A couple of years ago, I started three comics around the same time: "Clown & Penguin", "Death Moth", and "SDF". My approach to the books was somewhat framed around Jack Kirby's 4th World, with Death Moth being the Frontlines/Orion type book, Clown & Penguin was a little inspired by Mister Miracle, as kinda the outskirts book, and SDF was the Forever People book, about the poor folks on the Ground. SDF was also kinda the Jimmy Olsen book, about the people outside of the conflict who were also inadvertently affected by the conflict.
With the demonic Ortex Corporation consuming the world, slowly turning it into a smog covered industrial wasteland, I wanted to show what life was like for the few people out there that wouldn't submit to the rule of the Ortex Corporation, so I created the Community, a group of refugees living in the last remaining forest on Earth (Side Note: As a counterpoint, I also used "Pulp Horrorshow" Volume 3 to showcase some of the Rebel Groups that tried to directly oppose Ortex (and how poorly things go for them)). SDF was supposed to be about the various quirky characters living in this environment and their struggles to survive in a world that was constantly out to destroy them. I decided to try experimenting with the Robert Kirkman style of Infinite Storytelling. There were no real Art Experiments in this one, I saved that for the other books.
Clown & Penguin and Death Moth morphed into "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" and "Skull Mob" respectively, and it was delightful. But SDF... didn't work for me. It trudged. The only thing that worked was Octopus Jones, who was a character that I really came to enjoy. With the "Longest Day" storyarc wrapping up in SDF #5, it was time to reassess SDF, and try to figure out how to make it work for me.
1) I didn't like the Robert Kirkman style of storytelling. Lots of people love the Kirkman approach to writing comics, and it's a very traditional style of comics writing, and that's cool. More power to you. But it doesn't work for me. Writing such a long story arc was just such a trudge for me. I prefer to single issue to two or three issue arcs, so I decided to revert to that approach. Issue 6 is a stand alone story, and Issue 7 should be as well.
2) I'm not a huge fan of Setting. Too much of SDF was supposed to revolve around the setting of the Community. That stuff is swell for Writers, but I'm a Plot Guy. I couldn't stay focused on the Setting or the various Quirky Characters that were supposed to inhabit it. So, I decided to merely have the Community as something of a background and instead focus on all of the crazy stuff that happens to Octopus Jones. Speaking of which...
3) Octopus Jones is a great character. He's fun to draw (and more importantly, he's Easy to draw). He's got neato powers that are dynamic to draw. He's kind of an Everyman (even if he's a, y'know, Fishman), and as I've been writing him, I've figured out the core of the character: Octopus Jones is the Guy who is Perpetually in over his head. With that in mind, I decided to put the focus on OJ, and more importantly, continuously throw him into a series of insane situations.
4) Try something different with the Art. I wasn't thrilled about the Art on SDF for the first 5 issues. I liked the way the art looked on my old series "Monster King", so I thought I'd try going back to that style to see if it would work. I kinda like the look of it so far, but I may try mixing it up with later issues. If anyone's got an opinion on the look of the series, drop me a line, please.
5) Give Octopus Jones someone to work off of. The problem with the original version of the Community Watch Group was that you had a strong central character in Octopus Jones, a Silent character in the Puzzelor, a mostly Silent character in Spookshow, and a grumpy, antagonistic character in Killboy. The mix didn't work, so with Issue 6 I've decided to tweak things a bit. The Chupacabra has been added to the mix because I like the antagonistic chemistry between him and OJ, and also, the group desperately needed some Muscle. The fella in Blue (who we'll talk about more in a different blog entry) is there to finally give Octopus Jones the confidant he's always needed.
Anyway, I'm gonna try this stuff out and see what works and what don't. Comix are a perpetual experiment. That's one of the things that are awesome about them.
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