HFSAC 23-24

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 24.

And that wraps up this Chapter of Bad Rapture.  The Moon/Anti-Vertionce Squad has failed in its mission.  I'm gonnna take a 2 Week Break to catch my breath and hopefully get some work done on the Print Editions of the previous comics, then on Monday, August 18th, Bad Rapture Chapter 3/ Skull Mob #5 starts up.  This chapter will focus entirely on the heated battle within the Community, as the rest our Geek Heroes try to stop a seemingly endless army of Evil Robot Angels.  It's COMIX baby!  Be there or be square.

HFSAC 23-23

Today's Page:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 23.

So, we get the return of the Real El Exclamation Point!, who proves to be just as bossy and over the top as he was back when he was alive.  I wrote this page, and I didn't use a script, I just improvised the dialogue on my computer as I was lettering it.  It's a haphazard method, but I think it yields interesting results, such as the great dialogue in Panel 5, where Darlene Munroe's body is unexpectedly consumed in a Cosmic Funeral Pyre.

It is my opinion that what makes a Cosmic Story truly Cosmic is that it should have some sort of Spiritual angle to it.  Otherwise you're just writing Sci-Fi (without a lot of Sci).

HFSAC 23-22

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 22.

Crap.  I forgot the scar over Darlene's left eye on this page.  Maybe with her death she has been renewed, like in "The Glory Boat".  Or maybe I just have a terrible memory.

Anyway, this entire sequence is me saying goodbye to the original "Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club".  Which of course makes absolutely no sense at all if you didn't read the original issues.  But whatever.

Manipulating the Clown's color scheme to reflect his emotions is something I started doing back around Monster King 6 I think. 

HFSAC 23-21

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 21.

This is a sad little page, and I'm not in the mood to talk about it today.

HFSAC 23-20

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 20.

And with a flick of the wrist, the Vertionce takes out another valiant hero.  Sadly, all the Plot Exposition on how the Clown knows it's Darlene Munroe under the armor, and how there's gravity and atmosphere on the Moon, is covered on Monday's page, so we won't worry about that today. 

I will take a second to explain why the Clown is leaking yellow energy.  When I was reading Silver Surfer comics as a kid, I never for one second thought that there was a flesh and blood person underneath the shiny Silver "skin".  Not once.  Apparently, nowadays, everyone who writes the Surfer just assumes that Pale, Pink, Soft Norrid Radd is underneath the shiny chrome, and every chance they get, they wanna strip away the Cosmic Awesomeness to reveal the "Man" underneath.  Which is why I have hated every single Silver Surfer comic I've had the misfortune of reading over the last decade or so.  Norrid Radd sucks. 

No, I always believed that in order to be a cosmic being who could survive indefinitely in space, you would need to no longer have a flesh and blood body, you would need a body composed of pure, cosmic energy.  Go back and reread the old Surfer stories written by Jack Kirby in the original "Fantastic Four" run (and yes, I said written by Jack Kirby).  The Surfer is an energy being encased in a Silver shell, plain as day.  There's even an issue where the Surfer and the Thing get into a fight over Alicia and the Surfer actually converts his body into a maelstrom of pure cosmic energy.  The King knew the way it would work.  (He was smarter than that hack J. Michael Strasinsky, that's for sure.  Silver Surfer: Requiem is easily one of my Top 10 Most Hated Comics of all time)

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that our HFSAC Heroes, including the Clown, are not Flesh and Blood anymore.  They may kinda look it, but they're actually living energy encased in a durable shell.  Which is why, when they are damaged their skin cracks, and why they leak energy instead of blood.

In a Side Note:  Despite his transformation, the Clown still retains all of the natural abilities of his Flesh and Blood body, namely his ability to regenerate at a rapid rate (an advantage he has over his fellow Fudgeheads) and his ability to draw in Life Force energy, which has now been upgraded to include Cosmic Energy, since Cosmic Energy is a Primal Form of Life Force Energy.

Woo.  That whole blog was some gobbledeegook, now wasn't it?

HFSAC 23-18/19

Yesterday's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 18.

Aaaaand Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 19.

So, I had no internet yesterday morning before work due to a rather nasty thunderstorm.  Then, after I got off work, I had to race to Olney for my allergy shot, as well as to pick up Boolah so we could race over to Indiana to pick up Tom Scioli's "Transformers vs. GIJoe" #1, because although I may not care about those particular toy franchises all that much, I'll follow Tom Scioli to the ends of the earth if need be.

Anyway, Page 18 is the Destruction of the Clown's Hammer, Mr. Happy.  Since this is a Big Event Comic, BIG things have to happen.  There's already been some character deaths (and make no mistake, we're getting pretty Game of Thrones with this thing, so brace for more), and there needed to be something pretty significant happen in this issue.  So, the Clown's Giant Cosmic Hammer gets shattered.  On the one hand, this is unfortunate, because it was cool and kinda iconic.  On the other hand, it was a giant pain in the butt to draw.  So, I don't think I'll miss it too much.

Page 19 is where Boolah's version of the story and my version of the story smashed into each other and created something pretty cool.  In my version of the story, the entire fight takes place in the woods, and El Exclamation Point 2 is simply lurking the forest nearby.  In Boolah's (much better) version, the fight takes place on the moon, which left us with the conundrum, how does Darlene Munroe/EEP2 get involved?  Boolah came up with the idea that she sees the Explosion of Mr. Happy on Earth, and flies into the fray in her space suit (the space suit also being Boolah's idea, and a really good one at that).  So that's how we get this page, which I really like because the colors look cool to me for some reason.

