AXE SMASH!

Things are rather calm in the Haunted Mansion right now... NOT!

This is such a weird page.  I'm glad I'm not worried about trying to make every strip funny, because today's strip is honestly just kind of creepy.  It's weird to be doing what I consider to be an All Ages strip, but that a lot of people nowadays wouldn't consider even remotely All Ages.  I'm playing by Old School Rules, though.

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life...er...Death?

It's a Good Thing I don't really torture myself trying to maintain a schedule anymore.  Last week was a bit on the light side.  As I've said before, I don't have the endurance I used to have, and last week was a rough one.  If you've never worked outside in a snowstorm, it's not something I'd recommend.  Here's hoping this week is a little easier.  Anyway, here's a new Quixote Coyote:

The Haunted House's moods are almost as Mercurial as my own.  One minute it's trying to kill Quixote, then it's just messing with him, then it's almost being friendly.  Now it's back to trying to kill him.  Pft.  Crazy days.

I miss the TORCverse.

Mr. Skullface Man 2.0

Rut-Roh Raggy!

I never really intended for Quixote and Mr. Skullface Man to ever really develop any sort of relationship.  In fact, I never really intended to do anything with Mr. Skullface Man, period.  But like most things, it all just kind of happened, and here we are, at the absolute apex of the duo's bizarre friendship/antagonism. 

Also, I'm very happy I got to use the line "Big Honkin' Axe".

Night Three Begins

It is time for Night Three, ladies and gentlemen.  Let's Roll:

Oooooh this is gonna be crazy.

Speaking of crazy, man, my head lately.  I'm in one of those modes I get in where I am constantly shifting and moving ideas and characters around, over and over again in a continual pattern of chaos.  Build.  Destroy.  Rebuild.  Repeat.  Every time I think I've got a good idea, it's almost immediately replaced by another idea.  Crazy.

Sigh.  I live in fear of the day when I have Writer's Block.  But, man, Inverted Writer's Block is almost worse. 

Lawyers... Boooo!!!

Welp, got pinned down with some stuff.  Anyway, let's wrap up the week as we wrap up getting ready to wrap up the freakin longest Haunted House story in the history of what was I talking about again? 

As mentioned earlier in the week, I have very little control over my comics.  I just comic.  For today's example, I give you the subjects of today's strip:  The Weasel/Shyster Brothers.  I was done with these guys.  Done.  Never gonna use them again.  And yet, here they are, trying to find some way to scam Quixote Coyote out of inheritance, again.  And they've hired a Fox Mercenary to do their dirty work.  Franko Fox didn't exist right before I ran this strip.  He just popped into existence.  Why?  I dunno.

Sancho & Panda Return

Hey-ho, let's go:

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have trouble sticking to a plan.  For example, when I first conceived of this series, I had no intention of introducing any of the characters on this page until after the "Haunted Mansion" story arc concluded.  In fact, Sancho wasn't even supposed to show up until the 3rd or 4th Story Arc.  But, the Haunted Mansion arc has been going on for quite some time (what can I say, I'm enjoying it), and I wanted to go ahead and introduce these guys, so I did.  They were all introduced during the break between the First Two Nights.  And Sancho and Panda somehow stumbled into the Mansion during Night Two, which I didn't have planned at all. 

Anyway, after they left the Mansion, I was planning on not using them again until after the story arc was over (actually, after the Mansion arc, I plan on having a short arc that doesn't involve either of them).  And yet, here they are.  I truly have no control over any of this, do I?

Also, today's strip cracks me up quite a lot.  Heh.  Birdnapping.

Quixote Returns

Hey everybody!  Quixote Coyote's back!

