So, it’s 2006 and I’ve got story ideas, but they’re not better than gag-a-day stuff because they’re not connected to each other or to any big idea. I didn’t have anything to say, just gags.
And that’s the key to serialization (for me): something to say. An idea like superheroes in a nursing home is inherently funny…but it’s also quite potent. We’re talking about super beings—people who have reached the pinnacle! And now their time has passed and they are not as mighty as they once were. That’s sad. That’s thought-provoking. So what do I, a (at the time) 29-year-old male from California have to say about old age and the loss of power?
Quite a lot, as it turned out. And when I figured out what I wanted to say, that’s when the story began to form in my head.
All of the sudden, I saw how to connect all the ideas and feed them into a theme (a theme which I will not share with you because a) an author should almost never explain the theme and b) it would ruin the ending I’m working towards). A conspiracy began to develop in my mind and I saw how one of the heroes would orchestrate that conspiracy to move along the action from chapter-to-chapter. I saw what drove that hero to such lengths and how the people around him were flawed and how those flaws shaped him and how all their flaws and virtues spoke directly to my theme.
Honestly, when it all came together, it did so quickly.
I wrote as fast as I could, expanding on the story ideas freely and keeping the continuity and journeys of the characters tight. I broke it up by chapters, all the way through to the end of what I imagined at the time would be Chapter 9, but in reality and in the process of time ended up being the current chapter, Chapter 12 – Jackpot!
Let’s take a look at the breakdown for SuperFogeys Volume 1 (and a little of Volume 2) Again—SPOILERS if you’re not caught up with the story:
CHAPTER 1 “Insane Romance From Hell”
Spy Gal comes to Valhalla undercover but then gets stuck. Dr. Rocket kidnaps her to have his way with her, but she wakes up and turns the tables on him. Jerry and CS think that Spy Gal is in love with Dr. Rocket, but when it’s revealed that she isn’t, CS and Spy Gal hook back up. It is then revealed that Jerry is in love with Spy Gal and has been for a long time.
CHAPTER 2 “Bingo Night”
Bingo Night comes to Valhalla. We meet Dr. Klein, head of Valhalla. The Big prize for Bingo Night is a 5-minute session with the Healer and whoever wins will be healed forever. CS wins and is able to walk again. After a confrontation with Dr. Rocket, CS decides that using a wheelchair is just plain easier and opts to return to it. Meanwhile, Jerry grows jealous of CS and Spy Gal.
CHAPTER 3
Start with Shadowy guy talking to Babbletech about rigging CS’s computer. Shadowy guy admits to being behind the Bingo Night. Dr. Klein decides the SuperFogeys need to learn about the latest technology and makes them all get MySpace Profiles. We see many other heroes’ profiles, including the Healer, Money Man, Captain Supermarket, Mega Matt (failed sidekick with a broken arm and insecurity issues), etc. When Captain Spectacular boots up his computer, he finds that it is already set to the MySpace page of Star Woman, the greatest superheroine who ever lived. She’s deranged and working a webcam. And she’s CS’s ex. In flashback, we see how they got together and broke up. Dr. Klein makes a decision to go get her and bring her to Valhalla and it is revealed that Dr. Klein is Shadowy guy and his plan is to make CS miserable (he’s lying–he really wants CS to give up SG and go to SM).
CHAPTER 4
Once there, Star Maiden first comes in as the Fogeys are beginning the second part of the seminar–they learn how to play the Nintendo Wii from Dictator Tot. Dr. Klein goes out of town on business (we think), but not before Third Man gives Dicator Tot a gun and says “You know what to do.” When Star Woman first arrives, she sees Dr. Rocket and CS as their younger selves punching the living daylights out of each other. Turns out, they’re just playing Wii boxing. It then becomes obvious what Star Woman’s problem is–she’s has dementia and thinks everyone, including herself, are still their younger counterparts. That’s how she sees them. Plus, she says outrageous, off the wall things. (A go-to character for the non sequitir) The dementia is the result of alien tampering (or something). This becomes a problem as they’re playing with the Wii and she sees real guns and swords in their hands. The beginnings of a romance blossom as Swifty finds himself quite taken with Star Maiden (Their initial encounter consists of Swifty cussing out the Wii, Star Maiden slapping him and chastising him and telling how young and svelte he is and how much he has going for him. Beat. Swifty hearts Star Maiden.) She’s the only one who sees him as he once was–young, strong and fast. In reality: Dr. Klein, having failed to get rid of Captain Spectacular by curing him, has now brought in another superheroine to distract him from Spy Gal. It doesn’t work as CS is no longer attracted to Star Woman. Jerry now has even more of a reason to hate Swifty. Jerry gets shot in the chest by Dictator Tot over a bad game of Wii Bowling (Jerry goes down. Next strip, CS cradles his unconscious head while DT cackles in the background. CS: SOMEONE GET THAT BRAT OUT OF HERE!) and Dr. Rocket is the only one who can save him because Dr. Klein is out of town and he does so gladly, having slowly turned into a decent human being. He performs the surgery and all is well. The Fogeys wonder what Dr. Klein was thinking bringing DT to Valhalla. (In reality, DK/Jerry arranged the whole thing to make Spy Gal feel sorry for him.)
