Fudge & Skulls & SDF

I always think I've got it figured out, but I never really do, do I?  Oh well, life is a continuous string of experiments.  The longer you stay in the game, the more you learn.

Two years ago I started "SDF", "Clown & Penguin", and "Death Moth".

"Clown & Penguin" was a killer book.  It was a little unfocused, sure, but what TORC Press comic isn't, right?  The art was great.  The story was cool.  But man oh man, a 32 page comic takes forever.  1 issue a year?  It was like torture.  I had dozens and dozens of stories in my brain, and all they could do was sit there and ferment and rot while I plodded through each of these 32 page behemoths.

"Death Moth" may have been even better.  I had found my Mickey Mouse in Cactus Joe the Clown way back in 1997, but I had never found my Donald Duck.  I had tried, Lord knows I had tried.  I had created close to a half dozen characters with the sole intention of being my "Second" guy.  But no one ever quite worked.  I had created Bad Jack in "SDF: Pulp" a few years ago, but that oddball zombie in a goofy helmet just never quite clicked.  One time I asked Bro what he thought of Bad Jack, and he replied, "I like his world, but I'm not sure I like him that much."  That was a pretty good assessment.  The Bad Jack story had given me the opportunity to flesh out a really great Villain in the nefarious Dr. Dendull, though.  Dendull quickly became one of my most favorite antagonists, popping up in the Clown's comics, and generally making trouble in the TORCverse.  In Ortex I had my Lex Luther.  In Dr. Dendull I had my Joker.  Now all I needed was a Batman.  Turns out all Bad Jack needed was to die again and get a face lift.

"Death Moth" worked.  The main character was now visually dynamic.  He had an entire history I could work off of.  I had a great villain in Dr. Dendull.  And just for kicks, I decided to completely let loose and create a true Adults Only comic.  It was good.  Nasty.  Dirty.  F****d up. 

And that was the problem with it.  It not only had the same problem as "Clown & Penguin" (1 issue a year is too slow!  Too SLOW!), but my heart wasn't into creating something so... nasty.  It sold well at conventions, but I always felt guilty selling it.  More often than not, I spent most of my time apologizing about the book to my potential customers before and after I sold it to them.  I did two issues and even though I had more story ideas, I decided to call it good at 2, since Issue 2 wrapped up the story arc. 

"SDF" never quite worked at all.  My girlfriend likes it, which is something, but it's never sold well at conventions, and it doesn't sell online at all (well, nothing really sells online... another problem I'm trying to figure out).    The problems with it are rather obvious to me now.  I'll admit, the art is rather slap dash, and the Photoshopped colors don't really work because I don't really know how to use Photoshop.  The whole idea of creating a 16 page comic online, and including an 8 page bonus strip in the print version seemed like a good idea, but it never really worked out.  Plus, the 8 page bonus strip was just more work for me to do, which slowed me down.  Also, the pacing of the stories were glacial.  I mean, over two or three years, I've produced five issues, all of which take place over the same 24 hour time period.  It felt like a Robert Kirkman story after awhile.  Without, y'know, the millions of fans.

"SDF" gave me two very, very important things though.  The first thing is that SDF kept me on task.  Compare the numbers.  Two issues each of "Clown & Penguin" and "Death Moth", compared to 4-5 issues of "SDF" in the same time frame.  The weekly webcomic schedule kept me on task, kept the story moving.  I liked that.

The other thing "SDF" gave me was Octopus Jones.  Rarely have I had a character that clicked as quickly and easily as Octopus Jones.  He looks cool, he's fun to draw, and he's really developed into an interesting character that I enjoy writing. 

So, I had my Mickey, my Donald, and purely by accident my Goofy.  Now I just needed to figure out what to do with them.  Then I got an idea.

See here's the thing.  I don't really like webcomics that much.  I know they're the wave of the future and alla that, but I'm old school.  I like my print comics.  But, I've been making webcomics for years now, and what I do like about webcomics is the work schedule.  If I say "New Webomic Page on Monday," then I gotta have a new webcomic page on Monday.  Simple as that.  Keeps me focused.  Keeps me on task.  I like that.  I've got too many stories to tell to just be like, "I'll finish a page whenever."  Too slow.

So I thought, let's just turn everything into webcomics.  Two pages a week, sixteen pages an issue, and no bonus material in the print edition to slow me down.  When the pages are all online, all I gotta do is get the pages arranged for print, and do the covers, and I'm done.  Next issue.

I decided to tone down the material a bit, partially to make it more consumable online, and partially because I was tired of feeling uncomfortable at Cons trying to sell comics with so much messed up stuff in them. 

I decided to revive "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club".  I always liked that comic, even if I never finished that one issue.  With the Clown serving the god-like Omnichronus, it made sense that the Judge of Worlds would have a small army of servants, right?  And with the Clown "in charge", I could send these oddball characters into all sorts of bizarre, crazy adventures all across Space and between Dimensions.  The possibilities were endless.

The problem with the Death Moth was that he didn't have much of a personality.  He's all about Revenge, which is cool for a movie or whatever, but doesn't make for much of a comic series.  In "Truth or Consequences 100" I started to show that there might be some humanity under all of that Rage.  With the Clown I learned long ago that you need to give your character some supporting characters to work off of, so I decided to give Death Moth his own team.  If the Clown had HFSAC, then Death Moth would have the "Skull Mob".  I always liked that name, and it was good to revive it.  "Skull Mob" would serve as the antithesis of HFSAC.  If HFSAC was silly and colorful and cosmic, then SM would be dark and ugly and deadly serious (well, as serious as any comic I make).

After issue 5 of "SDF" wraps up, I'm gonna put that comic on break for a month or two.  In the meantime, I'm gonna finish up the print editions of Issues 4 & 5, along with the print editions of Pulp Horrorshow 3 & 4.  Once that's done, I'm gonna bring back SDF with faster stories, and I'm gonna try to up the ante on the art.

So, there you go.  That's my ideas for now.  We'll see how it works.