Well Hello, Agent Gresham.

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Enter Agent Clay.

I knew the gist of what was going to be said on this panel, but still, there were surprises.  The nose whistling, for instance.  I had no idea that was going to be there until I started writing.  I tend to think out the next few panels image first in my head when I'm writing, come up with the general subject matter for the text, and then get the specifics when I'm actually laying the text down.  Gresham is my wife's maiden name, by the way.

So, in this panel, we find out that Clay works for the CIA and has spent time in Korea, which ended in the previous year, 1953.  I doubt very much that he was doing front line fighting, so what was he doing over there, hmm?  And what the heck is at his front window?

We'll find out!

-Dave

Virginia - 4 Days Later

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Answer.

The.

Phone.

So, here's Agent Clay, not answering the phone.  I considered skipping over this panel entirely and going right to him picking up....but I felt that seeing him there NOT answering the phone on the first (or second, or third) ring was important.  It tells you something about Clay....important things.  First of all, it's after 1:00 a.m. and he's obviously been up...a cigarette is in his hand.  A wedding picture, and what could be a family picture are by the bed, and he doesn't seem in a hurry to answer a phone call that late at night.

Obviously, Clay has problems.  Too bad for him, more are coming.

Pick up the phone, Clay.

Oh, hey, for those of you who are just tuning in and want to see the whole thing from the beginning without chasing through all these blog posts, you can click on the "Doc Monster" banner on the side -------->

It will take you to a slide show where you can view them all.  Enjoy!

-Dave

Merry Christmas from the Legion of Atomic Supermen!

Dang ants get into everything, don't they? :)
I hope they don't spoil your fun....have a wonderful holiday!
-Dave

RRRRRIIIIINNNNGGG!

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Thus begins Chapter 2.  I'm very much enjoying my break from my dayjob (we are on a 2 week holiday break)...it gives me time to work on the comic AND play Fallout 3! :)  I hope you're all getting ready for a very fine Christmas and New Year celebration.  I have some art to do for a present, and a Doc Monster commission to complete...but I'm hoping to get one more update in before the weekend.  Keep your fingers crossed!

If I don't manage to talk to you before, thanks for coming along on the road with me and Doc, and best wishes for you and your family as a new year shines ahead of us!

All the best,

-Dave

Monsters

Liz! Oh Baby, No!!

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Not a very happy ending for the Scooby gang, eh?  I think I missed the Scooby-doo episode where Daphne was carried off by one of the monsters and never seen again.  This must have been what it was like! :)

I thought this particular scene merited a double-panel shot.  I know that the action and balloons are clustered around the car, but that's exactly the effect I wanted this shot to have....a feeling of smallness and isolation.  In this shot, you really get the point that these kids are all alone out there with....the thing.

*shiver*

I think that it's this particular thing that really makes me dig horror scenes in rural areas...they're pretty isolated to start off with...and who the heck knows that old Mr. Gellman has stashed out back in the barn, or what that thing was that was standing in the shadows as we drove by that old house?

We'll leave the kids here to fend for themselves for a bit.  I can promise we'll see them again, but I think it's time we shifted to our heroes and how they get wrapped up in this unlucky situation....

More soon,

-Dave

Can't We Just -

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Liz!!

Well, I'm back!

I did wind up having to buy a new monitor, but the big slow-down with this panel was getting it so I was satisfied enough to put it up.  I mentioned earlier that I redrew the entire panel, which killed an entire afternoon, but I also did a complete re-design of umm...one of our bad guys.  I'm much happier with both the bad guy AND this panel, so it all worked out for the best.

I wanted to give the sensation of a "whipping" feeling as Liz is pulled back into darkness.  This panel is an example of when the finished piece looks substantially different from the "core" artwork.  Liz is lots more enveloped by blacks in the finished piece, which I think is an improvement.

Doc has been getting some pretty nice reviews of late!

Nate Sullivan, creator of the webcomic ATHRA had a very eloquent review of his (and my) hopes for Doc.

