Search the Community

TheHeroesOfCRASH.com Here’s some chibi-style heroes to recognize MaroonDrops’ winning entry in the Generated Fan Art category! MaroonDrops won the Traditional category last year, and was thus ineligible to win in the same category for a second year in a row, but that didn’t stop her from creating a winning entry in the Generated category! I could be wrong, but she may be the first person to win both categories back-to-back…! I also want to give a shout-out to the runner up, TheSlugCar, who always enters at least one category each year. This year, they turned the staff of C.R.A.S.H. into South Park characters! I don’t think that they’ll intimidate any supervillains in that form… except maybe crab people…! Many thanks to MaroonDrops, TheSlugCar, and everyone else who entered my contest or wished me well on my birthday! :-)

theheroesofcrash.com I've been working really hard at trying to improve my comic's art and writing, whether it's been working on anatomy, perspective, punchlines, or character development. However, today's strip reminded me that sometimes, you need to throw some of those things out the window. If you haven't read today's comic, please do so before continuing with this commentary. You finished reading it? Good. This strip, in many ways, does not make sense. Take panel #2: I agonized over this panel SO MUCH, trying to get the perspective just right. I drew and redrew it. At one point, the table was in the panel. However, when I couldn't get it to look right, I decided to go with Disney's concept of "the plausible impossible" - little tricks that break the laws of physics, but seem fine to the viewer (such as the fact that Mickey's ears only change angles - never appear flat - when his head is viewed from the side, or how Jiminy Cricket shrinks - unnoticed by the viewing audience - throughout a scene in Pinnocchio in order to fit inside a padlock). The table in panel #2 should be visible from this angle, but it's not. But the image makes sense to the viewer anyway. Sometimes aesthetics trump realism. Second, why is Klawroc asking such esoteric questions? The answer is simply, "Who cares?". Clearly, all these random subjects must have been covered in a previous class, but what goat webs and lasers have to do with one another is anyone's guess. But I hope you enjoyed some random science trivia! Also, I totally ignored my new model sheets for Cannon in this strip, and I think he looks better this way. I may need to update those model sheets.

www.theheroesofcrash.com If that exclamation in the last panel came from anyone but Belt Boy, you'd think it was sarcasm. I love it when Belt Boy makes superhero-related exclamations, like "By Superman's Leotard!" back in comic #105. Professor Klawroc is back! You may have noticed that he doesn't have his scimage staff; I assure you, he's got access to it whenever he wants. Magic, and all that. Realistically, in those last two panels, Klawroc's head shouldn't come up past Belt Boy's chest, but I'm employing the same suspension of disbelief that the Muppets use. They're always taller when their legs are off-screen. Otherwise, it'd be a lot more difficult for them to talk to people face-to-face, drive a car, etc.

If you thought that my comic was gonna be less toony when I adjusted my artistic style, I hope that panel 3 has convinced you otherwise. If panel 4 seems uncharacteristically obnoxious for Belt Boy, this strip's title should explain where he picked up this "negotiation technique". I felt it necessary to explain this in the title - which is the only reason I didn't go with the much catchier alternative title: "Drop, Pop, and Roll". Don't forget, you still have two weeks and one month to enter my totally awesome fan art contest! The contest ends on my birthday - May 19th - so be sure to enter by then. Fan art is one of my favorite presents to get! :-)