You read that headline right. After a nearly two year absence (the last SuperFogeys Origins page posted on October 12, 2012), SuperFogeys Origins is coming back this coming Friday, July 4th! That’s right, American Independence Day! Which is purely coincidental and has nothing to do whatsoever with SuperFogeys Origins or the story we’re kicking it all off with!
And what is that story, you ask? I’ll tell you: a direct sequel to Spy Gal’s origin entitled “Spy Gal – Captured” with art by the incomparable Jason Williams! If you’ve seen his recent SF fan art, you know that’s good reason to get excited. Check out his take on Spy Gal:
In the Spy Gal origin (with art by Lee Cherolis), Spy Gal went from being an evil mercenary and homewrecker, to prison where Money Man approached her and asked her to become a hero. Chronologically, the next story in Spy Gal’s history is the Origins story about formation of the Society of Heroes, by which point Spy Gal is fully heroic.
That’s always kind of bugged me. How did she go from international criminal to a superhero? What was that transition like? What kind of influence did Money Man have on her that she could make a switch like that? That’s the story Jason and I will be telling. I’m really, really excited about it.
“But wait,” I hear you say. “Why did SuperFogeys Origins go away in the first place? I remember it being kind of cool and you seem pumped about it, so why did you take it away?”
Great questions. I’m gonna do my best to answer honestly.
SFO was always a labor of love. The full page comics are not easy to write or draw and required quite a bit of time investment from both me and the artists I worked with. After more than two years of Origins stories, I started feeling like the investment wasn’t entirely worth it. SFO never got as much as traffic as the regular strip, and the comments on the stories were considerably fewer in number. When there’s no money to be made (that’s right, all SFO artists work for the fun of doing it–just like Marc and I basically do [with the exception of your donations to Marc's Artist Fund in the left sidebar] on the regular strip), the reader excitement and participation is the only real reward. I couldn’t figure out why SFO just didn’t invoke the same passion. Why, with great artists like Denver Brubaker doing fun stories like SuperFogeys Babies, did interest appear to be so low?
I’ve had some time to reflect n this and I think I know the answer. The problem was the writing. I saw SuperFogeys Origins as a great way to tell traditional superhero stories of all stripes, at any point throughout the history of the SF Universe. But I’m not sure that’s what everybody wanted. SuperFogeys Babies is a great story and I stand by the work Denver and I did on it, but you don’t come away from that story with any greater insight to the characters and no secrets are unlocked that help you see the present day situations in a new light. It’s a fun story, period. I think a lot of the later SFO stories were like that. I think that’s enough for a print collection, but maybe it’s not enough online where you have to wait so long for pages and you’re expecting a greater return on your investment. Fun isn’t enough. Adventure isn’t enough. You want consequence. You want relevance.
So, that’s my guiding light for the SuperFogeys Origins reboot. I’m going to stick to stories that really have an impact and give you real insight into the characters. I feel like the Spy Gal story we’re starting on Friday has absolute relevance to the current chapter, 19, “The Man Who Sold the World.” There are things you’re going to see in that chapter that, if you’ve read “Spy Gal – Captured,” it’s going to have great impact and your understanding of that thing will be that much better.
Now, that’s the goal. SuperFogeys Origins is a seat-of-my-pants affair. I have an outline for the next Origins story I want to tell (and this one is HUGE–a story I can’t believe I haven’t actually told yet, though several of you have asked me about at one time or another), but that really depends on whether or not I get an artist to draw it. Would Jason be up for a round 2? Would any past SFO artists like to come back? Are there other artists out there of sufficient skill who would like to try their hand? I don’t know. We’ll find out together. For now, I make no promises.
Well, I make one promise: there’s a new SuperFogeys Origin story and it’s coming this Friday! See you then.
Is that the C.O.W. who is fighting SpyGal?
Indeed it is!
An amazing strip. Action, character, and great use of minimalistic plotting.
I’m not saying there is minimal plotting… well, there is, but it is used as a Good Thing here, and used very well.
Brock, don’t do yourself down. Yes, Marc does draw well, but a) you provide the impetus, the story, the characters, and b) your art style is different. That is all. Not worse, not better. Different.
