HFSAC 23-1

Today's Webcomic:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club #23/Bad Rapture Chapter 2, Page 1

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back.  There was some internal debate as to whether I should resume the webcomic this week or give myself another week to play catch up, but quite frankly, I work better under the gun, so we're back on like Donkey Kong, baby.

If you're just joining us, here's the set up:  The Evil Mega-Corporation from Hell, the Ortex Corporation (represented by the Gold Diamond logo prominently displayed on the guys on the Right) has taken over the entire world except for one large, magical forest in what used to be Illinois.  Ortex has also conquered their primary rivals, namely Heaven, which they did with the help of a disgruntled Heavenly General named the Vertionce (the Green Dude with the Giant Helmet that kinda looks like a---).  The Vertionce was placed in charge of Heaven, and now to completely secure the Throne he acquired with the Blood of his fellow Angels, the Vertionce has to kill the (currently unborn) Dawnchilde, the Prophesied Ruler of Heaven, before it is born.  All of the Geek Heroes currently left alive on the planet (The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club, The Skull Mob, The Community Watch Group, 3 Good Angels, and a handful of others) are attempting to protect the mother of the Dawnchilde, a human woman named Cheryl, from getting slaughtered by The Vertionce and his henchmen.  And so we have a War smack dab in the middle of the Last Forest on Earth, with the stakes being the Future of Heaven itself.

But mostly this is just an excuse for some good ole fashioned bashing and crashing.

GAME ON!

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 25

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 25.

Welp, that wraps up Bad Rapture Alpha.  The story continues in "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" #23.  I'm gonna go ahead and take a "break" from the webcomic next week, so I can get a head start and also get the Print Edition of SDF #8 ready to go.  So, HFSAC 23 will start on June 30th.  The War with the Angels resumes in a little over a week!  Can our heroes stop the relentless Vertionce?

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 24

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 24.

And that's it for Alea and Arrowhead II.  Just like that another two geek heroes fall in battle.  Woof.  I hope reinforcements get here soon.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 23

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 23.

I've been sitting on the Concept for Bad Rapture for at least a year or two now, tweaking it, refining it, toying with it.  In all of my original versions, Bad Rapture Alpha was simply a gathering comic, where our heroes were brought together, exchanged some pleasantries, got the big, fat Plot Synopsis, and got ready to go to war with an Army of Evil Angels.  So when Boolah suggested this sequence involving the American Nightmares, I immediately was like, "Yes!  Let's do this!" because it gave the comic some much, much needed action.  Sadly, this page also marks the rather horrible death of Termite, a character that didn't get a lot of screen time.  Oh well, at least he got to kill a couple of Fallen Angels before he got cleaved in half.  That's something.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 22

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 22.

So. let's talk about the American Nightmares.  Boolah and I have actually been talking about working together for awhile.  The original plan was for Boolah to do a back story or two, and eventually he would get his own team book to work with called The American Nightmares.  I used Pulp Horrorshow vol. 3 #3-4 to set the stage for the American Nightmares, but somewhere along the line the whole concept got lost.  This is not unusual in my constantly shifting comic book universe, as ideas and concepts are in constant flux, and only the strongest ideas often survive.  Anyway, after Bad Rapture wraps up, the plan is to move Boolah onto "SDF" full time.  Since we weren't gonna end up using the American Nightmares, we thought it would be neat to work them into Bad Rapture, so we did.

Here's a run-down on our little group:

Secret Soldier:  First Appearance- SDF: Drifter's Rhapsody.  An original member of the classic superhero team, The World Hero League, Secret Soldier is now a mysterious, four armed cyborg.  A genius fighter, he is responsible for training both Cactus Joe and most of the members of the old World Hero League how to fight.

King Dark:  First Appearance- Pulp Horrorshow v. 1 #4.  An original member of the World Hero League, King Dark is living, liquid Darkness.  A superhuman fighter, King Dark also possesses super speed.

Termite and Alea:  First Appearance- Pulp Horrorshow v. 3 #3/4.  A pair of carapace covered insectoids, Termite and Alea's souls are linked through an ectoplasmic exchange.

Arrowhead II:  First Appearance-  SDF #1.  An Ant Woman and apprentice to Arrowhead I, who was an original member of the World Hero League before Ortex took his eyes and his legs.  Arrowhead II has been trained to master the bow and arrow, and can create arrows from her own carapace. 

