Bounce Gate

I've got today and tomorrow's pages ready to go, and I think I've can get Friday's done on time, but Thursday's "Wild Card" Page might not go up this week since I'm busy getting ready for Tippy Con.  Sorry.

Oh well, moving on.

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club (v.2) #1 Page 5.  Second Half of a Double Page Spread.

Bounce Gate:  Obviously, the Bounce Gate is a stand-in for the Boom Tube from the 4th World.  Bounce Gates Vibrate on a Dimensional Frequency which allows them to move between Dimensions.  Because Bounce Gates work on Vibrational Frequencies they make a Humming Noise.  Anyway, pretty much like a Boom Tube, it's really just a Fancy way to Teleport.  Bounce Gates are 9th Dimensional Omnichronian Technology, which is why HFSAC can use them and, say, Ortex can't.

Jester Kidd's Dogs:  Because Jester Kidd is the New Age Space God of the Hunt, I thought it would be cool if Jester Kidd had some Dogs to help him Hunt.  The Dogs aren't, technically, physical flesh and blood dogs.  They're Energy Constructs powered by Jester Kidd's Meteoro Power and Shaped and Controlled by Kidd's personal Fornever Cube.  Hopefully, we'll see the Dogs in action later in the comic.  Unless I forget or something.

Most of the above sentences were complete and utter gibberish.

Hey Ho, Let's Go!

Well, provided the check makes it through the Mail, I'll be at Tippy Con in Lafayette, IN this Saturday, doing my thing.

Here we go:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club v.2 #1 Page 4.

This is the First Half of a Double Page Spread.

This series is about Mythology.  I see a lot of Myths written and rewritten.  Look at how we do Vampires over and over again.  As I type this, I'm watching "From Dusk Till Dawn the TV Series", which combines elements of Vampire Mythology with some Aztec Mythology and, I suppose you could argue, Pulp/Crime Noir Mythology.  My Gal and I watched a couple episodes of "Supernatural" today, a show chock-full of Myth and Legend and whatnot.  My Lady is also a big fan of ABC's "Once Upon a Time", which rewrites Legends and Fairy Tales in a Modern Context.

In Comics, our biggest Myths are Superman and Batman.  We see these Myths written and rewritten over and over again.  How many different "in continuity" versions of Batman have we seen?  How many Elseworlds versions?  How many times have we seen Marvel or Image or Dark Horse do the Batman?  Or Superman?  Or even Green Lantern for that matter?  Heck, Mark Millar dropped the entire Marvel Universe into an "Authority" story arc, and Warren Ellis built and warped the entire Marvel and DC Universes into "Planetary".

Mei calls Jack Kirby my God, and if that is the case, the 4th World is my Holy Bible.  It's my Mythology, because it was his mythology.  And the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club is a 4th World book.  We're rewriting and rebuilding and reworking 4th World Mythology and refocusing it through the Lens of my own personal worldview and experience (Note Tea Cup's Blue Collar Line).  So we've got Fornever Cubes instead of Mother Boxes and the Manta Emperor instead of the Mobius Chair.  Mythological Roots, y'know?

Or, maybe I'm just a big ole rip off artist like everyone else.   Eh, whatever.

SDF vol.2 & Prints

Normally I lead in with the Comic Page and do my Ramble Thingie.  But I got a really cool email from a fella asking me about buying a print of yesterday's "In the Beginning" Page.  At first, I was like, nah, I can't do that.  Then I was like, waitaminute, I own my own Printer.  I can Print anything I want, anytime I want.  So why not?

So, long story short, if you're out there, and you're a TORC Press Fan, and you've always wanted a specific Page or Cover of Artwork from a TORC Press Comic, you can now get it from the store at http://www.torcpress.com/store/.  There's two sizes/types, either an 8X11 Print on Bristol for $5 plus $2 S&H or a Full Poster Size (11X17) for $10 plus $2 S&H.  If you order one, make sure to let me know in the Comments section what Page of Art you want.  Oh, and Double Page Spreads count as two separate pieces.

