To give context, this page was created for the back inside cover of the Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum 20 page teaser sold at APE 2011. It appears just after page 17 of TDM and is meant to explain to fans after that abrupt end what the hell this whole Black Snow thing is all about.
Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 17
It’s funny, this page seemed to flow out pretty quickly, despite all the panels and layout. I’m particularly happy that I was able to do so much on one page, and effectively end that portion of the scene. I also think it it looks pretty good.
From a technical standpoint this one is notable for the way I really streamlined the process to be more efficient. I tried a few new things, things I had thought up while working on the Ape comic, and they worked very well. Visually I doubt you and tell the difference, and I won’t bore you all with the details. Anyone who wants to know more about it just ask me.
I wanted to crank this out so we can get our stuff ready for print at the Alternative Press Expo, and this was the last item on my to do list. I did a lot of drawing this weekend between this and the APE comic.
The ending with Elephant Boy is meant to be an homage to a very funny Gus moment in Issue 6. Take a look.
Black Snow Issue 6 page 13
I really love that sequence, and apparently Alex did too since he wrote this homage. In the original the joke is that Gus is really dumb. In this version I wanted to change the emphasis from Elephant Boy being really dumb to him being really apathetic. He just could care less about the conversation.
Notice that close up of the eyes on the bottom middle panel? Cool stuff. Once again I re-purposed these realistic looking eye-balls I crated some years back.
Of note is the exposition in this scene. The bar is a magical sanctuary this time around, where no violence can be committed, so heroes and criminals alike can come there to drink or meet. Also of note, Black Snow once had control of his powers this time around, but hasn’t for about a decade. Can you guess why? It should become clearer as time goes on. Oh, and Van Buren’s men are separate from all others, and don’t associate with outsiders.
So a lot of stuff on this page.
APE: Alternative Press Expo 2011
That is the cover for the special FREE mini-comic we will be giving away at APE this year! It will be the talk of the con, believe you me. And feature a special surprise guest. A hint? Someone only comic people, especially those at APE, will appreciate.
Want to see our latest APE news? Sign up for the event on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109398292494144. You can also visit the official site at http://www.comic-con.org/ape/ to learn more about the event.
What do we have planned so far? Well, that mini-comic, for one. I won’t be putting the rest online until after the event, if I put it up at all. Also, he return of the baseball caps, back issues of Black Snow, stickers, handouts, key-chain bottle openers, decorative banners, beer drinking and free sketches. And the debut of an awesome new beer bottle shaped bottle opener, a best of I’m Famous collection, a Two Drink Minimum preview release, maybe some shirts, some new banners and a table cloth this year!
You can see our photos from last year’s event at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150298262755402.548188.195503145401&type=1.
Now that the shameless shilling is out of the way, let’s talk about that cover. I love it. We’ve got I’m Famous! style Lone Wolf sitting at a convention table with Two Drink Minimum style black and white Black Snow. And a giant purple APE. This was the cover for last years APE brochure and used in their posters and other promo material.
APE 2010 brochure cover
So obviously my cover was a play off of that one. It also has a nod to I’m Famous! with the book signing and Two Drink Minimum with the Black Snow Beer and the barely seen banner behind the ape. The Black Snow beer is also an homage to last year when we stuck our stickers on bottles of Black Toad Ale and downed it all in short time. People seemed quite amused by our bottle collection.
Black Snow’s remark is also somewhat of an homage to our experience last year, particularly the first day. A lot of people there just didn’t care, and preferred to ignore our table. It was disheartening. Oh, his beer sign is very much like our sloppily hand written and taped up signs last year.
I probably shouldn’t say this, but the Lone Wolf’s comment is based off of real experience as well. Some peoples’ hygiene was quite lacking, and the body odor was substantial. Especially one particular neighbor.
So lots to look forward to this year! Get excited dammit!
Ahh, the good old days. When perverts could get some girl's panties for a couple of Yen near the local store. Good old wholesome times!
Hello and welcome to Page 4 of ‘I’m Famous in Japan!’.
We’re continuing on from the script of Page 3, with an interaction between Daniel and Rosenstein. This was just going to be the last couple of panels of Page 3, but I wanted to do a few things that just wouldn’t fit onto the original page.
Nicole running past them was a last minute idea to link this page with the last one. One of my favorite things about this page, is Rosenstein’s bubbly day-dream about Japanese girls and their panties. This is classic manga-style fan-service, which I haven’t done a while and I’m pleased with how it turned out. The script didn’t call for it, but I really felt that a gaggle of ‘dream-girls’ were needed to illustrate Rosenstein’s lust. Also, to make this fan-service less blatant, and to screw with people’s heads, I made certain that his drooling face was dominant on that panel. It sort of makes a balance between cute and creepy, which is interesting…and also wierd…
This kind of brings up the whole idea of the Panty Vending Machines in Japan.
Those crazy Japanese...did anyone mention that this was maybe a bad idea?
