Titling a chapter is a source of great stress for me. I’m not very good at it and I put it off until I absolutely have to come up with something. That said, “The Techno Shuffle” very much fits what this chapter is going to be all about. Originally, this chapter opened on two characters [...]
Archive for ‘Chapter 03 – The Techno Shuffle’
The super-prison in the first panel is loosely based on the design of the Hall of Justice from the old Superfriends cartoon show. I don’t have a good reason for this other than it’s a design that always stuck with me and seemed strong enough to house all the wonderful bad guys that must be [...]
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| Jan 15, 07 | 70 – Gene and Dictator Tot Reunite |
| May 16, 12 | 412 – Calling Valhalla |
| Jan 25, 07 | 83 – The Seduction of Dr. Klein |
| Oct 7, 11 | Chapter 12, “Jackpot!” Recap by Steve VanDyken |
| Jan 3, 07 | 62 – Conditions of Release |
How is it than in one strip I have both my worst and one of my best drawings of Dictator Tot? I like the idea of what I was going for in the first panel, but I don’t think I pulled it off very well. Love the drawing of her in the last panel, though [...]
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| Aug 18, 10 | 272 – GET OUT! |
| Feb 6, 13 | 478 – What If Money Man Had Lived? |
| May 27, 10 | 258 – The Skirt Goes in the Wrong Direction |
| Jan 20, 07 | 77 – Headed for a Time-Out |
| Jul 22, 10 | 266 – The Greatest Book Ever Written |
My wife loves, loves, loves Dictator Tot in the first panel. I don’t usually do a lot of shading in SF, but that first panel screamed for a different lighting scheme. I don’t know that you’d be able to tell what’s going on without it. Second panel could have been better. A more arresting visual [...]
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The Third Man is a character that first appears in the backup story in the First SuperFogeys Collection. I have big plans for him. His look is directly inspired by the film “The Third Man,” and Orson Welles’ character in particular. I think it’s fair to say I took a bit of inspiration from one [...]
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| Dec 2, 11 | Pg. 3 “Enter The Space Pig” |
| Mar 13, 07 | 112 – Budapest ’68 All Over Again |
| Jan 16, 17 | 726 – Harrison Ford Finger of Doom |
| Dec 10, 09 | 237 – A Surprise Visitor |
| Oct 17, 16 | 705 – Saber |
Visually, this strip is meant to be a direct reference to Episode 55. I’ll make it clear right here: Yes, The Third Man is the person the Healer was talking to. The Third Man’s connection to Gene was a surprise to me. I had planned for the Third Man to be involved with the shenanigans [...]
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| Jul 4, 11 | 330 – Swim City |
| Jul 24, 08 | 148 – The Society of Heroes – Introducing Tangerine! |
| Aug 28, 13 | 530 – Jerry’s Greatest Hits |
| Jun 8, 10 | SF Origins: The Life and Times of Soviet Sam, Pg. 3 “Valhalla” |
Finally we’re back to the Fogeys. It was a conscious decision on my part to not have the Fogeys enter the stage for so many strips—six, to be exact. I wanted to try something new. Re-energize myself. I found I really missed them and the strip seems to come alive when they’re “on screen.” I [...]
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| Sep 9, 19 | 798 – A Dark Past, A Questionable Present |
| Mar 1, 11 | Pg. 5 “Couture Fashion” |
| Jul 14, 14 | 609 – Humbled |
| May 27, 13 | 507 – Telling Off Skunk Head |
| Nov 18, 11 | Pg. 1 “The Usher” |
Something I’m starting to return to that I haven’t really done since Chapter 1 is repeated panels, something I swore off of (for the most part) for Chapter 2. The difference now is that it’s not a crutch. I truly feel that this strip (and the next one, for that matter) was best served by [...]
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Visually, this is one of my absolute favorites. You can see I’m trying something new with the background. I first used the “faded background” technique in a guest strip I did for Wes Molebash’s strip “You’ll Have That” Once I did it there, I knew I needed to try it for SF. More copy/pasting [...]
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| Oct 28, 13 | 543 – The Ignored Little Boy |
| Jun 27, 11 | 328 – Pairing Off |
| Mar 15, 11 | Pg. 7 “Knife to the Throat” |
| Jan 15, 20 | 824 – Knives Out |
| Mar 30, 07 | 129 – Captain Spectacular’s Plea |
Whew. What a mother of a strip this was. For those of your keeping track at home, that’s 21 panels there. This marks Swifty’s return to the story after an absence of about 18 srips. I wanted it to be huge and Swifty playing frustrated is just fun. Originally, the last panel was silent—no joke. [...]
