Hi there Fantha Trackers. Joining me today all the way from Spain are Lara Franco Cobo and her partner Alberto Izquierdo Lopez who chat about their love of Star Wars, the classic films of Kurosawa and his main star Toshiro Mifune.
FT: Thank you for joining us today. Where did your love of Star Wars come from?
LFC: Well, to answer that question I must make a memory exercise. During my childhood, Star Wars was something already there but I did not feel so much interest in it. I grew up and during my teen days I discovered geek universes by the hand of the The Lord of the Rings novels and movies, so during that journey I became more interested in Star Wars. Then I met my soulmate who is a Star Wars expert. I finally became a completely Star Wars lover after that.
AIL: My love for Star Wars started when I was given a full pack of the VHS Original Trilogy in 1995 for Christmas, you know, with the remastered THX technology. I was eight years old. I watched the movies lots of times after that and I even started making my own comics which still are in my possession in the best conditions I could keep them on those old days.
I also had some experiences playing with some Kenner figures -I remember seeing packs that announced something called Shadows of the Empire and didn’t understand what was that all about because those characters didn’t sound familiar to me- but I really became a lover of the Micro Machines series. They were the ones who kept the Star Wars saga in my memory during those years when, for a child of my age and resources, there was nothing more to enjoy with. Everything changed with the year 1999 and the arrival of the Prequel Trilogy. Definitely that was the moment when I practically devoted myself to the Star Wars universe, but my young age forced me to really depend on my parents and the money that, as a teen, began to give me weekly for my hobbies: comic books, a kind of hobby inherited from my father that I slowly tried to develop on my own.
FT: What characters resonates with you the most?
LFC: This answer depends on the saga. For the Original Trilogy I would say Han Solo because he is such an anti-hero, a human with a complicated background whom at the beginning do not inspire us so much truthfulness. For the Prequels Darth Maul is my choice. I must admit villains are more interesting.
I love the Expanded Universe too and being aware this could sound obvious or maybe not so much surprising have to say Quinlan Vos character is my favorite. Probably because he was in the middle of everything, playing with both sides of the Force. If I had to answer about the The Clone Wars TV series I would choose Captain Rex because, well, he is so cool, isn’t he? And to end with I feel I cannot connect with character from the Sequels same way as I connected with the others. I prefer seeing the end of this new saga to be able to answer properly.
AIL: The same thing happens to me. It depends a lot on the saga we are talking about, although to be honest my liking never changed much. Originally I was amazed with Darth Vader or the Emperor himself, both champions of a Galactic Empire that, although very attractive in the films, could really be considered as the future of a dystopian reality no one would never wanted for the world. The arrival of the only Star Wars encyclopedia published in Spain to this day, Mr. Sansweet’s one, opened me a great range of possibilities through all the mysterious characters collected inside.
My natural choices were the dark lords of the Sith, you know, Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Ludo Kressh, Exar Kun … characters from something called Tales of the Jedi whose identities and where did they appear I was able to discover when the first computer with internet finally arrived my house. I suppose it is because of that series the Star Wars comics I most wanted to achieve on my beginnings were that particular one unfortunately incomplete in Spain at that time. Because I didn’t know that, you would have been able to see me as a naive young comic reader asking about the whole run existence in the comic stores my father used to visit. To this day I have always felt a special predilection for that era of the Star Wars history alongside all the publications that expanded or illustrated it better (the story of Karnes Muur in Legacy, the chronicle of Sorzus Syn in the Book of Sith, and such). I don’t care they are now considered Legends, they are still my favorites.
FT: George Lucas brought so many amazing things into Star Wars, what are your favourite parts?
LFC: Probably this is going to be my shortest answer. The fact of creating an expanded universe full of possibilities would be mine.
AIL: Yeah, totally agree with Lara. Impossible not to speak about all that stuff appeared just after the original screening of Episode IV back in 1977. The release of the very first of the three Prequel movies just showed how George Lucas spirit, Star Wars spirit, was more than alive inside those old and new fans wishing for more and more of this fiction multimedia universe. If there’s a fact with the power to join all the fans across the world I think that would be it, the possibility of having an enormous universe of cosmic fiction available for everybody thanks to all those different point of views the director introduced in its stories and us, as spectators, still can do ours.
FT: Tell us how you got involved in watching the films of Akira Kurosawa.
LFC: My partner loves the, how can I say, old eras of Japan, so he showed me few movies of the master which were set in that era and so the discovering of all his cinematic universe began.
AIL: Yeah, that’s exactly how it happened. From the beginning I admit my adolescence saw how I became a consumer of animation and printed material from Japan. It helped a lot to create in me an interest for their culture and way of life, nothing really special, just the ancient love for what’s outside, but if there’s a more personal reason that’s my father. My father not only loved (and still loves) comic books, especially european ones, also loved classic cinema, and it was thanks to him that at night we used to see together the most cultural spanish television channel ever created which included different programs about movies or just old movies broadcasted at different times of the day.
Akira Kurosawa’s films were no exception. Years later, after being part of an internet forum dedicated to the recovery of japanese cinema in general in order to spread it to all interested spanish speakers, I dedicated myself to remember those years of youth on my own, specializing myself in cinematographic themes set in the samurai eras par excellence, from the 12th century to the 19th. Of course the first elections were Kurosawa’s films, namely, The men who tread on the tiger’s Tail (1945), Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of blood (1957), The lower depths (1957) and more.
