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 27, 06 | 6 – Introducing Spy Gal! |
Apr 29, 10 | 254 – Why Kill An Innocent? |
Jul 21, 14 | 611 – Escape |
Nov 16, 06 | 44 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular was Paralyzed |
Jan 21, 10 | 240 – ZAP! |
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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Dec 19, 11 | 372 – She’s His Sister |
Nov 30, 10 | SF Origins: The Death of Mr. Crook, Pg. 3 “A Man Dies, An Idea is Born” |
Nov 1, 06 | 29 – Introducing Dr. Klein! |
Sep 30, 10 | 278 – The Others |
Mar 3, 07 | 106 – What’s in the Box? |
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 2, 07 | 61 – Dictator Tot in Hel |
Mar 24, 07 | 123 – The Box is Opened |
Mar 3, 07 | 106 – What’s in the Box? |
Oct 17, 16 | 705 – Saber |
Mar 26, 07 | 125 – Jerry’s Down |
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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Dec 25, 09 | Merry Christmas From Swifty (2009) |
Dec 21, 11 | 373 – SWAT! |
Apr 1, 07 | 131 – Spy Gal Cares |
Nov 19, 12 | 459 – A Family Thing |
Aug 27, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 4 “Talking Turnips” |
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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Nov 20, 19 | 814 – Ptoof! |
Jan 28, 07 | 88 – Who Smells Like Fish? |
Sep 30, 11 | Chapter 7, “Visiting Day” Recap by Rossana Bugini |
Jan 15, 14 | 563 – Wreckage |
Jul 1, 13 | 517 – The Man in the Iron Cage |
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 23, 06 | 2 – Introducing Jerry! |
Oct 15, 09 | 229 – Father and Tom |
Sep 20, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 1! |
Oct 17, 12 | 450 – Neither One of Them Expected It |
Feb 5, 09 | 194 – The Origin of Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, Pt. 11 “Helpful Suggestions” |
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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Aug 6, 09 | 219 – Bubbles of Light 5 |
Dec 3, 06 | 53 – The Healing |
May 2, 11 | 312 – Dr. Rocket’s Space Journey, Pt. 1: The Real Cause of Dr. Rocket’s Suffering |
Mar 12, 09 | 199 – Life is Like Pastry |
Aug 26, 13 | 529 – Why Did Jerry Do It? |
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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Jan 6, 14 | 560 – Lifeless |
Oct 24, 11 | 357 – Now Leaving Medieval Midway |
Nov 17, 09 | SF Origins: Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden, Pg. 3 “The Last Punch” |
Aug 18, 14 | 618 – Thanks to Money Man |
Sep 12, 11 | 350 – Great Things Ahead |
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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Jan 4, 11 | Guest Strip by Javier Del Villar, Part Two |
Jul 28, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 1 “A Chance to Think” |
Jan 8, 07 | 64 – Introducing Dictator Tot! |
Apr 9, 09 | 203 – Shame, Shame |
Oct 14, 08 | 171 – Hello, Karma |
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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Jul 9, 18 | Pg. 6 “Date or Fight?” |
Jul 20, 11 | 335 – Diagonally |
Sep 18, 13 | 536 – Zurida and Her Subjects |
Oct 8, 06 | 15 – Introducing Swifty! |
Mar 31, 07 | 130 – When Pigs Fly |
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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Mar 21, 11 | The SuperFogeys 2011 Teaser |
Feb 2, 07 | 93 – Beginning the Tale of How Captain Spectacular Met and Married Star Maiden |
Feb 3, 07 | 94 – Everything Changed |
Nov 10, 09 | SF Origins: Spy Gal vs. Star Maiden, Pg. 2 “Girlfight” |
Dec 15, 20 | 862 – That’s It!? |
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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Jul 6, 11 | 331 – Paradise |