Second off, I worked a really cool show last weekend, called the Soko Comics Expo.  While at the show I got to hang out a bit with my Comrade-in-Arms and occasional collaborator, Clint Bassinger.  He's got a great new book out called "Merlinja" which is about a Ninja-Wizard.  It is totally rock on.  You can check out his Comics and Art at:  http://www.sparklezilla.com/#!landscape/cyuu.  While I was at the show I made a new Comrade-in-Arms in Loyd Dean Gant III who's been out there working on comics and honing his skills and writing comics for folks.  His book, which is called "The Book" is available now.  It's a cool, trippy read where he's out there trying new stuff and experimenting.  You can find him on Facebook to check out his work.  While I'm at it, I'm also backing some projects on Kickstarter right now.  If that's your kinda thing too, then check out Ninjasaurus by Jason Horn at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1558854542/ninjasaur-vol-1-and-2, and fellow SPACE regular Eric Adams's Lackluster World at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericadams/lackluster-world-hardcover-graphic-novel

Third off, Comix Work.  Today we have the return of SDF with a brand new Volume 2.  The new Volume is completely written by my Partner-in-Crime, Scott "Boolah" Bayler.  My only contribution to this book is the Art, Lettering, and vague Editing.  Otherwise, Boolah's running the show solo.  As such, I'm passing the Commentary Track along to him.  Take it away Boolah.

SDF v.2 #1 Page 1.

PAGE ONE

The page that usually starts inside the book will start on the inside cover for dramatic purposes. I always liked how Warren Ellis did this in his "Change or Die" storyline from the first Stormwatch stuff he wrote. Here, in the darkness, we see Secret Soldier give his "rally the troops" speech. As a soldier/victim of many wars, he is now leading this new faction into battle.

There will be many themes in the upcoming book ahead. I hope to mix fight scenes, character development, and a whole slew of other stories all into this chapter in SDF. I can see how Joseph writes his book very 70's Kirby style, while mine will be more bit-by-bit style, I guess you could say.

And, as always: Kill Hitler.

The Big Bang!

So, today, we have something a leetle different...

HFSAC "In the Beginning" Chapter 1 Page 1.

Sooooo, here's the dealio.  My goals are twofold when it comes to comix.  1) I want to create my own Universe (I goal which I have achieved for quite some time, and was fully cemented with Bad Rapture) and 2) I currently want to create a Grand, Massive EPIC (that's right, something so epic, it has to be in ALL CAPS.  EPIC!!!!).  The problem is that I only have so much Time, Energy, and Money.  How do I tell my EPIC with all of the strange Planets and Environments, and Hundreds of Characters and Events and Everything Else when I've only got a 24 Page Book and a Supplemental 8 Page Book?  And then, in a Flash, it came to me.  Back Up Stories.  Back Up Stories are the Key.  For you see, I have realized that the title THE HOT FUDGE SUNDAE ADVENTURE CLUB isn't just the title of the book or the name of the group of Main characters.  Oh no.  It is the TITLE of the EPIC.  So even though our Hot Fudge Heroes are our Luke and Han and Chewie and Leia (is that how you spell her name?) and are the stars of the EPIC, we've also got Vader and the Emperor and Boba Fett and Greedo and IG-88 and Pig-Men and Ewoks and everything else floating around out there waiting for their stories to be told as well, y'know?  So, that's where these Back-up stories come in.  You'll be seeing more of these.

Now, to actually introduce this story.  This story is called "IN THE BEGINNING", and it is the Origin of the TORCverse.  Yep, I'm finally getting around to doing my Creation Myth.  I've been reading a lot of Creation Myths lately (if you get a chance, check out "Forming" by Jesse Moynihan.  It's Killer), and I thought it was time to finally do one of my own.

As most of you know, I was raised Baptist, and I still believe in God.  Nowadays what I don't believe in is Religion.  I don't like it, and I don't like what it does to people.  I'm not sure what I actually believe about God nowadays.  I find the old belief system that "He Loves Us with All His Heart, but He'll Send Us to Hell Cause We Deserve It" to be moronic nonsense.  The God of the Bible doesn't make a lick of sense to me anymore, which is ironic considering how many years I spent trying to rationalize all of it.  I feel God exists, and I HOPE he's on our side.  But mostly I feel he's kind of indifferent to us one way or the other.  I think maybe he's just the thing that set all of this in motion.  Or something.  I dunno.