CHAPTER 5
While he is in recovery Spy Gal tends to Jerry, while CS spends some time getting to know SM again, but CS is no longer attracted to Star Woman. Swifty makes his move and Jerry, once he’s out of recovery, hates him more. While Jerry is still in recovery, Tangerine comes to Valahalla. He’s called Tangerine because that’s how he dispatches villains. He smashes their heads like they’re tiny little tangerines. This gives us a chance to explore the modern antihero vs. the more silver age kind of hero that the Fogeys are. Chapter opens with Tangerine out on a mission with the Society of Heroes. Villain tricks him away from the rest of the other heroes and just when Tangerine is about to strike, villain turns into a little girl, weeping. Tangerine gets put away in Valhalla because he finally came close to crossing the line. Then it’s revealed that Dr. Klein was behind Tangerine’s “incarceration” as part of his deal with the Healer in Chapter 2 (Healer should make a cameo). We see Klein talking to a shadowed man stroking a bunny and thanking him for his help (turns out later it’s the real Dr. Rocket.) When Tangerine finds out that Dr. Rocket is at Valhalla, he attempts to kill him, but the other Fogeys come to Dr. Rocket’s rescue (much to their surprise). Tangerine catches up with Dr. Rocket anyway and kills him. A period of mourning overtakes the SuperFogeys. Death (personified) shows up to tell the SuperFogeys that Dr. Rocket is not on the other side. An autopsy reveals that Dr. Rocket was really a robot double, who had been malfunctioning and turning into a good guy. The Society of Heroes (including Captain Spectacular II) find the real Dr. Rocket (who can walk, wears black gloves, has a pet bunny and has three long, stringy hairs and no friendship with Captain Spectacular) and bring him to Valhalla. Once everything is back to normal, Tangerine takes a whiff of the group and remarks, “Another one of you is not who they appear to be.” Despite Spy Gal’s protests, Tangerine refuses to explain himself.
Now, again, you’ll notice a bunch of things that didn’t make it into the final chapters themselves. In fact, I was overly ambitious with my ideas for Chapter 5 and ended up splitting it into two, with the whole funeral story pushed over to Chapter 6 as a part of Volume 2.
So, my macro story was in place. I knew what my meal looked like. I knew where I was headed and I knew roughly how to get there. Now all my energies could be focused on the individual chapters themselves.
Next: Breaking Down a Chapter
Clever, Jerry. Clever.
I completely misunderstood his purpose for the giant robot. I thought it was to take out the Captain, but it makes a dang lot more sense to stop the robot himself in order to impress Spy Gal. Dang, I hope Jerry never comes after my girlfriend/fiance or I’m a goner apparently.
Wait. Does Spy Gal have her power dampener on in this chapter? Doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to have it anymore now that they assume she’s not going to leave Valhalla due to the Captain’s presence. And by they I mean Gene and Dr. Klein, with either complete reason to believe she’s insane or complete reason to keep her there. What am I thinking? lol
No, I totally agree. The power dampener is a plot hole at the moment. So we’ll have to see. Also I never thought he was going to use the robot against Cap. I mean, I couldn’t have imagined this, but the way he was approaching things, I didn’t think he would target the Cap in such a way. Either way, I don’t know if I like Spy Gal being like this with him. She seems too impressed. :/
Remember, this is Spy Gal we’re talking about. Reformed criminal. Lust for adventure. And Jerry knows this, having spent time with (and studied) her for many years. The two of them even had a conversation about how CS doesn’t have that spark of life that she has. I think this is Jerry’s cleverest plan to win her heart to date. But I guess we’ll see what happens.
This is true. Still the turnabout speed of it all is a little too fast. I guess that problem is inherent to a webcomic that airs twice a week and not a writer issue. It’s tough to pace it just right. Either way I do think that if Captain doesn’t straighten himself out soon then he won’t be getting Spy Gal. Hopefully, Jerry doesn’t get her either.
You mentioning that makes me think of how little we’ve seen of CS’s serious side of late. He just doesn’t strike me as very committed to his fiancee. I want him to straighten out and kick things in gear, but his weakness is that he’s just generally oblivious. It’s like he has this 30-year-old superhero mindset that life is carefree and every woman should fall for him like in the old days. If Jerry makes any headway, it’ll be a wakeup call, I think. If not, Jerry might do something drastic and shift into some super—and I mean super—villain mode. Like the kind where he hates everybody and is bent on destruction. Overall, I find SF hard to predict because at this point it’s about everybody. There’s not really a main character anymore. LOST style.
Good point about the power dampener. SpyGal was fighting that giant troll with the help of her younger self, but still doing it with her dampener on. Wonder if Jerry will remove it for her during this time of crisis.
Unfortunately for them, they’re going to have to deal with all Dr. Rocket’s enemies shortly…
Maybe Jerry has left the power dampener on so that she can’t personally fight the robot at full power which would mean losing his chance to impress her? Think about it. The robot, unless it has some sort of energy field or something, could never touch Spy Gal and all she would have to do is take a peak inside and pull out it’s power source or computer chip brain – in this case I guess that would be the crystal Dr. Rocket put inside. And viola! No more robot problems. Keeping her power dampener on means Spy Gal can’t make the battle too quick and easy, allowing Jerry to get the chance he needs.
