For about a year and some change, just prior to the release of Gorillaz‘s second album Demon Days, I was a frequent lurker on unofficial Gorillaz fansites and forums.
The band’s self-titled 2001 debut had got its hooks in me years prior, and after buying just about every comic by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett, I needed more.
My anticipation for a new album was matched by a desire for a full-length animated movie — the Gorillaz skits “G Bites,” contained on the DVD Phase One: Celebrity Take Down, expanded on the absurdist humor and the neo-occult, ’70s horror-indebted style of the band — confirmed for me that a movie simply had to happen.
I checked daily for new updates. I devoured interview excerpts from Damon Albarn and Hewlett, sometimes expressing optimism for a film, and at other times, a resignation that their vision was too out of step with the animation industry.
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