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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Sep 20, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 1! |
May 23, 12 | 414 – Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe |
May 14, 08 | SF Collection #1 Cover |
Feb 9, 21 | 872 – Zurida Down |
Nov 21, 12 | 460 – Riding the Sunway |
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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Apr 3, 07 | 133 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular Met Dr. Klein |
Feb 1, 07 | 92 – Not the Woman He Used to Know |
Jan 15, 07 | 70 – Gene and Dictator Tot Reunite |
Apr 25, 12 | 406 – Spy Gal’s Wall of Evidence |
Jan 1, 07 | 60 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
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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Jan 16, 07 | 71 – Is Gene Crying? |
May 23, 11 | 318 – The Plans of Dr. Klein, Pt. 1 “Getting Rid of Captain Spectacular” |
Jan 4, 07 | 63 – The Food is Plastic! |
Nov 10, 20 | 854 – Don’t Touch the Lava |
Mar 3, 07 | 106 – What’s in the Box? |
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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Apr 16, 12 | 403 – Don’t Say No to Dark Maiden |
Jun 23, 22 | 900 – Protected |
Sep 3, 09 | 223 – On Your Marks… |
Feb 15, 11 | Pg. 3 “For The Girls” |
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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Jul 27, 12 | Pg. 5 “Long Night of the Monsters” |
Oct 31, 16 | 709 – Gina Galloway to the Rescue |
May 6, 11 | Pg. 4 “Contrast” |
Jul 1, 08 | 143 – Ogle |
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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Mar 23, 07 | 122 – Who Will Jerry Fight? |
Oct 7, 08 | 169 – Faker! |
Jan 8, 18 | 752 – Like Jerry |
Aug 30, 22 | 919 – The More Things Change… |
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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Dec 31, 13 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, 3 |
Dec 29, 09 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, Part One |
Nov 7, 06 | 35 – Healer Q&A |
Aug 31, 16 | 695 – The Mighty Money Man |
Jun 10, 11 | Pg. 9 “College Years” |
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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Dec 27, 10 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, Part One (2010) |
Mar 21, 07 | 120 – Swifty’s Losing? |
Nov 11, 13 | 547 – Lashing Out |
Feb 12, 09 | 195 – The Origin of Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, Pt. 12 “The Conclusion” |
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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Aug 22, 12 | 438 – Don’t Insult the ‘Do |
Nov 2, 16 | 710 – Crimson Oils |
Oct 24, 12 | 452 – Book of Mormon Story |
Apr 23, 14 | 589 – The Lie of Never |
Oct 28, 08 | 175 – My Pleasure |
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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Aug 5, 08 | 151 – Peanut Butter Cookies |
Dec 24, 12 | Merry Christmas From The SuperFogeys! |
Sep 8, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 2 “The Happiest Year” |
Jul 20, 11 | 335 – Diagonally |
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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May 19, 22 | 890 – Loved In Her Own Way |
Oct 12, 12 | Pg. 8 “Gross Fetuses” |
Feb 2, 07 | 93 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular Met and Married Star Maiden |
Mar 29, 07 | 128 – Only Two People in the World… |
Nov 18, 19 | 813 – Villains Landing |
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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Oct 24, 12 | 452 – Book of Mormon Story |
Feb 12, 18 | 762 – Jerry vs. Soviet Sam |
Jun 19, 15 | 645 – Say the Name Correctly, Idiot |
Nov 2, 16 | 710 – Crimson Oils |
Apr 1, 10 | 250 – To Be So Stupid |
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 4, 08 | 176 – An Evil #@$% |
Nov 12, 09 | 233 – She Was Undercover |
Oct 4, 06 | 12 – Introducing Space Pig! |
Feb 2, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 4 “Zurida, Mistress of Worlds” |
Feb 26, 18 | 766 – Always |
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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Aug 26, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 3 “Tangerine’s Tendencies” |
Jul 22, 10 | 266 – The Greatest Book Ever Written |
May 18, 12 | Pg. 2 “Not Ready or Able” |
Sep 25, 08 | 166 – Beer Don’t Judge |
Jul 28, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 1 “A Chance to Think” |
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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Mar 21, 07 | 120 – Swifty’s Losing? |
Jul 2, 09 | 214 – Father and Sons |
Oct 9, 08 | 170 – There Will Be Blood |
Nov 20, 13 | 550 – Everything in its Right Place |
Aug 12, 13 | 525 – Temptation |
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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Oct 7, 08 | 169 – Faker! |
Jan 7, 13 | 469 – Beating Into Submission with Peace |
Jan 1, 09 | Guest Strip by Mark R. Engel of “Prematurely Disappointed!” |
Sep 21, 15 | 685 – Doom Comes to Abbadon |
Sep 11, 08 | 162 – Just Another Purty Face? |
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 16, 07 | 71 – Is Gene Crying? |
May 7, 09 | 207 – Not My Story to Tell |
Sep 10, 12 | 443 – “Open to Ideas” |
Jul 28, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 1 “A Chance to Think” |
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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Dec 24, 09 | Guest Strip by Rufus Edge of “Comicdeoxyribonucleicacid!” No. 2! |
Mar 13, 11 | 299 – Why The Hospital |
Oct 13, 06 | 20 – Worse Than He Thought |
