Side by side 6 - final

The original Bolt page 6.

Woah, panel two is so full of random nineties kitch! This page also has some more of what I would term graphic effects. It's also about 2 or 3 pages squeezed into 1. Here is the only time in the original story that the reporter ( She is given the name Wendy Winters in the new version) is seen, though her prior bad experiences with The Bolt are shared through some hasty exposition. I believe her head piece was originally intended to look like an "Electra" style head wrap but looked more like bandages hence the idea of a back story where the Bolt had fallen on her somehow. I like the newspaper headline as a finishing touch. It was left out of the remake due to page count, deadline, wanting the story finished or all three.

The Electrifying Bolt -page 10

The Electrifying Bolt- page 11

The Bolt leaves Timberr's dignity intact in the remake but his heart shaped boxers still end up on display. The remake also shows the chainsaw actually destroyed by the fall. I guess Bolt just carelessly dropped it. Lots of homages to the original story in these panels including the sound effects panel. The whole thing was an exercise in producing a comic completely digitally for the first time. Some of it I still feel is as cringe worthy as the original but it was definitely a very worthwhile learning curve particularly learning about colouring which as stated in an earlier post, is a whole new ball game for a .

So there you have the Electrifying Bolt fly's again with help from Michael Stoneburner providing a new script. Hopefully there is not a remake of the remake in another 20 years but I'd settle for a animated series or movie. Hollywood? Hello? Anyone?

Side by Side 5

The original Bolt _page 5

This original page really highlights how you can cram too many of your influences into one page!  Among the 90's greats that are all being emulated (not very successfully), This page is very much a tip of the hat to Larry Stroman who incorporated a lot of abstract geometric shapes and lines into his comic art.

The Electrifying Bolt - Page 8

The Electrifying Bolt - Page 9

I'm still not sure changing the wings for a "chopper" was the best choice but Mike's "Squeaker, Squeaker, Squeaker" Sound FX definitely was.

I'm not sure the new panel 1 on page 8 is actually better than the original. Panel 3 on the same page is a recreation of panel 4 on the original. Ironically I think the original has better perspective than the redone panel in which I actually did use perspective.

Panel 4 on page 9 is actually a favourite of mine. It's not dramatic or particularly cool but it is a time when I just let the drawing flow without overthinking it. In my opinion it has a bit more of a "Style" than the other panels.

The Adventurers Comic page 14

The Adventurers comic pg 14: The Dragon.

I have to admit, I really do like GreyAsh's assessment of the human race. Originally Ellie was going to suggest going into self imposed exile in order to protect the dragon's secret.

Adventurers Comic page 7

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 7: The Dragon.

In order to flow better to the next page, Ellie was resized in the last panel. Yes, by photocopying, reducing and cutting and pasting. Ah, how little I realised back then how easy it would be to do these things digitally!

Adventurers Comic page 3

The Adventurers Chapter 1  page 3: The Dragon.

This page was also completely redrawn. One reason was because as previously mentioned, the characters were quite off model (trust me, they are much cuter in this version). The other reason was so Burnie could make arm gestures. In the original he was in close up.

Something happening with The Adventurers

A certain reporter who has recently written a post for Bolt Comics has erroneously claimed that there is no new news for The Adventurers!  I think she needs to fire her fact checker!

The work on The Adventurers issue 4 continues steadily and towards the end of last year The Adventurers Comic received it's first reviews. The reviews were very encouraging and left me with some good quotes I can use in future promotions.

Geek of oz said: "A heart felt read ... primary school age readers in particular will enjoy."

Nerd and geek culture said: "The Adventurers has a good story and is great for all ages."

You can read the complete reviews here and here. Hopefully there will be a few more reviews in 2015. Thanks once again to Geek of Oz and Geek and Nerd Culture.

The Adventurers attend their second Supanova!

Well it's only a few days away! Supanova Sydney.

This year I will have another two issues of The Adventurers available. I will also be tabling with my Brother Dan at the Bolt Comics table A092. He, along with my sister, helped me table last year and it's great to see his comic, A Brigand's Tale ready and being enjoyed by so many people. We have both been doing this comic thing for most of our lives. We would talk and plan about the day we published our own comic.Years later we are doing just that! Better late than never right?

This year to add to the excitement we are trying our hand at artist sketches! The early bird customers who buy one of our books will receive a free character sketch! Looking forward to meeting lots of people, selling comics, drawing sketches and generally having fun at Supanova this year!

In all the excitement getting ready for Comic Gong and Supanova I haven't forgotten about issue 4! Here's a progress pic.

Page 9 pencils for The Adventurers issue 4

Three issues of The Adventurers Comic in print!

This Saturday May the 17th launches the release of The Adventurers issue 3! Missed out on issue 1? Don't worry it's been freshly printed for the event and there are copies of issue 2 as well. A great chance to read the first three issues right after each other!

3 issues of The Adventurers in print!

Also A Brigand's Tale Issue 1 is launching this weekend at Comic Gong! You can see a small preview of it here.

The Adventurers Issue 3 is coming soon!

Here is a teaser page from The Adventurers Issue 3. Coming soon!

Art from Page 5 of The Adventurers Issue 3. by A.Tribe "They're alive!"

Someone asked me what my favourite page was. I think this may be it! It isn't the most detailed page or the prettiest from The Adventurers comic. The art is fairly simplistic but I'm very happy with how it tells the story.

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

In The Deep End!

                                                      "Have faith in the fish."

Here is my entry in the OzComics draw-off. Last weeks subject was The Deep. A wonderful graphic novel
written by Tom Taylor and illustrated by the very talented James Brouwer. Oh it's also Australian! A couple of  years ago my brother handed me a copy in his comic shop. I saw it and found it hard to believe that someone had finally produced an Aussie graphic novel of such high quality.

I have to admit that I saw it after being quite disconnected from the comics scene in general for many, many years. To be honest back in the 90's comics the Aussie comics scene had a few hits but the quality could be very hit and miss. At the time I saw this, to my mind the Aussie comic scene had all but passed away. I'm So glad I was very wrong! Australia actually has a few publishers with numerous titles and a lot of indie creators churning out books and web comics. To me the current comics scene is in a 'golden age" with a supportive community and social media exposing peoples work here and abroad. Needless to say I loved The Deep when I read it. A great example of how an 'all age comic' doesn't equate to 'dumbed down', juvenile or less exciting. The Deep, in my opinion has set an incredibly high standard and it is the one I judge my own work by.