Thanks to the love Lara developed for Kurosawa post-Takeshi Shimura fetish actor, Toshiro Mifune, after showing him these and other films, I could discover how the director had more masterpieces in his filmography than just those set in ancient times.
FT: What is your favourite performance of Toshiro Mifune?
LFC: Choose just one is so difficult so let’s say which one is the most remarkable to me. The one that made a point apart inside me was Throne of blood. It was the third movie I saw of him following that aforementioned viewing of Kurosawa’s ancient Japan movies Alberto showed me, because the first one was Rashomon and then Seven Samurai (1954). I loved this last one too thanks to its well-written characters and all of those unforgettable performances, but you know, there were a lot of people shining by themselves, and if I would have to define the first one, the one if the best for me, with few words would be like this: It’s a Mifune movie, no matter the number of actors and actresses who participated in the film. On it we find possibly one his best performance because the film was made for his brilliance.
AIL: Great to see how Lara has this question very clear in his mind although initially it seemed that it started by saying it was not like that at all, right?? Not my case I’m afraid. I do love Toshiro Mifune too, I can assure you, but the problem for me is the fact of why I discovered him alongside all those awesome Japanese actors and actress from the old days. The answer, well, you already know it, movie’s background. Firstly the background showing feudal Japan and later the background of the most historically contemporary Japan, both in times of peace or in times of war. While writing right now I can remember some of the performances that quickly pop up in my mind. He as the lover in An engagement ring (1950), the thief in Rashomon, the old man in I live in fear (1955), the crazy official in Desperate outpost (1959), the storm god in The three treasures (1959), the drunk guy in Animas Trujano (1962), the general in Japan’s longest day (1967)… maybe the way they have suddenly appeared could mean those are my favourite performances.
FT: Mifune almost played Obi-Wan Kenobi. What do you think would his acting as a Jedi be like?
LFC: A very serious one without not so much words to say, with a very bad mood. One who would provide wise advices.
AIL: That’s a good question hardy difficult to answer if I don’t want to repeat what Lara thinks. I can’t imagine him doing something different from what Sir Alec Guinness did on the film. Toshiro Mifune was a very good professional and would have done what George Lucas said the same way he did during the days of non-Japanese filming he spent with directors John Frankenheimer, John Boorman, or Terence Young. Lara is the expert, but if I remember well problems with Mifune were more likely to appear during contract negotiations.
FT: You both collect many comics. What are some of your favourite comics and characters. There are many Star Wars comics. Have you collected any? What are your favourites?
LFC: I do love Star Wars comics -specifically those from Dark Horse Comics years and the newspaper strips original run – but as geek team we see ourselves in the need to divide our forces in order to face all the purchases we usually make every month. Because of that, may I present myself as the one who buy Marvel superhero comics. My favorite character is Wolverine and be sure I always try to buy all the collections where he appears. Black Panther is another character I loved too but not at the same level. On the other hand I also collect all the Marvel’s crossovers the editorial has been publishing since Siege, which appeared in Spain in 2010. If I would have to talk about female characters there they are X-23, Storm, Emma Frost… To end with, you know pretty well I am following right now a few super classic Thanos stories that are being published in Spain as a consequence of the incoming Infinity War movie with the porpoise of getting more knowledge about this amazing villain. As I said, we are a team, and so is my love who is going to tell you about our Star Wars interests.
AIL: Thanks my dear. Yes, we really collect a lot of comics. Maybe too many. As I already mentioned, my love for this genre is a direct inheritance from my father, a person from whom I met the great European classic comic-books, and some Americans ones too, that even today I still read and buy when I have the opportunity. I wish I could be more up to date but it’s difficult. If I had to name several titles or themes that ended up defining my comic collection those are Conan the Barbarian, Dragon Ball, Alien, Lovecraft, and, of course, Star Wars. Now, if I had to name the one that I have the most passion for it would be Star Wars for sure, and the fact that people tend to consider us with their opinions and comments one of the best collectors of Star Wars comics in Spain helps a lot to realize how time has passed since I timidly started around 2002 to buy Spanish editions first in stores and later online when I reached the majority age in 2005, eighteen years.
Nor would anything be what it is today without Lara, who shortly after being officially my partner, encouraged me to return to complete the collection after a year or two of break. I am very grateful to her for helping me reaching the position we occupy together among so many friends, guides, and teachers -you know who you are guys!! Love you – we have made during this long journey. And here we are, more than a decade later and with finally the goal achieved. We own all Star Wars stories published in comic format that have ever existed, mostly first editions coming from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, and yeah, the Spain of 1986 with its weird Lucasfilm approved original creations. Join that a defense of Spanish publications (I don’t mind if I end having many different versions of the same story) and many years of obsession with variant covers from the Dark Horse Comics years. Thanks to all this hard work of completeness and enjoyment now I can say that, after having in our hands so many different editions, I think I feel a special predilection for the following comics: those originally published in the United Kingdom by the publisher Marvel Comics UK alongside Grandreams Annuals also from there, the newspaper strips from so many US and canadian newspapers/supplements, the few webstrips that managed to be printed and published, and those examples of very rare editions such as the mini-comics or the Droids comic printed on an Apple Jacks cereal box. There are endless possibilities, and the best thing is that in that end you realize you have become not only a collector of stories but also a collector of editions, so you can enjoy how each country adapted the material at will.
FT: Thanks for joining us today.