Th3rd World Studios Blog

Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 32

This is probably the true first strip of Chapter 2. Dr. Klein is a character that is good for exposition, yes, but also one that I plan on having a lot of fun with in the future. Some people thought his look in the third panel coupled with his German name meant that Dr. Klein is evil. I won’t comment on the prejudices of my readership, but I will say that I did not have that in mind when I drew it. I was just experimenting with what I could do with a panel.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 33

Ugh. This is my failed experiment. I was trying to take what was essentially two different strips and consolidate them into one. As drawn, panel 3 preceded panel 2, but at the last minute I got the idea to integrate them more. It didn’t work. Not helping matters is last panel. For the record, yes, CS is flying. And yes, I know I should have zoomed the camera out more. This strips gives me pains, even if panel 3 gives me a good chuckle.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 34

Like Spy Gal in Chapter 1, I had spent two strips building up the arrival of the Healer. I wanted his entrance to be important and surprising.

Originally, the Healer was going to be an old man in a cloak. Much more like Dr. Strange or something like that. After being comfortable with that for weeks, I suddenly realized that that was a bad idea. It was just too conventional. So, I asked myself, “What’s the opposite of an old man in a cloak?” The answer quickly came: “A young dude in a backwards visor.”

There are a lot of different ideas floating around the Healer. In a way, he’s my commentary on a modern young celebrity like Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears. Spy Gal is completely enamored with him. Dr. Klein talks about how important it is to give him respect. And yet…does he deserve it? No, unless you count his power. And really, no one cares who the Healer is, it’s the fame he has from what he can DO that makes him so celebrated.

My thinking was: in a community of people where most of their powers lend themselves to destruction and mayhem, how would a punk with the powers of, basically, Jesus be regarded? Sprinkle in some Utah homeboy aesthetic and BAM—The Healer.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 35

This strip is all about me as wannabe animator. The SuperFogeys are so stiff and immobile, it was fun to cut loose a little on a character like the Healer. I made it double-sized because I wanted the figures to breathe a little.

There’s some good lines in this one (Dr. Rocket is just sick, sick, sick), but I wanted the last panel to end on a much funnier note. I never figured out what that note should be, so I left it as is. I think it works just fine now. The jokes don’t always have to land in the last panel.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 36

More Healer nonsense. You can see how my camera is really changing up now. I’ve left behind almost completely the cut/paste of the previous chapter, something I was real glad to do. What’s with the lack of word balloons, though? What was I thinking?

The Space Pig is always fun to bring back. There’s no way to explain him and his function every time out, so I just pop him in there every now and again and the readers either get it or they don’t. The gag of him having hero worship for the Healer was too good to pass up.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 37

I hate the first panel of this one. CS and Spy Gal just don’t look right and I don’t know what I was thinking.

Gene is always a lot of fun to write. He’s a big lug, not much dimension to him, but that’s okay now and again. The entire point of this strip was to establish that Spy Gal is attracted to Dr. Klein. I don’t do anything more with it for the whole of Chapter 2, but it’s something I plan on revisiting later.

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Commentary for SuperFogeys, Episode 38

This is strip I’m really proud of. It’s very much a side-trip from the main story, but I think it’s poignant in a way that SuperFogeys hasn’t been up until now. The fact that I worked in a decent joke about a “City Kitty Ray” in the middle of it is just icing on the cake for me. This is the type of strip I hope to do more of in the future.

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SuperFogeys Book Update

We’re going to start taking pre-orders soon, so keep your eyes on this space!

-Brock