Commentary I’m proud to say that no one guessed how in the world the cliffhanger from the end of the last chapter would resolve itself. The nice thing about doing a humor strip is that, at times, the humor can be a convenient “out” of a storytelling situation and somehow it doesn’t feel cheap. In [...]
Archive for ‘Chapter 05 – The Redemption of Dr. Rocket’
Commentary Even more with the convincing the audience that this is really who Dr. Rocket is now. While not exactly visually resplendent, I wanted to revisit something here (both artistically and from a character standpoint) that I hadn’t shown since chapter one: that in Valhalla “things are different” and mortal enemies can play a game [...]
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Jun 29, 12 | Pg. 3 “Sounds Like Monsters” |
Aug 1, 16 | 686 – Captain Spectacular’s Mighty Punch |
Nov 9, 16 | 712 – Ah-ah-ah |
Sep 21, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 2! |
Dec 16, 19 | 819 – Time for a Refill? |
Commentary Visually, I really love this one. After what I felt was kind of a visually bankrupt previous strip, I really wanted to do something different with this one. With the action being outside of Valhalla and not featuring any of the Fogeys, the opportunity was certainly there. Dictator Tot’s exit was a long time [...]
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Feb 1, 12 | 383 – Jackpot. |
Mar 31, 07 | 130 – When Pigs Fly |
Jan 18, 07 | 73 – It’s FUN to Share |
Mar 21, 07 | 120 – Swifty’s Losing? |
Jan 16, 07 | 71 – Is Gene Crying? |
Commentary Now, this I realize that this is almost entirely a cut-and-paste job from an eariler strip. In this case, I thought it was justified as a)it allowed me to get ahead a little and b)it was perfect for the pacing I was trying to achieve. I think the coloring really sells it and I had [...]
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Aug 19, 08 | 155 – Bait and Switch |
Mar 21, 07 | 120 – Swifty’s Losing? |
Jan 15, 07 | 70 – Gene and Dictator Tot Reunite |
Jan 20, 07 | 77 – Headed for a Time-Out |
Commentary This strip hearkens back to something set up in Star Maiden’s WebSpace page, namely that she was a webcam girl. I had a lot of fun with the second panel in trying to make Star look both sexy and deranged. The drool pretty much sold it. Swifty’s feeling at the end of this strip pretty [...]
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Feb 7, 07 | 97 – The Return |
Nov 20, 06 | 48 – “Old Marm?” |
Mar 19, 07 | 118 – Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden |
Sep 22, 06 | 1 – Introducing Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket! |
Sep 30, 11 | Chapter 7, “Visiting Day” Recap by Rossana Bugini |
Commentary Looking at my comments below, it’s clear I wasn’t very happy about the way this strip turned out at the time. Looking at it now, I’m not sure what my problem was. Looks pretty decent to me, although I regret the color scheme I chose for Jerry’s hospital room, especially since he’s going to [...]
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Feb 9, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 5 “Michelle Masters” |
Mar 12, 09 | 199 – Life is Like Pastry |
Jul 1, 08 | 143 – Ogle |
Dec 24, 12 | Merry Christmas From The SuperFogeys! |
Jan 30, 07 | 90 – Introducing Star Maiden! |
Commentary Ah, “Wrinkly Butt.” As this one was sitting at my drawing board, my wife happened upon it and exclaimed “WHAT IS UP WITH SPY GAL’S CHEST?” I explained that she’s been long established as a large-chested character and that she’s clearly folding her arms here so… My wife wasn’t having it. It was an [...]
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Sep 16, 19 | 800 – Earth-Avenge |
Oct 21, 08 | 173 – The Blender of Vengeance |
Nov 11, 13 | 547 – Lashing Out |
May 20, 11 | Pg. 6 “Invisible” |
Nov 7, 16 | 711- Fallen Son |
Commentary Ah, the proposal. I think this veers towards the sitcomish, but I like it for one reason: that we stay on Jerry the whole way through. Jerry doesn’t say a word, but he has his own little George-Bailey-Welcoming-Home-His-Brother-At-The-Train-Station moment, a brilliant bit of acting by Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life in which he [...]
