This first strip in chapter 2 is all about setting up the game and introducing Dr. Klein, an obviously important figure at Valhalla. When I started the SuperFogeys, I always had it in the back of my mind that I would need to create a “man-in-charge” at some point. Dr. Klein, with his german name [...]
I love Spy Gal. It’s probably the adolescent schoolboy in me, but I have a lot of fun teasing her and putting her in some horrible situations. It’s always fun to see what she’ll do. Gene is the stand-in for my fifteen-year-old self. And, in case you can’t make it out, the book Spy Gal [...]
One of the better-paced strips I’ve done (or so I’ve been told) and a solid, economical reintroduction to three of the main characters.
Some people thought Dr. Klein’s look in the third panel coupled with his German name mean that Dr. Klein is evil. I won’t comment on the prejudices of my readership, but I will say that I did not have that in mind when I drew it. I was just experimenting with what I could do [...]
Ugh. This is my failed experiment. Like Strip 25, I had two ideas for a strip and tried to make them into one. As drawn, panel 3 preceded panel 2, but at the last minute I got the idea to integrate them more. It didn’t work. Not helping matters is the last panel. For the [...]
Like Spy Gal in Chapter 1, I had spent two strips building up the arrival of the Healer. I wanted his entrance to be important and surprising. Originally, the Healer was going to be an old man in a cloak. Much more like Dr. Strange or something like that. After being comfortable with that for [...]
The SuperFogeys are so stiff and immobile, it was fun to cut loose a little on a character like the Healer. I made it double-sized because I wanted the figures to breathe a little and see what I could do with a character who is real expressive. There’s some good lines in this one (Dr. [...]
More Healer nonsense. You can see how my camera is really changing up now. I’ve left behind almost completely the cut/paste of the previous chapter, something I was real glad to do. The Space Pig is always fun to bring back. There’s no way to explain him and his function every time out, so I [...]
I hate the first panel of this one. CS and Spy Gal just don’t look right and I don’t know what I was thinking. The entire point of this strip was to establish that Spy Gal is attracted to Dr. Klein. I don’t do anything more with it for the whole of Chapter 2, but [...]
This is a strip I’m really proud of. It’s very much a side-trip from the main story, but I think it’s poignant in a way that SuperFogeys hasn’t been up until now. While writing the SuperFogeys, I often have to ask myself, “What will it be like when I’m old?” I guess this is one [...]
Jerry was late to the party because I needed to remind the audience of his feelings for Spy Gal. I’m sure there was a better way to do that. Not a favorite of mine.
I knew the back half of this chapter would be light on the Swifty, so I wanted to make sure his last time in the spotlight was a memorable one. Everyone seems to have a different favorite Swifty ailment, but the one I like the best (and the first one I wrote) is the one [...]
Yeah, I did a Viagra joke. You almost have to, given the subject matter. I think I did it in the best possible way. It was important to me to have the Healer is so disapproving and grossed out. I think that’s how we all felt the first time we saw Bob Dole talking about [...]
I had been looking for an excuse to do a single-panel strip for a long time and this conclusion of the Healer’s interviews with all the SuperFogeys was a good excuse for it. Originally, the dialogue on this one was vastly different. It was a back and forth between the Healer and the Captain; none [...]
This is one of those connecting strips that I didn’t know I needed until I did. Strip 45 was always a story I was going to tell, but before I got to that story I realized that I had nothing leading into it. What would be Dr. Rocket’s final scheme? Why, bunnies of course. Why [...]
See the bunny? I liked the idea that Dr. Rocket kept one bunny for himself. Of course it begs the question…what happened to the bunny? That answer is coming in Chapter 6. This strip took a little longer than your average strip. In the end, I think I probably pumped a little too much detail [...]
Another “ugh” strip for me. I have a real problem with drawing too big for the panel. I truly need to zoom the camera out more. The Healer declaring the Captain the winner without checking the score should come across as a bit strange. He’s just being too nice. It’s the first hint there might [...]
I absolutely love this strip. This is a case of art elevating the script. On paper, this one didn’t seem like it would be much. If anything, I felt like I was trying to do too much. However…I think it works. Bingo Knight was a character name given to me by a reader of my [...]
Bingo Knight’s design came from the idea that he is essentially a super accountant. I mean, a super hero who settles Bingo scores? How could he be anything BUT an accountant? Once I knew that, all I had to do was put a dorky guy in a Knight costume and the idea sold itself.
I don’t know how much this strip actually adds to the plot, but it makes me laugh and sometimes that’s enough. A genuinely well-drawn Spy Gal in this strip, I think. She’s a tough one to draw just right and I always have a hard time with her hair.
I tried and tried to not make this one a double-sized. I had just done one and I didn’t want to take the time to do another one, but there just wasn’t any other way to make it work. Too many characters all interacting with each other. It has been said that this is one [...]
This is the one that was lifted almost entirely from the rejected version of strip 43. That’s how a lot of strips get written. I may write lots and lots of possible dialogue for any given strip and if something isn’t right for the idea, but the dialogue is good anyway, I’ll save it and [...]
This is one I was really excited about doing. The art in the SuperFogeys represents a style that I invented just for this strip. I work in a lot of different styles at my 9-to-5 and in my freelance work, so it was fun to show off one of those styles in this strip. Plus, [...]
By the time I got to this strip I’d really tossed away any notion I had of keeping the same structure of four panels for each strip. This is another of those ideas I had from almost the very beginning of Chapter 2. It’s so weird seeing the Captain standing. I don’t know that I’ll [...]
I love Gene. He’s such a jerk and yet, I think, you feel sorry for him. I don’t really know why. Maybe it’s just me. I broke my rule of having Spy Gal being tough enough to defend herself because I couldn’t pass up the joke. I hope no one minded.
Talk about left field, huh? All I’ll say here is that I do know who the Healer is talking to and it is a hint at something greater and we WILL find out who it is. There are more questions to be asked about this one, but I’ll let you figure out what they are.
I’m color-blind (mildly so, but still…), but the SuperFogeys are a one man show so you all have to put up with my puke palette. However, it’s always nice when a strip looks pretty like I think this one does. The entire point of this strip is to justify the next one…
…just as the entire point of Chapter 2 was to justify this one joke. See, I wrote this one as one of the first 10 strips back in the first weeks of the creation of the SuperFogeys. I quickly realized that I couldn’t use it because, uh, hello? Captain Spectacular can’t walk. Thus, Chapter 2 [...]
This is an important call back to the end of Chapter 1. I had to keep Jerry’s unrequited love alive somehow and it seems particularly harsh that it’s now Spy Gal herself who is diminishing him. Jerry’s just fun to mess with.
And that’s it, folks! Captain Spectacular’s dialogue here with Dr. Klein offers real insight into his character. CS has retired from not only the hero business, but also from life. Even though this seems like a return to the status quo, the Captain will remain healed and able to walk. Might make things interesting later [...]