HFSAC 23-17

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 17.

As I have said before, I'm still not used to working with a Script yet.  Case in point, in the Script for this page there's a small inset panel in the lower right hand corner that had the following:

Panel 1: Mystery Man, Tea Cup and Plat are lying down messed, looking on in wonder as to what is going to happen. TC points towards the two about to collide.
TC: That Vertionce fella’s got a helmet that looks like a

But, because I didn't reference the Script when I was doing the pencil and ink work, I missed this little moment entirely.  Having said that, in my capacity as editor, I probably would have deleted that panel anyway, because A) we've established the three characters involved are too busted up to be doing any commentary from the peanut gallery anyway (the Mystery Man is flat out unconscious), and B) the inset panel would have deflated the tension of the moment, as our Hero prepares to collide with the Boss of the Evil Angels.

Still, I apologize to Boolah for screwing this page up.  I think maybe I need to start making Print copies of my Scripts some I can keep track of stuff.  Also, it is unfortunate that the only instance in the entire Event where someone points out the rather... phallic... nature of the Vertionce's ridiculous helmet got left on the cutting room floor.

HFSAC 23-16

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 16.

This was a Page that Boolah had a very clear vision of during our Script Conferences.  I, of course, loved the page, and immediately deemed it the "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" Page because it reminded me of a scene out of a Spaghetti Western (and, yes, I'm aware there would have been more close ups of just the eyes, but y'know, close enough).

There's been a handful of rare occasions where someone else writes dialogue for the Clown, and it's always a little weird for me.  I stared at the dialogue on this page for, like, ten minutes going, "Is that what I would say in that situation?"  After much debate, I decided that, yeah, that sounds like me when I'm angry and kept the original dialogue.  That's the advantage of having a co-writer who's known you since the 3rd Grade.

HFSAC 23-15

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 15.

So, the way me & Boolah have been collaborating on Bad Rapture works like this:  We hang out and map out the general plot and go over what we want to have happen on each individual page, figuring out the general shape of the story.  Then Boolah goes off and works up a Full Script and Thumbnails/Layouts, which he sends to me, then I do the Artsy Fartsy stuff.  But with HFSAC 23, there were a handful of pages that I wanted to write exclusively, and this is one of them.  It's hard to explain why... maybe these pages were just kinda personal, I suppose.

In the real world, I just tend to panic in a moment of crisis.  Once I calm down a smidge I'm usually okay.  In the comic world, I can at least make my character a little more heroic and functional, although it's worth mentioning that the Clown's reaction to Tea Cup getting Can Openered is to just go berzerk and keep blasting the bad guy. 

If you're reading this blog, then you probably know that the character of Tea Cup is based on my brother Ryan (if for some reason you don't know this, then that means you're not a close friend or family member, or you haven't been a really long time fan of my work, in which case, thank you for hanging out and reading my comix.  I appreciate it.  Of course, I appreciate my family and friends and longtime readers too.  Everyone reading the blog is awesome sauce)  (Did I just say awesome sauce?).  My brother may look like a giant, scary red haired viking, but he's actually the nicest, most helpful guy you'll ever meet.  Bro would give a person the shirt off his back if he thought it would help then out, and that's where this page came from.  If he was a robot, he wouldn't hesitate to rip part of the Self Repair Circuitry out of the gaping wound in his chest if he thought he could use it to repair a friend.

Lastly, the words "Proteus Platypus" are a bit of a hint about an upcoming story arc.  If anyone can tell me the one comic that Proteus Platypus appeared in, then you can officially win a TORC Press NOT PRIZE!  Boolah, you're disqualified.  Sorry.

HFSAC 23-14

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 14.

One of the things I like about working with a partner is that occasionally you get an interesting challenge thrown at you.  Today's page, for example, is a 10 panel page, which, in general, is not something I've done in awhile.  Typically, I don't usually go over 9 panels on a page, and a 9 panel page is typically reserved for a page involving a lot of dialogue and close ups of people's faces.  This page on the other hand, is a full on action sequence.  And it turned out to be a lot of fun, so it was cool that I got the opportunity to try it.

Other than that, the line "Nice and Smooth" is a reference to King Mob from Grant Morrison's "Invisibles" (Ha!  Betcha thought I wouldn't remember, did ya, Boolah?), while "Put On Your Pants, It's Time to Dance!" is, in fact, one of my more common catch phrases, which I stole from an episode of "The Amazing Race" of all places.

HFSAC 23-13

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 13.

And then things start to go really wrong.

HFSAC 23-12

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 12.

First off, it was Boolah's idea to give PlatOmega missiles, and it was a good one.  Gives the character a wider array of offensive options.

Second off, I screwed up Panel 4.  PlatO should be facing to the Right so it looks like the Missiles are traveling towards the Vertionce.  Instead it looks like he's inexplicably taking a shot at Cactus Joe.  If I magically could, I would spin the positioning of the characters in Panel 4 and 5.  Bad storytelling on my part.  Sorry.

HFSAC 23-11

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 11.

