Mythology, Folklore and Historical figures for comic ideas

Mythology is fucking awesome, full of crazy shit from all the people of the world. That also makes them a great source of ideas to play off of for making our own comic books, so let's share some mythology and talk about how we'd use those ideas in a comic. Pic is the 8 headed dragon Orochi (a tale adapted into movies as well as the basis for a King of Fighters storyline that was adapted into the comics) and a mythological Hindu weapon that could DESTROY THE MULTIVERSE.

All cultures are open to discussion, even if you feel certain ones are played out too much, maybe you can find something unique. Just talk about shit that inspired you, or that you think would inspire other anons.

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurupi
nocloo.com/golden-age-childrens-book-illustrations-gallery/nggallery/golden-age-chindrens-book-illustrations/
twitter.com/AnonBabble

Arthurian myth gets used constantly in comics but I feel that a good 90% of the writers use it with all the subtlety of a brick to the window and overall have a child's understanding / extremely fucked up bizarre interpretation of it.

Any particular details or themes from it you'd like to see focused on a lot more?

I have an idea where different characters will be loosely based on different myths of folklore, mainly to help me figure out their character. Two are very connected and draw inspiration from Castor and Pollux, the Gemini. I think I might look more into American folktales for inspiration for two other characters, but it's not a subject I know much about yet.

forgot the stories behind these pics.

...

...

...

I had to look up those Blemmyae, or 'headless men'. Weird that there are so many depictions of an idea like that, some with a face in the middle of the chest, others with eyes near the shoulders.

What a cutie little lantern ghost. Know much about them?

Too often all they do is drop names but don't evoke anything else. I mean a lot of stuff does that beyond comics of course.
Well before comics became SJW there was a King Arthur comic series where the whole Round Table got reborn in the future but for no reason some knights were gender or race swapped so Tristan had to live his new life as a proud woman of color, etc.

did i do a dump of picturebook illustrations ? can't remember

Camelot 3000? I think I remember it as being one of those things that stuck out on the comic shop shelves, but not enough to get me to pick it up.

Yeah that's it, and Morgan Le Fay was leading an army of aliens

If you didn't or did one again, I'd be down for that shit nigga. I love those old kind of drawings.

I'm surprised no ones brought up this guy yet.

Arabian mythology is quite overused.

Some of my favourite retellings of old mythology.

The Impundulu a.k.a the lightning bird. It has two forms, a giant human sized bird and a beautiful young man. They feed off the blood of humans or other birds. They are usually in servitude of witches or witch doctors. Mostly to kill said witch's enemies. If it's not carrying out it's master's biding it's probably seducing women. It's also basically immortal since it can't be shot, stabbed, or drowned. Fire however, is the only way to kill it. On the downside it will cause illness and bad luck if killed. The Impundulu's witch is always female and will be passed down from mother to daughter in a possibly endless cycle since it out lives everyone. And it can fly and shoots lightning.

Bam, straight from African mythology a has potential for a comic.

I have a rather simple idea. A boy is kidnapped by a faerie and is raised in wherever the hell faeries come from, as a slave. Eventually, despite being twisted by fae magic into something barely human anymore, he holds onto enough of his humanity to lead a rebellion.

My idea for this fae land is basically a mythological Commorragh, that is slightly nicer to its non faery inhabitants.

I knew Tanookis were supposed to have big balls but that's some furry hyper fetish-tier shit right there.

kek

in bulgaria/macedonia we've got krali marko and hitar petar (clever/sly peter)
first guy is basically hercules, kills wyverns and doesn't afraid
second guy is smarter than your average peasant and uses that to get his way. like tricking a dragon that he's super strong by crushing a rock into water (surprise, the rock is actually feta cheese) or tricking a dragon into boiling himself by telling him that that's how he got his super strength
then we've got a trillion stories about "the three brothers and the "

excalibur was shit
merlin was the superior arthurian adaptation

This character is also present in many Polish folk tales, although either called Jan (John or Jack in English) or just Shoemaker/Cobbler. He also defeats a dragon in the story of founding Cracow, where he tricks the best with sheep stuffed with sulfur, tar, and spices. That gives dragon burn in his gut, so he ends up drinking from Visula until bursting.
Three brother appear in a lot of stories too. Most notable being one that Poland, Bohemia (modern Czech Republic+Slovakia), and Ruthenia (Bielorus + Northwestern Ukraine) were founded by three siblings.

There is no Krail Marko figure that I know of, aside from Zawisza Czarny and Janosik.
Zawisza Czarny was a knight that grew into folk hero. He wore custom black armor, never lost a duel, religious, merciful, and always honored his word. No superhuman abilities, other than being very skilled. He got killed by Ottomans.
Janosik was an outlaw and highwayman who dwelled in Tatra mountains. He was a real person, but folktales eventually made him evolve into a hero. Janosik was basically a Slavic Robin Hood, who used shepherd's axe instead of a bow. In some legends he is very strong, can leap over anything by using "vaulting" on his axe, and has a very good aim when hitting with or throwing his axe. Janosik is also very Popular in Slovakia.

That is pretty good, you could go alot of places with that idea.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurupi

His penis is said to be prehensile, and owing to its length he is supposed to be able to extend it through doors, windows, or other openings in a home and impregnate a sleeping woman without even having to enter the house.

These myths so far in this thread are pretty interesting, and it's definitely giving me some inspiration on a in-universe fairy tale for a story.

Make sure to use that dick guy!

If you interpret gods as just being aliens then this might be up your alley

get out

Kirby was great about both using and creating new mythology. I'd love to read a book just analyzing all the crazy stuff he put into things, he helped define a lot of the cosmic side of both of the big two we take for granted today.

come to think of it, i cbb'd. there's more here than i could dump anyway
nocloo.com/golden-age-childrens-book-illustrations-gallery/nggallery/golden-age-chindrens-book-illustrations/

Absolutely disgusting. Tabbard and scabbard or go home.

If you want to go vanilla the superior pantheon exists , why settle for less ?

I only watched a few episodes of Ulysses 31, but shit was pretty interesting.

Never got around to reading the old Devil Dinosaur stuff, but I'd love to someday.