I can agree with you to a point, Spike (and I thank you). But whatever strengths I have as an artist, they do not lie in action scenes. I’m just terrible at rendering them, no matter how hard I try. That’s one of the reasons I made all my superheroes old–took the pretty off having to show them fighting. As the the story evolved into the more action-oriented tale it is now, I’ve been certainly grateful to have a more capable artist like Marc take over.
“Different” also means “better/worse for different things”. For the comedic setting in a not very eventfull retirement home, your style was, in my humble opinion, more suited than Marc’s would have been. Of course, since things change on that, it may be better that he takes care of the art.
Anyway, it’s always a matter of perspective and intended use.
That’s very true. It’s possible Marc would even agree with you that his style isn’t as well suited to “inaction heroes.” I know he LOVES drawing action and coming up with dynamic poses for the heroes and villains… and I so don’t. The more I think about it, the more I think the change from me to Marc came at exactly the right time.
Wait a second. Alternate Swifty is wearing Yellow! It’s Reverse Flash! He’s evil!
How did I see it before? Swifty is the mastermind!
I agree, this page does not need speech or sound effects, especially since they would have drawn attention from the nice change of backdrop in the different panels.
I really dig Captain Will’s custome, both serious and super hero-y + simple a cool visual.
Alternate Swifty is freaking me out. That guy seems to have fun with a fight, and not even in a sarcastical way. He can’t really be Swifty’s counterpart, he has to be another speedster that looks similar.
Either that or Swifty’s grouchiness isn’t a universal constant, but that seems to be hard to believe.
Also, I just realised something about SF that always was present but not clear to me. The entire superhuman population basically stagnated with the oldtimers. We never saw any young villains, the Society of Heroes can afford to sit around all day and still be the go-to super group and what something goes down, Valhalla has to do something about it. Imagine there is a super crime and nobody showed up.
And no look at the old fighters in avalon. Well in shape, still very active and apparently leading the young ones in battle.
Very intersting, but I don’t know what to do with it.
Back in the day, Tangerine was insanely energetic. Like, “Daffy Duck on meth” type of energetic. To further clarify exactly how energetic he was…The Energizer Bunny is Daffy’s drug dealer in this scenario.
With Tangerine like that, and Captain Spectacular unable or unwilling to stop him (whether by memories of old kindness, or because of a fear of head-splattering)…
The options for young supers must have been awfully limited.
“Now Jimmy dear, eat your vegetables”
“But Mom, I don’t wanna eat my vegetables–I wanna eat meat, like the Mighty Master Masticate! And I told you my name is DeathHead!”
“Now DeathHead, how many times do we have to go over this? Master Masticate is not a good role model–He is a dead role model. Do you want to be dead?”
“No, Mom…”
“Good, that’s what I though–Now be a good boy, Jimmy, and eat your vegetables.”
“Yes, Mom…”
I enjoyed that laugh.
You guys are hitting on something fundamental to the story here, I think. What does the older generation leave behind for the younger one? What world do they give and how does the younger generation find their place within it? The younger heroes on the Earth we’ve been following all this time were, basically, terrible. Why is that? And why is it on Earth-Avalon the older and younger work side-by-side?
Y’know, telling the story of how the old Society of Heroes transitioned to the new one would make for a good SFO.
I’d say this further supports the theory that the Lodge of Doom in this universe are in a bad shape. This fight seems very one sided. Also, the Society of Heroes seems to be in a much better shape here than in the original universe, physically speaking :/
I can’t really comment on this.
Old age is optional…Old age is optional…It’s no longer “comment of the week”, it’s now become my personal mantra.
Old age is killing me–I’m only 22 years, and my shoulder dislocated while I was swimming, two weeks ago.
My commentary on the strip, now: Terrific work, as always. Though…Unless Thrice has destructive capability with the trident (rather than only illusory/mental), he’s fighting with just his fists. The Society of Heroes currently are immune to the mental effects of his trident, or they wouldn’t be challenging him. That means…
When is EA Swifty gonna say “Hey, this old man almost looks a lot like…me” ?
Yikes. Sorry to hear about the shoulder.
Thrice’s Trident can do more than just mess with people’s minds, that much I can confirm.
Hang in there, bad guys!
Holy Shit, Bat Fans! There are people in these panels with FOUR(4), count them, 4 fingers! What has the world of Super Fogeys come to?