Welp, we've officially checked in with all of our "Teams" back on Earth, so it's time to get back to the Moon and check back in with the Anti-Vertionce Squad.  It's uncommon for me to break panel barriers and let the image bleed all the way out, but I feel like it works here.  I really like the image at the bottom.  It's very COMIX.

HFSAC 23-10

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 10.

Let's break this one down panel by panel:

Panel 1:  In SDF #8 we revealed that the person currently masquerading as El Exclamation Point! is, in fact, former HFSAC member Agent D (Darlene Munroe).  We also hinted that she had some Armor stashed somewhere.  We've also repeatedly mentioned that it is common knowledge that El Exclamation Point! is Dead, so this has led to a little confusion for poor Death Moth.  Boolah came up for the idea for the EEP! armor (cool idea, given Darlene Munroe's penchant for creating cool technological wonders), and he also had an Armor Design, but because I'm a putz I lost it somewhere in the piles and piles of paper in my house.  My design on the armor is loosely based on my memories of Boolah's design, mixed with my own sensibilities.  Other than that, in Boolah's thumbnails he wrote "Liefeldish" next to EEP!  Not sure if I Liefelded it up enough or not.

Panel 2-3:  Because this is technically an issue of HFSAC, I wanted to try to shoehorn all of the Fudgeheads into the Issue for at least a Panel or two.  Electric Cherry got a cameo on the previous page, while Los Super Hip Bros, Eyemo, Eyemi, and @byss get cameos on this page.  Of course, the Hip Bros and the Eyes have a full compliment of Element Powers (Fire, Ice/Water, Earth, Air), which they get to show off, while @byss, as usual, is content to simply crack Angelic Skulls.

Panel 4 & 6:  This is the Forcefield that has been erected around The Community's Medical Tent.  It is the absolute last line of defense against the invading Angels.  The Forcefield Team consists of Tei Harlequin, Pengy Penguin, Priest Shiki, and the good Angel Scout. 

Panel 5:  Bad Rapture as a whole is essentially a story about Octopus Jones and Cheryl.  But this particular chapter is about HFSAC vs. the Vertionce, so this is, somewhat ironically, the only appearance of OJ and Cheryl in this particular comic.  Note that Octopus Jones is not "In Costume" and has reverted to his normal Jonar Lloz form.

HFSAC 23-9

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 9.

So, when me n' Boolah sat down to Plot Out this Issue of HFSAC, I figured we needed to check in on the Earth Battle for a page or two.  In case you've gotten lost (easy enough to do), the fight with the Vertionce is currently being waged on two fronts:  The Heavy Hitters are on the Moon trying to take out the Vertionce himself, while just about everyone else is down on the Last Forest on Earth trying to stop his Army of Evil Angels that look like Robots for some reason even I don't fully understand and why do I even try to make each one look different, seriously?  So, when I get the Script in, Boolah wrote something like, "Grand Melee, think Frank Quitely." and he included all of the characters and dialogue he wanted crammed onto the page.  Awhile later, Boolah sent in the thumbnails for the book.  Now, I love the Layouts Boolah's been sending me.  For the most part I've been sticking to them fairly closely and they look really good.  But there was something different about this page.

The big panel on this page was BLANK.

So I had a mild heart attack and pulled my newly grown hair out, before I came to realize that this page was one of those challenges I relish.  One of the cool things about working with someone else is that every so often they're gonna throw something at you that you don't think you could possibly pull off, and then you have no choice but to rise to the challenge.  And the end result is a pretty darn cool page like this.

So, not only did I get all of the characters on the page Boolah wanted, I also managed to cram in a few Angels, Dust (the chick in blue with the skull face), and virtually all of the dialogue (that part was the hardest, I cut one line of dialogue for space reasons, there's an extra Doom Eagle line where he says, "This is Unreal!"  Sorry.)

Anyway, instead of approaching the page like Frank Quitely (which would have involved an extreme long shot with characters that were drawn tiny yet with inexplicably intricate detail, all in a perfect simulacrum of motion), I decided to do the page Kirby style, where everything is a mad jumble, yet almost perfectly symmetrical, with varying fields of vision.

Anyway, anyway, I'm very pleased with today's page.

Took forever to finish, though.

HFSAC 23-8

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 8.

Woo.  That's a BIIIIIG Fist.  So, of my many weaknesses, Perspective has always been one of my biggest.  That's somewhat problematic, because if I am working in a "Kirby Style" on this book, then making Excessive and Exaggerated Use of Perspective is a Central Key to the Kirby style (admittedly, having a strong grasp of perspective is key to Art in general, but that's never stopped me before).  So I decided to go for some rather extreme, over-the-top Perspectiving on this page, with the Fist Exploding Out of the Panel, hopefully drawing the Reader's Eye inexorably into the Impact on the Page.  I admit, I overdid it a bit, but it's still a nice Experiment. 

Another Experiment, which I've been using a Lot in this issue so far, is the "Impact Starburst", another Kirby Creation.  The Impact Starburst is that explosion of light that occurs in a Kirby style comic when one character punches another really hard.  I'm still working on getting the logistics right, but I like the technique, and in this case it highlights the Chupacabra's small, disappearing body as he rockets off the surface of the Moon.

