This first strip in chapter 2 is all about setting up the game and introducing Dr. Klein, an obviously important figure at Valhalla. When I started the SuperFogeys, I always had it in the back of my mind that I would need to create a “man-in-charge” at some point. Dr. Klein, with his german name [...]
I love Spy Gal. It’s probably the adolescent schoolboy in me, but I have a lot of fun teasing her and putting her in some horrible situations. It’s always fun to see what she’ll do. Gene is the stand-in for my fifteen-year-old self. And, in case you can’t make it out, the book Spy Gal [...]
Some people thought Dr. Klein’s look in the third panel coupled with his German name mean that Dr. Klein is evil. I won’t comment on the prejudices of my readership, but I will say that I did not have that in mind when I drew it. I was just experimenting with what I could do [...]
Ugh. This is my failed experiment. Like Strip 25, I had two ideas for a strip and tried to make them into one. As drawn, panel 3 preceded panel 2, but at the last minute I got the idea to integrate them more. It didn’t work. Not helping matters is the last panel. For the [...]
Like Spy Gal in Chapter 1, I had spent two strips building up the arrival of the Healer. I wanted his entrance to be important and surprising. Originally, the Healer was going to be an old man in a cloak. Much more like Dr. Strange or something like that. After being comfortable with that for [...]
I hate the first panel of this one. CS and Spy Gal just don’t look right and I don’t know what I was thinking. The entire point of this strip was to establish that Spy Gal is attracted to Dr. Klein. I don’t do anything more with it for the whole of Chapter 2, but [...]
And that’s it, folks! Captain Spectacular’s dialogue here with Dr. Klein offers real insight into his character. CS has retired from not only the hero business, but also from life. Even though this seems like a return to the status quo, the Captain will remain healed and able to walk. Might make things interesting later [...]
Titling a chapter is a source of great stress for me. I’m not very good at it and I put it off until I absolutely have to come up with something. That said, “The Techno Shuffle” very much fits what this chapter is going to be all about. Originally, this chapter opened on two characters [...]
The super-prison in the first panel is loosely based on the design of the Hall of Justice from the old Superfriends cartoon show. I don’t have a good reason for this other than it’s a design that always stuck with me and seemed strong enough to house all the wonderful bad guys that must be [...]
How is it than in one strip I have both my worst and one of my best drawings of Dictator Tot? I like the idea of what I was going for in the first panel, but I don’t think I pulled it off very well. Love the drawing of her in the last panel, though [...]
My wife loves, loves, loves Dictator Tot in the first panel. I don’t usually do a lot of shading in SF, but that first panel screamed for a different lighting scheme. I don’t know that you’d be able to tell what’s going on without it. Second panel could have been better. A more arresting visual [...]
Whew. What a mother of a strip this was. For those of your keeping track at home, that’s 21 panels there. This marks Swifty’s return to the story after an absence of about 18 srips. I wanted it to be huge and Swifty playing frustrated is just fun. Originally, the last panel was silent—no joke. [...]
I think my ink line is too thick in these middle Chapter 3 strips. Also, the camera is just a little too tight, a constant problem of mine overall. Knowing what I wanted to do with Dr. Klein by the end of this chapter, it was important to keep him present in the story. That’s [...]
I love the panel with the close-up of the hands. From the drawing to the colors, it just works. Too bad the rest of the strip doesn’t. A lot readers asked me what those sparks near Spy Gal’s wrist were in the last panel. Then answer: My feeble attempt at visually depicting her arthritis. …I [...]
Swifty coming in at the end was kind of cheap. I didn’t have a real gag for this one, and he usually does in a pinch. It was an important Dr. Klein moment though.
Just keeping the Third Man alive here. Also, it was important to me that Dictator Tot get her animal crackers.
Remind me never to do a triple-sized again. In fact, this burned me out so much that not a single double or triple-sized strip appeared in all of Chapter 4. I had been waiting a long time to do this one. I knew from before the beginning of Chapter 2 that the Third Man and [...]
Kind of a weird way to start a chapter. You could argue that this really belongs in Chapter 3 (as it’s mostly old business), but I knew Dr. Klein was going to be disappearing for the bulk of the chapter and wanted to make sure he got in there in some way so that things [...]
After the reveal of the last chapter that Dr. Klein is the Third Man, everything he says is just a little more sinister. This is my playing with that a bit. Artistically, this strip is bunk. Nothing looks right and that third panel is atrocious.
Drawing a sauced Captain Spectacular was so much fun that I have to find a way to do it again. I WILL find a way to do it again. Originally, this was going to be flashback to how CS met Jerry. I’ll still tell that story one day, but with Spy Gal’s suspicions raised, I [...]
Here’s one of the advantages of planning far, far ahead: I can drop tidbits in here and there because, to me, the stories already exist. Tom and the Mysterious Woman in the photograph are something for later (probably Chapter 7), but knowing about them already, I can use them to illustrate a point here. The [...]