I honestly think I love drawing Quixote snoring more than I have loved drawing just about anything else.  Actually, I take that back... Here's my Top 10 Things I Love to draw:

10.  Kirby Crackle
9.  Big Punches
8.  People Launching Themselves into Battle.
7.  Octopus Jones when he's surprised.
6.  OMNICHRONUS.
5.  Quixote Coyote Snoring (guess it was No. 5)
4.  When the Clown does virtually anything.
3.  Pengy Dancing.
2.  The Clown eating Tacos.
1.  Monsters.  Always Monsters.

Wrapping up the Special

Ha!  Made it!  Feeling good.  Feeling good.

Welp, that wraps up our impromptu, out of nowhere, fast paced, completely bizarre 5 page episode of The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  While I've been busy doing other things, it was a lot of fun this week to just knuckle down and work and create and then just put it up online.

Comics are fun.

Still debating whether Quixote Coyote will return next week or whether I'll be taking next week off.

HFSAC Special 4 (of 5)

Normally, I put these strips on the blog in the evening, and then hype them in the morning.  But I've been working in sub-freezing temperatures all week, so I ran out of gas early last night.  In other words, I'm posting this in the morning before work, so I have no time for a commentary track, outside of, Today's Page is just freakin' weird.

See, what did I tell ya.  Weird.

HFSAC Special 3 (of 5)

Page Three Baby!

I'm not like a lot of artists, where I am super critical of my own work.  I know I'm not the best, I know I'm not the worst, and for the most part I just try to be Zen about the whole thing (obviously, this perspective can vary wildly from day to day, or even hour to hour... but I digress).  I acknowledge my weaknesses (poor backgrounds, weak perspective, dubious anatomy, a primary focus on plot over character, don't give a crap about light sources), but I also acknowledge my strengths (naturalistic dialogue, hi-speed plotting, strong storytelling, high energy artwork, great facial expressions).  One of my better strengths is that I have a strong sense of Character Design.  I make cool looking characters.  But sometimes, this strength can become a weakness.  Let's say, for example, I design an ancient evil monster from the Dawn of Time.  And I decide that this monster has a giant GoatSkullFace.  And then I'm like, Hey, wouldn't it be cool if it actually had three interconnected GoatSkullFaces?  That would be cool.  And then the Goat Horns in the middle could intertwine, that would be so rad!  Yeah!

So, I draw it, and it looks cool as all get out, and I slap a Sauron Eye between the Horns just to really hammer the whole Ancient Evil Theme home.  Great!

One tiny problem though.  I have to draw this stupid, ridiculously complicated monster multiple times from several different angles!  Noooooooooo!!!!  I'm an Eediot!

The lesson for today children is this:  Just draw stick figures.  Stick figures are quick and easy to draw and look good no matter where you put the camera.

HFSAC Special Page 2 (of 5)

Right.  More HFSAC Fun.  Today's page kinda looks like the cover to a Heavy Metal Album.  Heh.

Alright.  Now, let's make something very clear.  This is a comic book.  It's not a movie or a TeeVee Show or even a Book-Book.  It's a Comic Book.  Comics don't gotta make sense, they just gotta be awesome.  I don't gotta worry about physics or logic or any of that other boring nonsense.

But, having said that, that doesn't mean I don't think about how things work and why.  So, if for some reason you're reading this and wasting time wondering how any of this stuff works as our heroes float and fly around the asteroid belt fighting a giant monster with a triple goat head, here's your guide to, well, everything:

1) So, how do they survive in space?  A:  Cactus Joe and Pengy Penguin were evolved into cosmic beings by Lord OMNICHRONUS.  That means they are specifically designed to live in any environment, especially space.  Death Moth is a War Homunculus, and he's pretty much the same.  Instead of being a cosmic being, he's basically a really jacked up zombie on crack.  Super crack.  Octopus Jones wears a Super-Suit made of Nth Dimensional Materials.  The Suit routinely breaks the laws of physics, and also offers him unlimited life support and protection in space.

2) Uh, Sound doesn't travel in a vacuum, so how are they talking to each other?  A:  All of our heroes possess low grade telepathy which they use to communicate in a vacuum.  The word balloons are just there for effect.