Jun 10, 11 | Pg. 9 “College Years” |
Mar 5, 12 | 392 – …Secrets, Secrets Hurt Someone |
Oct 23, 19 | 806 – Space Pigs in the Forest |
May 5, 09 | SF Origins: The Society of Heroes, Pg. 12 “Date or Fight?” |
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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Mar 11, 21 | 881 – Minutes Away |
Dec 9, 08 | 186 – The Origin of Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, Pt. 3 “Going Up” |
Feb 2, 21 | 870 – Spy Gal’s Patience Runs Out |
Aug 3, 11 | 339 – Love |
May 28, 12 | 415 – Someone REALLY Hates Space Monkeys |
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 2, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 4 “Zurida, Mistress of Worlds” |
Jan 8, 14 | 561 – Blind Rage |
Mar 4, 10 | 246 – Righteous Kill |
Sep 5, 12 | 442 – The Rest of Them |
Aug 24, 12 | Pg. 3 “Crybabies” |
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 25, 08 | 182 – Someone Steps Forward (Bubbles of Light 3) |
Jan 27, 12 | Pg. 3 “The Trial of Space Pig” |
Jan 16, 07 | 71 – Is Gene Crying? |
Aug 1, 16 | 686 – Captain Spectacular’s Mighty Punch |
Jun 3, 09 | The SuperFogeys Free Comic Book Day Page! |
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 15, 16 | 690 – Name Calling |
Jan 9, 17 | 724 – Requiem for Tangerine |
Aug 18, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 4 “Justice” |
Mar 24, 07 | 123 – The Box is Opened |
Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
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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May 3, 09 | 206 – The Valhalla Basement Dungeon |
Jan 15, 07 | 70 – Gene and Dictator Tot Reunite |
Sep 18, 15 | 684 – Better Than Dyin’ |
Aug 26, 10 | SF Origins: Operation: Valhalla, No. 3 “Tangerine’s Tendencies” |
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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Jan 6, 11 | Guest Strip by Marjorie Rishel |
Sep 22, 06 | 1 – Introducing Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket! |
Jul 10, 08 | Guest Strip by Lucas Turnbloom of “Imagine This!” |
Sep 18, 08 | 164 – Why “Tangerine?” |
Jun 17, 11 | Pg. 10 “Lost Faith” |
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 17, 09 | 225 – And the Winner Is… |
May 20, 11 | Pg. 6 “Invisible” |
Jan 1, 09 | Guest Strip by Mark R. Engel of “Prematurely Disappointed!” |
Sep 10, 18 | Pg. 15 “Something Missing” |
Jul 9, 18 | Pg. 6 “Date or Fight?” |
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 14, 08 | 171 – Hello, Karma |
Jan 6, 20 | 821 – Frightening Frogs |
Jul 1, 11 | Pg. 12 “Comic Book Clothing Physics” |
Mar 18, 07 | 117 – Dementia |
Nov 11, 06 | 39 – Jerry Arrives Late |
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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Nov 26, 14 | 640 – Jerry Must Come Back |
Sep 2, 10 | 274 – Up and Walking |
Jan 23, 07 | 82 – Refuge in Dr. Klein’s Office |
May 20, 11 | Pg. 6 “Invisible” |
Mar 25, 10 | 249 – How to Prove Your Love |
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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Aug 27, 09 | 222 – $500 A Head |
Feb 27, 12 | 390 – Bubbles of Light 7 |
Oct 26, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg. 9 “What Is Strength?” |
Jan 26, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 3 “Explosive Ending” |
Jan 17, 07 | 72 – Dictator Tot’s Marching Orders |
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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Apr 8, 10 | 251 – One-On-One |
Aug 5, 08 | 151 – Peanut Butter Cookies |
Jul 22, 10 | 266 – The Greatest Book Ever Written |
Jan 15, 09 | 192 – The Origin of Captain Spectacular and Dr. Rocket, Pt. 9 “Supposed to Be Me” |
