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How To Go To The Doctor-part 3
How To Go To The Doctor-part 2
How To Go To The Doctor–part 1
I'm completely fascinated by these bland filler stories they used to run in the backs of old comics. My take on this story is not too far off from the original; "Between You & Your Doctor" that appeared in Young Doctors #5, September 1963. Tune in again tomorrow for more words of wisdom from Mary and Dr. Futternutz.
Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
This was supposed to be a Zombie Marge weekend. I was all
prepared to go full steam into the next episode. But, when the inspiration to
write hits, I’ve learned to just get out of the way and go with it. So instead
of Marge, my time has been spent on my side project, SHAM Comics. I’ve posted
some here before. In a nutshell, I take old comics and rewrite them as cynical,
satirical, post-modern tales of angst and heartbreak. The fun never stops.
While I was researching pre-code romance comics for SHAM #2,
I came across an interesting sub-genre of medical comics. For a couple of
years in the early 60s, medical drama was all the rage. Ben Casey and Dr.
Killdare were on TV and General Hospital was a daytime hit. Charlton was one of the few comic companies to capitalize on this trend. They published a series of
titles depicting the lives of young doctors and nurses (all white) in the exciting world of modern medicine. However, as this was an outgrowth of their
romance comics, the books focused on the love lives of the main characters. The
results are highly entertaining. When the doctors are not busy giving
cigarettes to their patients, they are in some broom closet making out with the
nurses. The nurses are strong, independent types, except when they are mooning
over the doctors. There is also had a very high percentage of people bringing
guns into the hospital and patients trying to jump out high windows. As I said,
they are highly entertaining.
A bit more research revealed that these comics are in public
domain and therefore a prime target for the SHAM treatment. For the past few
months, I’ve been collecting these comics wherever I could find them. I’ve
amassed a nice little pile of them. That’s a few of them above. The Young
Doctors cover on the far right was the one that convinced me this was comic
gold. So SHAM Comics #4 will be the all-medical issue, titled “Calling DR.
SHAM.” In addition to Dr. Studley Sham, it will feature “Niki Nookie, Night
Nurse,” “Dr. Fingerman-Two-Fisted Proctologist” and “Dr. Lance Girth-Hardboiled
Plastic Surgeon.”
Episode 18
Good things come to those who wait. Or in this case another installment of Zombie Marge, this one with a bit of exposition. At last, a freakin' explanation as to why Marge seems a bit sharper than your average, run-of-the-mill zombie.
Hey, where's my Zombie Marge comic?
Tales from the Dealers Table!
We're back, safe & sound, inside the zombie-proof bunker, after a weekend at the Third Annual Cincinnati Comics Expo. And what a show it was! Andrew Satterfield, Matt Bredestege and their crack staff put together a great convention every year, while raising the bar each time. This year was no exception, with great events spread out over two days, plus Friday night's VIP events, if you want to get technical. The attendance was very good and our sales were strong. There's Daryll and myself, above, in the new booth, pushing Zombie Marge on an unsuspecting public. And, what do you know? She was a hit! That's Proofreadin' Dale Trush, below, making an impassioned sales pitch to a pink haired girl.
And I spotted some great t-shirts and some interesting costumes. "Hey, Mr. Scarecrow! That comic is upside down!"
Now, indulge me while I name drop for a minute. We got to see some of our comic pals, Craig Boldman and Dustin Carson of No Gods. We made some new friends, like Rodney Fyke of Peanut, Puddin' & Jelly, Todd Goodman and Danial Frazier, and Mike Norton of Battlepug. And we had a blast hanging with Jon Lennon and Leo Perez of Cheese Lord Comics from Chicago. Great creators, one and all!
And a big "Thank you!" to David Leighton, the official Zombie Marge photographer, for some inspired photo journalism.
Episode 17
FIRST BACK NEXT
This was a fun installment to work on, both the writing and
the art. The location offered so many funny tangents. I like to start the first panel with a large establishing shot. In this case, the color rendering looked so good, I erased all my line work. This current series of
strips begins to open up Marge’s back-story a bit and explain why she doesn’t quite act
like your typical mindless, shambling, inarticulate zombie. We will even touch
on her “mission” coming back to the land of the living.
And who’s this smart-mouth kid with the
zombie fixation? It’s none other than Skip Wingus! That’s cute little Skip
peddling his papers on the cover of Twelve-Way with Cheese at the left of this
column. He’s grown into a pasty, sullen, emo tween who listens to The Cure and
reads too much of The Walking Dead. And is he ever happy to make the acquaintance of a real zombie! But
how will Marge take to having an actual fan? Stop by in two weeks to see. As usual, to read all the strips, go to the archive in the right column.
SWAG!
We are just one short week away for the Cincinnati Comic Expo
and expectations are running high here in the bunker. Zombie Marge will be well
represented at the show. Table assignments just came out and we are very
prominently positioned in the first row, center to greet the fans as they come
through the door. Our new booth graphics will mirror the look of this blog with
Marge’s lovely rotting face. I will be in attendance from the Friday night VIP
reception, until closing time on Sunday. Joining me at various times during the
weekend will be cartoonist extraordinaire Daryll Collins and our own
Proofreadin’ Dale Trush, selling our usual array of goodies, Twelve-Way, Little
Olden Books and SHAM Comics.
We will also be premiering several brand, spankin’ new
Zombie Marge items this time. To tie into the blog, we have a mini-comic that
collects the first batch of strips in a great little package. Signed art prints
have been popular in the past and this time out we have a new Zombie Marge
poster, suitable for framing. Just by stopping by the booth and saying hello,
you can walk away with a cool little Zombie Marge pinback button for your
lapel. And pick up a trading card while you’re there, both are free.
See you at the show!