(Side Note:  If there are any Chupacabra fans out there, don't worry, he's fine.  He's Unconscious and Floating Around in the Depths of Space right now, murmuring the word "goat" very quietly, but otherwise, he's fine.)

Other than that, I also intentionally went overboard with the Spot Blacks on the Chest of the Vertionce in the Lower Big Panel.  Kirby was never excessively concerned about "Proper" Lighting.  He always lit his comics for maximum impact, and Proper Lighting be damned!  I've never worried about proper lighting because... honestly I can never keep track of light sources.  But, again, because I'm working on my "Kirby Style", I decided to experiment with some Dynamic Lighting on this Panel.

So there you go.

HFSAC 23-7

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 7.

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about this page (besides the fact that the Clock is about to run out), is that our HFSAC-Heroes have hit the Vertionce with attacks that would easily destroy the corporeal form of any regular old run of the mill Angel, and yet the Vertionce doesn't have so much as a scratch or a dent in his armor.  That is not a good sign.  That evil grin isn't a good sign either.

HFSAC 23-6

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 6.

Whadawegot today?  Well, "Crash.  Boom.  Bang." is a reference to "R-O-C-K in the U-S-A", obviously (no matter how serious things are supposed to get I just can't stop myself from sneaking in a good joke.  It's one of many reasons why I never ended up being a Horror Writer).  Other than that, it was fun experimenting with the visual design of the Chupacabra Teleporting.  Since this is my "Kirby-book" I wanted to render the Teleportation "Kirby-style" so you've got this almost explosive approach with all sorts of Kirby Crackle and Energy and whatnot.  I'm pretty happy with the art on this comic so far, and I'm glad I went with the Purple-ish background to keep everything from getting too drab and grey.

HFSAC 23-5

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 5.

First off, Happy 4th of July, everybody!  Let's all eat red meat and blow stuff up.

Anyway, let's break today's page down panel by panel.  Why not?

Panel 1:  For some reason, I always associate the Color Blue with Psychic Energy.  I'm not sure why.  But yeah, when I think Psychic Power I think Blues and Purples (Tei Harlequin's Psychic Energy is typically rendered in Pinks to match her color scheme).  Anyway, the Blue Background and Blue Eyes on the Mystery Man represent a sudden rush of Psychic Energy.  The Red Dialogue is an obvious reference to "The Power of the Word" from Garth Ennis's "Preacher".

Panel 2:  The Vertionce is frozen solid by a mixture of Mind Control and Telekinesis.  He's not happy about this.

Panel 3:  Okay, I screwed up a lot on this page.  First, without even consciously doing it, I stole Arnold Schwartzenneger's famous pose from "Conan".  I don't know how this happened.  Second, I've been experimenting with my Art, especially my Inking, and I went crazy with the Cross Hatching on that Right Shoulder Guard.  Seriously, what was I thinking there?  Cross hatching doesn't work on Shiny Metal anyway.  Lastly, in the previous page, the Sun was behind our Heroes and in front of the Vertionce.  But on this page, the Sun is Magically BEHIND the Vertionce.  Whaaaaaaa?  It's a good thing I'm not a Popular Artist, or my detractors would have a field day with this panel.  Yeesh.

Panel 4:  What I love about comics is that the more I draw a character, the more comfortable I get with drawing that character.  Take Tea Cup for example.  When I first started drawing this version of the character, I admit, it was difficult to do things with the character.  He's got a non traditional, bulky body, no neck, cylindrical arms (the whole no elbows thing has screwed me up a LOT), tiny legs, and those weird fingers (what's up with those things?  They've got no knuckles!  Why do I design these things?!?).  But the more I draw the character, the more I get to where I can make all of those odd things work for me, and so we end up with Panel 4.  Not only do we have a guy with no knuckles cracking his knuckles (COMIX!!!!), but look at that expression on his face.  I lub eet!  He's gonna enjoy this. 

OH!  I forgot some stuff.  First off, all the Psychic Freeze stuff was Boolah's idea, and it's a good one.  Also, the Time Clock in the Upper Left Hand Corner of Panel 4 was also Boolah's idea, and it shows us how much time our HFSAC Heroes have to put a Beat Down on the Frozen Vertionce.  Keep an eye on the Clock.

HFSAC 23-4

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/ Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 4.

So, since I ain't got a lot to talk about on this page (the whole "Fightin' Dirty" bit was Boolah's idea, and a good one at that), I suppose now is a good time to yammer about the current process I'm a using on this particular comic.

In HFSAC 18-22, I've been drawing and inking the book in my own take on the Kirby style (and by Kirby style, I mean 1970s Kirby style, because that's my favorite... Side note:  Even saying Kirby style seems kind of ridiculous, since Kirby's art style changed with every passing decade.  1940s Kirby looks very little like 1960s Kirby.  But I digress...), which for me currently means: Thick, muscular figures, thick, blobby areas of black, craggy environments, and Kirby Crackle at each and every given opportunity.  Because I'm always trying to experiment, for HFSAC 18-22, I was also using Hand Coloring, basically using Colored Inks to Colorize my pages.  As you can hopefully image, it was a long process to hand color each and every page, and then to unify and tweak the image in Photoshop afterwards.  And, sadly, I wasn't really getting the look I wanted when it was all said and done (although Fire Effects looked good...).  It was taking forever and all I ended up with was amateurish colors that looked like they were done with Marker (which is really frustrating when I had just spent 3 hours bent over a Lightbox carefully painting the pages with a brush).

