Hey,
- When I first began drawing my "Dead Duck" stories, the clipboard Dead Duck carries never had anything on it but squiggly lines. When I drew the cover for the graphic novel, it was the first time I established that his forms bear the masthead, "I AM DEAD" (or in some cases, "I'm dead"). I've since gone back and slipped in "I am dead" on any visible form that I see, prior to posting those pages here. With this story, I'm happy to note that the only times you see the clipboard, the front is either facing away towards Zombie chick, or it's partially eaten, saving me the trouble of going back in and adding the masthead.
- I'm sure the term "jonesing" was out of style by the time I had Zombie chick used it. I typically pick up on slang well after it is past its freshness date.
- I LOVE how the three panels where Tequila indicates...well...something...turned out. I think it's some of my best sequential art I've ever done, and I wish I had this stroke of inspiration more often. I especially love the slinky, wonky look to the "throbbing" word balloon. To quote John Travolta in "Pulp Fiction", I got my moments."
- I think that having Man-Without-Pants be a shameless exhibitionist is hilarious. I suppose I could have gone another way with it, and had it so the character didn't realize it wasn't wearing pants. But then we wouldn't have had all those great lines from him where he refers to (and defends) his junk. I think I made the right decision.
- I kinda feel like I was channeling cartoonist Jim Borgman again (I do it a lot) in my design of Man-Without-Pants, particularly in the way he draws Jeremy Duncan from his comic strip, "Zits".
- I can't recall if I intended it as a gag, or if she was just abbreviating his name, but Tequila calling Big Man on Campus BM is hilarious either way. (FYI: A BM is a bowel movement. Score one for subliminal poop humor).
- The Ravenous Thrash Hazard was based on a creature I'd designed years ago for a homecoming float. I always liked the basic look for the monster, and used it here and there for many different drawings. On this story, I worked the design a bit more, giving him beady eyes and a pointy head. I liked the look so much that I was ready to recycle the character (and rename him Gadzooks) for another "Dead Duck" story where giant monsters would be attacking Rigormortitropolis. While that idea collected dust in my sketchbook (it might still happen), I've since reappropriated Gadzooks for a whole new comic I'm developing. As for the name Ravenous Thrash Hazard, at the time I was trying to come up with something as ridiculous sounding as the creature names used in the He-Man cartoon. Actually, I hate the name I came up with. It's good enough for this story, but my monster is forevermore known as Gadzooks.
- He-Man would always resort to imprisoning a foe in a pile of boulders, miraculously avoiding crush his target, but penning him in none the less. It was comedy gold that needed mining, in my opinion.
See you on the next page!
--Jay