Although often considered an urban legend, it is true that up until recently, it was legal to purchase used school-girl panties from street vending machines in Japan. Sometimes they would even feature a modelled photo of the ‘donor’ (as pictured above). By the looks of things this was very wide-spread, with many sigarette machines having extra slots especially for this (!).
Not only is this perverted, it’s just plain nasty. Someone else’s used panties?! I don’t care how desperate someone is, that’s just disgusting. And they even throw in photos of the girl herself? There are stalkers in Japan too you morons! Eventually the government in Tokyo started to realize that this was not very good, and banned it. I’m kinda surprised it took this long!
With that preaching out of the way, I give you the final panel. This is another one I am pleased about. It’s been a long time since I last drew an airliner, and it’s my first attempt at a Boeing 747. I kind of cheated though, and looked at a fly-by photo of a 747, which I used as a guide for this drawing. I really did want to give the airliner a funny name. Eventually came up with ‘Banzai Air’ and it’s Happy Rising Sun logo. It’s sort of a twisted reference to the ‘Banzai to the Emperor!’ battle cry…which almost always ended in certain death.
I had recently watched Cars 2 which, like ‘I’m Famous in Japan’, featured it’s cast going to Japan.
Damn! Pixar beat us to it!
They had actually come up with far more clever Japanese airline name: SamAIRai. Damn…I wish I had thought of that first! There’s some other clever Japanese stuff happening in that movie which I wished we’d thought of first. But the Pixar production only skimmed the surface of this parody iceberg and there’s lots more for us to make fun of!
Coming soon, Page 5 and Japan itself.
-Rawr
Black Snow: Two Drink Minimum page 16
By the time you read this I will already be dead. I mean 28. Yes, today I can no longer say mid-twenties. I’m pushing 30 and none too pleased about it. As usually I have spent the time leading up to my birthday depressing myself by taking a deep introspective look at all aspects of my life versus where I expected myself to be at this point. I’m not going to get too into it here, lets just say I always believed myself destined for greatness, and it hasn’t been achieved yet. Particularly in terms of the comics.
But I’ll soldier on and continue to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, even as the industry continues to crumble around me and all the signs seems to point towards ultimate failure. I’m stubborn like that. And if Alex, my wife, my dad, various other family members and my rogues gallery of friends and fans can continue to believe in me I should at least be able to do the same.
But enough of birthdays. They sicken me! Lets talk about that page above. It rocks. 16 pages in and it feels like we’ve already crammed in a ton of content. I think we’ve really done a decent job of establishing characters. We can already see Eric is a stand up guy, Elephant Boy is an aloof goof, and Black Snow is kind of a cocky dick with a lot of personal problems.
This page in particular really lets each guy shine in their own way. I tried to give Elephant Boy a little more personality, rather than a sleepy joke like the original. Here he’s more of a quiet slightly stupid dude who enjoys a good laugh and is the big muscle of the group (that last part will become more apparent). Eric is your every man, reader stand-in, and a one of the more consciousness and moralistic men in Detroit.
Black Snow is more clearly defined this time around (I always thought he was a little scattered in the comic books), and I think more entertaining for it. He still has all the hang ups and demons, he just masks them with gruff bravado more than his surely complaining of the past. He’s more obviously a jerk, an alcoholic, a misogynist, and a general insecure loser. Yet he’s fun as he does it all with some style and charm.
This page here has 3 particular moments of notes. First, Black Snow’s ultra creepy moment of saying he was turned on…by watching a women eat meat. I came up with that line, but it is actually a line directly from one of my favorite movies that always stuck with me. Can you figure it out? Alex didn’t know until I told him. It’s not a super important line in the movie, or meant to be creepy, but I always was a bit disgusted by it. And I thought it would be a good way to make Black Snow a bit disgusting.
Secondly, the vagina line. We very nearly cut that out, and Alex thought he had cut it out, but in the end we chose to keep it. Why did we want to cut the absurd line? Mostly because we were worried it was out of character for Black Snow. A bit too glib and and in some way too clever? That was the worry at least. Seeing drawn out in context, I think it works and I’m glad we kept it. Also, it’s anther example of how crude he is.
Third, that final panel. Black Snow is one cocky fool. He really likes to lay it on thick.
All aspects that were touched upon in the original comic books, but are already more pronounced and consistent here then they were in those 6 issues. Also, as Alex likes to constantly point out to me, seeing Black Snow’s eyes seems to have made a huge difference in showing his emotions and making him relatable. So why would we want to spend so much time making sure our main character was such a loser? A very valid question. But one I will not answer. I’ll just say it fits into our long term story plans. Readers of the original comic books may have some clue, but not really. Black Snow’s story is basically planned out for our entire run of graphic novels (planned to be 5 or 6). So readers of the of the original basically only know some of what we have planned for the first graphic novel, as we never really got far enough to show the real path of the tale (it was going to be 25 issues).
Aside from my hard work on Two Drink Minimum, I’m also working on several things for the Alternative Press Expo. We are going to have a much better set up and offerings than last year. We’ve got special printed comps planned, several cool new pieces of merchandise, and an APE exclusive comic in the works. To see the latest sign up for the event on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109398292494144