So, for this crossover issue, I decided to do something different.  In the previous issue (Bad Rapture Alpha), I had been working on using Photoshop colors "properly" (which I think means using Layers and occasionally adjusting the size of the Brush tool).  So I brought that approach into this issue.  For the color scheme, instead of just eyeballing it like I usually do, instead I scanned in some old Kirby pages from the 70s (some 4th World pages and some 2001 (gotta love 2001)), and I, much like a rapper, "sampled" the colors from those pages, giving me a simpler, but more psychedelic palette to work with.

Because I wanted the comic to look more old school, I dove into the Filter Menu on my Photoshoppy program and experimented until I found a setting the kinda gave me the "Dotty" look of the colors on older comics.  So, I'm currently using the "NOISE" setting.  If there's anyone out there that actually knows how to use Photoshop and knows a quick method for making the colors look "Old School", please drop me a line here on the blog.

Anyway, that's what up with HFSAC 23.  I'm kinda liking it so far.

HFSAC 23-3

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/Bad Rapture Chapter 2.  Page 3.  Kinda.

Again, it is worth mentioning that the four panels on this page are actually gonna be located under the Big Splash on the previous page, in the Print Edition.  I decided to chop everything up for ease of storytelling.

Anyway, before I brought Boolah in to work on Bad Rapture, originally we were gonna do a Team Comic together called "The American Nightmares".  One of the characters that was gonna be in the American Nightmares was a twisted version of Superman called Alpha-Omega (the name being a reference to the fact that Superheroes begin and end with Superman).  In my vision, Alpha-Omega started out as a handsome Superman type, but Ortex gets ahold of him and warps and twists and mutates him until he becomes a monster.  Boolah, on the other hand, wanted somebody on the team who could teleport the team from place to place, so he made Alpha-Omega the "Teleporter" of the group, and also had this idea for the character to look like a giant, walking wad of chewed up bubblegum.

Unfortunately, the American Nightmares comic never got rolling, so we trash canned it in favor of another idea that we're working on right now (the American Nightmares got to make a rather abbreviated "Last Stand" in "Bad Rapture: Alpha").  Still, like any good creator, Boolah hung onto to his Group Teleporter idea, and decided to transplant it onto the Chupacabra.  He asked me if it was cool, and I was like "Sounds Neato".  After all, beforehand all the Chupacabra was was a Hulk rip-off who bit people's heads off.  Now he's got that AND a cool utility power.

Forever People vs. Forever People

Alright, I should be working on comix.  I mean, I got two pages inked tonight after nearly sweating to death at the Mill today, so I suppose I'm doing alright.  Whatever.  Anyway, instead of further working I'm gonna blog about stuff.  Cool?

Recently, DC released "Infinity Man and the Forever People" #1.  I bought it, cause it was worth a shot.  Did I like it?  Well, it was kinda "eh" really, but there's enough there to at least try Issue 2 to see if it picks up.

My biggest problem with the comic, though, was the abysmal pace, a running theme of modern comics.  I miss the Silver Age approach to comics, and I miss Kirby's Mad Dash Style comics from the 70s.  I know other people thought Kirby's 70s work was too much, too fast, but I love it.

Maybe I got ADD.  I dunno.

Anyway, I decided to compare the modern "Infinity Man and the Forever People" #1 with "The Forever People" #1 by the KING of COMICS, Jack Kirby.  Let's rock.

Forever People Page 1:
3 panel stack.  We get a wilderness environment and our first glimpse of a Boom Tube.  That's right, on page 1, Kirby has created something Brand New (and dynamic) to Comics.  Teleportation?  Boring.  Let's create EXPLODING TUNNELS THROUGH SPACE AND TIME!!!!!  AND CALL IT A BOOOOOOOM TUBE!  COMIX!

Sorry.  Got carried away.

Infinity Man and the Forever People Page 1:
4 panel grid.  Shot of outer space leading to a post apocalyptic environment, leading to a shiny, futuristic landscape.  I admit, this is a cool page.  It's very Impressionistic and chock full of speed lines and Kirby Crackle.  It's kinda hard to tell what we're looking at, but that's half the fun.  We get text throughout that is some sort of College Commencement Speech that sorta explains what we're looking at.  Apparently, in the New 52 DCU, New Genesis is a wasteland for some reason.  Wonder what happened?

Forever People Page 2-3:
Double Page Spread featuring the Forever People and their Super Cycle exploding out of a Boom Tube.  We get Mark Moonrider, Serafin, and Vykin clinging to the Super Cycle for Dear Life with looks of terror on their faces, while Big Bear (the driver) is having the time of his life.  That pretty much tells us everything we need to know about Big Bear right there.  The Super Cycle is an absolutely crazy piece of design work, and, again, on Page 2 we get some Crazy New Thing.  None of the characters are identified yet.

IM&TFP Page 2-3:
Double Page Spread.  That's pretty cool that both comics have Doubles on Pages 2-3.  Anyway, we get a shot of New Genesis, which in this version is a mix of craggy rocks and shiny tubes.  Very cool, very Kirby, but again, why is New Genesis kinda sad looking?  Did I miss something?  Anyway, there's an Inset Panel featuring a girl running through a crowd.  A text block says that this is "Boom Tube Central".

