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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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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May 14, 08 | SF Collection #1 Cover |
Jan 8, 07 | 64 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
Oct 3, 16 | 703 – Like a Television During a Calliou Marathon |
May 17, 08 | SF Collection #3 Cover |
Jun 8, 10 | SF Origins: The Life and Times of Soviet Sam, Pg. 3 “Valhalla” |
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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Nov 10, 20 | 854 – Don’t Touch the Lava |
Jan 8, 07 | 64 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
Mar 20, 07 | 119 – #@$% Heroic |
Apr 25, 18 | 781 – Everyone in the War Room! |
May 23, 11 | 318 – The Plans of Dr. Klein, Pt. 1 “Getting Rid of Captain Spectacular” |
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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Jul 13, 15 | 655 – He’s In |
Jul 11, 14 | Pg. 2 “The Devil in the Dark” |
Sep 16, 13 | 535 – A Superhero, His Sons, His Ex and His Evil Best Friend are Locked Up in a Palace… |
Sep 7, 12 | Pg. 5 “Who Squished?” |
Jul 30, 14 | 614 – The First Lady |
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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May 26, 22 | 892 – Ejection |
Feb 29, 12 | 391 – Secrets, Secrets Are No Fun… |
Sep 9, 15 | 680 – Thrice Evil is Not Pleased |
Sep 30, 13 | 539 – Spy Gal Beats Up Somebody |
Aug 5, 15 | 665 – All Out of Coffee and Goats |
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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Jan 6, 14 | 560 – Lifeless |
Jun 24, 11 | Pg. 11 “Partners Again” |
Aug 10, 20 | 843 – What About the Crawfish? |
Sep 18, 08 | 164 – Why “Tangerine?” |
Jan 5, 10 | Guest Strip by Joe Cook of “Shattered Myth!” |
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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Oct 6, 06 | 13 – How About a Kiss? |
May 14, 08 | SF Collection #1 Cover |
Jan 6, 14 | 560 – Lifeless |
Nov 13, 08 | 179 – Reverend Space Pig |
Feb 3, 20 | 829 – Too. Far. |
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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Sep 19, 11 | 352 – Megatron is Copyrighted |
May 20, 08 | SF Collection #4 Cover |
Mar 26, 14 | 583 – The Captain is Not as Alone as He Thinks |
Oct 23, 08 | 174 – Big Mistake |
Jan 2, 12 | 374 – A Spy Gal Shaped Hole |
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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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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Nov 12, 20 | 855 – Making Thrice Evil Sad |
Sep 5, 11 | 348 – The Wheel of Fortune |
Jun 27, 12 | 424 – Somebody That He Used to Know |
Sep 11, 19 | 799 – Redemption is Possible |
Mar 28, 12 | 399 – Surprise, Swifty Disapproves of Everyone |
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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Jan 27, 11 | 293 – Good Actor |
Oct 7, 11 | Chapter 12, “Jackpot!” Recap by Steve VanDyken |
Jun 3, 09 | The SuperFogeys Free Comic Book Day Page! |
Feb 7, 07 | 97 – The Return |
Sep 7, 12 | Pg. 5 “Who Squished?” |
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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Jan 11, 12 | 377 – The Blue Light of Revelation |
Nov 5, 09 | 232 – It’s Insane Here |
Jan 21, 13 | 473 – Monkey Rain |
Apr 8, 11 | Cover |
Oct 4, 06 | 12 – Introducing Space Pig! |
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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Nov 20, 19 | 814 – Ptoof! |
Apr 30, 14 | 591 – About That Thing… That One Time |
Apr 3, 13 | 494 – Hugging in the Throne Room |
Nov 8, 06 | 36 – Valhalla Stinks! |
Aug 31, 12 | Pg. 4 “Crib Cage” |
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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Feb 3, 12 | Pg. 4 “Exile” |
Sep 11, 13 | 534 – Tangerine’s Mission |
Aug 6, 18 | Swifty Origin, Pg. 10 “The Heart” |
Dec 18, 13 | 558 – Sokol Steps Up |
Nov 7, 16 | 711- Fallen Son |
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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Nov 19, 09 | 234 – Time to Read |
Jan 15, 14 | 563 – Wreckage |
Feb 10, 11 | 295 – It’s Got Him Thinkin’ |
Aug 17, 16 | 691 – That’s Enough |
Aug 10, 15 | 667 – The Importance of Good Hygiene |
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 11, 14 | Marc Lapierre and The SuperFogeys |
Oct 11, 17 | 737 – Dastard Number Two |
Sep 25, 08 | 166 – Beer Don’t Judge |
Nov 9, 16 | 712 – Ah-ah-ah |
May 17, 08 | SF Collection #3 Cover |
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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Aug 31, 12 | Pg. 4 “Crib Cage” |
May 3, 09 | 206 – The Valhalla Basement Dungeon |
Aug 6, 18 | Swifty Origin, Pg. 10 “The Heart” |
Feb 1, 07 | 92 – Not the Woman He Used to Know |
Jan 26, 21 | 868 – The Blame Game |
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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Oct 27, 20 | 850 – Grand Entrance |
Jul 7, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 21 “Sayonara, Sucker!” |
Jul 5, 22 | 903 – Big Dumb Floating Ape |
Dec 18, 19 | 820 – Heart-Stopping Great Looks |
Sep 22, 06 | 1 – Introducing Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket! |
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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Sep 1, 22 | 920 – …The More They Stay the Same |
Jan 7, 13 | 469 – Beating Into Submission with Peace |
Sep 7, 12 | Pg. 5 “Who Squished?” |
Jul 14, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 22 “The Society of Heroes” |
