Welcome to the fourth installment of “DEAD DUCK RISING”! Here’s your trivia fix for this episode:
- Admittedly, “Dead Duck” is more of a conversational, gag-based comic, and not action-oriented by nature. But any chance I find where I can inject moments of action in it, I take full advantage of it. This first such instance I found where I could take the focus off the dialogue and just go nuts with the action, and I reveled in the opportunity. I love the pacing of this page, the flow of the panels, and the anticipation of the evil character’s next move. I think J.P. getting cold-cocked by him is a hell of a payoff.
- Writing J.P.’s dialogue is always fun, but it does take a lot of concentration. If I’m not paying attention, I’ll unintentionally give him (gasp) proper grammar. To avoid this, I usually write out his speech in standard grammatical style, then go back and twist and change the speech into “Yorickeez”.
- I’ve discovered that one of my greatest joys in creating “Dead Duck” comics is drawing J.P. Yorick’s feet. I draw a lot of inspiration in this from the classic “big foot” cartoonists that I admire, such as E.C. Segar (Popeye), Dik Brown (Hagar the Horrible), and Jonny Hart (B.C.).\
- I use “The Dukes of Hazzard” as a stock gag in my arsenal. The TV show was fun, but so joyfully cheesy that it works great as a punchline in almost any situation.
- I attribute my ability to draw “nekkid women” from the life drawing classes I took in college. They provide good experience in learning the human form, but it was an equally good opportunity to figure out how to translate that form in my cartoony style.
Catch you on the next page!
–Jay
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