So there you go.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 21

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 21.

Not much to say on today's page.  The Thunder Door, which is the Angel's primary means of dimensional travel, opens up, and we get hints of an Advance Team.  Wait, Advance Team?  But I thought everyone was at the meeting...

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 20

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 20.

So, I decided to turn today's page into a "Let's Put Everybody's Name on the Page" Page.  It's also the "Battle Plan Page", and the "Everyone has a Little Panic Attack" Page.   So it's a pretty busy page.

Anyway, here's the Plan of Attack reiterated just for the fun of it.

TEAM GIVE BIRTH TO ANGEL BABY: Cheryl, Doc Brummer, Octopus Jones

TEAM PROTECT CHERYL WITH A BIG FORCEFIELD:  Pengy Penguin, Tei Harlequin, Priest Shiki, and Scout (the child Angel)

TEAM STAND IN FRONT OF THE FORCEFIELD AND FIGHT ANYTHING THAT GETS THROUGH:  Killboy, Puzzelor, Spookshow, and Hunter (the old lady Angel) (NOTE:  Notice how virtually all the members of this team are the original Community Watch Group from SDF)

TEAM WAITAMINUTE WE'VE GOTTA FIGHT AN ARMY OF EVIL ANGELS, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?:  Death Moth, Dust, Platageddon, Doom Eagle, Razorfish, Sally Mander, SOL, Electric Cherry, @byss, Eyemo, Eyemii, Los Super Hip Bros, and Estiel (the Angel that looked like a business woman)

TEAM WELL IT COULD BE WORSE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIGHT THE VERTIONCE AND HE'S GOT A REALLY BIG SWORD THAT SHOOTS WAVES OF MYSTICAL FIRE:  Hoody Guy, Cactus Joe the Clown, Tea Cup, PlatOmega, and the Chupacabra

Of course, every plan is perfect until first contact with the enemy.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 19

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 19.

One of my major contributions to the script was Cheryl's freak out at the top of the page.  I feel like it was necessary to devote a little bit of space to Cheryl losing it after learning that she's had an Angel Fetus growing inside her for the last nine months.  It also leads to a nice, personal moment between her and Octopus Jones, which is important, because their relationship is kind of the heart of the story.

Other than that, there's lots of fun little moments here.  I love the way Boolah writes Sol (he practically drips bravado).  Run-No-No-Run can't grasp the seriousness of the situation.  The Puzzelor breaks the fourth wall, and Platageddon finally wakes up, completely missing all of the relevant Plot Exposition.  A very TORC Press page.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 18

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 18.

Now that I'm working with someone, one of the more unusual roles I find myself in is the role of Editor.  Previously, when I was working on my own, Editing consisted of checking a battered Dictionary every so often to see if I spelled something right, or adding a couple of pages of Plot Exposition in the middle of the book because I was too busy winging it and was working without a script. 

But now that I'm working with an actual Script, I have to pay attention and keep track of various details, and not being a detail oriented person, this is tricky for me.  For example, when I got to this page I had the sudden realization that we never put in a scene where the trio of Angels transform into their Battleforms.  This is completely my fault, because at no point in my numerous script conferences with Boolah did I even bother to mention the need for a scene where the Angels transform (Heck, I think I mentioned that the Angels have Battleforms once, In Passing).  And even though I had Boolah write a second draft with a small handful of minor revisions, one of the aforementioned revisions that I completely forgot, was, again, the need to see the Angels' Battleforms before the actual, y'know, Battle. 

So, here we find ourselves on Page 18, and I saw an opportunity on Panel 6, so I used a hacksaw to split the panel in half to give us a nice, brief transformation sequence.  I like how the Old Lady in the Hooded Robe turns into a Big, Faceless, War Robot.  Heh.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 17

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 17.

I've got a lotta Notes for today's page, so let's just do this a Panel at a time.

Panel One:  Heaven is broken and conquered.  Once again, you can see Old One Eye in the background, this time in his Giant Form.  When Old One Eye first appeared waaaaaaaay back in "Watchdogs" #1, he was actually a giant demon.  I figure in certain instances he can still become Giant at will.  Also, if you look closely in the background you'll see men in Dark Grey Ortex Uniforms.  These "men" are NOT humans, nor are they Demons.  This is an important Note that will be explained two or three years from now.

