Redefining Mr. Dark

One of the earliest lessons I've learned as a creator is that you have to be prepared to change things if you want to make them work. If something doesn't work, you throw it out and try something new. When I started work on Volume 2 of Gulatta! I immediately knew there were some things that needed fixing. And the first thing I wanted to fix was Mr. Dark.

The main problem, in my opinion, of the first Volume of Gulatta! was the lack of a strong central character. The cast changed from issue to issue. I wanted to fix that and give the book a strong central figure to sort of hang the rest of the characters off of. I knew Mr. Dark had the potential to be that character, but I needed to do some tinkering to make him work. The first thing I had to fix was the name. Make no mistake, I think the name "Mr. Dark" is awesome, but recently I read a review of an issue of "Fables" (a book I've never read, by the by) and discovered that they've got a Mr. Dark. Groan. I suppose I could've just ignored it, but not being one to risk potential litigation, I decided to change the name. Mr becomes King and viola, you've got King Dark. Simple enough.

The second change was a little more integral. In the original series, Mr. Dark was a Living Costume made of Living Darkness. He would enter a fight by "putting himself on" one of the bad guys, and the bad guy would "become" Mr. Dark. It was a really cool gimmick. Unfortunately, if your main character only shows up halfway through the fight, it's kinda hard to give him sufficient screen time or develop his character any. So, even though it was a neat idea, in Volume 2 I abandoned the idea of Mr. Dark as a living costume, and basically turned King Dark into a Living, Corporeal Shadow.

The other problem with King Dark was that...well, he's not the most colorful or interesting character. He's one of those Strong, Silent, Tough Guy types. Those guys are cool. But... they're very hard to hinge an entire book on. King Dark needed something to perk him. Someone to talk to. So, I used one of my favorite tricks, the trick that transformed Cactus Joe the Clown from "Generic bad ass indie comic anti-hero" into "Character I can tell stories with forever". I gave King Dark a silly cartoon sidekick.

Finding a sidekick for Dark took a little while. When I had the idea originally, I was going to give King Dark a Red Penguin from the South Pole. This was because Pengy was a laid back, mute, Blue Penguin from the North Pole, while Dark's sidekick would be this talkative, extreme sports, Red Penguin from the South Pole, and eventually I would develop this odd little rivalry between the two penguins. I abandoned the idea because I decided having other "Special" Penguins would rob Pengy of his individuality. But I liked the red color, and I like the Extreme Sports theme, and I liked the bird idea. Just needed a different. Somehow I came up with Toucan, and thus, Tulo TooCan, the red, skateboard riding, ridiculous catchphrase spouting Toucan was born.

And so, for now, King Dark was fixed, and I finally had the foundation I needed to start a new version of Gulatta!, which is currently available for sale at http://www.torcpress.com/store.html. Check it out and help support extreme toucans the world over.