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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Jan 5, 10 | Guest Strip by Joe Cook of “Shattered Myth!” |
Oct 12, 10 | SF Origins: Spy Gal, Pg.7 “BOOM” |
Jan 6, 11 | Guest Strip by Marjorie Rishel |
Feb 15, 11 | Pg. 3 “For The Girls” |
Dec 21, 16 | 721 – Requiem for Money Man |
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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Oct 29, 12 | 453 – Buried Weapons |
Dec 24, 12 | Merry Christmas From The SuperFogeys! |
May 11, 12 | Pg. 1 “Now This is a Story…” |
Feb 9, 10 | SF Origins: The Six Wives of Captain Spectacular, Pg. 5 “Michelle Masters” |
Dec 2, 13 | 553 – Capture and Rescue Mission |
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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May 6, 11 | Pg. 4 “Contrast” |
Dec 18, 13 | 558 – Sokol Steps Up |
Sep 18, 16 | 700 – Happy Tenth Anniversary, SuperFogeys |
Oct 25, 17 | 741 – Scumbag Jerry |
Aug 14, 08 | 154 – Tangerine’s Surprise |
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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Jun 29, 10 | SF Origins: The Life and Times of Soviet Sam, Pg. 6 “Being Friendly” |
Sep 16, 19 | 800 – Earth-Avenge |
Jan 6, 12 | Pg. 7 “Space Pig the Sidekick?” |
Nov 18, 13 | 549 – Zurida’s Visitors |
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 29, 16 | 694 – Soviet Sam Crackdown |
Jun 1, 12 | Pg. 4 “The O’Hara Family Tragedy” |
Oct 9, 13 | 542 – The Visible Man |
Dec 30, 08 | Guest Strip by Chris Blanchard of “Renaissance Guy!” |
Nov 12, 20 | 855 – Making Thrice Evil Sad |
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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Feb 3, 11 | 294 – Funny Ya Should Mention That |
Jul 29, 13 | 521 – Spy Gal Awakened |
Apr 16, 09 | 204 – Florida Beckons |
Nov 14, 11 | 362 – Robots Don’t Sleep |
Sep 1, 22 | 920 – …The More They Stay the Same |
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 27, 13 | 492 – Such Great Heights |
Aug 10, 15 | 667 – The Importance of Good Hygiene |
Nov 21, 12 | 460 – Riding the Sunway |
Aug 10, 16 | 689 – Zurida, the Mother |
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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Sep 16, 10 | 276 – “Sweetie” |
Jan 9, 13 | 470 – Soviet Sam Strikes Again |
Nov 4, 08 | 176 – An Evil #@$% |
Jan 27, 12 | Pg. 3 “The Trial of Space Pig” |
Apr 27, 11 | 311 – The Glow of the Screen Shines Brightly |
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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Dec 10, 12 | 465 – Lip Lick |
Aug 4, 09 | SF Origins: Tangerine, Pg. 2 “Master Masticate and the Concubine Cannibals” |
Nov 30, 16 | 715 – Master and Student |
Sep 20, 16 | 10th Anniversary BONUS STRIP 1! |
Jul 8, 08 | Guest Strip by Brian Anderson of “Dog Eat Doug!” |
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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Mar 3, 14 | 576 – Torture Chamber 3B |
Jan 8, 20 | 822 – You Talkin’ to Me? |
Jul 10, 08 | Guest Strip by Lucas Turnbloom of “Imagine This!” |
Oct 30, 19 | 808 – 2.5 Seconds Later |
Oct 21, 10 | 281 – Expected |
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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Dec 7, 06 | 56 – Dr. Rocket Will Have His Revenge |
May 2, 11 | 312 – Dr. Rocket’s Space Journey, Pt. 1: The Real Cause of Dr. Rocket’s Suffering |
May 20, 13 | 505 – Dark Disease |
Sep 16, 11 | Pg. 2 “The Fallen Rabbit” |
Aug 3, 15 | 664 – Too Old to Drive |
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 16, 09 | SF Origins: Harvey the Science Rabbit, Pt. 1, Pg. 3 “The New Dr. Rocket” |
Jan 12, 07 | 67 – Dr. Rocket Draws a Webcomic? |
Apr 25, 12 | 406 – Spy Gal’s Wall of Evidence |
Oct 9, 06 | 16 – Spy Gal Wakes Up |