Polychrome

Polychrome is the "'practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.

Classical world

Some very early polychrome pottery has been excavated on Minoan Crete such as at the Bronze Age site of Phaistos. In ancient Greece sculptures were painted in strong colors. The paint was frequently limited to parts depicting clothing, hair, and so on, with the skin left in the natural color of the stone. But it could cover sculptures in their totality. The painting of Greek sculpture should not merely be seen as an enhancement of their sculpted form but has the characteristics of a distinct style of art. For example, the pedimental sculptures from the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina have recently been demonstrated to have been painted with bold and elaborate patterns, depicting, amongst other details, patterned clothing. The polychrome of stone statues was paralleled by the use of materials to distinguish skin, clothing and other details in chryselephantine sculptures, and by the use of metals to depict lips, nipples, etc., on high-quality bronzes like the Riace bronzes.

Polychrome (Oz)

Polychrome is a cloud fairy and the youngest daughter of the Rainbow, thus she is a "sky princess". She first appears in The Road to Oz (1909), which is the fifth book of the original fourteen Oz books by American author by L. Frank Baum. She also appears several times in later Oz stories of the classic series.

Appearances

When Dorothy Gale, her pet dog Toto, the Shaggy Man, and Button-Bright first encounter Polychrome in the fifth chapter of The Road to Oz, she is seen dancing to keep herself warm, after accidentally sliding off her father's rainbow and landing on the surface of the Earth. (Her father withdrew his bow without realizing she had been left behind.) Polychrome is described as:

In personality she is sweet and ethereal and generally the archetypal good fairy. Polychrome is more a decorative than an active presence in The Road to Oz, but she makes positive contributions in her subsequent appearances in Baum's fictions. She is very sensitive to cold and, while on Earth, often dances simply to keep warm. In Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) she summons the dragon Quox to rescue the captured Ozites from the Nome King. (The Nome King, it may be noted in passing, is dazzled by the beautiful fairy and begs her to remain in his underground realm, which she refuses.) In The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918), she rescues the rusted Captain Fyter the Tin Soldier by oiling his joints, just as Dorothy had done for the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), and she uses her magic to let the protagonists fit through a rabbit hole. In Sky Island (1912) she provides the solution to the central characters' main problem.

Nocturnals

Nocturnals is a comic book title created by artist Dan Brereton which debuted as a six-part limited series in 1994-1995 under Malibu Comics collectively subtitled as Black Planet.

It follows the supernatural exploits of Doc Horror and his daughter Eve in Pacific City, a fictional California town which seems to have more than its fair share of paranormal activity. The series is noted for its eclectic combination of pulp storytelling, fantastic creatures, moody atmosphere, and colorful characters, as well as Brereton's signature painted art style.

Publication history

The eponymous original limited series ran in 1995 and was published under Malibu Comics' Bravura imprint. This was followed by story that ran in Dark Horse Presents #125-127 (October–November, 1997) that was collected by Dark Horse Comics into a 48 page comic book as The Nocturnals: Witching Hour (May 1998). Moving to Oni Press the next outing was in a giant-sized one-shot "The Nocturnals: Troll Bridge" (October 2000). Still at Oni The Nocturnals: The Dark Forever was a three-issue mini-series that started in 2001 (July 2001 - February 2002). The most recent publication is The Nocturnals: Carnival of Beasts (July 2008), a prestige format 64-page comic book, published by Image Comics, containing three stories.