Anyway, with this opening page I get to have my Cake and Eat It Too (another moronic concept... of course I'm gonna have my cake and eat it too.  What am I gonna do?  Stare at my cake and not eat it?), as this opening Page combines the concepts of God and the Big Bang Theory into a single idea.  I mean why not?  If I was God and I was floating alone in nothingness, I'd wanna create something to make my life more interesting.  And I'd start it with a BANG!

Death From Above

Jeez, and here I thought we were done with all of the Death and Destruction...

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club (v.2) #1 Page 3.

Man, I feel bad for all those villagers.  I'd hate to be spontaneously vaporized by a Death Ray from Space.

This scene wasn't in the original draft.  Originally you never actually see the Doom Beam in action.  Now we do, and it's sad.  Maybe I shoulda stuck with the original draft.

Anyway, this is my last regular page of HFSAC for the week.  We'll have additional pages on Thursday and Friday, and we'll see what those are then.

Chee-Ha!

Doom Beam

Here we go:

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club v.2 #1 Page 2.

Okay, just so we're clear, I'm well aware that the planet Jupiter is a gas giant and there's no life on the planet, or any way there could be life.  But c'mon, that's boring.  Now in the TORCverse, Jupiter is a big darn planet absolutely teeming with life.  Unlike Earth, that only gave rise to Humans as its Intelligent Lifeform (well... Intelligent is debatable...also, dolphins are awesome.  Probably smarter than us.  Except when it comes to tuna nets.  Of course, we've got lots of stupid ways we die, and dolphins only have one stupid way they die... Y'know, really thinking about it, I'm gonna go with Dolphins as the only Intelligent Lifeform on Earth.  What was I talking about?), Jupiter has given rise to HUNDREDS of different races of Intelligent Life.  The Blue Monkey-esque creatures in Panel 3 are just one example of those intelligent lifeforms.

Side-Note:  Why am I always drawing those weird Dr. Seuss trees?

Panel 5:  First off, I'd like to apologize for this panel in general.  Not my best.  Clunky.  Bleh.  Anyway, we were very briefly introduced to Admiral Ahab in HFSAC #0.  He was created and designed by Boolah awhile back.  I decided to use him in this story.  We're not gonna delve all that deep into his character here.  He's just a bad guy.

Fun Fact: This is essentially the Second Draft of this story.  I actually wrote up a full set of Thumbnails for a similar, but different story quite awhile ago.  When it came time to actually do the story though, it turned out I didn't like it.  It didn't click.  So I'm rewriting the story, Improv Style.  Yeah, I know.

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club Volume 2!

First off, let me take a moment to thank the greet folks that put on the excellent Soko Comics Expo.  It was a very fun, friendly show, and they fed us pizza, so yeah, cool show.  Also, I'd like to thank the folks that came out and supported TORC Press.  Hope everyone enjoyed the books!  Most importantly, I'd like to thank Mark Griffin for giving me a place to stay while I was on the road, and for hanging with me at the show.  I have the coolest readership ever.

Welp, let's get started, shall we?

The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club (Volume 2) #1 Page 1.

This is the Soda Shoppe, the Headquarters of the Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club.  Originally, it just looked a bit like Brother Eye from OMAC, but since the new HFSAC are New Wave Space Gods, I thought we needed to soup up the HQ a bit.  I wanted to combine the Giant Eye Motif of the original, but make it bigger and throw in some crazy new elements.  If you look closely enough, you'll see one of the domes on top is a forest, one is an ocean of some sort, and I think the third is maybe a Power Plant or something?  I dunno.  I also thought it would be cool if there were smaller satellites that orbited the Soda Shoppe.  Originally, they were just artificial moons, but then I got the idea that what if one of them was a miniature sun, giving the Soda Shoppe its own Sun and Moon.

I'm not running on a set schedule anymore, but I'd like to put up at least 3 Pages of HFSAC per week.  Hopefully some other stuff will be going up the week too.  We'll see.