Had a blast with the first panel. I love drawing Mr. Crook, design courtesy of Eskimo Dave creator Mike Hartigan. I wish he wasn’t dead. Check back to Episode 10 of Chapter 1 for a part of Mr. Crook’s story. Mustache on Captain Spectacular doesn’t look too bad. A little more insight on the Jerry/Swifty [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
ORIGINAL ART SALE UPDATE! Went ahead and added a piece of art to the store today! Man, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be! Just one strip’s pencils right now, but more to come. Make your requests now! Check out the pencils to 106! Okay, I’ve brought this up before, but [...]
MOTHER OF AN EPISODE So little dialogue…so much drawing…and I don’t like any of it. I’ve gotten slammed in the past for being too critical of my work. Whenever I get into that mode, people usually do one of two things: either 1) defend my work against me and my wonderful insecurities or 2) tell [...]
IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF THE SUPERFOGEYS OVER AT “DIGITAL STRIPS!” Wow. The Midnight Cartooner, a contributor at Digital Strips, did an amazingly in-depth review of the SuperFogeys. He took a look at each strip–from the very first, all the way to last week’s 209 did a great job summing up the complete experience. It’s a nicely written [...]
PREVIOUSLY IN THE SUPERFOGEYS… I want to be as user-friendly as possible and this chapter, with all of the cross-cutting between storylines, isn’t necessarily that. Not in the webcomic format anyway. I know that when you read it all together it’ll be great. So, for those that either don’t remember or weren’t able to check [...]
THE ANNOTATED SuperFogeys 226 See Dr. Rocket first mention his daughter here, then check out her first visual appearance here (look closely). And, of course, we just saw her in SuperFogeys Origins. To find out what the Third Man and Dr. Rocket are talking about, start here. NEW MUSIC Anyone who knows me knows I’m a music-buying fiend. My [...]
THE ANNOTATED SUPERFOGEYS 233 Spy Gal’s suspicion of Dr. Klein has a bit of a history to it, going all the way back to when the Valhalla computers went a little screwy in Chapter 3 and Spy Gal was determined to get to the bottom of it. But, when she confronted Dr. Klein with the [...]
‘SIX WIVES’ ENDS I think today’s conclusion to the ‘Six Wives’ storyline is probably more of a whimper than a bang, but I think that’s important. The story isn’t really over, is it? In fact, this story kind of dovetails nicely with the current SuperFogeys chapter, Chapter 8 – The Captain and the Spy. Big, [...]
CHAPTER 9 “HEAD GAMES” BEGINS! MAN, does it feel good to finally be here! Head Games is probably the chapter I’ve most been looking forward to. Despite this low key beginning, there’s gonna be some meaty stuff for you guys to unpack as we go forward. Here’s hoping I can pull it off and you [...]
WHO IS DRAWING THE NEXT SUPERFOGEYS ORIGIN? COULD IT BE…YOU? Wanted to repost this in case people missed it on Tuesday. Big thanks to Jason Sigler for covering it over at Digital Strips! Believe it or not, we already have our first submission. Scroll down to see it! Original post as follows: Have I got some [...]
THE ANNOTATED SUPERFOGEYS 253 Bringing together a lot of characters and a lot of threads here. Let me see if I can break it down a little. (Remember: I only do these as a service to you, the reader. Feel free to skip it.) 1. Michelle is the ex-wife of Captain Spectacular and mother to his son, [...]
THE SUPERFOGEYS AND FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Guess what? This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day! Once a year, all the publishers and retailers get together to offer a slew of new, free books. All you have to do is walk into your local comic book shop and snag ‘em. Last year, Th3rd World’s free [...]
AND THE WINNER OF THE SPY GAL ORIGIN COMPETITION IS…LEE CHEROLIS! I can’t begin to tell you how much fun the past few weeks have been. Seeing one entry after another come in–all those great pinups of Spy Gal–I just got a huge kick out of it. It was also humbling to see how much [...]
THE ANNOTATED SUPERFOGEYS 256 This is admittedly a strip that draws on a lot of continuity. Well, some. This whole chapter is going to be like this. Hopefully, you longtime readers will see this as a reward for your investment. As for the newbies…well, that’s what the annotations are for! Okay, on with it. The [...]
AH, WEBCOMICS If I had my way about things, I’d be able to freeze time and spend as long as humanly possible honing each strip. As it is, I not only have a deadline but I have other life stuff too. Only so much effort can go into each strip. And believe me, time = [...]
STAR MAIDEN RETURNS It’s been so long since Star Maiden has had any significant face time in the regular SF strip. Anyone else notice that? Glad we had theStar Maiden origin these past several weeks. Although it’s tough to connect this Star Maiden with that one, they are indeed the same person. Gonna be having [...]
THE ANNOTATED SUPERFOGEYS 259 I doubt you can tell, but I just got new Micron pens and paper yesterday. I can always tell because the lines I draw are just a little too thick and a little too lacking in energy when I’m using new pens. Takes a little while for the flow to settle [...]
STAR MAIDEN’S MINI-ARC COMES TO A CLOSE… This Star Maiden story I’ve been telling for the past month or so is one that I’ve been looking forward to sharing for a long, long time. I first had the vague notion of what was wrong with her back around the time she was first introduced in [...]
