Hey, all you necrofowliacs! Welcome to the final installment of this “Dead Duck” episode, “THE DOGMA OF DEAD DUCK!” Here’s your trivia fix:
- I really wanted the readers to be concerned about Dead Duck with this story. What the hell is Dead Duck capable of now? What’s J.P. Yorick going to do to him now that he broke the biggest rule in the Minion handbook? Even I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen when I wrote this. Fortunately, because there was so much drama and emotion informing this story, the next part came pretty easily. In the end, the character’s personalities dictated the direction the story went, as you’ll see in the follow up to this story.
- “This never happened.” You always hope you’re not in a situation where someone tries to pound that into your thinking. I kind of feel like I was referencing the Who’s 1969 album “Tommy”, which had loads of emotional impact for me when I first heard it around age 13. I particularly thought of the song “1921″, where young Tommy’s dad returns from the war and catches his wife, who believed her husband to be dead, in the arms of another man. Tommy’s dad kills the lover, and both of Tommy’s parents tell him, “You didn’t hear it, you didn’t see it…” It’s very powerful, and I suppose, to a degree, I was tapping into that for this scene.
- Typically, when Zombie Chick goes off on one of her tangents, Dead Duck will just let her go. But because this situation is so severe, he has to stop her in mid ramble and restate that she needs to let this go. It’s kind of deconstructing the characters, having them play against type, not going for laughs for once, and playing it as straight as I can write it. Maybe it’s too great a departure, I don’t know. But for me writing this, it felt like I was really shoring up the character’s personalities here, rather than having them be two dimensional gag machines.
- You never really see how Dead Duck and Zombie chick get to and from Rigormortitropolis, but it’s always been in the back of my mind. Perhaps I’ll get the chance to show people one day. It’s not this big, revolutionary concept, but its simplicity appeals to me a lot.
- I’m very proud of the cliffhanger in this last panel. J.P. has always been leery of Dead Duck and his dangerous potential as the spawn of the most evil spirit who ever died. He always kept Dead Duck at arm’s length, always treated him brusque and coldly, because he didn’t know what he was capable of. And he never told Dead Duck about where he came from. This will all come to a head in the following story. And judging from J.P.’s demeanor in this last panel, the conclusion could be dire.
See you on the next page!
–Jay
Ooooooh… poor Ducky’s gonna get roasted! Great job with the drama, Jay… can’t wait for the next installment!
Man, I’m so excited….I’m loving the dark, tense drama.
P. S. It’s like a soap opera….Like sands through a soul’s hourglass, so are the days of our duck…. No wait…All my Ducklings…
Oh you can just hear the DUN DUN DUN in the background.
But yeah this is getting pretty serious. I assume we’re in for a shouting match come the next par.t
This HAS been very interesting indeed! A break from the gags (or as much as the characters will allow) is excellent, and the story quite gripping. That final panel is really wonderful with all the mayhem implied.
Next: Hell Comes to Breakfast, Bringing Muffins.
Be here.
Aloha.