Aug 21, 19 | 793 – The Hero He Hates to Be |
Nov 7, 16 | 711- Fallen Son |
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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Oct 17, 11 | 355 – Bubbles of Light 6 |
Oct 16, 06 | 23 – The Incontinent Duo |
Nov 25, 08 | 182 – Someone Steps Forward (Bubbles of Light 3) |
Mar 21, 11 | The SuperFogeys 2011 Teaser |
Dec 2, 11 | Pg. 3 “Enter The Space Pig” |
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 9, 20 | 837 – So? |
Feb 17, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 1 “Spy Gal” |
Sep 5, 16 | 696 – Account Closed |
Jun 23, 22 | 900 – Protected |
Oct 13, 09 | SF Origins: JA – Tom’s Story, Pg. 2 “Not About My Dad” |
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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Aug 16, 10 | 271 – Is Spy Gal Not a Good Woman? |
Apr 27, 12 | Pg. 10 “Mother and Child Reunion” |
Mar 18, 21 | 883 – Through the Mall! |
Jul 9, 08 | Guest Strip by Rufus Edge of “comicdeoxyribonucleicacid!” |
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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Jun 15, 11 | 325 – At Captain Spectacular’s Door |
Jan 6, 09 | Guest Strip by T.L. Collins of “Bullfinch!” |
Jun 22, 15 | 646 – Dark Maiden Wants What Now? |
Jan 23, 12 | 380 – Mr. Jerry |
Dec 6, 06 | 55 – A Mysterious Figure in the Wings |
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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Nov 3, 06 | 31- Spittin’ Oatmeal |
Nov 18, 11 | Pg. 1 “The Usher” |
Aug 5, 08 | 151 – Peanut Butter Cookies |
Jan 23, 12 | 380 – Mr. Jerry |
Mar 16, 07 | 115 – Star Maiden Flattens Dr. Rocket |
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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Nov 19, 20 | 857 – Knocked Off the Perch |
Apr 25, 12 | 406 – Spy Gal’s Wall of Evidence |
Aug 20, 14 | 619 – The Repentant |
Mar 4, 20 | 836 – Keep Away |
Nov 21, 11 | 364 – Comrade |
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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Apr 25, 18 | 781 – Everyone in the War Room! |
Oct 18, 06 | 25 – Pee On Swifty |
Jan 23, 13 | 474 – Overwhelmed |
Mar 14, 07 | 113 – “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” |
Mar 24, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 6 “Beaten to the Punch” |
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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Oct 23, 17 | 740 – Boop |
Feb 3, 11 | 294 – Funny Ya Should Mention That |
Aug 23, 22 | 917 – The New Valhalla |
Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
Sep 30, 10 | 278 – The Others |
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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Nov 27, 13 | 552 – Is Jerry Really Such a Bad Guy? |
Feb 17, 14 | 572 – The New War Room |
Oct 23, 19 | 806 – Space Pigs in the Forest |
Jun 27, 11 | 328 – Pairing Off |
Oct 4, 11 | Chapter 9, “Head Games” Recap by Eric Merritt |
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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Feb 25, 10 | 245 – One Week Later |
Jan 23, 12 | 380 – Mr. Jerry |
Jul 26, 22 | 909 – Get Outta Town |
Oct 7, 13 | 541 – Husband |
Feb 10, 11 | 295 – It’s Got Him Thinkin’ |
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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Dec 16, 09 | SF Origins: Harvey the Science Rabbit, Pt. 1, Pg. 3 “The New Dr. Rocket” |
Nov 27, 17 | 750 – The Big Slap |
Mar 12, 18 | 770 – Bumps in the Road |
Aug 24, 12 | Pg. 3 “Crybabies” |
Apr 11, 11 | 306 – He Looks Like He’s Dying |
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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Dec 25, 08 | Merry Christmas From The SuperFogeys (2008) |
Oct 24, 12 | 452 – Book of Mormon Story |
May 1, 08 | 101 – WebSpace Page: Captain Spectacular |
Nov 6, 17 | 744 – The USZ is Truly a Wondrous Place |
Oct 11, 06 | 18 – Ben Gay Smell |
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 16, 10 | 289 – Not Yet |
Aug 31, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg. 1 “Bored” |
Nov 17, 14 | 637 – Dimension-Crossed Haters |
Aug 28, 08 | 158 – Bubbles of Light 2 |
Mar 17, 07 | 116 – Still Hot |
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” |
Oct 23, 17 | 740 – Boop |
Sep 22, 09 | SF Origins: Herman’s Story, Pg. 4 “I Am Dr. Rocket” |
May 23, 12 | 414 – Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe |
Mar 9, 12 | Pg. 3 “His Old Flame” |
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 18, 11 | 334 – Whaddaya Wanna Do? |
Jan 6, 14 | 560 – Lifeless |
Dec 24, 12 | Merry Christmas From The SuperFogeys! |
Jan 13, 11 | 291 – Ear Cancer |
Feb 4, 10 | 242 – Comfort Food |
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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Oct 18, 06 | 25 – Pee On Swifty |
Mar 11, 21 | 881 – Minutes Away |
Jun 15, 10 | SF Origins: The Life and Times of Soviet Sam, Pg. 4 “Pantsless” |
Oct 28, 13 | 543 – The Ignored Little Boy |
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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Jan 28, 07 | 88 – Who Smells Like Fish? |
Sep 22, 06 | 1 – Introducing Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket! |
Mar 17, 07 | 116 – Still Hot |
Oct 28, 08 | 175 – My Pleasure |
Dec 8, 09 | SF Origins: Harvey the Science Rabbit, Pt. One, Pg. 1 “Dr. Rocket Wears a Dress” |
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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Oct 28, 11 | Pg. 5 “Knife in the Mouth” |
Mar 25, 11 | Pg. 8 “Get Her” |
Feb 8, 07 | 98 – The Wedding of Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden |
Nov 20, 13 | 550 – Everything in its Right Place |
Aug 25, 22 | 918 – Not Going in There |