Page 49 and a Dog Head!

So here he is, Detective Redmond! In case you didn’t figure it out, he was the one speaking to the group of police officers on the last page. Alex wrote this as a very fairly detailed splash page, and I think I drew it very closely to what he described.

Why a splash page in the middle of the story?  I didn’t ask, but I imagine it is for maximum impact for readers seeing the dog-headed Detective for the first time.  Why does he have a dog head?  I imagine you’ll find out at some point, but for now all you have to know he is obviously a freak who would fit in with the superhero/villain world, but has chosen to become a cop.  Something that is pretty much unheard of in this world and upsets both cops and capes alike.  Oh, and he’s a hotshot from Chicago, so there’s another reason for Detroit cops to dislike him.

In case you did not know, Detroit and Chicago are big rival towns in many sports.  NFL, NBA, NHL (Detroit’s (aka Hockey Town’s) big thing), MLB, collegiate; it’s safe to say these two cities have a grudge.  Not to mention the old school waring gangsters who controlled the cities during prohibition.  Beyond sports and gangs, the cities have a lot in common as far as history, culture and geography.  Of course Detroit has seen more of a fall, so they have even more reason to dislike a city they were at one point evenly matched with.

I attempted to continue my more realistic approach here, as you can see with the chief on the right versus his depiction in the earlier scene with Brad (though there is clearly some minimalism here as well).  Detroit Mock City fans should know who he is based on.  The lieutenant on the left is based on someone real as well, but no one too famous, so I doubt you’ll figure that one out.

And Detective Redmond is based on a particular breed of dog this time, the dog most associated with police work, the German Shepherd.  I thought it was fitting.  Alex suggested we really emphasize his ferocity and make him even scarier this time around, so I thought realistically depicting his freakishness and given him a mean dog look would do the trick.  And I’m very happy with the results.

My wife, who is dog groomer, thought I really nailed the breed.  If you were wondering, my original character design in the comic book was not really based on a breed.  It was a mixture of the Egyptian god of the dead Anubis, who had a human body and a jackal head, mixed with some classic cartoon depictions of dogs (like Scooby Doo).

I really like Redmond, and I know Alex loves him.  He is loud, long winded, gruff and kind of a prick.  Even more-so this time around.  But he is also highly entertaining, and I love his character interactions.  I look forward to seeing him mix it up with more characters this time around.

We’ve always wanted to get him in a conversation with the Lone Wolf, so maybe that’ll happen someday!