FP Page 4:  
 5 panel page (One single top, two doubles).  The Super Cycles "lands" and almost crashes into a car, but "phases out" to avoid the collision.  Mark and Big Bear spend most of the page bickering about how bad a driver Big Bear is.  Anyway, not only can the Super Cycle fly, it can also phase through solid matter, which is pretty handy.  More craziness.

IM&TFP Page 4:
4 Panel Page.  A black girl dashes around until she finds a man called Mark (Mark Moonrider obviously) who is squatting in front of some machine.  We get more of the bizarre geography of New Genesis, but other than that, this page is kind of a wash.  Moving on.

FP Page 5:
6 Panel Page.  The car veers off the side of road and flies off a cliff, but is stopped in mid-air, and is reeled back in to safety by an invisible force.  It is revealed that the large box that Vykin is carrying is, in fact, a Mother Box (which makes a Ping-Ping-Ping noise), which is what saved the nice couple in the car from falling to their doom.  Vykin (groan, the Black.  Kirby was extremely progressive when it came to race in comics, but his names could be a bit... outdated) and Mark Moonrider officially introduce themselves.  Vykin attempts to explain what a Mother Box is (It's not just an intelligent computer!  She talks to us--Protects Us!).  If you know anything about the 4th World, you know how important Mother Boxes are to the story, and here we have the first one introduced on Page 5.  Take note:  Every page we have had something NEW introduced.  Kirbycrazy.

IM&TFP Page 5:
 6 Panel Page.  Wow, that's uncanny.  Anyway, Mark can't get his Mother Box to work, while some crazy, dirty looking girl babbles away behind them.  The black girl is identified as Serafina, which means that we've turned Serifan from the original series into a Black Girl.  I have no problem with this, because comics need more strong Black Female characters.  I do miss the cowboy hat though.  Man, New Genesis looks so grungy.  Why?

FP Page 6: 
One big top panel, two lower panels.   We get a nice introductory shot of our four protagonists.  Big Bear and Serifan are officially introduced, and Serifan picks some flowers for the girl from the car to help calm her down.  This is one of those weird, cheesy, Kirby flourishes that most people find offputting, but I kinda like it.  Kirby is a very plot driven writer, so these little moments help to humanize characters that might get lost in the rush of Plot.  Beautiful Dreamer is mentioned, and so is the villain of the 4th World Saga, Darkseid.  Otherwise, this is the calmest page of the issue so far.

IM&TFP Page 6:
 One big top panel, two lower panels.  Say what?!?  Are you guys doing this on purpose?   Anyway, the top panel introduces an angry woman in a yellow outfit, and an angrier, bald black man in a green outfit.  The black man is Vykin, and apparently Serafina is his sister, which is, of course, completely new to this version of the series.  Apparently Vykin doesn't want his sister hanging out with Mark, because Mark is some kind of rebel who doesn't like Highfather.  This is a definite shift from the original series, since Mark was the "Play-by-the-rules-leader-guy", and now he's a rebel.  Other than that, nothing much here.

FP Page 7:  
2X2panels and one large bottom panel.  The teens see a flash of light, which the Forever People identify as the Boom Tube fading out.  The teens drive off to snap a picture of the Boom Tube to show to their friend Jimmy Olsen (Jimmy Olsen was part of the 4th World Cycle).  Serifan falls into a trance and contacts Beautiful Dreamer.  Again, a "slow" panel by Kirby standards, but it also propels the story forward quite well.

IM&TFP Page 7:
6 panel page.  Okay, they're not completely aping the original.  That's good.  Everyone bickers and Vykin accidentally touches the Mother Box, activating it.  That's it, although Vykin mentions that Serafina can't use Cosmic Cartridges, which is weird, since in the originals, the Cosmic Cartridge was Serafin's primary "weapon".  Maybe they'll expand on this later.  Maybe not.

FP Page 8:
6 panel page.  A group of Intergang troopers who look like something out of a Sci-fi movie are lurking at the bushes, aiming weapons at the Forever People.  Their boss, who looks like an old school gangster, tells the troops to chill and contacts Darkseid via video phone.  Darksied tells em to trail the kids.  I think Intergang was introduced in Jimmy Olsen before this issue came out, and I think we've seen Darksied once before (also in Jimmy Olsen), so there's nothing new on this page, but we get some dramatic tension and the introduction of some antagonists.

IM&TFP Page 8:
4 panel page.   The Mother Box explodes to life and Ping-Pings.  The New Forever People are confused.  A mysterious hooded figure appears and talks to Vykin (whose last name is Baldaur, apparently).  Not much else here, but the colors on this page are very cool, and there's a ton of Kirby Crackle, so that's cool.

FP Page 9:
 2X3X2 panel page.  Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent talks to a World Champion Prize Fighter who is frustrated because he'll never be as strong as Superman.  This page basically just sets up the Superman guest appearance for the comic, but it's worth mentioning that Kirby was setting up for a story where Superman no longer feels at home on Earth.  Of course, he never really got to tell that story, but whatever.  Moving on.

