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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Mar 25, 10 | 249 – How to Prove Your Love |
Oct 7, 11 | Chapter 12, “Jackpot!” Recap by Steve VanDyken |
Sep 22, 06 | 1 – Introducing Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket! |
Oct 21, 13 | SuperFogeys Q and A: 3 of 4 |
Nov 13, 08 | 179 – Reverend Space Pig |
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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Jan 1, 09 | Guest Strip by Mark R. Engel of “Prematurely Disappointed!” |
Jan 5, 10 | Guest Strip by Joe Cook of “Shattered Myth!” |
Nov 10, 20 | 854 – Don’t Touch the Lava |
Jan 3, 07 | 62 – Conditions of Release |
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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Mar 19, 18 | 772 – Showdown at the New California Coast |
May 17, 08 | SF Collection #3 Cover |
Mar 24, 07 | 123 – The Box is Opened |
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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May 26, 22 | 892 – Ejection |
Jul 31, 13 | 522 – A Favor for Spy Gal |
Nov 8, 06 | 36 – Valhalla Stinks! |
Oct 14, 08 | 171 – Hello, Karma |
Oct 17, 18 | HUGE NEWS! SuperFogeys Volume One—Inaction Heroes now on Kickstarter! |
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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Jan 2, 17 | 722 – Help or Mourn? |
Aug 21, 19 | 793 – The Hero He Hates to Be |
Apr 16, 18 | 778 – Sam’s Guilt |
Feb 25, 10 | 245 – One Week Later |
Dec 12, 12 | 466 – Tunnel Vision |
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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Dec 27, 13 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, 1 |
Jun 19, 15 | 645 – Say the Name Correctly, Idiot |
May 15, 13 | 504 – A Striking Mustache |
Oct 23, 13 | SuperFogeys Q and A: 4 of 4 |
Mar 16, 21 | 882 – Says You |
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 23, 17 | 740 – Boop |
Jul 11, 11 | 332 – Captain Spectacular’s Buds |
Sep 21, 15 | 685 – Doom Comes to Abbadon |
Aug 7, 08 | 152 – Best Man |
Feb 20, 12 | 388 – Bay-buh |
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 9, 10 | 269 – Sparing Her |
Apr 4, 11 | 304 – Catchy and Mysterious |
Nov 27, 08 | 183 – Eloquence |
Aug 20, 14 | 619 – The Repentant |
Feb 27, 12 | 390 – Bubbles of Light 7 |
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 31, 12 | Pg. 4 “Crib Cage” |
Sep 4, 13 | 532 – How Hard is the Rock Upon Which Stands Your Principles? |
Oct 1, 15 | Chapter 21 Teaser! |
Aug 29, 12 | 440 – Up, Up and CRASH |
Oct 5, 11 | Chapter 10, “Bubbles of Light” Recap by Danny Burleson |
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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May 24, 22 | 891 – Third Eye Blind |
Nov 14, 06 | 42 – Dr. Rocket Needs a Special Kind of Healing |
Apr 27, 11 | 311 – The Glow of the Screen Shines Brightly |
Mar 11, 07 | 110 – Spanking |
Mar 12, 12 | 394 – The Bottom Drops Out |
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 27, 11 | Pg. 7 “In the Future” |
Dec 12, 11 | 370 – Ugly Little Man |
Mar 19, 07 | 118 – Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden |
Jul 23, 18 | Pg. 8 “Better When She Was a Villain” |
Jan 13, 11 | 291 – Ear Cancer |
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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Feb 1, 12 | 383 – Jackpot. |
Sep 11, 19 | 799 – Redemption is Possible |
Apr 13, 12 | Pg. 8 “Enter: The Thrice Evil” |
Mar 10, 07 | 109 – WHO THREW THIS!? |
Oct 22, 12 | 451 – Will Tangerine Help? |
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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Feb 26, 18 | 766 – Always |
Apr 1, 11 | Pg. 9 “Always” |
Jun 3, 09 | The SuperFogeys Free Comic Book Day Page! |
Nov 6, 08 | 177 – Lay Some More On Me |
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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Nov 7, 16 | 711- Fallen Son |
Nov 25, 13 | 551 – The Guthrie is Turned On |
Aug 19, 08 | 155 – Bait and Switch |
Sep 18, 08 | 164 – Why “Tangerine?” |
May 11, 12 | Pg. 1 “Now This is a Story…” |
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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May 18, 12 | Pg. 2 “Not Ready or Able” |
Aug 12, 13 | 525 – Temptation |
Sep 30, 08 | 167 – Captain Spectacular’s Shame |
Jul 24, 08 | 148 – The Society of Heroes – Introducing Tangerine! |
Sep 18, 15 | 684 – Better Than Dyin’ |
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 17, 16 | 691 – That’s Enough |
Nov 10, 20 | 854 – Don’t Touch the Lava |
Oct 29, 12 | 453 – Buried Weapons |
Oct 17, 16 | 705 – Saber |
Aug 24, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 1 “Incoming!” |
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 18, 17 | 727 – Parlor Tricks |
Jul 30, 12 | 431 – Blights of the Round Table |
Sep 5, 12 | 442 – The Rest of Them |
Jan 27, 07 | 87 – The Third Man is Not Pleased |
Jan 18, 07 | 73 – It’s FUN to Share |
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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Sep 21, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 2! |
Oct 22, 09 | 230 – Cleaning Out Her Ears |