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Feb 3, 20 | 829 – Too. Far. |
Nov 5, 14 | 634 – Twin Plots |
May 20, 13 | 505 – Dark Disease |
Feb 8, 12 | 385 – Tiger Dung |
Aug 20, 18 | Swifty Origin, Pg. 12 “Party Hard” |
Commentary Okay, I admit it. I goofed. There’s a huge continuity error here and I didn’t realize it until months later. Spy Gal states in panel 2 that they had been engaged before. The thing is…I made it pretty clear in the flashback for Chapter 3 that they hadn’t. Captain Spectacular was PLANNING to propose, [...]
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Aug 17, 12 | Pg. 2 “Youthfulenergysupersurplus!” |
Jun 3, 11 | Pg. 8 “Future Imperfect” |
Feb 7, 18 | 761 – Rolling Peas |
Dec 14, 16 | 719 – It’s Easy When You Know How |
Oct 27, 20 | 850 – Grand Entrance |
Commentary I am nothing if not patient. I created Tangerine quite a while ago. In fact, his actual first appearance is on the cover of the first SuperFogeys book and in the bonus story of that same book as drawn by Mike Hartigan. Each of the SuperFogeys are pretty much analogues for characters in either the [...]
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Jun 10, 11 | Pg. 9 “College Years” |
Jul 1, 13 | 517 – The Man in the Iron Cage |
Sep 29, 11 | Chapter 6, “Funeral for a Frenemy” Recap by Crystal Murphy |
Aug 12, 13 | 525 – Temptation |
Nov 20, 13 | 550 – Everything in its Right Place |
Commentary Ah! Ah! Ah! Too much! There’s just way too much going on in this strip. I could have easily took all the same ideas here and spread them out into three strips instead of compacting them into one. Plus, I was way too in love with my own dialogue. Swifty’s in the first panel [...]
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Oct 12, 06 | 19 – Back From the Colonoscopy |
Feb 1, 12 | 383 – Jackpot. |
Jul 4, 12 | 426 – Daddy’s Little Girl |
Dec 12, 11 | 370 – Ugly Little Man |
Oct 1, 12 | 445 – I Don’t Know What I’ve Been Told |
Commentary My previous comments: Some of you have already seen this strip. I did this one a month or so back as a guest strip for Lucas Turnbloom’s “Imagine This”. But…as you can see from the previous strip…it fits right in nicely with our ongoing story. Big thanks to my Tall Tale Features compatriot for lending me [...]
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Aug 31, 11 | 347 – Witch Fontana’s Fortunate Fortunes |
Sep 27, 11 | Chapter 4, “Dictator Tot’s Revenge” Recap by Jeremy Bentley |
May 26, 22 | 892 – Ejection |
Oct 16, 08 | 172 – The Superhero Code |
Jun 7, 22 | 895 – Can’t Stop Won’t Stop |
Commentary Ugh. Another butt-ugly strip. I think I’m starting to realize that this was a bit problem for me in Chapter 5 – too many strips trying to do too much. Dr. Rocket’s gift-giving continues here. Of particular note is the peanut butter cookie he gives Captain Spectacular. That’s actually a follow-up to a bonus [...]
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Nov 9, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg. 11 “One Life Ends…” |
Jan 15, 20 | 824 – Knives Out |
Apr 9, 07 | 138 – Good News and Bad News |
Jan 29, 07 | 89 – WebSpace Page: Dr. Rocket |
Aug 6, 18 | Swifty Origin, Pg. 10 “The Heart” |
Commentary Oh, this is just the ultimate slam. Captain Spectacular is definitely a “lives in the moment” kind of guy. I just couldn’t resist kicking Jerry when he’s down. He doesn’t speak, but again he communicates a lot. This strip is also one of the first indications that Cap and Doc were once friends, [...]
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Apr 28, 14 | 590 – Will He Fight? |
Jan 10, 18 | 753 – What She’d Like to Know |
Aug 19, 10 | 273 – All Is Revealed |
Feb 1, 17 | 731 – Mr. Brightside |
Sep 18, 15 | 684 – Better Than Dyin’ |
Commentary This is one of those rare strips that I think is pretty good, both visually and from a story standpoint, but that has a pretty weak punchline. There’s just something so obvious about that last panel. What I do like a lot is the unconventional paneling. I don’t remember exactly how I hit on the [...]
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Sep 29, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 5 “Time to Move On” |
Sep 25, 08 | 166 – Beer Don’t Judge |
Nov 6, 13 | 546 – Tangerine Makes a Decision |
Dec 24, 09 | Guest Strip by Rufus Edge of “Comicdeoxyribonucleicacid!” No. 2! |
Mar 21, 11 | The SuperFogeys 2011 Teaser |
COMMENTARY In the first panel there, you’ll notice a sign on the box that’s cut off. The full sign would read “Ark of the Covenant – Do Not Touch,” an obvious shout-out to Indiana Jones. The monster is another shout-out. This is my lame attempt at a tribute to the master of drawing monsters—Jack Kirby. [...]
