THE TRIP page three

Now the story really starts to get going with the pop culture references. Alright let's do this by panel.

PANEL ONE: On the far left is some super hero chick walking along with a red Hulk-like character. I don't really get to draw super hero chicks or Hulk-like characters enough so it's fun to bust out of my purple pants every now and then and just let my inner nerd hang out. God, that really sounded far more wrong than I intended. Just take that at face value, ok?

Foz called for a Mario-like character climbing out of a Mario-like pipe. By getting rid of the moustache, it made my copyright avoidance job a lot easier. But with the side burns and the tuft of hair out the top of his head he looks like a little Elvis. Man, that would be a surreal game. Playing a mini Elvis collecting peanut butter sandwiches and cadillacs while kicking the heads of screaming fans with blue suede shoes.

To the right is my take of a Storm Trooper sitting on one of those huge lizard things. I forget their names. No, I'm not pretending that I forgot their name to make it seem like I'm a less of a nerd, I actually forgot their name. The way Annette colored him though, he looks a bit like a Halo dude. So I like the color choices even more.

The most fun reference was having Spock standing there. I just thought it would be too fun having Zachary Quinto as Mr Spock standing there. I'm sure Hiro would have been really confused when he went to see the new Star Trek. He would have been like, "Sylar! Billain!" But he's probably a bit too far away for you to fully make him out.

But then, Hiro was probably even more confused when he went to see GET SMART when he saw himself up there.

PANEL TWO: That chick isn't meant to be anyone other than a princess. She looks less than totally princess-like. I should have made her look more innocent by making her eyes larger or something.

PANEL THREE: That dog is just some random dog. I was going to use Star, Ollie and Abby's dog but it occurred to me too late, damnit.

PANEL FOUR: Nobody is anybody here. I think the dog is based on a photo that Foz sent me in. He wanted me to use that dog for the missing dog poster but I couldn't find anymore reference to draw it in the proceeding pages. It's funny, the panel with the least "bang" in terms of references took me the longest in terms of time. That mall... took a while. Those palm trees drove me quietly crazy too.

PANEL FIVE: Again, no references here. Just a lovely little garden. I enjoyed the silhouettes and as a design I think it worked out really well.

PANEL SIX: The butterfly has turned into the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, or a homage to them at least. Linkie here for reference:

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Rescue-Rangers-tv-03.jpg

OVERALL: I'm especially happy with the art and the flipped panels from Hiro-vision to normal. I wanted to lay it out so when you went back and forth it was logical and you wouldn't get lost, even when the colors are all relatively normal. Annette and I agreed to return to a less-saturated palette here so you could get the color gags. Ie. the super hero lady in purple is a middle aged lady in purple. And the Red Hulk creature is really some Floridian dude in sandals and socks.

My next story 166 - 1963, drawn and colored by me and written by Howie Kaplan is up. I'm gonna try and punch through these and catch up by the time 167 goes live.

Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, I got engaged to Heather on Valentine's day. So it's not like I've been sitting around not-blogging and wasting my time or anything. =)