SuperFogeys

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Whew. When Marc and I set to out to tackle this, our longest chapter BY FAR (more than twice the length of the previous record holder, Chapter 12), I don’t think either of us realized how daunting it would really be. We’ve really gone some places with this one, haven’t we? And back again.

I’m curious what you all think of this episode of course, but in a lot of ways I’m even more curious what you think of this chapter as a whole.

“Chapter 24 – The Guthrie” was different in more ways than just length. After enjoying reading the story of the SuperFogeys in a collected graphic novel (available on Amazon, of course) so very much, I really thought about this chapter differently in terms of pacing. Most scenes happen in groups of 3 or 6 episodes to mimic the page-by-page structure of the eventual collection, and I let moments and scenes linger and breathe a bit, taking into account the feel of the chapter as a whole, and sometimes at the sacrifice of the episode-by-episode release schedule.

In other words: everyone who reads this chapter in the collected edition (print, eventually, but digital much sooner) will read this chapter as it’s intended and designed.

The other thing Chapter 24 did was bring to a close a great many of the plots we’ve been working with for years, most notably with the Earth-Avalon crew, whose presence in the story has now been removed entirely. We also lost a number of longtime characters to the fiery throes of death, mostly notably Star Maiden. I’m particularly sad to see her go as she’s an absolute joy to write, and this chapter featured some of my favorite stuff from her ever.

Jerry stayed away from the story for a full 100 episodes. By the time he returned, I’d already seen several comments from you guys asking where he was. And return he did with a big splash. Arguably, episodes 901 – 922 could have been their own chapter, a sort-of epilogue to this chapter, but I decided to include it as part of our mega chapter because, really, the entire point of this chapter was episodes 901-922. This whole story, really–from Chapter 1 onward–has been leading to this moment when Jerry would become the most powerful character in the SuperFogeys world, and the best way to demonstrate that was to have him come in at the last minute and clear the chessboard in a way no one else has been able to. That’s Chapter 24. All that fighting and with a snap of fingers Jerry just ends it. Like it’s nothing.

And there’s a lot to say about Jerry. A lot that goes into who he is that I think is better left to discussion and not to author decree. I’ll only say this: the end of this chapter is the most explicit I’ve ever gotten about who Jerry really is and what drives him.

All of which begs the question:

What happens next?

NEXT: CHAPTER 25 – RETURN TO VALHALLA

As if it wasn’t already perfectly obvious, the Fogeys are back in Valhalla. Jerry is back in charge, and all is as it once was. There are two chapters left in this saga, and how could it not round up back on the beginning of the story? In fact, there’s going to be some fun nods to Chapter 1 right at the top of Chapter 25. In a lot of ways, Chapter 25 is going to FEEL like Chapter 1. Not that we’re going back to gag-a-day (I’d argue we only ever did three episodes that were gag-a-day–the first three), but that we’re going back the original status quo and premise of this series–old superheroes and villains in a retirement home called Valhalla.

Doesn’t get much more simple than that, does it?

The next chapter will be anything but. If you’ve been put off by the increased levels of action in this chapter, you’re gonna love the next one. We’re back to a small cast, but the drama will be just as big. Because things have changed a lot over the course of this story–characters have changed, dramatically–and as much as Jerry wants everything to go back to what it was, that’s not really how things work, is it? There’s a new friction to the Valhalla dynamic, and that friction is going to catapult us right into the endgame.

Because, in the end, you always knew it was going to come down to Jerry, didn’t you?

Oh, and heck yeah we’re going to address the Soviet Sam thing. Jerry may want Spy Gal to forget about him, but the heck if I will.

WE MESSED UP

In looking back through this chapter as a whole, Marc and I realized we skipped one, minor-but-important-in-terms-of-pacing episode. That episode will be created and appear in the collected edition, but not online. Something to look forward to.

HIATUS

Ah, that dreaded word. “Hiatus.” Sadly, yes, Marc and I must retreat once again to get this next chapter started for you. Most of it has already been written, honestly, off and over over the past couple of years. There’s big moments ahead, and I’ve taken my time to get them right. Marc, on the other hand, has a sweet gig right now coloring Lucas Turnbloom’s next graphic novel (see Marc’s stellar work on the first one right here), and once he’s done with that we’ll see how quick we can jump on Chapter 25. I’m hopeful you won’t be waiting a year or more like we have sometimes done in the past. But great art does take time.

Chapter 25 IS coming. Stick with us.

WHAT I’M DOING IN THE MEANTIME

Believe it or not, SuperFogeys is not my full-time gig. (I know, you’re shocked!) Slowly but surely over the years I’ve been building up a career in the film industry as a writer and director. A film I’ve been working on for a number of years is finally going to begin shooting this January, and I could not be more excited. We even announced our first cast member last week!

If you’d like to see more, including as short spec film, a 10-minute animatic (imagine an animated comic book) of a sequence from the third act of the film, and some test footage we shot earlier this year, you can do so over at angel.com/theshift. I think if you like the complicated plotting and confident characterizations of SuperFogeys, you just might like The Shift.

SUPPORT SUPERFOGEYS ON PATREON. HELP IT COME BACK FASTER.

SuperFogeys has always been free to read, and, thanks to hiatuses, we’ve definitely lost some fans over the years. But still, we keep plugging along. And still, many of you stick with us. We are grateful.

One of the big reasons we do have such long hiatuses is that feeding our families has to come first. Schedules must open up sufficiently to work on it, which means paying gigs come first. Imagine a world in which we made enough money from SuperFogeys to not have to take hiatuses! In which paying gigs were unnecessary. Maybe that can never happen, but I can tell you that were more people to support the comic, we’d be able to crank it out faster. It’s just that simple.

And those of you who already support? Man, we sure are grateful.

Get SuperFogeys faster. If you can, support the comic on Patreon.

That’s all for now, folks. See you again (hopefully) soon with Chapter 25 – Return to Valhalla!