Webcomics are not made for serial storytelling. A lot of people are going to disagree with me on this point, but it’s my contention that if you don’t acknowledge that basic reality, you will not be able to successfully make a serial webcomic. Fact is, readers of webcomics don’t read every day (or every day [...]
The first thing you have to do with any new concept is generate story ideas. I had my basic idea: superheroes in a nursing home. I even had some of the characters worked out. But what to do with them? In the fall of 2006, I spent a few minutes jotting down whatever came to [...]
So, it’s 2006 and I’ve got story ideas, but they’re not better than gag-a-day stuff because they’re not connected to each other or to any big idea. I didn’t have anything to say, just gags. And that’s the key to serialization (for me): something to say. An idea like superheroes in a nursing home is [...]
One of the things I didn’t learn to do until Chapter 4 of the SuperFogeys was to break each Chapter down by strip. Before Chapter 4, I would write and draw a strip at a time, keeping in mind where I wanted to end up with the chapter and trying to make each strip as [...]
Once I’m confident that each strip will make a proper contribution to the larger whole of a chapter (and each chapter makes a proper contribution to the larger whole of the story), I can set the macro aside and focus on the micro: making the strip WORK. And what do I mean by WORK? I [...]
AND EVEN WHEN IT’S OVER, IT’S NOT OVER… The last thing I wanna mention is how difficult webcomics can make seeing your story as whole—even with tons of planning. I want to stress again how many times I’ve read back over a chapter I thought was pretty solid and realized it just didn’t flow right. [...]
When I was a kid, imagining I had superpowers, the power I dreamt about most often (aside from the proportional strength and agility of a spider) was super speed. For whatever reason, I was absorbed by the idea of being fast. (Ironically, I think my parents had the same preoccupation; I recall many evening hours [...]
Continuing our celebration of the 5th SuperFogeys Anniversary, here’s a poem my brother Tyler wrote up. Enjoy! You’re Just the Gal for Me My black may seem a little stale compared to blue and yellow Yet while a human spectacle, he’s not the proper fellow I love your shiny black and red, The way the [...]
Hey, did you know I like to write more than I like to draw? It’s true! Okay, so that’s a bit of an understatement. The first shot in my internal battle over whether or not I should continue drawing SuperFogeys was fired waaaaay back in December 2008 when I decided to post only one strip [...]
Well, today is the end of the big 5th Anniversary Celebration. I want to thank everyone who participated by lending their talents and showing their fandom with a chapter recap, a piece of fan art, or a short essay. I was blown away by the love and detail you all put into your efforts. With [...]
Sleep is precious to me. I’m an insomniac so when my eyes are shut and the world fades away, that’s a sacred time. I’m of a generally pleasant disposition, but if you wake me before it’s time to get up, I will rip your head off and stuff it down a toilet. Then I’ll go [...]
Hey all, I’ve got some exciting news today! The SuperFogeys was recently invited to join The Collective of Heroes, a webcomic collective that spotlights some of the greatest superhero webomics out there like Union of Heroes and Dynagirl! Check out the site and the announcement about SuperFogeys joining here! IN OTHER NEWS: My friend Ed [...]
ITEM! The Washington Post is looking for nominations for the best webcomics of 2011. The usual suspects are called out in the article–PVP, Hark! A Vagrant, Penny Arcade, xkcd, etc.–but maybe there’s room for an underdog? I dunno. If you think SuperFogeys is good enough to rank or you have another webcomic in mind as [...]
Didn’t think you guys would want to miss this one. Rob Barba over at Claude + Monet interviewed me for his first “Sci-Fi Saturdays,” in which he interviews a member of the creative community working in Sci-Fi. (I guess that means I do Sci-Fi! Who knew?) Rob asked some of the usual suspects like where [...]
It’s that time of year again when SuperFogeys takes a bit of time off and you get to step in to fill the gap! Now, we just had the 5th Anniversary Celebration. You all were fiercely participatory during that time and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the chapter recaps. Because of that, I [...]
Because I’m never one to shy away from calling myself to task (it’s healthy!) and writing a Top 10 BEST SuperFogeys moments would be incredibly self-serving, here are my picks for the Top 10 WORST SuperFogeys Moments (excluding SuperFogeys Origins–that’s a whole different list). We’re talking bad strips, embarrassing creative choices, mistakes, bad art, etc. [...]
Hey Everybody, Today marks the launch of my new website, brockheasley.com. I’ve been heading towards this for a while now, even if I didn’t realize it. In this day and age, if you’re an author–you need a website. I always saw this site as my hub, but I just don’t think it makes such sense [...]
It was recently put across to me that Chapter One of The SuperFogeys, “Insane Romance From Hell,” is the number one barrier SF has for attracting new readers. I didn’t disagree. This same person told me that, in their opinion, SuperFogeys is easily as good if not better than anything DC or Marvel are putting [...]
Which is better for webcomics, long chapters or short chapters? I realize not all webcomics use the chapter system, but for those that do (like SuperFogeys), which is best? I think about this often. The average SuperFogeys chapter is about 30 strips, but some have been much shorter, and at least one is twice that [...]
We are now officially in a brand new era of The SuperFogeys. Jerry and Spy Gal are married. I thought it might be fun to take a look back at their romance from Spy Gal’s perspective. How did she get here? Which interactions were key? Call this The Annotated SuperFogeys: Spy Gal’s Perspective. The first [...]
Hey all, how’s it going? I’m writing this post 20 minutes before you all see the 101st strip by SuperFogeys Artist Marc Lapierre. That’s amazing. As most of you know, Marc saved SuperFogeys from certain doom after I decided to shut down the comic–and leave all storylines unfinished–about one year ago. Just to give you [...]
Hey everybody, just came across this excellent review of The SuperFogeys this week and, needless to say, Marc and I are extremely flattered by the high praise. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a proper review–and I think this is the first one since Marc took over art duties. Big thanks to Caitlin [...]