3) How is Death Moth flying?  A:  Death Moth does have moth wings on his back, and they are capable of flight in a planet's atmosphere.  Obviously, that don't work so great in Zero Gravity.  Handily, the Death Moth's wings produce a cloud of dust around them.  This dust has powerful magnetic qualities that allow the Moth's wings to lock onto the magnetic field of nearby planetary bodies.  In open space, this basically just means that the Death Moth can only be pulled toward the nearest planet.  On the other hand, in an asteroid field, where there are thousands of asteroids in every conceivable direction, well, obviously, the Death Moth's manuverability is almost limitless.

4) You really don't think we're gonna buy this nonsense, do you?  A:  That's up to you, not me.

HFSAC Special Page 1 (of 5)

Alright Cats n' Kittens, it's my Birthday Week, so it's time for me to do some stuff.  So, after a bit of internal debate, I've decided to do a 5 Page HFSAC strip this week.  1 Page a day, for 5 days.  Because I'm me.  So, here we go with Page 1 of The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club Special:

So, if you've never experienced the unending joy that is The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club, then, well, you're like just about everyone else.  Anyway, if you're new to the comic, don't worry about it.  This story is completely stand alone, and is mostly just a crazy epic action romp.  There's been another one of my annoying Time Jumps, so this story takes place some time after HFSAC (v2) #6.  There's been some new additions to the Club, as Octopus Jones and the Death Moth have joined up, somehow.  At the very least, this has given me another opportunity to do my Mickey/Donald/Goofy trio of Cactus Joe, Death Moth, and Octopus Jones.  There's been a few other times where this trio has been together, namely TORC 100, TORC: AMIGOS, and the Bad Rapture Crossover.  I always get a kick out of how these three interact, with CJ serving as the straight man, Death Moth playing the Heavy, and Octopus Jones being the guy who is perpetually in over his head.  Pengy, of course, plays Pengy (to continue the metaphor, Pengy is kinda stuck in the Pluto role).  It's a great combo that I like working with.

You might also notice that Cactus Joe has a different, more streamlined design (kinda looks like he's wearing a spacesuit of sorts), and Death Moth has gotten a total makeover (Death Moth bears the distinction of being a TORC Press character who has survived long enough (well, been resurrected enough times) to get several redesigns).  I kind of miss the proboscis though, but I think the "teeth" work better.  Makes him more menacing.

Other than that, Reality Ruptures have been a fairly common occurrence in the TORCverse since... Volume 1 of HFSAC, maybe?  Usually, our Heroes end up getting drawn into a Reality Rupture, and crazy, crazy things happen.  This time, something horrible is using a Reality Rupture to cross dimensional boundaries.  The Founders have been hinted at a few times over the years, but this is the first time we've actually really seen one.  I've never really had the opportunity to really do much with these Cthulhu-esque Horrors, but with this little 5 Pager, I figured now was as good a time as any to let one loose.  Hopefully our Hot Fudge Heroes can handle it.

Anyway, Page 2 rolls out tomorrow.

Night Two (FINALLY) Ends

Ahhhhh.  Another Night is done.

Welp, that wraps up Night Two in the Haunted Mansion, only One More Night to go.  This has been a very long story arc.  Anyway, I'm gonna take a week or two break, but I think I'll put some stuff up next week.  Maybe.  I dunno.  I'm all over the place lately.

Crashing Skull

Why does it always seem like my system is fried when I'm trying to come up with witty stuff for these entries?  Anyway, here's a new Quixote Coyote strip:

Heh.

Yorrick. That's the name of the Skull in that one Shakespeare play, right?

Today's Quixote Coyote:

Sigh.  Technology.  Why?

Anyway, I really never intended to turn Mr. Skullface Man into a character.  but like most comic things, stuff I didn't expect to happen, happened.  I love how crazy the comics writing process is.  Is it obvious my brain is fried?