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Jan 8, 07 | 64 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
Aug 6, 18 | Swifty Origin, Pg. 10 “The Heart” |
Mar 26, 07 | 125 – Jerry’s Down |
Nov 2, 16 | 710 – Crimson Oils |
COMMENTARY Look at the detail in that darkened warehouse! I kid. If you look closely at the third panel you’ll see that Dictator Tot has tossed aside a small device. I didn’t have room to explicitly state it, but the idea is that she was using that device to make it appear as though she [...]
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Aug 10, 15 | 667 – The Importance of Good Hygiene |
Jan 9, 13 | 470 – Soviet Sam Strikes Again |
Nov 6, 13 | 546 – Tangerine Makes a Decision |
Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
Sep 14, 12 | Pg. 6 “Who Could Have Done This?” |
COMMENTARY Based on this strip, for some reason, a lot of people assumed that Captain Spectacular II is the son of Captain Spectacular. Such is not the case. I love, love, love the look of this one. I wish I got to play with colors like the more often, or, at least, that I was [...]
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Jan 9, 17 | 724 – Requiem for Tangerine |
Mar 20, 07 | 119 – #@$% Heroic |
Dec 24, 09 | Guest Strip by Rufus Edge of “Comicdeoxyribonucleicacid!” No. 2! |
Aug 14, 08 | 154 – Tangerine’s Surprise |
Sep 21, 15 | 685 – Doom Comes to Abbadon |
COMMENTARY This strip originally without the “Clap! Clap!” at the end. It wasn’t until the day after I posted it that Th3rd World Publisher Mike DeVito suggested it and I redrew the last panel immediately. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Captain’s hair is a character all its own. People were mostly confused [...]
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Feb 8, 07 | 98 – The Wedding of Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden |
Apr 24, 13 | 500 – What Should Not Be |
Oct 4, 11 | Chapter 9, “Head Games” Recap by Eric Merritt |
Nov 19, 12 | 459 – A Family Thing |
Mar 3, 07 | 106 – What’s in the Box? |
COMMENTARY This is the second appearance of the Bubbles of Light. No one questioned the first appearance back in Chapter 4 and I don’t really blame them. There wasn’t much to go on. Here we get a few more clues, leading to the obvious conclusion that Swifty—or at least some iteration of him—is time-traveling. The [...]
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Apr 14, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 9 “Press Conference” |
Jan 6, 10 | Guest Strip by Jermaine McGruder of “Warrior Born!” |
Sep 28, 12 | GUEST STRIP by Crystal Murphy, Summer Fun Pt. 4 |
May 24, 22 | 891 – Third Eye Blind |
Oct 8, 06 | 15 – Introducing Swifty! |
What a fun strip this was to work on. From the dialogue dance to the pure character illustration, I just love it. What I’m trying to do is say a lot about the relationship between Captain Spectacular and Spy Gal in very few frames. Up to you whether I succeeded or not. Captain Spectacular thinking [...]
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Oct 7, 06 | 14 – Watchin’ TV |
Sep 28, 12 | GUEST STRIP by Crystal Murphy, Summer Fun Pt. 4 |
Sep 26, 06 | 5 – The Urine of What!? |
Mar 18, 07 | 117 – Dementia |
Aug 20, 14 | 619 – The Repentant |
COMMENTARY The relationship between Spy Gal and Star Maiden is one of my most favorite things in the SuperFogeys, and I don’t spend nearly enough time on it. Spy Gal’s mothering instinct really comes out when she sees someone suffering and yet…she’s still Spy Gal. I think I could have drawn the light effect better [...]
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Jul 6, 12 | Pg. 4 “The Very, Very Long Battle” |
Mar 9, 12 | Pg. 3 “His Old Flame” |
Jul 3, 08 | 144 – Jerry Wakes Up |
Dec 21, 16 | 721 – Requiem for Money Man |
COMMENTARY The angry looks that the Space Pig and Tangerine are giving each are meant to suggest a fallout between them after the events of “The Secret Origin of the Space Pig” (which you can find in SuperFogreys Vol.1, on sale in the SF Store). Tangerine finally arriving at Valhalla was a long time in [...]
