and Bernard Farkas, and the publishing in 1975 of the magazines Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal (Official website | Fan website | Wikipedia), its North American incarnation, in 1977.
On its way until 1987 and its short renaisance between 2002 and 2004 Métal Hurlant has been characterised by publishing stories with a special emphasis in graphic complexity, cinematic imaginery and surrealistic stories, with articles about science fiction books and films as well as music and computer games reviews.
Its influence also ended up spreading to the cinema territory, because the designs of the short story The Long Tomorrow, written by Dan O'Bannon and drawings by Moebius, ended influencing films like Alien (1979) (Moebius in fact designed the Nostromo's crew uniforms and spacesuits) and Blade Runner (1982).
Life of Métal Hurlant was short, but it seems that it will be published again this same year in France.
2000 AD
The next example standing out in this field is without doubt the British magazine 2000 AD (Official website | Wikipedia), published for the first time in 1977 and in which characters like Judge Dredd or Strontium Dog were born, being nowadays full-fledged classics. In its pages have appeared a great number of stories mixing science fiction with social criticism and fevered satire with writers like Alan Moore and John Wagner and artists like Brian Bolland, Carlos Ezquerra or Dave Gibbons among many others.
Judge Dredd, one of the main defenders of the Law in Mega-City One, as well as Johnny Alpha, mutant bounty hunter starring Strontium Dog, wouldn't be out of place in the universe of Satanic Mars, in fact many of their stories could be adapted or serve as inspiration to create your own.
For a more complete view of 2000 AD you may read this article of Wikipedia and the fan website BARNEY -- Keeper of the 2000AD database.
Epic Illustrated and Epic Comics
Another magazine that should also be mentioned is Epic Illustrated (1980 – 1986) and its succesor Epic Comics (1982 – 1996, with a brief revival in 2003). Both were published by Marvel and offered stories with explicit content escaping the control of the Comics Code Authority just like Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal did (in fact they also published stories appearing for the first time in these magazines), later it offered series with characters like Dreadstar by Jim Starlin among others.
To see a list of titles by Epic Comics you may read this article of Wikipedia).
The boom of adult comic in Spain
Regarding Spain the boom of comic magazines for adult readers from years 1967 to 1986 also gave way to the apparition of the Spanish version of Métal Hurlant (Tebeosfera: Nueva Frontera - Eurocomic, Devir and Norma Editorial | Wikipedia) and magazines 1984 (Tebeosfera | Wikipedia) and Zona 84 (Tebeosfera | Wikipedia), published by Toutain Editor as well as Cimoc (Tebeosfera | Wikipedia), which published original stories from Spanish authors as well as translations of foreign authors, and the edition of Epic Comics by Forum, Planeta-DeAgostini and more recently Evolution Comics (Tebeosfera).
However, all this fruitful panorama went into decline in the late 1980s, which meant the closure of headers and publishers in the following years.
Films and tv series
If comic magazines have been a great influence in the creation of Satanic Mars without doubt films and television series have also been one. Below you will see some recommendations (both those of Álvaro López in the game's basic manual and the post of the review and mine) which in some cases also involve the passage of these stories to the audiovisual media and some ideas suggested to me by their viewing.
| ++++ Heavy Metal (1981) ++++ | |
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| ++++ Métal Hurlant Chronicles (2012 | 2014) ++++ | |
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| ++++ Love, Death & Robots (2019) ++++ | |
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One of the clearest examples are, of course, the films and tv series based in the stories of the magazines Métal Hurlant and Heavy Metal (in fact, one detail of the cinema adaptation of 1981 appear in the map of the Tarsis region in Satanic Mars, do you know which?).
| ++++ The Evil Dead (1981) ++++ | |
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Who think about reading a book or listening a tape of unknown origin inside an abandoned cabin in Mars wastes? Could it be that wants to awaken the spirits of those who lived there?
| ++++ Galaxy of Terror (1981) ++++ | |
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A pyramidal structure has been discovered in the wates of Mars and the Titan's head authorities have decided to sent a team to investigate it (obviously it's a bad idea...).
| ++++ Event Horizon (1997) ++++ | |
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If you are planning the exploration of a spaceship disappeared in strange circumstances, which have appeared years later and hides something certainly hellish inside this is your movies without doubt.
| ++++ Pitch Black (2000) ++++ | |
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If you have the bad luck of crashing your ship it can cost you a lot to go back home, do you trust your partners? what would you do when the most absolute darkness comes and some hungry creatures leave their nest?.
| ++++ Ghosts of Mars (2001) ++++ | |
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Daily reports form a Mars settlement have ceased for no apparent reason, who would be the brave ones (or the poor sods) who will have to go investigate what has happened?.
| ++++ Doomsday (2008) ++++ | |
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In the Head of the Titan an epidemic has broken out that transforms population into zombies and it seems that the only known vaccine was being developed on Mars, we know who will be entrusted with the mission, isn't it?.
| ++++ Pandorum (2009) ++++ | |
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All of you are awake after a prolonged hibernation in a ship that left Earth before the Luciferine Wars, you don't remember who you are or what are you doing here, but there is something that worries you even more: chilling screams are heard in the hallways and something is closing in on you...
| ++++ Dredd (2012) ++++ | |
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The Dirt Maze is overpopulated and in the streets multiple crimes and worse are committed, someone will have to take care of cleaning them thoroughly...
| ++++ Mad Max Fury Road (2015) ++++ | |
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Freight transport across the wastes of Mars is a risky but lucrative undertaking, who wants to sign up to provide an armed escort service?
Music
To finish this post I leave you with some of the musical pieces which have inspired Álvaro López at the time of creating Satanic Mars and the soundtrack of Heavy Metal (1981).
| ++++ Soundtrack of Marte Satánico ++++ | |
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Youtube | Dop music Troops of Doom, from the album Morbid Visions by the Brasilian band Sepultura (Official website | Wikipedia) Youtube | Dop music África paga, from the album Agotados de esperar el fin by the Spanish band Ilegales (Official website | Wikipedia) Youtube | Dop music Protest and Survive, by the British band Discharge (Official website | Wikipedia) Youtube | Dop music Violent Pacification, by the North American band Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (D.R.I.) (Official website | Wikipedia) Youtube | Dop music The Wizard, by the British band Black Sabbath (Official website | Wikipedia) |
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| ++++ Soundtrack of Heavy Metal (1981) ++++ | |
| Soundtrack of Heavy Metal (1981) by Elmer Bernstein (orchestral themes) | Youtube | |
| Soundtrack of Heavy Metal (1981) (heavy metal themes) | Youtube | |
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Youtube | Dop music |
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| Álbum Fire of Unknown Origin, by the North American band Blue Öyster Cult (Official website | Wikipedia) | |
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Next post
In the next post I will finish this series talking about other games and books which can be used with Satanic Mars.
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