Megalopolis, the new movie from Francis Ford Coppola, is getting dragged pretty heavily. There’s lots of drama surrounding it and the trailer that dropped yesterday has been pulled because it uses some made up negative critic quotes about The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Dracula.
Archive of the trailer here:
What I find stunning is you could tell me it’s an adaptation of the comic book “Mister X” and I would totally believe you!
Mister X is pretty obscure now, but it was a popular indie book back in the 80s, originally illustrated by Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame.
The basic premise is an architect was hired to design a city using the premise of “psychetecture”. Architecture designed to promote mental health and well being. Sort of the polar opposite of Lovecraftian architecture.
Naturally, business interests interfered, altered his designs, and now the city is driving people mad. Mister X takes it on himself to correct the problems his city is causing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_X_(Vortex)
“Mister X’s influence can be seen and was acknowledged in films like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil,[6] Tim Burton’s Batman,[7] and Alex Proyas’ Dark City.[8]”
The author, Dean Motter, followed Mister X with related books “Electropolis” from Image comics and “Terminal City” from Vertigo, all worth reading.
So if you catch the trailer for Megalopolis and go “Well that looks interesting…” or are a fan of Brazil, Batman or Dark City, here’s some reading material for you:
Mister X - The Archives:
https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3000-129/Mister-X-The-Archives-TPB
Electropolis:
https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/16-341/Electropolis-TPB
Terminal City:
https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/terminal-city-1996/terminal-city
Terminal City: Aerial Graffiti
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Terminal_City:_Aerial_Graffiti_Vol_1_1
There is a “Complete Terminal City” graphic novel, but it’s hard to find.