Panel Two:  The Last Stand of the Matron.  It is worth mentioning at this point that the Matron has ordered the 3 Angels that we have seen in this comic to flee Heaven to serve as the eventual protectors of the Dawnchilde.  So the two Angels we see guarding the door are the only soldiers she has left.  Not good.

Panel Three:  Boolah's script called for "Midwives" to be with the Matron, but for some reason I decided to use the Cherubs from Page 12.  Not sure why.  Maybe just because they don't take up too much Panel Space.

Panel Four:  I wanted to make two things clear in this panel:  1) That the Matron needed to eject the Dawnchilde fetus from her body, even though the Dawnchilde was still not ready to be born.  And 2) That doing this killed the Matron.

Now, let's take a moment to delve into Death for Angels.  After all, Angels are already dead, so how can you kill one, right?  I've never understood the concept of killing people that are essentially Spirit Matter.  I mean, what happens?  Do they go to another afterlife?  Do they disappear forever?  If you can kill something that's an immortal spirit, then what the heck is the point of the afterlife in the first dang place?  So the idea that I had is that it is possible to destroy an Angel or a Demon, but if you do, their Essential Essence simply merges with the Ultimate Spirit Entity of the AllGod OR the Great ShadowSatan (depending on their...alignment).  I kinda hint at this back in Panel 3.

Panel Five:  Notice the SpaceRift that the Fetal Dawnchilde emerges from?  This is a ThunderDoor, a preferred method of Interdimensional travel used by Angels.  You can see a similar one in HFSAC 20.

Panel Six:  This Flashback takes place nine months ago, so you might notice that Earth is, at this point, only starting to be covered with Smog.  Notice how South America is still Green, but North America is a Dirty Brown.  Also note that the Ortex Logo doesn't cover the Earth at this moment in time.

Panel Seven:  In Boolah's layouts, he drew the Fetal Dawnchilde spirit in a manner similar to the Genesis Spirit from "Preacher", but personally I always saw it more like the Space Fetus from Jack Kirby's version of "2001", so that's how I drew it.

Panel Eight:  When I drew this panel I had to repeat to myself over and over again:  "Cheryl is not pregnant, Cheryl is not pregnant, Cheryl is not pregnant".  This is the only time to date where I've drawn Cheryl without a... ahem... Baby Bump.  So, I really had to concentrate on this Panel.  Also, notice that she's wearing kinda Hippie-ish clothes.  I hinted that Cheryl was something of a hippie back in SDF #8.

So there you go.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 16

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 16.

Boolah did the Page Layouts for the entire issue, so today's really cool page was all his doing.  Except for that trainwreck in the the lower right corner.  I was experimenting, and it went wrong, and when you're under the gun and an experiment blows up in your face, you just roll with it and move on.

Anyway, my Photoshop boo-boos aside, in the upper left hand corner we have a group of Ortex Executives.  The big one in front, of course, is Jack DuPre, aka the Deathbringer, CEO of the Ortex Corporation and "President" of Earth.  The man in white is his Executive Vice President and CFO of the Ortex Corporation, Johny Styles.  The Old Fellow is Old One Eye, who has bedeviled the Clown on numerous occasions.  The white guy with Big Hair, is the Lawyer from Hell, Luther Dirge, who, incidentally, is not dressed as the Pope of the Church of Ortex on this page, which means that that organization hasn't been formed yet.  Lastly, the Blue Guy is the traitorous Akuma Boy, which means this flashback occurs at some point after the Fall of the Skull Mob at the End of the Candy Colored War.

If you'll look closely at the Lower Left Hand Panel, you will notice that Old One Eye's Demon form is part of the attacking Ortex force.  If you'll remember from "Clown & Penguin" #1-2, when Old One Eye appears he has a Harem of Angel Slaves that serve under him.  This was Old One Eye's reward for participating on the attack on Heaven.  So there's that little puzzle piece.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 15

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 15.

It's sad, that I kinda get why the Vertionce loses his marbles here.  Being stuck doing the same job forever with no hope of a reward or payday is enough to drive anyone bonkers.  In the Vertionce's case, bonkers enough to want to burn down the Universe.  Or, perhaps, sell out to the highest bidder...

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 14

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 14.