He won’t need to remove her damper, I’m sure he’ll find a way to convince her to fight as is and with his strategic control of the robot make it as if his encouragement is pushing her forward. I foresee this getting beyond Jerry’s control and things going very south for all our heroes.
Now that Dorothy and Sophia are out of the way it makes room for Rose to come in and tell some of her St. Olaf stories and bore the robot into submission. If that doesn’t work then Blanche may be able to swoon it.
I couldn’t resist a Golden Girls reference, had to get one in as the ladies exited stage right.
Yeah… I was wondering if those were the Golden Girls… Apparently my girlfriend really likes that show. I’ve not really seen much of it though.
Ahhhh so the robot is a decoy to sweep Spy-gal off her feet by ‘rescuing’ her in a perilous moment….. Hmmmmm smoove Jerry, very smoove.
I bet the robot also has the stuff necessary to take out Wilbur too…. UNLESS! New thinking/feeling Dr. R. had some kind of second thought and decided to screw Dr. Jerry Kleinman the 3rd over! And thus left out that extra little kick it would’ve needed to ice Captain Stupendous….. ~stroking goatee thoughtfully~ So many moves in this crazy chess game of revenge and romance!
Back when I thought this was to take out the Captain – because Jerry told young Jerry “You’ll have to break her heart!” – I figured that’s why Dr. Rocket said to Cap, “Terrible. You?” when asked how he was doing at the time he activated the robot (and took his pills). I figured although he still holds some animosity toward the Captain that maybe he felt regret towards his impending but unavoidable doom by the hands of the Jerry-bot?
You guys are having so much fun theorizing that I don’t want to ruin it. I don’t say it enough… but thanks for making SuperFogeys such a fun thing to create.
I didn’t see him using the robot this way either. Though I do think that Spy Gal may get hurt if the power dampener isn’t removed soon. Thus making Jerry the bad guy in the eyes of everyone ells…but Speedy already knew this. Or maybe our Soviet Sam will be the Hero here for once?
Soviet Sam? I think so. I feel that this chapter is very much about him as it opened with him. I think he’ll be the unexpected wild card Jerry isn’t expecting. Hopefully it’ll give Jerry something to chew on about what a hero is. Hope I’m not spoiling anything, but hey — when has Brock’s writing ever been predictable?
Never, usually.
Off topic, but I’ve been wondering why Jerry openly disdains or even hates Soviet Sam and Tangerine for killing good guys or reformed villains but has little no disdain whatsoever for Dr. Rocket? At first I considered it was because he knew the fake Dr. R was Herman and was innocent, but later I realized that he treats the real Dr. Rocket with an equal absence of disdain. Surely Nikola T. Rocket has killed his fair share of people or even heroes through out the decades? Is the disdain or lack thereof simply and only a part of the characters that Jerry plays? Who even is the real Jerry? We’ve seen it’s not the old man who acts like a boy who yells, “BOY HOWDY!!! IS SHARING EVER FUN!!!” I didn’t realize until lately but not only is Jerry putting on an act with Klein and the Third Man, but even his Jerry persona is a lie. I believe he continues to say things like, “Jumping Juju-bees!” to fit what he thinks the other SuperFogeys think Jerry should act like. Maybe the only time we’ve seen maybe who present-time Jerry really is (excluding pre-superhero kid Jerry as he’s changed over the years) is when he removed his mask for Tom in the secret no-doored prison cell in the SFO story of his origin? But I think today’s strip and the few Jerry centered strips before it are starting to reveal a little more of who Jerry might be. He’s certainly acting a lot less like pre-teen Robin from decades ago in comics and more manly and grown up.
Speaking of Jerry, here’s a fun and completely wrong theory I had AGES ago about Klein and the Third Man. I could have never guessed they were Jerry, but at the time I thought they were an adult and embittered Mega Matt since his WebSpace page said he liked to cosplay. I thought it fit? After the Jerry revelation I tried to get the idea to jive but it just couldn’t hold water anymore, so I was obviously wrong, ha ha. Wait. I just had a timeline shattering thought. This is Mega Matt we’re talking about. Wouldn’t he be dumb enough to go to Tangerine, his future father, for help in that time period? Or possibly sell the lyrics to 80′s songs or ideas of 80′s cartoon or comic book series that haven’t been written yet? There goes TMNT and Karate Kid…
The bad guy in everyone’s eyes? Yeah. Poetic irony and something big enough maybe to cause Jerry to doubt himself and break his illusion? (Or create a stronger, more horrible illusion comprised of extreme, extreme unreasonable guilt? Then again, his plan is “villainous” as thought by young Jerry). I thought something similar though, except I was wondering how he’d view himself if any of those civilians were hurt or killed during the robot rampage? Or would he go as far as making up excusing and pretending it was anyone’s fault but his?
Run Dorothy and Ma!!
…… Jerry, Syndrome tried this. It didn’t end well.