Dead Duck

Hey, all you necrofowliacs! Welcome to the last installment of this “Dead Duck” episode, “Of Mommies and Zombies”, as well as the very last Dead Duck story that I’ve created. Here’s your trivia fix:

• It’s appropriate that I created this page with a lump in my throat, and I now write this trivia with a similar lump. There is so much personal history and emotion packed into this one page that it’s barely fiction. I have such a love for ALL my characters, from those in Dead Duck to the ones I’m creating now for Bodie Troll, and I don’t walk away from any of them easily or happily. I have stated time and again, and I will continue as long as folks are listening, that DEAD DUCK WILL RETURN. This isn’t goodbye. This is see you later.

• I’m particularly proud of the panel showing Estelle and Zombie chick walking away, as if into the great unknown. My coloring skills were really growing at this point, and this story became a proving ground for the coloring I’d employ in Bodie Troll.

• If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m adopted. That was something I put into Dead Duck. Now, I’d like to think our society is enlightened enough to realize that an adoptive parent is as legit as a birth parent, and in my case, far, far more so. But I felt the need to spell it out–parents are made, not born. It’s whomever raised you, took care of you, shaped who you are and gave you love that counts as your parent, and no bloodline will steer my thinking otherwise. I feel the same way about family. It’s not shared genes that makes them. It’s shared experiences, and all the other attributes I just mentioned. That’s why my closest friends are also whom I consider my family.

• One of the best hugs I ever drew is this second to last panel. It’s genuine, and took no effort to create.

• And I HAD to include one last peek at Chum Blockwell and Chigger Creek. They’re as important to Dead Duck as Zombie Chick is, after all. And of course, one last haircut joke for the road!

• Just to put folks at ease one more time, DEAD DUCK WILL RETURN. It won’t be soon, but it won’t be far off, either. And I’ll leave you with this small morsel to tide you over for now: Zombie Chick will be returning to Dysenteria. Be here when it happens, folks!

Thanks for sticking with me all these years, and please, join me in my newest comic adventures with Bodie Troll. It’s already proving a big success, and the love I had for Dead Duck is as solid as that I have for Bodie. If you care about my work, then you’ll have that love for Bodie Troll, too. See you soon!

See you soon!

–Jay