Episode 16
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What's that you say? "Where's that new story you promised?" Well, here it is! It features surprise guest genius, Stephen Hawking, and tells of his historic meeting with Zombie Marge. It's set to run for the rest of the year, unless the world comes to an end as predicted by somebody, somewhere! Enjoy!Episode 15
Episode 14
Episode 13
Episode 12
FIRST BACK NEXT
Good ol’ Marge certainly deserves a night out, doesn't she? But has she made the best choice of movies? I admit to loving the film, but there’s a more practical reason for screening it for Marge and Grubworth. It seems the copyrights were never filed correctly on Night of the Living Dead, so that no one owns it anymore. Or rather, everyone owns it. It moved quickly into Public Domain, which is why you can find so many copies of it in all formats from multiple companies. In my case, it means I can use it without getting into any legal trouble.
The idea behind this series of strips was to run a tribute
to the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000. That’s the last crew of the Satellite
of Love, Mike Nelson and his robot pals, in panel 2. Check out their current
movie riffing venture at Rifftrax.com.
Since these strips require so much less drawing than usual, I
will be posting them once a week through the month of August. A new story line
will start in September. Enjoy!
And now, a word from our sponsor…
Well, lookie here! It’s Marge’s old pal, Charlie Hustle, and
he’s selling something. What a surprise!
When I’m not slaving away over a hot drawing board working
on the Zombie Marge strip, you will find me tinkering with my other favorite
project, SHAM Comics. I’ve posted some here before. Briefly, I take public
domain Golden Age stories and advertising, scanned from old comic books, erase
the original text and rewrite them in ridiculous new ways. Because the original
printing was often so bad, they are pretty easy to touch up without making them
look worse. The trick is to write a story that fits the original illustrations
and tell a story that is both funny and coherent. Often I like to add a bit of
social commentary as well.
Dale Trush, who serves as the official proofreader for all
things Zombie Marge, brought this ad to me. He’s a fan of 70s comics and
pointed out several potentially hilarious ads, like OJ selling running shoes.
Thanks, Dale.
Episode 11
FIRST BACK NEXT
It's been an interesting week charting the progress of the strip. Hope you've had fun. And here is the final version with all the little details added. Marge puts Father Nozebest in his place (for now) and goes out for some entertainment. But her choices are rather limited. If I had to pick from those films, I'd choose the same one she did. Join us in two weeks for "Zombie Marge Goes To the Movies." Let's see if she can riff her way through Night of the Living Dead like a pro.Zombie Marge, Step-by-step (Day 6)
The last step is equally the most fun and the most work.
What time I save with the simple backgrounds, is spent rendering all the
figures. Above, I’ve applied flat colors to the characters. As I’m still
working in Adobe Illustrator, that means getting the pen tool and creating
paths around the areas, then choosing the color fill for that path. For smaller areas, I use the blob brush to outline the areas, which are then filled in.
Remember, the artwork is on a transparent layer on the
top, so I can see the color shapes underneath as I draw the path. With a
complicated drawing, it can be very time consuming and tedious, but the results
are very satisfying. The colors are sharp and vivid. The file is easily editable
and smaller in size than the same page rendered in Photoshop.
Most comic how-to books treat Photoshop as the only program for
coloring comics. As an experiment I colored an older story using Photoshop. It looked
good, though a bit airbrushed. But the process took more than twice the time to
complete it and the files are huge.
Now there are only a few details left to finish this strip.
I will add some light and shadow to make the figures look rounded. I'll
finish the brick wall in Photoshop and add it to the last panel and make
room for the title logo. That first panel is on a separate layer that can be
turned off. It will only be used in a later version when I rearrange the page
to fit a comic book format.
Tomorrow the finished strip will go up. If you’ve stuck with
me through all this, I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts. It has been fun writing
about my working method.
Zombie Marge, Step-by-step (Day 5)
When coloring the strip, I work from background to
foreground, each one getting a separate layer. By starting with the background,
I can set the color mood. Since Marge is hanging out in the basement of the old
church, I’ve been working in lots of blues and grays. The last panel of the
strip changes the location, so I move to warmer colors, with a little hint of
the same blue to tie it together. For now the orange-brown will hold the place
for a brick wall to be rendered later in Photoshop.
The flat gradient backgrounds are too clean for this strip,
so I add textures from an Illustrator library of spatters I’ve built. It adds
visual interest, but saves me the task of rendering complex background detail
in every frame. The grungy look suits the locals of the story and doesn’t
detract for the figures.
Tomorrow I will begin to color the figures.
Zombie Marge, Step-by-step (Day 4)
I break up the text into small groups and fit them around
the pictures. Many times that means rewriting bits of copy to make it fit better.
Space is always limited. No one gives long speeches here. I try to strike a
balance between the words and pictures, keeping in mind that this is a visual
medium. With the words, less is always better. Sometimes a bit of dialogue has
to go in and disrupt the art. In this case, I had to remove the severed head in
panel 3 for Father Nozebest’s impassioned plea for Marge to put on some
clothes.
Here’s some background on the type. Nate Piekos of
Blambot.com designed most of the fonts in the strip. He offers a wide range of
comic related fonts, including sound effects and titles. Many are free while
others are very reasonably priced. Check him out. And while you’re there, take
a look at Nate’s excellent webcomic, “Atland.” He been doing it for the last
several years and has over 300 pages available to read. It’s one of my favorites.
Since both Marge and Grubworth always talk within the same
panel, to avoid confusion as to who is speaking, I chose to give them
distinctly different lettering. The spooky font looks like Marge’s raspy voice might sound.
I render their word balloons differently too, so when two are pointing at her
head, the reader can tell who says what.
With the lettering all in place, tomorrow I can start
coloring the strip.
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