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: T.L. COLLINS ENDS HIS RUN ON SUPERFOGEYS ORIGINS I knew this day was coming, but I was hoping to put it off as long as possible. T.L. was the artist that made SuperFogeys Origins possible. The first to say yes and the only one to take it on as a regular gig. Without [...]
THE ANNOTATED SUPERFOGEYS 265 Been a while since we heard from Tangerine, so here’s a little primer, with links: • After coming to Valhalla, Big T wasted no time in killing the shape-shifter Herman, then disguised as the villain Dr. Rocket. • Now incarcerated in a the Valhalla dungeon, he was visited by Captain Spectacular and told him something [...]
THE BIBLE Wouldn’t you love to be in a book club with Tangerine? REMINDER! COMIC-CON! AND…BOOKMARKS! Just a quick reminder that I’ll be at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. This is the big one. I’ll be speaking at the Digital Comics panel inRoom 7AB on Friday at 11:30am. There will be a Q&A, so [...]
PANTSLESSNESS IS HAPPINESS Remember the first time we found out that Captain Spectacular doesn’t like to wear pants? Good times. And it’s not like that was the last time a no pants joke was made. You know what we need? A pantsless Captain Spectacular jokes compendium. IMPORTANT! THE AUGUST SUPERFOGEYS SCHEDULE You say you [...]
I’M AHEAD OF SCHEDULE…FOR THE FIRST TIME IN TWO YEARS. SERIOUSLY. As many of you already know, I pretty much never work ahead. I PLAN ahead–years into the future. But I don’t work ahead. The new strips you see are usually completed about 6 or 7 hours before you see them. It’s often just that [...]
WELCOME TO A SPECIAL MONDAY SUPERFOGEYS UPDATE! This is it! The beginning of a substantial increase in updates for the month of August. Check the schedule below to see how it all shakes out. UPDATED AUGUST SCHEDULE Tuesday, Aug. 10 – SF Origins: Spy Gal’s Secret Mission, pg. 4 (final page) Thursday, Aug. 12 – [...]
UPDATE! BRAND NEW INTERVIEW! This week I had a chance to get together with Holiday Wars writer and blogger supreme Scott King to talk about SuperFogeys in a whole new way. Not only did we talk a lot about the upcoming big reveal next week, but we went in depth into my writing process, the themes of [...]
THE BIGGEST WEEK FOR SUPERFOGEYS…EVER. THIS IS IT! Today begins a short run of four consecutive update days, all leading into the big, triple-sized ending to Chapter 9, Head Games. Tell the neighbors and gather the kids. This is the big one. If you’re new to the SuperFogeys, welcome. You’ve come in at the just the right [...]
IF YOU READ ONE SUPERFOGEYS COMIC THIS YEAR… It must be tomorrow’s comic! Everything you’ve seen thus far has been leading to what you’re going to see tomorrow. And everything you see after tomorrow will come from SuperFogeys 273 – “All is Revealed.” You don’t want to miss it. New to the SuperFogeys? Chapter One [...]
Have fun with this one. See you again on Monday for “Baby Swifty’s First Words” pg. 2!
OPERATION: VALHALLA ENDS HERE! And now you see how it all began. This strip was tricky. It’s the only one that I can remember that has both Jerry and Dr. Klein in it at the same time. The artist, Mike Hartigan, had no clue about the link between them and, for some reason, removed the [...]
JAVIER DEL VILLAR REVEALS THE FINAL TWIST! Javier is one of the more stalwart commenters here at SuperFogeys Central, which I very much appreciate. Submissions for Guest Strippin’ Xmas were down a little this year and Javier was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough so he produced this extra gag to help me out. Thanks, [...]
WELCOME TO CHAPTER 11, THE DOCTOR AND THE DOCTOR This chapter, like Chapter 8, The Captain and the Spy, will be quite short and primarily consist of a conversation between two people. However, my prediction is that the response to this version of that plot will be much more positive. I hope. I like little [...]
CANCER ISN’T FUNNY Most of us will lose or have already lost someone close to us because of cancer. Personally, I’ve lost more than one. Introducing this storyline was something I had to really consider before going ahead with it. There’s lots of ways to do this sort of thing wrong and I can’t honestly [...]
THE GREEN HORNET I watched The Green Hornet with my wife over the weekend. I have no idea why she wanted to see it. Usually, she’s not much for the superhero stuff. But something about the trailers sparked her interest and we both laughed our way through it while agreeing that it doesn’t really come together [...]
AT LAST A QUESTION IS ANSWERED I bet until this chapter you thought I’d forgotten about the robot, didn’t you? I know a bunch of you did. Admit it! Big shout-out to SuperStar SuperFogeys artist Marc Lapierre for just NAILING it with Dr. Klein’s expression in the last panel. Kudos, my friend. FRUSTRATION I’ve made [...]
THIS IS WHY I’M GLAD I’M NOT DRAWING SF ANYMORE…WELL, ONE REASON Kudos to Marc for today’s stellar strip. I mean, how freakin’ cool is that thing? I don’t think I ever could have pulled that off. Not like that. I just love everything about how he handled this tricky scene. Nice one, man. And [...]