IM&TFP Page 9:
6 Panel Page.  I do like Giffen's use of Simple Grids.  The grid format may not be very fancy, but it is great for strong storytelling.  Anyway, the hooded figure is revealed to be Himon, who in this version is apparently the Headmaster at the Forever People's school (I liked him better as the rebellious teacher in the original version, but whatever).  Himon says that Vykin has to go with the other Forever People to Earth because he is the only one who can activate the Mother Box.  The woman in Yellow is identified as Azur Te (who?), who is apparently, Vykin's rather disinterested girlfriend.  Mostly character stuff.  Moving on.

FP Page 10:
6 Panel Page.  Clark ponders Superman's place on Earth.  Jimmy Olsen comes in with the pictures the kids from before took (man, they drove fast!).  Clark looks at the picture.  It's kind of nonsensical that so much happens so fast, but at least this moves the plot along, as we're working Superman into the plot of the story, while still setting up for the story that never quite happened (or at least not the way it was supposed to).

IM&TFP Page 10:
1X1X2 stack.  The new Forever People fall into the Boom Tube and end up crash landing on earth (this time, without their handy dandy Super Cycle.  Looks like in the New Era the Forever People have gotta hoof it, poor guys).  We get text panels depicting a conversation between two people, one of which appears to be a computer.  The text reveals more about Vykin and Mark Moonrider.

FP Page 11:
Using his Super Vision, Clark sees a "Super City" at the end of the Boom Tube in the picture.  Clark is intrigued.  It's worth noting that all of the heads of Clark/Superman, and Jimmy Olsen were redrawn by another artist, so they both look off.  Stupid, old school DC Editorial.

IM&TFP Page 11:  The Forever People continue to crash land, and we get info on Serafina and the grungy woman is identified as Dreamer Beautiful (why is the name reversed?)  Big Bear shows up.  He looks more or less the same, except he now has a haircut and is all scruffy.  No headgear either.  At least we get some answers on this page, and the introduction of the last core member of our team.  That's nice.

FP Page 12:
3X1 Panel Page.  Clark decides he wants to learn more about Super Town, so he takes off as Superman to find the Forever People. So now we got Superman into the story.  Why not?

IM&FP Page 12:
1X2X2 Panel Page.  Big Bear introduces the other Forever People to Earth, specifically, Venice Beach, California.  That's it.

FP Page 13:
6 Panel Page.  Intergang, in a helicopter, spots Superman and contacts Darksied, who tells them to deal with the Man of Steel.  It's Action Time, baby!

IM&FP Page 13:
6 Panel Page.  The Forever People walk to their apartment, see a bum, and bicker some more.  Lotta bickering in this book.

FP Page 14:  
6 Panel Page.  Superman finds the Forever People (that was easy) and swoops down to talk to them.  Before he can do much, he gets zapped by rays shot by the bad guys in the helicopter.  Supes responds by picking up a small tree...  (this is Kirby action, by the by, so it is wild, kinetic, and explosive.  Gotta love it.)

IM&TFP Page 15:
2X1 Panel Page.  The Forever People enter their new apartment, which is full of crazy hi-tech Kirby style technology.  We discover that the computer voice that Big Bear was talking to earlier is named Kirby (I applaud this nice little touch.  OH!  I forgot to mention that Kirby is credited as the creator of the Forever People on the cover.  Thank you for that DC.  You're doing better than Marvel, who don't wanna credit Kirby for nothing.)  Nice page.

FP Page 16:
6 Panel Page.  Superman throws the tree, destroying the bad guys' helicopter (YES!!!!!).  The Bad Guys parachute to safety (Kirby didn't go around killing anymore than he just had to).  The Forever People briefly talk to Supes, but they've gotta get a move on, because Beautiful Dreamer is nearby.  I love a good Kirby action scene, and this one has a helicopter getting impaled by a tree and being ripped into tissue paper.

IM&TFP Page 16:
4 Panel Page.  Mark and Big Bear talk a little before Himon calls up and interrupts.  Big Bear doesn't like authority either, so apparently Big Bear and Mark are gonna get along okay in this version, as opposed to the original where they were slightly contentious.  Fair enough.

FP Page 17:
2X2X1 Panel Page.  Supes holds back the kids because he sees a strange metal valve underground.  The Valve Triggers releasing a deadly Toxi-Cloud!  Rut-roh!  Supes rushes off to do something heroic...

IM&TFP Page 17:
1X2X2 Panel Page.  On a scientifically advanced farm in the Sudan, two men in sci-fi outfits are running from something.  This is as close as we've come to action in this comic so far, so that's something I suppose.

FP Page 18:
2X1X2 Panel Page.  Speaking of action, Superman creates a whirlwind that draws away the Toxi-Cloud.  Having barely saved the day, Supes is grabbed by hulking purple men.  These men are Gravi-Guards who can "Transmit Gravity Waves from Heavy Mass Galaxies--We Can Hold Any Super-Being!" Yeah, how crazy is this!  Just like that we've got new bad guys who can actually outmuscle Superman because they're sucking down Mass Gravity from Beyond the Reaches of Space!!!  Ahem, got excited again.  Sorry.

IM&TFP Page 19:
6 Panel Page.  The two men lock themselves in a silo, but a bad guy drops down from the ceiling anyway.  That can't be good.

FP Page 19:
2X1X2 Panel Page.  The Forever People use the Mother Box to enact a "ritual" which causes them to vanish in a flash of light with the Magic Word "Tarru".  The Gravi-Guards are probably in trouble now.  Also, we're back to having new stuff on the page.  Yay!

