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Medea Designs for "Talos"
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From the short comic story "The Life and Death of Talos the Bronze", comes Medea; the sultry witch and the object of Talos' unfortunate affections. When it comes to Jason's classic love interest, Medea has way too many different variations within the Argonaut legend. But the basics always remain the same, such as her being a sorceress and priestess to the goddess Hecate, and falling in love with, then ultimately aiding the hero Jason in retrieving the Golden Fleece.
Some versions of the story also makes Medea the instigator of Talos' demise, either through tricking the giant into removing his own Achilles-like weakness, or through magic which drives the poor bronze guy fatally insane. But for the comic written with my collaborator Philip Clark, we took a more appealing (though no less sinister) route by having Medea simply seduce the simple minded Talos with her feminine charms, causing the giant to fall hard for the little human lady.
Originally I thought Medea would look better (AND more family friendly) in the more classy, violet colored outfit which covers up her curvaceous figure. But to my shocking surprise, it was Philip who suggested the way-more revealing red / fusha outfit, which he justified would make better sense since Medea would be traveling with the Argo-boys at this point, thus more ragged clothes were needed. That and she had to be as hot as blazes for an otherwise oblivious giant security guard of the island Crete to take notice, making the red dress our Super-Sexy winner.
Regardless of regalia (fancy talk for clothes), Medea's face and overall appearance is loosely based on actress Nancy Kovack (see the links at the bottom), who portrayed the character in the classic 1963 film version of "Jason and the Argonauts". This makes my Medea one of the few designs for this project NOT based on ancient art from the story's original time period. And who could blame me for the visual inspiration, because Nancy was stunning in that temple dance sequence (hot as blazes indeed)!
Personality wise, she is more openly ruthless then most other versions of the character, and unlike the title Medea portrayed in Euripides' Greek tragedy, it's all done for laughs. I'd like to think our version of Jason started the quest for the Golden Fleece, but by the time his new girlfriend came on board, she took over command (not unlike the girlfriend subplot in "This Is Spinal Tap"). And although Jason is more then okay with it (do I really need to say why and how), it does become a point of annoyance for the other crew members, most notably Acastus.
Because of the darkly humorous undertones with the character established in the "Talos" strip, I'd like to revisit Medea in future works...maybe another short on who NOT to hire as a reliable babysitter?
Extra Links and Related Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea
http://www.cultsirens.com/kovack/kovack.htm
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