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11/19/2016

Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins Show Pieces Kickstarter Limited Signed Screenplays Boxset

Screenplays by Alan Moore, shorts directed by Mitch Jenkins (other art credits are detailed in the article). All material is ©Orphans of the Storm and Lex Projects. For a complete list of  all books reviewed in this blog, please visit the index page.





This article deals with the limited signed screenplays boxset editions of Show Pieces. Show Pieces is a collection of five shorts directed by Mitch Jenkins and written by Alan Moore (the shorts are linked together in the same setting). This project, initially started to fund His Heavy Heart short, was financed through a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign launched by Lex Records in June 2013. Some of the shorts were released as downloads at the end of 2013 (His Heavy Heart shooting had started in January 2014), and the first physical DVD boxsets were shipped in August 2015. My own reward was at the £150 level (limited to 100), and featured signed screenplays of all 5 shorts in addition to the signed DVD boxset. This reward was eventually shipped in November 2016, with a total printing run of 70 copies. It consists of a boxset (12.5 x 9 inches or 32 x 23 cm) with the limited signed screenplays book, and a dedicated empty space to put the limited signed DVD boxset already shipped in August 2015.

first when the boxset is opened we have the screenplay book

here I have filled the boxset in the empty space below the book with my DVD boxset
Notice that the DVD boxset shipped in 2015 was not yet "limited signed", I will come to it latter on this article.
Now let's take a look at the limited signed screenplay book:



This canvas hardcover book (12 x 8.5 inches or 30 x 22 cm, 152 pages, no ISBN) comes with plain black back cover, second and third of cover. Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins have signed the second of cover, that is also numbered (mine is #32/70).



the very light glued binding
He are pictures from the signing session in August 2016, posted by Lex Records on the Kickstarter page:



In addition to the screenplays, we also have storyboards. One of the picture below described the specificity and exclusive contents of this book.






So let's begin with the Act of Faith screenplay (this one short has very few dialogues).



So one of the highlights of this book is the presence of Alan Moore art!






Mitch Jenkins' shot notes is another exclusive content from this book.









The most comprehensive section of this book is dedicated to His Heavy Heart short:


His Heavy Heart screenplay is accompanied by Phil Garner storyboards, which is also an exclusive to this hardcover book.





The book ends with these two group shots.



Now we will continue with the limited signed DVD boxset:





In my reward, this boxset was reputed to be signed with a limited print run. It turns out that I have received the regular Kickstarter DVD boxset in August 2015, and a limited signed card to put inside the DVD boxset in November 2016, shipped with the screenplays boxset (I have decided to put mine on the storyboard paperback tray case). The hardcover DVD boxset (10.5 x 8.5 inches or 27 x 21 cm, referenced as LEX104BOXX) features an outer slipcase, and a wraparound tray case where the two disks (DVD and CD), and the storyboard paperback are inserted.

front slipcase and tray case

back slipcase and tray case
 All the names written on the tray case are contributors of the Kickstarter campaign. I am one of them here.



the opened tray case

the numbering is coherent with the hardcover screenplays book

the DVD extras are also described on the slipcase back cover (see picture above)

to the left, the storyboard paperback
Notice that in addition to this Kickstarter version, Lex Records have proposed through their website another version of this boxset (reference as LEX104BOX with only one X at the end), with a variant slipcase cover (and there were also a signed edition of these). Pictures below originated from Lex Records and Orphan of the Storm websites:





Now, let's pursue with the paperback description:

back cover is plain black
This paperback (10.2 x 8 inches or 26 x 20 cm, ISBN: 978-0-9932258-0-2, 116 pages) features plain black second and third of cover, and Northampton "Day & Night" end-papers.


maps illustration by Edward Tuckwell

yest it is Nighthampton

the very tight glued binding
The book designed by Manuel Sepulveda contains the Show Pieces storyboards as illustrated by Kristian Hammerstad. A picture below details the content of the paperback.




The five shorts are part of a grander scale project called The Show (hence these Show Pieces),  aimed to develop into a feature film and a TV series.




The screenplay texts presented in the paperback are identical to the one printed in the hardcover screenplays book (they have been edited from the raw originals).








A Professional Relationship is used as an interlude in the middle of Jimmy's End storyboards









The next section of the paperback is dedicated to the lyrics of the songs used in the shorts and the CD.






The book finishes by cuttings produced for the newspapers that can be spotted in the shorts (one article is written by Faith Harrington, one of the main characters of Show Pieces)





I won't describe further the DVD/CD contents, but for anyone interested, there are additional info on this project and others on Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins Orphans of The Storm website.

Here is the links to Jimmy's End animated storyboard (Kristian Hammerstad), and Jimmy's End behind the scene.

Also for memory's sake here are pictures of the original mock-ups of the boxsets (a signed bookplate was originally planned).
Let's begin with the DVD boxset:





And here is the screenplay book boxset (the final design is quite similar to the final product):






7 comments:

  1. I appreciate your attention to detail. I was in the same reward tier as you were, and thought I'd share some pictures with you of what I decided to do with the signed card. I was disappointed that the large box itself did not have anything on the spine, so I decdied, after looking at Moore's signature on the card and exactly where he signed it, to perform an operation on the card. I sliced it and used the gold corner stickers to put Moore's signature on the spine. Mitch's signature is thrown in the box somewhere, I don't really care... I think it makes a nice topper sitting on my Moore shelves.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2815718/mooreshelf01.jpg
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2815718/mooreshelf02.jpg

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    1. I had spotted two weeks ago your pictures on the Kickstarter comment section, and I am glad you have also put them here. And I took the opportunity to ask you here what is the last Watchmen oversized piece on the left? Is it the French portfolio?

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    2. and also what is the Alan Moore Thunderstruck book?

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  2. It's the American version of the portfolio published by DC after the French one. It has the same content as the French one, with the addition of full print-size copies of the 12 original issue covers. The whole thing has a (I think) new painted cover that's very nice, of the button in the bloody gutter.

    It's not surprising you don't know Thunderstruck. That's my undergraduate English literature thesis for university. The full title is Thunderstruck: The Building, Binding, and Collapse of Symbol Systems in the Work of Alan Moore. It covers This is Information, From Hell, The Birth Caul, Snakes and Ladders, and Promethea. This was done in about 2006, so I was quite surprised and happy that Moore used the word "thunderstruck" again recently, in the promotional blurb for Jerusalem.

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  3. Thank you for this. I just bought the screenplay/storyboard book on eBay, and wanted to know more about it. Mine came only with the book, signature card, and some weird gold triangle stickers, which, I can see from your photos, is meant to mount the signature card on the DVD set. My set is number 34. It didn't come with anything else, mostly I was attracted to the signature and limited nature, so I will hunt down the DVD set and the rest soon.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Spencer. You were a backer of the Kickstarter campaign or do you have bought a resold copy?

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    2. Resold copy bought on eBay. Unfortunately, I somehow missed the kickstarter campaign. Would have loved to have contributed and gotten some more exclusives through that.

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