May 15, 08 | SF Collection #2 Cover |
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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Mar 5, 12 | 392 – …Secrets, Secrets Hurt Someone |
Dec 24, 09 | Guest Strip by Rufus Edge of “Comicdeoxyribonucleicacid!” No. 2! |
Nov 22, 06 | 49 – The Pen is Shinier Than the Sword |
Feb 5, 20 | 830 – Literary Twist |
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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Apr 13, 10 | SF Origins: Star Maiden, Pg. 1 “Troubled Birth” |
Sep 2, 08 | 159 – Strange Dreams and Wedding Plans |
Apr 1, 10 | 250 – To Be So Stupid |
Jul 11, 11 | 332 – Captain Spectacular’s Buds |
Nov 24, 20 | 858 – She Brewed Beer Yesterday |
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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Oct 12, 06 | 19 – Back From the Colonoscopy |
Nov 11, 08 | 178 – Death, M.D. |
Oct 23, 08 | 174 – Big Mistake |
Dec 4, 08 | 185 – The Origin of Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, Pt. 2 “Babylonian Invasion” |
Apr 28, 14 | 590 – Will He Fight? |
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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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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Apr 28, 14 | 590 – Will He Fight? |
Aug 16, 22 | 915 – Return to Valhalla |
May 14, 08 | SF Collection #1 Cover |
Jul 1, 15 | 650 – GAH! Feelings! |
Dec 5, 11 | 368 – Darn That Dr. Klein |
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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Sep 18, 15 | 684 – Better Than Dyin’ |
Jun 3, 09 | The SuperFogeys Free Comic Book Day Page! |
Dec 1, 06 | 51 – Can Hair Eat? |
May 26, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 15 “DUDE!” |
Sep 12, 16 | 698 – Good Thing or Bad Thing? |
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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Sep 28, 11 | Chapter 5, “The Redemption of Dr. Rocket” Recap by Geoff Munn |
Mar 7, 12 | 393 – Impasse |
Sep 16, 19 | 800 – Earth-Avenge |
Jan 9, 12 | 376 – Beaten But Not Broken |
Feb 25, 13 | 483 – Bubbles of Light 8 |
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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Dec 18, 13 | 558 – Sokol Steps Up |
Mar 2, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 9 “Mature Love” |
Oct 1, 15 | Chapter 21 Teaser! |
Sep 21, 15 | 685 – Doom Comes to Abbadon |
Sep 14, 15 | 682 – Milk and Cookies |
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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Aug 1, 16 | 686 – Captain Spectacular’s Mighty Punch |
Mar 6, 13 | 486 – On a Thin Tether |
May 30, 12 | 416 – Alcohol is His Kryptonite |
Nov 4, 06 | 32 – Bingo Night Begins |
Jun 17, 10 | 261 – What Happened to Star Maiden, Pt. 3 “Feeling Refreshed” |
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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May 23, 12 | 414 – Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe |
Jul 11, 08 | Guest Strip by Sean Conchieri of “Pixel!” |
Oct 19, 12 | Pg. 9 “Let’s Go!” |
Jun 24, 13 | Bubbles of Light 0 |
Dec 31, 13 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, 3 |
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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Oct 3, 11 | Chapter 8, “The Captain and the Spy” Recap by Nick Perkins |
Sep 16, 10 | 276 – “Sweetie” |
Nov 2, 16 | 710 – Crimson Oils |
Sep 22, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 4 “I Am Dr. Rocket” |
Oct 2, 08 | 168 – Tangerine Gets His Mad On |
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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Dec 2, 10 | 287 – GAH! |
Apr 1, 07 | 131 – Spy Gal Cares |
Sep 4, 19 | 797 – Squishiness in the War Room |
Jan 9, 12 | 376 – Beaten But Not Broken |
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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Jul 25, 14 | Pg. 4 “Daddy’s Little Girl Packs a Punch” |
Sep 21, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 2! |
Apr 7, 14 | 586 – The New Percy |
Jul 1, 10 | 263 – What Happened to Star Maiden, Pt. 5 “A Parting Gift” |
Sep 25, 13 | 538 – The Amazing Zurida |
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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Jul 19, 22 | 907 – Where is Sam? |
Mar 17, 11 | 300 – Stage Four |
Dec 7, 11 | 369 – Donut Power |
Aug 25, 14 | 620 – Her Husband’s Keeper |
Nov 17, 06 | 45 – The Tale of How Captain Spectacular was Paralyzed, Conclusion |
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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Sep 7, 16 | 697 – No Fun Being Ignored |
Jun 15, 11 | 325 – At Captain Spectacular’s Door |
Nov 14, 11 | 362 – Robots Don’t Sleep |
Mar 25, 20 | 842 – Someone to Hit |
May 23, 11 | 318 – The Plans of Dr. Klein, Pt. 1 “Getting Rid of Captain Spectacular” |
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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Mar 17, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 5 “Prison Stripes” |
Oct 30, 19 | 808 – 2.5 Seconds Later |
Jun 14, 22 | 897 – Streaking Past |
Sep 4, 19 | 797 – Squishiness in the War Room |
Sep 8, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 2 “The Happiest Year” |
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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Dec 8, 06 | 57 – Captain Spectacular Forgot His Pants |
Jun 4, 18 | Pg. 1 “My Name is Gordon Jones” |
Dec 9, 10 | 288 – Fill Me In |
Aug 20, 09 | 221 – And By Books Do You Mean Skin Rags? |
Sep 18, 16 | 700 – Happy Tenth Anniversary, SuperFogeys |