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| Sep 2, 10 | 274 – Up and Walking |
| Aug 31, 11 | 347 – Witch Fontana’s Fortunate Fortunes |
| Mar 16, 12 | Pg. 4 “An Unexpected Cellmate” |
| Nov 5, 12 | 455 – You’re Not My Father! |
| Jan 1, 10 | Guest Strip by Chris Watkins of “Odori Park!” |
The first panel shows a depth of field we haven’t really seen in SF thus far. My goal was to do a drawing that would also work well as a group shot and, possibly, a wallpaper. Plans are in the works for just such a thing. Obviously, this is a huge change of pace for [...]
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What a nightmare this strip was. Sometimes moving the plot along is a joy. Anytime I do it I already know what the point of the strip is, I just have to figure out what the joke is. Except…for this one…I had no joke. I had a set-up, but no payoff. Still, I started drawing, [...]
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| Feb 10, 14 | 570 – Cavalry |
| Sep 11, 19 | 799 – Redemption is Possible |
| Feb 9, 07 | 99 – The Tale of How Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden Met and Married, Conclusion |
| Jan 1, 07 | 60 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
| Dec 19, 11 | 372 – She’s His Sister |
Gene’s closing line in panel one was originally something like “Give her your utmost respect.” I quickly discovered at the lettering stage that I didn’t have enough room for that. Thank goodness. I love that he just shouts “Respect!” Kinda’ thing that makes me laugh. Spy Gal threatening violence on a little girl makes me [...]
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| Nov 11, 08 | 178 – Death, M.D. |
| Oct 17, 11 | 355 – Bubbles of Light 6 |
| Jan 21, 07 | 81 – Jerry Denied! |
| Apr 7, 14 | 586 – The New Percy |
| Jan 19, 21 | 866 – Who Wants to Be Safe? |
The Swifty-Jerry dynamic is one of my favorites, and this is one of my favorite exchanges that I’ve had a chance to write. I love how Jerry just ignores Swifty. A fun strip that segued into one of the biggest mistakes I ever made with the SuperFogeys…
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| May 12, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 13 “What Are You Doing Here!?” |
| Nov 20, 17 | 748 – Good Enough |
| Mar 16, 07 | 115 – Star Maiden Flattens Dr. Rocket |
| Oct 11, 06 | 18 – Ben Gay Smell |
| Jun 11, 09 | 211 – Shrinking Your Carbon Footprint |
Could I just not be bothered to draw backgrounds this time? Looks like. Still, the colors are pretty, right? Right? I try to make the Space Pig be an animal of as few words as possible. You never quite know where he’s coming from, I think. He’s a popular character, so he must be [...]
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| Jun 9, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 17 “Er-Hurm!” |
| Feb 28, 18 | 767 – Done Pretending |
| Jan 30, 17 | 730 – Broken Sam |
| Mar 24, 07 | 123 – The Box is Opened |
I don’t remember if this strip was done this way out of laziness or because I wanted to shake things up. Honestly, if I had to guess I’d say I was trying to shake things up. I think I was trying to create the feeling of overhearing the conversation before you really see who is [...]
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| Apr 1, 11 | Pg. 9 “Always” |
| Feb 12, 14 | 571 – ZBC Nightly News with Richelieu Madden and Gwen Dreck |
| Sep 16, 10 | 276 – “Sweetie” |
| Oct 24, 12 | 452 – Book of Mormon Story |
| Mar 10, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 4 “Arrival in New York” |
Another “colorful” strip. Seriously, this is just ugly. I never pull off the silhouetted figures thing as well as someone like Mike Witmer over at Pinkerton. I try but…no. Still, Jerry getting rejected by Spy Gal…that’s always gold as far as I’m concerned.
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I think my ink line is too thick in these middle Chapter 3 strips. Also, the camera is just a little too tight, a constant problem of mine overall. Knowing what I wanted to do with Dr. Klein by the end of this chapter, it was important to keep him present in the story. That’s [...]
