Development of The Adventurers Comic Characters. Part 2: Rocbadger.

As mentioned in the last post, one character idea I had was a furry character. At first he was visualised as a type of "Space ranger" character. He was pretty much imagined in his red and blue suit from the beginning but was put on the shelf until it was time to make the half-ling sized team of The Adventurers.

What do these two pictures have in common?

Well, fantastic jaw lines for one thing. A reason that Rocbadger was so fully realised as a character could be that he already existed in the form of Tilly, my orange, fluffy, persian. I think her personality also influenced the attitude that Rocbadger has! Her profile greatly influenced Rocbadger's design. She had an overhanging brow, ear tufts and a jaw that jutted out like Batman's.

Batman from The Animated series that is. I am a big fan of that series and particularly the comics based on the series (these along with the Bone comics, are what heavily influenced me to do an all-age comic). I love the design sensibilities used for the characters. I also love the protruding jaw profile Bats has.

An older Rocbadger with a scared Ellie. Not sure she would feel the need to hide behind him now!

Above, you can see that I experimented with giving Rocbadger a more badger like appearance. Of course it didn't work... he looked too old and that jaw line was way too small!

Rocbadger in two different styles.

This design is much closer to the final version. You can see that I opted for The Adventurers Comic to be in the more clean line, dynamic, 'animated' style than that of a more detailed style. These early pictures show a older, wiser Rocbadger, than the one who appears in the comic. 

What's in a name?

So why is he called Rocbadger? The name actually comes form a Proverb in the bible:

 Proverbs 30:26 "The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags; " NKJV

I had no idea what a rock badger, (or conie or hyrax in other versions) were, so I filled in the gaps and made one up. This also ended up providing him with a origin point to start with but you'll need to read issue 2 of The Adventurers to find out more!

Rocbadger designs including an unfinished turn around.

I was pretty settled on Rocbadgers design. I even began to do the final 'turn arounds' for him. Yes, he was almost finished, that was until... but more on that later.

Next: Booster

Dream team up

Dream team up: A picture of the Adventurers with DC's Batgirl. My favourite incarnation is the Batman TAS Batgirl. I know it is only a theoretical team up but it is less of a stretch for the animated BG  fit in with The Adventurers... and .... anyway we'll make it work people! The pic was also a Valentine's day gift for my wife.

Batgirl - Gotham Adventures by night.

Batman the animated series inspired Batgirl and Gotham skyline. Originally drawn with pen then grey washed with paint. The spunky attitude of the Batman:TAS series Batgirl really helped make her my favourite female super hero. That and Batgirl Adventures special #1 featuring Batgirl in her new black suit. It was written by Paul Dini and Drawn by Rick Burchett in his clean crisp animated style. Coupled with a nifty Bruce Timm cover. It's one of my favourite comics.