IM&TFP Page 20:
4 Panel Page.  Bug men attack the two men.  Nice action.

FP Page 21:
4 Panel Page.  The Infinity Man appears and starts tossing around the Gravi-Guards like they're made of feathers.  That's because the Infinity Man comes from a place beyond our world where Anti-Gravity can be used to counteract Gravity, because why not?  This is COMIX!  The Infinity Man saves Superman by tossing the last Gravity Guard through THREE TREES.  That will give a guy a migraine.  For practice I drew this page once.  I love this page.  It's crazy.

IM&TFP Page 21:
Splash Page.  Mantis and his minions appear.  I always liked Manis, so it's cool to see him.  Of course, he doesn't actually do anything, because in comics nowadays we just have the bad guy show up and don't bother to have them do anything for an issue or two or three.  Also, it's worth mentioning that even though this book is called "infinity Man and the Forever People", the Infinity Man never shows up and isn't even hinted at.

Anyway, this is where Issue One of Infinity Man and the Forever People ends.  Cover Price is $2.99.  We basically get some light introductions, some interesting settings, a lot of bickering, and a little bit of action.  Meanwhile, the Forever People is still going, so...

FP Page 22:  
2X1X2 Panel Page.  Supes and the Infinity Man have a brief conversation, and the Infinity Man, in dynamic Kirby fashion, calls out Darksied, who appears.  This is the first full body appearance of Darksied, who, strangely enough, doesn't get a full Splash Page introduction.  That's really weird now that I think about it.  Darkseid, the great evil of the series, just kind of shows up.

FP Page 23:
6 Panel Page.  Darkseid reveals the last member of the Forever People, Beautiful Dreamer, who is serenely sleeping on a table which, of course, has a bunch of Radion Bombs strapped to it (I don't think Radion is ever actually explained in Kirby's run, all I know is that it can kill New Gods.  Sounds cool, though).  Anyway, Darkseid says some scary stuff and vanishes, leaving Supes to fly off with the Infinity Man and Beautiful Dreamer before the bombs explode in a wave of Kirby Crackle.  I like that Supes can save the day back in these old comics.  I don't think he gets to do that anymore nowadays.

FP Page 24:
6 Panel Page.  The Infinity Man tuns back into the Forever People, who reunite with an awakened Beautiful Dreamer.  There's no time to hang out though, as Superman has questions about SuperTown.

FP Page 25:
3X1X2 Panel Page.   The Forever People open up a Boom Tube, and Supes flies inside, thinking he can find "his people" in SuperTown.

FP Page 26:
2X2X3 Panel Page.  Supes realizes that something bad might happen to Earth while he is gone, so he decides to turn back, just in case.  The Boom Tube fades (well, explodes) away, leaving Superman with a fleeting glance at SuperTown, and a sense of longing for a world full of people that might be like him.

The Original Forever People is longer than the new version, and only cost 15 cents.  Wow, comics are expensive nowadays.  Anyway, the first issue of the Forever People has the introduction of a ton of new characters, a good amount of action, and a crazy new concept on just about every page.  Also, Superman spearing helicopters with trees.

The Question I find myself asking more and more is this:  Why do I bother reading new comics when they are so painfully inferior to Kirby's stuff from around 4 decades ago?  Step your game up, American comics.  Tom Scioli and Brandon Graham are exempted from this statement.  You gentlemen rule.  Everyone else, go back and reread the 4th World and figure out how to make Comics into COMIX again.  Seriously.

HFSAC 23-2

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/Bad Rapture Chapter 2 Page 2 (kinda).

Allow me to explain.  Normally, when I have a double page spread, it is a single image, spread across two pages.  When I place them online, I put the Left Page up on the first day, and the right page up on the Second.  Well, this page is a little different, as there are in fact, four panels down at the bottom of the page below the double page image.  If I split the image by page like I normally do, then the Storytelling would get messed up, because you wouldn't receive all of the information from the topmost image before you received the information from Panel 2.  And even though I know that no one is actually reading this comic online, I don't like bad storytelling in any capacity.  So, instead, I did a little surgery and turned the Online Version of Page 2 into the entire Double Page Spread (note the phantom line down the middle), and then tomorrow we'll get the four panels that went on the bottoms of Pages 2 and 3.  The Print Edition, of course, will have none of these problems.

Annnyway, we're back on the moon.  When I envisioned this story in my head it was pretty simple.  Cactus Joe, Tea Cup, and PlatOmega hit the Vertionce hard and fast, pushing him out of the Main Battle.  They then fight him in a different part of the forest.  Then I got Boolah involved, and he goes, "Let's have em fight the Vertionce on the Moon".  And I go, "BRILLIANT!"  So now we have an epic moon battle, and as an added bonus I don't gotta draw frickin' trees in every panel.  This is why it is good to have a co-writer, cause you get a perspective you wouldn't normally get, and you end up with cool moon battles.

And for those of you who haven't been paying attention, that IS Earth in the upper Left Hand Corner, marked by and irreversibly polluted by the Ortex Corporation.  In the lower Right Hand Corner is El Panda and Duck Amok, cause this is HFSAC, even if we are in the middle of an Epic Crossover.