(Monday) Clint B: Lucifer as Antihero (22 Points)

In 1667 John Milton wrote an epic poem titled "Paradise Lost" in open verse. It follows 2 story arcs, in the first It has Satan referred to as "Lucifer" in the poem, while in the second arc the story of Adam and Eve is dealt with. For many Lucifer would be considered a despicable villain yet in Milton's Poem he has all the traits of an anti-hero. He is suave, erudite, charismatic and charming. He is the most beautiful of all the angels and is Gods light bearer. But he is cast into hell by God because he leads a band of angels to rebel against God who he believes has favoured men above the angels.

Not going to go into it all but he is clearly listed as an anti hero here (LINK). Feel free to argue amongst your selves if you disagree with him being an anti-hero but he will be in the post to Curt as you read this. Muhahahaha! (evil Satanic laugh).

I must admit I was stumped by the anti-hero category but as one of my favourite artists (Gustav Dore) helped illustrate Paradise Lost it was a short step to paying homage to him by completing a figure.

This figure is by West Wind Productions from their "Lucifer's War" range. It is supposedly Gabriel but as I liked it better than any of the devils they produced I can change all the colours to represent a fallen angel. As such I have given it a red cloak as well as red hair and black crow like wings to give it more of an evil feeling.

If I had settled on blond hair and white dove wings it would have looked more angelic than I wanted. But I did not want the figure to look too much like a devil or demon. Instead I wanted to stay a little closer to the epic poem and have an angel which had been cast from Gods Heaven. As such I went for bird wings as opposed to bat wings.

The base is just a flint from my garden and some cork chips painted to look like all the same type of rock. I must admit it really was great fun to base this figure as the normal slota base has the figure leaning forward at an angle I considered ODD! The figure is just a bit bigger than 28mm but my basing makes it feel huge, which it is not.

So there you Go Curt expect this wrapped boxed and sent to you soon.

From Curt:

Wow, this is a wonderful figure Clint, thank you so much. I really like what you've done with the overall composition of the vignette, especially in regards to its basing and colour choice - great job.

I think it's particularly apropos to have a challenging interpretation of the antihero theme especially after the events in Paris this week. This figure reminds me of Arturo Perez-Revertes' 'The Club Dumas' where Lucifer plays a very complex (and strangely sympathetic) role in the story, contesting our views of sin, forgiveness and regret.  

Again, thanks very much Clint!