The SuperFogeys were created on September 22nd, 2006 off of a suggestion from Tad Hansen, my fake internet friend, that I “do something stupid like a comic about superheroes in a nursing home.”
Three days later I posted the first strip as part of a five day experiment to see if could do a daily comic strip. I didn’t really have any sort of plan or story in mind. I invented and designed characters on the fly, within the strips themselves. No color, just black and white. They weren’t even drawn very well. I was just trying to get stuff done as quickly as possible. I had so much fun doing it I extended the experiment to a second week.
I quickly realized that a pretty crazy story was starting to emerge from my collection of Superman, Robin, Dr. Sivana and Black Widow analogues. The Flash, Etrigan the Demon, Wonder Woman, Wolverine, Captain America and Maxima analogues (+10 to whomever can correctly pair up the famous [and not-so-famous] comic characters with their SuperFogeys counterparts) came a little later, along with a whole host of other characters. A motley crew if there ever was one.
Presented below, for the first time in a looooong time, is that original set of five black & white strips as they originally appeared to readers of my blog on MySpace seven years ago. You’ll notice a few differences from what you’ll find on the site today, the biggest of which are the different outfit for Captain Spectacular (changed because it too closely resembled Superman’s–especially when colored) and the omission of what is now strip #3 (it was created later after I decided to go back and color the strips and continue the story).
Big thanks to all of who have stuck with us over the years, and big thanks to those of you who discovered us a little later. You make it all worth doing. Extra, extra special thanks to Marc Lapierre, without whom The SuperFogeys would have ended years ago. I’m so glad we’re still going strong.
well i can’t say i was around for the birth of super fogeys BUT i was directed your way via imagine this and have been HOOKED for years EVER since!!!! I love the work…6 years down and a TON MORE to go!!!!
I don’t know about a TON… this story does have an end point after all… but there is big stuff still to come and I honestly don’t know how long it will take to tell it all. We’ll find out together! Thanks for the enthusiasm, Drew.
Great to know another of another “Imagine This!” fan!
And yes, there WILL be a ton more strips, Brock is just trying to say that the end point of this strip is when he passes away at the age of…… no wait, that’d be spoiling to much!
It looks like charging couple of cell phones’ batteries to me. The only evil looking part to my eyes is behind the right ‘collum’, evil eyes in the shadows.
But it’s major news, eep.
Oh, I’ve been reading since I saw this in the DrunkDuck Webcomics site. So I’m quite early fan I think!
Very early indeed!
Congrats on the anniversary. I came through the website.
Also, it seems like this could be one difficult battle force to beat with a weapon like that.
If it gets turned on, there will be no battle. It’s instant death for anyone it’s aimed against. Pretty scary stuff.
Ah! Phew, I thought they were going to “uncreate” all earthlings and derivates from this world and the next, as if they had never being born (except they would still be remembered by those who remained alive, but that doesn’t help you much when no longer even exist).
Turns out it was only going to kill them! He he, what a relief!
Just make sure that medallion and no medallion get placed in the right chambers.
Ha!
That’s a rather sizable toy.
Marc made it BIG.
With a matching self-destruct button, I assume!
Did anyone else look at that and think “Deep Thought?”
I love it!
GREAT reference. Here’s the thing though… I did point Marc towards a sci-fi classic something-something for inspiration. I think it’s pretty obvious if you know the reference, but you have to reach pretty far back to find it.
I don’t know why, but for some reason it reminded me of the Great Machine from Forbidden Planet (as well as Deep Thought), but I don’t think that’s what you’re referencing.
Nope, but that’s a good one. Believe it or not, it goes back even further than that. Think “silent era.”
I’m not sure why, but now I keep thinking “Metropolis” – been a few years since I watched it – for some reason after you said silent era. Regardless of his inspiration, Marc did a fantastic job on it.
Metropolis?
Nicely done.
I saw it in the early 70′s in the Pantages Theater in LA. It was a beautiful print and I think it was full length. Imagine how saddened i was when AMC ran a “fully restored” print a few years ago and it seemed to be 30% still photos replacing the parts that were lost! Amazing that they are still losing negatives when there was a clean print just 35 years earlier!
Is it me, or there a certain similarity to the doughnut robot in Las Vegas?
Either way, it’s an awesome piece of art.
What’s going on with Zurida’s hair?
Brock, you have a knack for dialogue that shines even in the few lines here.
I hadn’t noticed the similarity to Donutron, but I can kind of see it now. I love spotting themes in artists’ work. Marc certainly has a style all his own.
Oh, and Zurida’s hair is always like that. She has full control of its movement.
Thanks for the kudos on the dialogue, Spike. You’re right, this is an odd one to call it out on, but I appreciate your comment all the more for it.