SDF #0 Plus Wildcard Page

SDF volume 2 #0 is now available in the Online Store at http://www.torcpress.com/store/.  It's 10 Pages in Full Color for $2.00 plus $1.50 S&H.  It's written and illustrated by Scott Bayler, and was completed as a 24 Hour Comic Day Project.  The story serves as a bridge between the Bad Rapture Epilogue in SDF 10 and the new Volume of SDF.  It brings together the surviving Geek Heroes left on Earth to begin their War with the Ortex Corporation.  Here's the Cover:

The cover's by Boolah too.

Onward to today's Wildcard Page.  Sadly, it's an Ortex Page.  Boo.

HFSAC Wildcard Page:  Ortex Page 1.

So, as you probably know, I hate working with Villains.  They just don't interest me very much.  For me, the purpose of the Bad Guys is to get Punched in the Face by the Good Guys.  Still, I'm trying to grow and evolve both as a Writer and an Artist, so even I have had to accept that I gotta spend some time with the Bad Guys.  So we get today's page. 

Panels One & Two:  I thought it would be funny if the most popular show on the Ortex Television Network (there's only one TeeVee Channel now) was a show called "Captain Ortex" starring a dashingly handsome and charismatic Ortex Super Soldier who stands for Corporate Strength, Money, and the Ortex Way.  Captain Ortex's archenemy is the Evil Clown who is a Communist Terrorist who wants to bring down the Ortex Corporation.  It's a nice little chance to poke fun at myself and my Hero, who at this point would have to be a somewhat legendary figure on Earth (all the more reason to create a TeeVee show where he's a reprehensible villain).

Panel Three:  We saw this News Anchor Guy back in... Pulp Horrorshow volume 3 #1 or 2 (can't remember which).  I think he's Ortex's only News Anchor, and they pump him full of drugs so he's awake all the time.  I like the Ortex Head Tattoo.  Probably how he got the job.

Panel Four:  We covered Pope Dirge when we did the Commentary for HFSAC #0, so we'll not go into that again.  We also talked about the Church of Ortex.  What we didn't cover were those guys in the red robes.  They're Ortex Elite Guards, and yes, they look like Emperor Palpatine's Honor Guard from Star Wars.  Their job is to protect the VIPs, but much like Palpatine's Honor Guard, they're not even remotely as powerful as the guys they're supposed to protect.  Which I think is hilarious.

Big Panel:  Jack DuPre is the CEO of the Ortex Corporation and Ruler of the Earth, and he's basically a walking Apocalypse.  Literally.  He can wipe out a city with a wave of his hand.  He's not the Ultimate Big Bad in the TORCverse, but he might as well be.  When I draw him, I always try to do two things:  1) Draw him as bulky as possible, and 2) He always looks really, really angry.  I hate this guy.  Oh, in the background you can see DuPre's right hand man, Johny Styles.  When I've been drawing him lately, I try to use as few shadows as possibly and draw him with as few lines as possible.  For some reason, drawing him very delicately seems to suit the nature of his character, in that he seems fragile, but is insanely dangerous (just ask Death Moth, who was killed by Styles a few years back... he got better).