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Nov 11, 06 | 39 – Jerry Arrives Late |
Dec 10, 06 | 59 – Will Captain Spectacular Stay or Will He Go? |
Nov 20, 19 | 814 – Ptoof! |
Feb 5, 14 | 569 – Don’t Call Him a Communist When You’ve Been One For a Year |
Aug 27, 09 | 222 – $500 A Head |
COMMENTARY Tangerine’s body design presents some unique challenges. He doesn’t really have elbows (the way I draw him anyway) and he’s so much shorter than everybody else that whenever he appears it requires some rethinking of how I usually frame the characters in the panel. I thought long and hard about the use of the [...]
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Feb 1, 11 | Pg. 1 “Who You Callin’ Cow?” |
Oct 31, 11 | 359 – Warmed Up |
Apr 13, 11 | 307 – T-Magus |
Jan 14, 10 | 239 – How Captain Spectacular Knows The Third Man |
Mar 22, 07 | 121 – Swifty Gets Slapped |
COMMENTARY I felt like, with two and half years behind me and being in the middle of a complicated (in comparison, anyway), back-and-forth chapter like this one that I needed to take a minute to acknowledge just what the heck was going on. Spy Gal is admittedly making some leaps in logic here, but it’s [...]
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Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
Dec 5, 16 | 716 – Boy Haircut |
Sep 19, 11 | 352 – Megatron is Copyrighted |
Oct 29, 12 | 453 – Buried Weapons |
Dec 28, 11 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy! |
COMMENTARY One of the more awkwardly organized strips I’ve done, design-wise. The balloons in the second panel just would not fit in a natural way. In comics, you generally want the person speaking first on the left side of the panel and the next person to the right of them and so on. Usually, I [...]
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Nov 14, 11 | 362 – Robots Don’t Sleep |
May 27, 11 | Pg. 7 “In the Future” |
Apr 23, 14 | 589 – The Lie of Never |
Nov 13, 08 | 179 – Reverend Space Pig |
Apr 16, 18 | 778 – Sam’s Guilt |
COMMENTARY When I created Tangerine about two years prior to the strips on this page being drawn, this strip and the one above were in my original notes. Tangerine’s entire personality was then extrapolated from these two conversations with Jerry. The Pink Shade is a character that gets referenced now and again, but her actual [...]
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Apr 18, 11 | 308 – Time Displaced/Erased/No Taste |
Jan 11, 12 | 377 – The Blue Light of Revelation |
Jan 15, 18 | 754 – Not Strong Anymore |
Mar 7, 12 | 393 – Impasse |
Aug 17, 16 | 691 – That’s Enough |
COMMENTARY Arachno is supposed to be an analogue to Spider-Man. He’s probably too dead-on in name to every make an actual appearance, but he provides a good shorthand here to illustrate just how unusual the public turning against him was to the Captain. SUPERFOGEYS 2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY This week marks the 2-year anniversary of both the [...]
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Oct 1, 12 | 445 – I Don’t Know What I’ve Been Told |
May 20, 13 | 505 – Dark Disease |
Mar 12, 09 | 199 – Life is Like Pastry |
Feb 12, 14 | 571 – ZBC Nightly News with Richelieu Madden and Gwen Dreck |
Jun 5, 13 | 510 – The Evil, Evil Plan |
COMMENTARY This is maybe one of the most economical and tragic things I’ve ever written. Really, the intent was to begin really breaking down Tangerine’s character, but Captain Spectacular got swept up in that tide as well as we see his fatal character flaw—when things are going well, the Captain does just fine. When things [...]
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Jul 13, 11 | 333 – A Word with Her Fiancee |
Jun 15, 11 | 325 – At Captain Spectacular’s Door |
Mar 24, 14 | 582 – The Discomfort of Dark Maiden |
Oct 1, 06 | 9 – How to Turn Dr. Rocket On |
May 4, 11 | 313 – Dr. Rocket’s Space Journey, Pt. 2: A Lovely Woman |
COMMENTARY I had to do a bit of a storytelling shuffle to keep Tangerine away from Dr. Rocket until this point in the story. I love his entrance here. In particular, I loved doing the growling drawing of Tangerine. The red color isn’t meant to suggest that Tangerine can actually turn red—it’s just an artistic [...]
