LeViathan (Shrinking Violet) by Ben Harvey - Homage to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman

Every so often, a piece comes along that just whacks me upside the head with what a beautiful work of art it is. This lovely Vi by Ben Harvey is one such case. I took one look at the auction listing and immediately resolved to win it.

I think it’s the colours on this one that really put it over the top for me. Harvey’s watercolours are just gorgeous, and there are so many layers to the colours that you really have the take the time to study the piece and see all the little details. I think the best examples of it are the slight hints of dark blue and green in Vi’s hair, along with the green in her belt, hands, and legs, but there’s also a really subtle orange outline around her that sort of doubles as shading in some places. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many “wrong” colours used to such great effect before! You don’t even pick up on how much of her hair has been left white because the highlight effect just feels so natural. Even the blues, browns, and oranges of the buildings and background are perfectly chosen to help the main figure pop.

I probably wouldn’t have picked up on it (you’ll have to excuse my ignorance of mid-century horror cult classics!), but the auction listing pointed out that this piece is actually an homage to the theatrical release poster for the 1958 movie “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman”! Vi is portrayed towering over a city and holding a blue car in her left hand, just as Nancy Archer is on the movie poster. I’ve included the poster in the additional images so you can compare the two.

The fact that this piece is an homage brings up some interesting points, actually. In the comics, Vi (going by Shrinking Violet and naturally possessing the power to shrink) was in love with Leviathan, who had the power to grow. When Leviathan was killed in battle, Vi tried calling on the power of the Emerald Eye to bring him back to life, but it instead transferred his powers to her, giving her the ability to both grow and shrink. She took on the codename LeViathan to honour him, and started wearing a slightly different costume. This piece, though, has her wearing her original costume, which sort of seems to imply – much like the movie it’s homaging – that this is the first time Vi’s used her growing powers, so she’s still in her old uniform. I also like that, unlike the movie poster, Vi isn’t necessarily going on a rampage. Her expression seems more placid than aggressive, or maybe a little bit confused. It might be that she’s stumbling through the streets in a daze (never mind that she’s from the 30th century but that’s clearly a 20th century cityscape!), or that the blue car was driven by criminals whom she stopped from making a getaway. I like to think that where the 50-foot woman from the movie was driven to rampage out of rage at her abusive husband, 50-foot Vi, who gained her powers out of love for Leviathan, is considerably less hostile.

Also, a fun fact: “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” came out in the same year that the Legion made their first appearance in comics!