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I remember many, many years ago, a good friend of my Mum’s went to Greece for a holiday. She brought my Mum back a couple of hand-made and hand-painted plates, depicting various highly dramatic scenes involving Ancient Greek characters. I had no idea who they were or what they were doing. None. But I didn’t care. The plates were painted in dark reds and browns and blacks. The characters were strong and fascinating. I loved those plates. They hung on the living room wall for years – long after I moved out. Until of course my Mum was redecorating and they didn’t quite ‘go’ with the rest of the decor. She was going to store them away, but I asked if I could have them because I wanted them on MY wall. Well, I brought the plates home and, unbeknownst to me, my room mate put them into the dishwasher to clean them…. the dishwasher……… hand painted plates…. they were ruined….. I was devastated………. This deck reminds me of those plates :) The Fall of Troy ][ Epic Playing Cards are on Kickstarter NOW.

The Fall of Troy Playing Cards

Designed by Chris Staples of duxoop (if you’re wondering how it’s pronounced, his logo is a soup bowl with a duck in it…. geddit….?) this deck features the main players in the Trojan War which is believed to have taken place some time between 1260 – 1180 BC. Chris has taken inspiration from various artworks which have depicted the War, but he has painstakingly reworked each design to achieve the 2-way symmetrical images we are familiar with in ‘modern day’ playing card design. Ancient script adorns the background of each card – courts and pips – which gives this deck a truly raw, handmade feel. The pips are all custom hand-drawn too, so it’s clear to see that a LOT of work went into designing this deck. Which is no surprise really, considering that Chris Staples has worked on some of the most well known animated films and TV shows in recent years. {Keep reading for more details….:)}

The Fall of Troy – Ares the God of War – The Jack of Spades

I have to start with The Jack of Spades, which is my favourite playing card after the Joker, and it features Ares – The God of War. He’s kinda bad-ass, as you would imagine. Duuude!!! He’s got the whole shieldy, speary, helmety thing going on which is incredibly cool and, dare I say it, sexy…..? I would have to say that no Jack of Spades has ever disappointed me…. I reckon that has to do with the fact that every playing card designer wants to please me, and as a result they know that the JOS (as I call him) has to be kinda specific. And definite. Hey… that’s how I see it in my head and who is anyone to say differently…????????

The Fall of Troy – Ajax – The King of Hearts – Artwork

On a heavier note…. The above image gives you an idea of the work that Chris has put into each card. Ajax as the King of Hearts. As you may, or may not know, the King of Hearts is traditionally known as The Suicide King as he appears to be stabbing himself in his head with his own sword. He didn’t start out that way. This is because of editing mistakes over hundreds of years, resulting in the axe, which originally he had resting across his shoulders, losing it’s head leaving just the handle which appeared to be penetrating his own ‘dome’. This then became a sword which still features on the King of Hearts cards to this very day.

The Evolution of The King of Hearts into The Suicide King

I’m going to let Chris explain the reasoning behind choosing Ajax as the Suicide King with this excerpt taken from the ‘update’ section of his project’s Kickstarter page….

“When considering the Trojan War as subject for a custom deck of playing cards, I was struck by the idea of connecting the story of the suicide of Ajax of Salamis with the King of Hearts. Ajax, aka Ajax the Great, was the colossus cousin of Achilles and a great hero in the Trojan War. After Achilles is slain, Ajax competes with Odysseus for the claim to Achilles’ armor. After days of competition, the armor is awarded to Odysseus. Ajax, “Unconquered”, and furious, falls upon his own sword, “conquered by his [own] sorrow”. (Metamorphoses,  trans. Humphries, p. 318)

The design for The Fall of Troy ][ King of Hearts is inspired by two pieces of ancient art. The body section refers to a design found on a wine bowl from the Etruscan period 400BC-350BC (circa) that sits today in the British Museum. The head is based on an exquisitely detailed black-figure terra-cotta amphora, by the amazing artist Exekias, that depicts Ajax playing draughtswith Achilles from 530BC (circa), currently located at the Vatican Museums, Rome.”

Suicide of Ajax – Ajax & Achilles at Draughts

Someone else who appears in the deck is Helen of Troy who, let’s face it, caused the whole debacle in the first place, (or did she………? duh, duh. DUUUUUHHH!!!!????) and who stars as the Queen of Hearts. Quite a fitting tribute some may say. But probably not her husband Menelaus, who’s heart was most very definitely broken by Helen. But I’m going to step in here (as a mere mortal, so please forgive me…) and say that Helen was not in the least bit to blame for this war. No. She. Was. Not. Stoppit. She was an innocent pawn in the follies of the Gods. I’m no historian, nor am I any kind of academic, but blinking heck it doesn’t take a genius to see what happened here…. Helen was living her own wee life as a good and loving wife and mother, when all of a sudden the gods and goddesses of Greece decided to play at Ken and Barbie. OK, so here’s the story…. Eris, the Goddess of Strife & Discord (who invents this shit…?) decided one day to do a bit of shit stirring and offered the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite a Golden Apple (henceforth known as The Apple of Discord) to whoever was ‘The Fairest’. Some poor guy called Paris was asked to decide who of the three of them was the fairest, and he probably did ‘Eeny Meeny Miny Mo’ (because I can’t see ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ having being invented at that point in history…) and picked Aphrodite. Aphrodite, in turn (for whatever reason only beknownst to herself) decided to make poor oul (married) Helen fall in love with Paris, who then took her to Troy and thus began the whole Trojan War thingy where Menelaus (Helen’s husband) just wanted his wife and mother of his daughter Hermione (not the Harry Potter character) back home….. Greek tragedy at it’s best….