Simon Whitelaw (isn't that a cool name?) has done his own review/love letter to Doc, AND posted the entire 8-page introduction to Shadow of the Skies that appeared on ZUDA comics!

Thanks to both of you!

More soon,

-Dave

PLEASE STAND BY...

Sorry for the slow-down of posts.  I had hoped to have one up for you today, but after putting 4 hours into the thing....I hated it.  I didn't hate ALL of it, but I didn't feel like it was doing the story justice, so I decided to start over with the panel.  Of course, the story is going to be better for such decisions, but I hate not having an update for you guys.

AND, my computer is having issues with the monitor.  I did some driver updates over the weekend, and I think I may have junked something up.  I'll be working tonight to see if I can fix it.  I'm pretty handy with these things, so keep your fingers crossed that I can be back online soon.

We don't want to leave those poor kids in a lurch!

-Dave

Hang on, cats! I'm gonna floor it!

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I'll spoil it for you.  They get to the top of the ridge.

Oh wait.  Something horrible happens before that, though.  Heh, heh, heh.....  And I don't know about you, but Judy is worrying me.  Sit down, Judy!

Poor kids.

Hey, I don't know if you saw my twitter post, but I took a quick photo of what this whole thing looks like in progress.  Here it is:

Pretty messy, eh?  I get markers all over everything.

I have been happy that I've been able to update so often, but you'll notice that the background in this latest one is pretty sparce.  Hard to do detail and show lots of motion.  Less detail means faster posts.  We'll see how the pace is as we go along.  So far, I'm having a blast!

More soon!

-Dave



Oh my God! I-It's THERE!

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"I'm Batman!"

No..no...sorry about that. :)  I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out....I worked extra hard on our "Mothman" critter back there.  I wanted it to seem alien and menacing and still kind of...moth-like.  A tough combination to do.  I do think that if I was driving along a deserted back road at night and saw something like that in my rear-view mirror, I'd hit the gas!

It's a tricky thing to know when to throw in the monster.  Too soon, and you don't have time to empathize with the characters...too late and the reader gets bored.  The timing is especially tough in a webcomic like this when I can update only every other day at best.  I try to pay special attention to it.  Alex Toth once gave advice on art to "simplify, simplify, simplify!" and that works for story as well.  I try not to show or tell anything that doesn't further the story in some way.

Sometimes, I actually manage to do a good job.  Other times...not so much.

More soon!

What if they don't believe us, Rick?

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We get a better look at the kids and their hot-rod in this panel.  Just a pair of young couples out for a double-date perhaps?  The girls are wearing Rick and Al's high-school jackets.  Would have probably been a nice scene if not for that "Crazy Bird" that Al mentions.  We'll get a look at that "bird" next time!

The inspiration for this scene comes from a first encounter with the "Mothman" creature as described in "The Mothman Prophecies" written by John Keel.  The Mothman appeared in conjunction with UFO sightings in Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960's.  Point Pleasant is about 2 1/2 hours from where I am right now, and the stories have a great, isolated, rural horror feel that I really enjoy.  I need to go there soon for a visit!

Oh hey, I've also added lots of Ghost Zero content that I've had up on the web AND some which has only been seen before in print!  Click on the GHOST ZERO banner on the right to see em! ---------->

Just curious...any of you out there ever seen something you thought was a UFO?

-Dave

Liz, do you see anything?

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Here we have panel 2 of DOC MONSTER in SHADOW OF THE SKIES!  T-buckets are symbolic of a part of the 1950's...the whole "Hot Rod" scene...and I wanted to include one in the beginning of the strip.  I really liked the way this turned out.  I really enjoy the tail lights in particular, and I'm pretty satisfied with the feeling of motion in the pic.  I remember riding at night along some Kentucky back road when I was a kid and hanging my head out of the window into the warm, summer night.....the picture above is how it felt.

Minus the looming menace, of course! :)

More soon!