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Mar 6, 07 | 108 – Spy Gal Will Protect Jerry |
Mar 11, 07 | 110 – Spanking |
May 14, 08 | SF Collection #1 Cover |
Nov 4, 13 | 545 – Do What is Right |
Mar 7, 18 | 769 – Weeping Wandering Fat Children |
COMMENTARY One of my all-time favorite strips. Visually, I think this just works. I think I had just rewatched the movie Quiz Show shortly before writing this strip, so I had Geritol on the brain. Great movie. SUPERFOGEYS FALLING BEHIND IN WEBCOMIC READER’S CHOICE AWARDS The SuperFogeys need your help! Those of you that have [...]
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Sep 2, 13 | 531 – Phantom Limb |
Sep 25, 08 | 166 – Beer Don’t Judge |
Jul 28, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 1 “A Chance to Think” |
Mar 19, 18 | 772 – Showdown at the New California Coast |
Jul 14, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 22 “The Society of Heroes” |
COMMENTARY In the first two panels we see that Swifty did indeed use the Space Pig Urine given to him by Dr. Rocket earlier in the chapter. I wish I had chosen a different wall color for the background of this strip (and all those remaining in Chapter 5 for that matter). That brown is [...]
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May 7, 09 | 207 – Not My Story to Tell |
Sep 21, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg. 4 “The Best Day Ever, Ever” |
Nov 20, 06 | 48 – “Old Marm?” |
Aug 3, 11 | 339 – Love |
Jan 14, 10 | 239 – How Captain Spectacular Knows The Third Man |
COMMENTARY There wasn’t room in the flashback of this chapter to make it explicit that Dr. Rocket was responsible for the public turning against the Captain in the 70’s, so it was nice of Tangerine to make that point for us here. Unfortunately, this strip and the next few are far too wordy. I had [...]
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Aug 26, 13 | 529 – Why Did Jerry Do It? |
Jan 17, 07 | 72 – Dictator Tot’s Marching Orders |
Sep 27, 12 | GUEST STRIP by Crystal Murphy, Summer Fun Pt. 3 |
Sep 28, 11 | Chapter 5, “The Redemption of Dr. Rocket” Recap by Geoff Munn |
Mar 7, 18 | 769 – Weeping Wandering Fat Children |
COMMENTARY This strip angered a lot of people. No one—and I mean NO ONE—felt that Captain Spectacular would just stand by and watch Spy Gal get knocked out like that. Honestly, I couldn’t understand that reaction based on what we’d just seen in his flashback. Not only is the Captain flawed, but Tangerine is his [...]
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Jun 9, 22 | 896 – Pushed Aside |
Dec 9, 06 | 58 – Jerry’s Single Chest Hair |
Nov 26, 09 | 235 – In His Shadow |
Mar 5, 18 | 768 – Boy-Haired Crone |
COMMENTARY I want to do an entire comic book of Star Maiden just walking around Valhalla and interacting with everyone. She’s so, so much fun to write and draw. Some of my most favorite lines from her ever are in this strip. I wanted to cut down the dialogue for the print edition, but I [...]
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Jan 27, 14 | 566 – Guns Blazin’ |
Feb 20, 12 | 388 – Bay-buh |
Jul 22, 08 | 147 – Three Plus Seven |
Jul 25, 11 | 336 – Walking Diagonally |
Feb 26, 18 | 766 – Always |
COMMENTARY Here’s another idea that’s too big for the strip format. I’m just really pushing the boundaries of what a strip can do. Thankfully, I don’t have anything like a syndicate to answer to, so I can do this, get this idea out of the way, and regret not expanding it two strips later. Still, [...]
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Nov 15, 17 | 747 – The Popped Grape |
Oct 16, 06 | 23 – The Incontinent Duo |
Mar 29, 07 | 128 – Only Two People in the World… |
Apr 25, 11 | 310 – Doctor. |
Jan 23, 13 | 474 – Overwhelmed |
COMMENTARY No single strip that I have done (at the time of this writing I’m about 10 strips into Chapter 7) has caused as much controversy as this one. The comments exploded when this strip hit. I think maybe 1% of the audience saw this coming. And, even if they did, no one thought it [...]
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Mar 15, 07 | 114 – Enter: Star Maiden |
Jul 31, 15 | 663 – Pandora’s Box |
Oct 7, 10 | 279 – Gina Galloway |
Feb 8, 07 | 98 – The Wedding of Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden |
Aug 17, 16 | 691 – That’s Enough |