Feb 2, 07 | 93 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular Met and Married Star Maiden |
Apr 15, 11 | Pg. 1 “A Sudden Meeting” |
Apr 22, 13 | 499 – Statuesque |
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 9, 09 | 203 – Shame, Shame |
Nov 3, 09 | SF Origins: Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden, Pg. 1 “The Mrs. and the Ex” |
Sep 27, 11 | Chapter 4, “Dictator Tot’s Revenge” Recap by Jeremy Bentley |
Apr 25, 18 | 781 – Everyone in the War Room! |
Dec 21, 16 | 721 – Requiem for Money Man |
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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Jul 22, 15 | 659 – Wasting Time |
Dec 7, 12 | Valhalla Fight Poster – Spy Gal vs. Zurida! |
Jan 2, 12 | 374 – A Spy Gal Shaped Hole |
Jul 10, 08 | Guest Strip by Lucas Turnbloom of “Imagine This!” |
Aug 18, 22 | 916 – Restoration |
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 6, 09 | 219 – Bubbles of Light 5 |
Dec 7, 12 | Valhalla Fight Poster – Spy Gal vs. Zurida! |
Feb 5, 14 | 569 – Don’t Call Him a Communist When You’ve Been One For a Year |
Dec 17, 12 | 467 – Spy Gal Kicks Butt |
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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May 21, 14 | 597 – Him Who? |
Nov 11, 19 | 811 – Attack Pattern |
Aug 21, 13 | 528 – Spy Gal vs. Jerry |
May 17, 22 | 889 – So Much Love to Share |
Oct 21, 06 | 27 – Spy Gal’s Explanation |
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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Aug 7, 13 | 524 – Cracked |
Nov 3, 09 | SF Origins: Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden, Pg. 1 “The Mrs. and the Ex” |
Oct 7, 10 | 279 – Gina Galloway |
Jan 10, 07 | 66 – Captain Spectacular’s Fear of Modern Technology |
Sep 21, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 2! |
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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Jan 15, 14 | 563 – Wreckage |
Apr 9, 09 | 203 – Shame, Shame |
Dec 27, 13 | Guest Strip by Crystal Murphy, 1 |
Oct 16, 08 | 172 – The Superhero Code |
Mar 12, 07 | 111 – Forgive Dr. Rocket |
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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Jul 22, 15 | 659 – Wasting Time |
Mar 3, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 3 “The Captain and Jerry” |
Mar 20, 07 | 119 – #@$% Heroic |
Jun 5, 13 | 510 – The Evil, Evil Plan |
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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Aug 10, 12 | Pg. 1 “Baby Hands” |
Jan 28, 10 | 241 – He’s Gone |
Jul 28, 22 | 910 – The Hero the World Needs |
Feb 11, 21 | 873 – Against the Wall |
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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Jan 19, 07 | 76 – Space Pig’s Feelings Get Hurt |
Sep 11, 19 | 799 – Redemption is Possible |
Aug 15, 16 | 690 – Name Calling |
Feb 7, 18 | 761 – Rolling Peas |
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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Jun 27, 11 | 328 – Pairing Off |
Jan 30, 17 | 730 – Broken Sam |
Feb 19, 18 | 764 – Meanwhile, Inside Dr. Rocket’s Bedchamber |
Mar 10, 14 | 578 – A Different Kind of Torture |
Aug 24, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 1 “Incoming!” |
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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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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Mar 4, 07 | 107 – Bubbles of Light 1 |
Sep 9, 11 | Pg. 1 “Blood on the Table” |
May 9, 11 | 314 – Dr. Rocket’s Space Journey, Pt. 3: The One He Truly Hunts |
Apr 20, 11 | 309 – Time Travelin’ Scamps |
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 18, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 4 “Justice” |
Jan 30, 07 | 90 – Introducing Star Maiden! |
Nov 26, 09 | 235 – In His Shadow |
Aug 24, 11 | 345 – Taking a Pill |
Jan 16, 17 | 726 – Harrison Ford Finger of Doom |
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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Feb 9, 07 | 99 – The Tale of How Captain Spectacular and Star Maiden Met and Married, Conclusion |
Oct 12, 12 | Pg. 8 “Gross Fetuses” |
Jan 23, 07 | 82 – Refuge in Dr. Klein’s Office |
Oct 2, 13 | 540 – Jerry is Committed |
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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May 2, 11 | 312 – Dr. Rocket’s Space Journey, Pt. 1: The Real Cause of Dr. Rocket’s Suffering |
Oct 29, 12 | 453 – Buried Weapons |
Jul 24, 08 | 148 – The Society of Heroes – Introducing Tangerine! |
Aug 9, 22 | 913 – Any Questions? |
Nov 24, 20 | 858 – She Brewed Beer Yesterday |
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 9, 16 | 712 – Ah-ah-ah |
Sep 4, 13 | 532 – How Hard is the Rock Upon Which Stands Your Principles? |
Jun 4, 18 | Pg. 1 “My Name is Gordon Jones” |
Feb 25, 10 | 245 – One Week Later |
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 22, 09 | 230 – Cleaning Out Her Ears |
Sep 23, 16 | Guest Strip by Alethea Lim (Alecat)! |
May 6, 10 | 255 – Parental Duty |
Feb 16, 21 | 874 – The One True |