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| Aug 4, 22 | 912 – Jerry Speaks |
| Jan 12, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 1 “Sweet Samantha” |
| Oct 3, 06 | 11 – The Power Dampener |
| Aug 17, 11 | 343 – Speak No More of This |
| Oct 6, 06 | 13 – How About a Kiss? |
I love the panel with the close-up of the hands. From the drawing to the colors, it just works. Too bad the rest of the strip doesn’t. A lot readers asked me what those sparks near Spy Gal’s wrist were in the last panel. Then answer: My feeble attempt at visually depicting her arthritis. …I [...]
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| Oct 21, 06 | 27 – Spy Gal’s Explanation |
| Jul 25, 14 | Pg. 4 “Daddy’s Little Girl Packs a Punch” |
| Oct 9, 08 | 170 – There Will Be Blood |
| Nov 21, 11 | 364 – Comrade |
| Mar 20, 07 | 119 – #@$% Heroic |
Swifty coming in at the end was kind of cheap. I didn’t have a real gag for this one, and he usually does in a pinch. It was an important Dr. Klein moment though.
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| Nov 16, 11 | 363 – Liberated |
| Jul 22, 15 | 659 – Wasting Time |
| Sep 24, 09 | 226 – The Deal is Off |
| Nov 12, 13 | 548 – Of Course He’s Working with the Aliens |
| Feb 1, 11 | Pg. 1 “Who You Callin’ Cow?” |
Just keeping the Third Man alive here. Also, it was important to me that Dictator Tot get her animal crackers.
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| Aug 29, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 6 “Spy Gal Arrives” |
| Mar 13, 07 | 112 – Budapest ’68 All Over Again |
| Apr 25, 11 | 310 – Doctor. |
| Feb 17, 12 | Pg. 2, “Devil Horned Goodbye” |
| Jul 22, 10 | 266 – The Greatest Book Ever Written |
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| May 5, 12 | Pg. 11 “Fly Away” |
| Feb 17, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 7 “Two Years” |
| Aug 5, 13 | 523 – The Big Slam |
| Mar 3, 07 | 106 – What’s in the Box? |
Dr. Rocket is always a lot of fun. Perversity is one of the worst evils, I think, because it reduces people to objects. That’s pretty dangerous thinking. Here, the good doctor is showing another side of his evil–the clumsy, bid-for-power type of evil. It’s not a very good plan for world domination, but in the [...]
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| Apr 7, 07 | 136 – CENSORED! |
| Jun 8, 10 | SF Origins: The Life and Times of Soviet Sam, Pg. 3 “Valhalla” |
| Feb 11, 13 | 479 – Rescued By Fidel Castro |
| Jan 12, 07 | 67 – Dr. Rocket Draws a Webcomic? |
| Oct 14, 06 | 21 – You Must Respect Women, Dr. Rocket! |
And now we see the real plan. Get the Captain on the computer to see his ex-wife. In the end, it’s kind of weak. There should have been something extra on the plan, or a bigger reaction from the Captain. It bears fruit, sure, but I think the Captain’s reaction could have been stronger and [...]
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| Aug 31, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg. 1 “Bored” |
| Jun 14, 22 | 897 – Streaking Past |
| Jul 16, 14 | 610 – Do the most you can do. |
| Sep 16, 08 | 163 – Dr. Klein’s Got Some Splainin’ to Do |
| Sep 14, 11 | 351 – Dreams Come Crashing In |
A fun, fun page. Star Maiden is just a pure pleasure to right. Star Maiden started out as Star Woman. Eventually, that character turned into Spy Gal (as explained in the commentary for episode 6, I think). Still, the initial idea for Star Woman wouldn’t let go. I knew I wanted a Wonder Woman type. [...]
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| Nov 25, 08 | 182 – Someone Steps Forward (Bubbles of Light 3) |
| Sep 14, 12 | Pg. 6 “Who Could Have Done This?” |
| Oct 19, 12 | Pg. 9 “Let’s Go!” |
| Mar 18, 07 | 117 – Dementia |
That last panel of Star Maiden is something I’m really pleased with. I wanted a really fluid figure and I often have a hard time drawing women. I surprised myself here. For some reason, readers really latched onto the phrase “Spill it, Gramps!” I have no idea why. I didn’t think it was particularly funny. [...]
