Percy appears to be emotionless again. Uh oh.
Character: John Whitebucket
Percy and Holly’s father. Worked as a runner for HUAC, and has since has a severe paranoia of Communism. Outside of his Communist paranoia, he has an uncanny knowledge of world politics. Fun Fact: Early versions of John had him being a classmate of Percy’s
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Seen A Ghost
And we’re back! Complete with saddle sores. Can we just ignore the art in Panel 3, please? I redid it several times and was never satisfied. Unfortunately, the need of a buffer really forced me to push this out anyway.
The story of Matt’s outfit can be read on this sketchbook page.
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Join The Party
Ref: “Guardian Angel” | “Is that light supposed to be blinking?” | Percy’s friends are “voluntold” | Balloon
I can’t resist drawing Stefan and Mikhail every chance I get. Those two deserve their own spin-off, even though they have had almost no on-screen time.
I love Percy’s cocky attitude in Panel 1. It’s not often one gets to stare down a missile and win. And hooray, some characters other than Jorocks and Percy get a shot at some glory! Remember that Chris does not know about Ichabod’s powers. This is also Chris’s 100th appearance, according to my cast page!
Matt is in a new costume; check back Saturday for a bonus sketchbook comic! Bonus points if you realize why he is the chief scientific advisor.
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Intermission
Refs: Roark | Mikhail and Stefan | Not being left behind | Monica
I was quite pleased with how this comic turned out, in terms of both dialogue and art. I even managed to make the Mulinix Hall nameplate visible!
Next week begins a new arc!
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Government Shutdown
Hey, look! A sketchbook that will make no sense in years to come to anyone who doesn’t remember history!
I try to keep Spoofy Randomness fairly non-political (with a few exceptions). However, I felt like John’s reaction to the shutdown could be amusing, then I realized the irony of his concern.
The goal of the sketchbook was to get more practice drawing Jorocks’s not amused face. I figure it’s something that will get some mileage in future story arcs. I made his legs FAR too long, however… He really is only a bit more than a head taller than John.
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Johnny Can’t Play The Fiddle
This is the comic that I mentioned on Twitter a while ago about how I was getting a real Lit Brick vibe from this script. While many comics make parodies of famous literature, it was the “Devil Went Down to Georgia” musical reference that really drove home the Lit Brick vibe. I threw that in there at first as a mildly funny joke, but then I realized while finishing up this comic that the main character in the song and our favorite Commie-hater share the same name. (Reference just in case no one has heard this song, or for those of you who now want to listen to it as a result of this comic).
Not to toot my own horn too much, but I felt that Panel 3 shows that I’m starting to get the hang of comedic timing. Also, Ichabod’s safety glasses were a last-minute addition that cracks me up. A white lab is really contrasting with John’s darkened house, but I tried to offset it by showing more window. Also, tried a new hairstyle for Nikki, as long hair and labs don’t mix. As one of my students eloquently put on their safety quiz: “Fire + Hair = No hair”
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Roark
In case it wasn’t clear, Roark is referring to the Pearl Harbor attacks in Panel 1. The Fountainhead came out in 1943. I was going to make the connection clearer, but this strip is wordy enough as it is. Anyway, yes, this explains the significance of the splash page (adapted from a Fountainhead cover). While I am writing this so that even if you haven’t read The Fountainhead you can follow along, there will be a few references. Mainly it is the presence of Roark, Ayn Rand’s hero in The Fountainhead. The tl;dr version of The Fountainhead is that Roark is what American values should be and is everything Communism isn’t.
I love Roark’s comeback in Panel 3. The encounter with the bunny is a reference to Sluggy Freelance’s ghost of Ayn Rand arc.
And yes, I abused copy/paste in this arc. I was fighting off a cold for most of last week and got behind in grading as I was trying new teaching styles (you know, my REAL job), so I had to push this one out faster than I would normally do. Back to the usual quality next week, though!
Stop laughing.
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Boo
Updated for eight straight days on top of school starting! It’s been awesome, but boy did I barely have the time to do that! I’m going to go enjoy my Labor Day weekend now!
John’s line in Panel 1 is a reference to the movie Clue. That movie cracks me up every time.
On a fun note, I got Katy Manning to retweet the comic! Score one for a “celebrity endorsement”! (She played Jo Grant, the Third Doctor’s companion and later appeared in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode Death of the Doctor.)
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Holly and Jorocks, Sitting in a Tree…
Ref: Started dating | Edona colors | Flowers, Band, and Awkward Percy | Sleigh
Holly was originally meant to be quite the bimbo foil for Percy when she was first created. She was actually lifted from a book series I once started writing, where the main character Matthias had a sister named Holly with a similar superficial personality. Oddly enough, Matthias was based somewhat on a Filipino friend of mine (who is NOT the same person Jorocks was originally modeled after). And yes, Jorocks is part Filipino. I’ve known that from very early on, but never saw cause to put it in the comic. Anyway, as the comic went on I found that Holly was getting pushed out of the main picture in favor of other storylines, but I kept her together with Jorocks if I needed a joke somewhere. After a while, I realized that if she remained so superficial, there was no way she would have stuck with him for this long, so I had two choices: end it, or take the opportunity for a bit of secondary character growth AND have an excuse to learn a little bit more about Jorocks! Huzzah!
John’s line in the last panel is to make up for the missed opportunity in From Russia With Love. Originally there was going to be a bit of comedic tension between Jorocks and John, but the arc was long enough as it was, so it got dropped.
This comic also is a reminder that the main cast–Percy, Jorocks, and Nikki (Chris is a year younger)–just finished their third year, despite the comic itself being four years old, mainly because that third year was sketchy at best when it came to updates.