When I conceived of the Vertionce, I basically just saw him as a cross between a Religious Zealot and a Power-Hungry Military General.  But Boolah, I think, did a nice job of fleshing him out some, and giving him a little more motivation for his eventual betrayal.  He's now a Battle Hardened Warrior who has done all the heavy lifting for Heaven and expects (what he believes is) his Just Due.  When he discovers that his "Just Due" is just more Hard Work, well, he kinda snaps.

Welcome to the Real World, Vertionce.  Ya can't always get whatcha want.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 13

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 13.

I had quite a few reasons why I brought my friend Boolah on as my co-writer, and this page exemplifies two of those reasons.

For starters, I would never write a page like this.  My style of writing is a very "Right Here, Right Now" approach.  Sure, I use flashbacks from time to time, but not like this, and not in such a clever way.  This page is one of those Grant Morrison/Allan Moore/Kurt Busiek style pages that I love to read, but almost never succeed in creating.  It's the kind of page that presents you with the possibility of a story in every panel, while simultaneously creating a page that gives you a sense of years (in this case, millions of years) of alternate history.  All in all, it's a very cool kind of thing.

Secondly, and one of the major reasons I brought Boolah in, is that this page helps to flesh out and give some history and perspective on the villain of our story, the Vertionce.  I hate working with villains.  I don't like devoting time or energy to them.  I'd rather spend more time chronicling the adventures of my various heroes.  Of my many, many weaknesses as a creator, this has been one of my more pressing handicaps.  So it is cool that Boolah likes to spend time with the villains, giving them interesting characteristics and backstories.  It's something I wouldn't do, which is the whole point of the matter.

Other than that, a few other Notes...

Drawing the Cyborg Dinosaurs was really fun.  I need more excuses to draw Dinosaurs.

The Ner0 character in the second panel is a predecessor to the Ner0 that appeared in "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" #12.  This was all Boolah's idea, that the Ner0 armor has existed for thousands of years and passed from bearer to bearer.  It's a cool idea that I liked a lot.  If you have a copy of HFSAC 12, you might notice on the cover that the Ner0 in that issue had Grey Armor with a Red Sash, while this Ner0 has Gold Armor with a Purple Sash.  I did this to set the two characters apart, and also to show that the Armor has corroded and aged over time.  In Boolah's Script, Ner0 is also supposed to have Bull Horns on his Helmet, but because I'm still not used to working with a Script, I forgot to draw them in.  That would be my bad.

On the bottom panel, I think the script called for some sort of Sea Monster.  Originally I was gonna draw some sort of Sea Serpent or something like that, but then I decided to draw a Kirby-style Monster from Kirby's early 60s Monster Comics phase.  I shoulda colored it Green or Blue, but I ended up making it Orange to deepen the Homage, since several Kirby monsters were colored a weird shade of Orange.

Man, I enjoyed this page.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 12

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 12.

I like this page quite a lot.  You've got my bizarre, hodgepodge version of Heaven (for some reason, in my mind I saw everything as being made of crystal (except for the floating gold streets), and there's all of these weird, floating structures.  Plus, I got to design some new Angels, with some of the Matron's Angels looking like the Robo-Angels I've designed before, and others looking like other stuff.  I like the Egyptian Angel with the Lance quite a lot.  Also, the little guys flying around in the Angel Panel are my take on Cherubs.  I also like the close up of the Vertionce on the bottom corner.  I put all of my rudimentary 4th grade Photoshop skills to work to get that one.

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 11

Today's Webcomic:

Bad Rapture Alpha Page 11.

First off, my internet is acting stupid this morning, so we'll just cross our fingers on this getting published at all this morning.

Second off, here's the second half of the double page spread I started on Friday of last week.  There's some characters on this page we haven't mentioned yet, so if you're new, here's the breakdown.

The guy with the Black outfit and Spiral Pattern on his face is @byss (from HFSAC).  To the right of him, the guy with the grey skin is Eyemo (from HFSAC) and the floating Orange lady is Eyemii (also from HFSAC).  The lady in the Dark Blue Cape is Dust (from Skull Mob) and the guy with the big green hair is Peacock (also from Skull Mob).

In the farther background (and, unfortunately, both victims of my terrible sense of proportion) are two robot Platapuses... Platapii... Platypy(?), PlatOmega (from HFSAC) and Platageddon (from Skull Mob).  I continue to drop hints about the identities of both Platypus guys, just for my own amusement.