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| Mar 25, 07 | 124 – Shooting |
| Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
| Oct 1, 09 | 227 – Star Maiden’s Fan Club |
| Dec 28, 09 | Guest Strip by Don Oskowski of “Conduit Flux!” |
| Nov 1, 06 | 29 – Introducing Dr. Klein! |
93 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular Met and Married Star Maiden
by Brock Heasley on February 2nd, 2007The genesis for this flashback came from Daniel Woodhouse, artist on “Thog Infinitron” and sometime artist of “Beaver and Steve.” I asked Dan to do a short backup story for the second SuperFogeys book and asked him what he wanted to draw. He said “Captain Spectacular fighting in the skies above a city. Maybe a [...]
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| May 12, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 13 “What Are You Doing Here!?” |
| May 15, 13 | 504 – A Striking Mustache |
| Mar 20, 07 | 119 – #@$% Heroic |
| Feb 3, 14 | 568 – Old Biddy |
| Feb 16, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 6 “The Bottle and the Women” |
I don’t know why Mr. Crook is in there. It doesn’t really add anything to the story to have him there. Great Dr. Rocket moment though. I had a lot of fun drawing that tongue and making it as yucky as possible.
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| Aug 19, 19 | 792 – Dashing, Like Hyphens |
| Nov 6, 19 | 810 – Meanwhile, In Las Vegas |
| Feb 7, 07 | 97 – The Return |
| Feb 13, 13 | 480 – A Bevy of Buxom Beach Beauties |
| Sep 21, 15 | 685 – Doom Comes to Abbadon |
The obvious signified of a flashback is to do the art in black and white. That gray shading I add in there is an effect I wish I had time to do on all the SuperFogeys strips. Plans are for that effect to be added to the strips for the trade collections. Once that happens, [...]
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| Feb 3, 07 | 94 – Everything Changed |
| Mar 24, 07 | 123 – The Box is Opened |
| Feb 27, 13 | 484 – Beaten Into Submission |
| Sep 18, 13 | 536 – Zurida and Her Subjects |
| Mar 26, 09 | 201 – The Orphan BBQ Will Have to Wait |
This strip is a favorite of mine. It’s some of my favorite dialog I’ve written and the sparse look really works for it. Portal could have been drawn better though.
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| Jan 16, 17 | 726 – Harrison Ford Finger of Doom |
| Sep 22, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 4 “I Am Dr. Rocket” |
| Nov 10, 06 | 38 – The Good Ol’ Days |
| Aug 31, 12 | Pg. 4 “Crib Cage” |
Obviously, something big went down in that other dimension. For the whole story, check out the backup tale “Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden in the Inevitable Dimension” in the second SuperFogeys book. It’s drawn by Julio Molina-Muscara, artist on “Omega Chase.” I wanted a “no bad guy” break-up here. I think you get where everyone [...]
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| Oct 7, 06 | 14 – Watchin’ TV |
| Nov 20, 19 | 814 – Ptoof! |
| Jul 27, 12 | Pg. 5 “Long Night of the Monsters” |
| Feb 11, 21 | 873 – Against the Wall |
The Pig is the minister! That’s the payoff to the Space Pig’s WebSpace page. Don’t know how many people picked up on that. I had a lot of fun with this page. Designing the Ninja Bridesmaid was particularly fun.
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Some people objected to the Captain and Star Maiden getting a divorce over a stinky sock. Them I would say: it’s one panel. Obviously, there’s a much bigger story there. I had a lot of fun with the interplay between Dictator Tot and Captain Spectacular here. I need to get those two together again.
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| Aug 1, 16 | 686 – Captain Spectacular’s Mighty Punch |
| Jan 28, 07 | 88 – Who Smells Like Fish? |
| Feb 8, 07 | 98 – The Wedding of Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden |
| Dec 8, 14 | The SuperFogeys 2015 Teaser and Special Announcements |
| Apr 15, 11 | Pg. 1 “A Sudden Meeting” |
Remind me never to do a triple-sized again. In fact, this burned me out so much that not a single double or triple-sized strip appeared in all of Chapter 4. I had been waiting a long time to do this one. I knew from before the beginning of Chapter 2 that the Third Man and [...]
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| Jun 17, 11 | Pg. 10 “Lost Faith” |
| Apr 2, 09 | 202 – He Started Stuttering |
| Apr 4, 07 | 134 – Driving Everybody Off |
| Aug 9, 10 | 269 – Sparing Her |
| Jan 14, 10 | 239 – How Captain Spectacular Knows The Third Man |
