I was lucky to interview Greg Broadmore from Weta Workshop last year, just before his 'Dr Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory' was published in January 2008 by Dark Horse Comics. Greg is the guy who designed the totally steam-punktastic Rayguns as seen in WIRED, made real by Weta Originals and lusted after by geeks worldwide.

Featuring artwork from Greg Broadmore and animation by Chelfyn Baxter, this is the first interview in a series of three where Greg talks about The Rayguns. Check it out at the g33k show.I was lucky to interview Greg Broadmore from Weta Workshop last year, just before his 'Dr Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory' was published in January 2008 by Dark Horse Comics. Greg is the guy who designed the totally steam-punktastic Rayguns as seen in WIRED, made real by Weta Originals and lusted after by geeks worldwide.

Featuring artwork from Greg Broadmore and animation by Chelfyn Baxter, this is the first interview in a series of three where Greg talks about The Rayguns. Check it out at the g33k show.Transcript

"Dr Grordbort was born three or four years, and just grew out of the rayguns themselves because they were the first things I did. I started a series of paintings for myself, just in my spare time I would do these paintings to put on my wall (which I still haven't actually got around to putting on my wall funnily enough). I would do these paintings and when I did each one I would give it a little bit of back-story, give it a manufacturer, and they started becoming something.

So I invented Dr Grodbort to be either the designer or the distributer of all these weapons and from that I ended up writing a catalogue, Dr Grodborts Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory which is coming out in January , through Darkhorse. That allowed me to write the backstory and the world of these Rayguns and not just these Rayguns but all the inventions and accoutrements that Dr Grordbort would make or sell. It's like a 1920s / 1930s style Sears & Roebuck Catalogue of inventions and contraptions and deathtraps and spaceships, and just all this junk that Dr Grodbort sells.

It's all products, but it's all written so you get an insight into the background of the world through the context of their advertising writing. On top of that I managed to fit a 12-page comic of a character called Lord Cockswain which is one of the main characters of Dr Grordborts Universe. He is a great white hunter / adventurer character, a great big buffoon of a man who goes to Venus to wreak havoc on the wildlife there, and destroy it all with Dr Grordbort's Rayguns." (Greg Broadmore)

About the Dingus Directory

The book is a thirty-two-page catalogue that chronicles the world of Doctor Grordbort. Inventor extraordinaire, Dr Grordbort has a gadget for everything, and in this meticulous catalogue of weaponry, he showcases a world where chivalry is not dead, advertising is beautiful, and rayguns look too pretty to be lethal. Inside the book you will find the shiniest new bifurnilizers, metal manservants, and automated travel loungers. Also included for entertainment and scientific education is a compartmentalised picture story (some call them comics) of the world-famous naturalist, Lord Cockswain.

Written and illustrated by Weta Workshop conceptual designer Greg Broadmore, Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory showcases dozens of arcane inventions and contraptions.

"As a kid I was massively inspired and awed by the black-and-white serials on Sunday afternoon TV, in particular the 1930s Flash Gordon and the many sci-fi movies of that era," says Greg.

"This book allowed me to pay homage to that world of science fiction and create something new at the same time. And it's full of guns, did I mention guns? Rayguns actually, the best type."

The MsBehaviour Files: The Fantabulous World of Dr Grordbort

The MsBehaviour Files: DIY TV

As well as being TBI's strategist & columnist, MsBehaviour is Producer & Presenter of the g33k show, Fridays, 8 p.m. on Alt TV. She is also
Managing Directrix of L33t Media, which produces 3D iTV, Animation & Machinima.

02/07/08