The Fall of Troy – Helen of Troy – The Queen of Hearts

You see….. this is the thing about this type of deck of cards…. I’ve been so caught up with writing about the history of the deck that it’s actually made me want to look properly into the history BEHIND it, because firstly I don’t want to make an eejit out of myself by talking crap, and also because…. well…. it’s because I just want to KNOW…. And I realise that this is the kind of stuff that we want our kids to learn about. Recently Kat Von D the tattoo artist (who I adore) had on her Facebook page that kids no longer are taught cursive writing in school anymore…. and why not???? What ARE kids taught in schools these days? Well never mind that. Think about what can you teach them at home. Get this deck of cards. Let them ask you ‘who was Helen of Troy’? Let them ask what the war was all about. And what’s the problem with answering them? And showing them? Maybe you need to brush up yourselves, but isn’t that fun too…? I’ve learnt so much from this deck alone, I can tell you.

The Fall of Troy Playing Cards

You can check out the low-down on the Trojan War HERE, but let’s just say that a lot of today’s soap operas and block buster movies have ‘borrowed’ their plot-lines from this epic War. Love, hate, betrayal, jealousy, infidelity…. it’s all there. And it’s all here, in this beautifully designed deck of cards. Chris clearly has a passion for the Trojan War – it’s not just about deciding on a random ‘topic’ for his first ever deck of cards. Reading through his write-up on Kickstarter you can see that he clearly loves the story and loves the fact that a deck of playing cards offers the perfect platform for showcasing not just the characters and story, but also the beautiful artwork that is so unique to Ancient Greece.

The Fall of Troy – Helen of Troy – The Queen of Hearts

But enough of me going on, let’s pass over to Chris who very kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us about himself and his deck.

iCollectPlayingCards – Chris, I’m sure you won’t mind me saying that your previous work has been mainly ‘cartoon-esque’ with the likes of The Ricky Gervais Show, Pinky and the Brain and Mattel’s Monster High being amongst some of the massively well-known shows that you have worked on. Also, on your website  duxoop.com your work is definitely comic strip type art. So, it begs the question – why Ancient Greek artwork for this, your first official duxoop product?

Chris Staples – duxoop is where I get to do whatever I want – so I do that. I chose Ancient Greek artwork as the inspiration for the design of The Fall of Troy cards for a bunch of reasons, serving a lifelong interest being one. Another big reason is that few people ever see this very cool, beautiful stuff. I like the idea of someone discovering something new when they least expect it.

iCPC – Your own work is very much inspired by your own sense of humour, and of course you get to draw whatever you want, to a point. This deck is a very specific artform and in fact you’ve managed to brilliantly replicate it and obviously alter it to enable you to create the court cards. Did you find this type of art more or less enjoyable than your animation work?

Chris – Thanks, the challenge of figuring out how to work with ancient design styles in modern form was fun. I like any process where I get to mess around until I like what I’ve got and then I get to make a bunch of it. Like pancakes.

The Fall of Troy – Ajax Carries Slain Achilles – The Ace of Spades

iCPC – How long has this idea been brewing for, how long did the artwork take to complete, and what made you use the medium of playing cards?

Chris – There are entries in my notebook about an “Iliad” deck that are dated back in March {2015}. I’ve been working since then, the majority of the time spent researching and refining the design. I have been interested in cards my whole life.

iCPC – Are you a cardist or a magician at all? Do you play cards? Or have you simply succumbed to the idea that, as a designer, a deck of cards can showcase a lot of work in a small space for a good price to the buyer?

Chris – I was a magician from the ages of 8-14 until “the incident”. The nearest casino is 22 minutes from my couch, I mean yes I play cards. I also succumb to that idea you were just talking about.

iCPC – Are there any other playing card decks or designers that you admire? Are you a playing card collector? You mention the Leonardo deck by Dent-de-Lion du Midi and BRuT by Uusi. Two completely different styles, and both very unique. Are you very particular about the decks you back on Kickstarter?

Chris – Yes, I admire so many of the decks and designers out there. I’m trying very hard not be a playing card collector. {iCPC – Good luck with that…!} It’s tough. {iCPC – Yip….!!} And yeah, I guess I am particular.

The Fall of Troy – Back

iCPC – Just a question that Max Playing Cards touched on already: Who will you be getting to print the decks? And what quality of card stock are you aiming for?

Chris – After ordering a bunch of different decks (for research not collecting!) {iCPC – Suuuuure!!} I’m looking at MPC (Make Playing Cards) and some of the interesting new techniques and technologies that they are playing with.  The card stock that I’m looking at is their 310gsm cardstock – linen air (Master quality finish) from Germany. It’s nice.

iCPC – What’s next for duxoop? Do you have any other playing card projects on the go for release after The Fall of Troy gets funded? If so, can you tell me what the subject matter is?

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