SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLES FEATURE pt.19
The fate of Jemini’s duplicate has one of those “you got what you deserve” endings so common to cartoons; it may feel kind of cliché, but I still like it. We still have one more loose end to tie up, so be here next Sunday for the grand finale to SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLES FEATURE.
Comikaze Recap Time! This was, without a doubt, the best convention show I’ve ever had. Sharing a table with Jim Smith (co-creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show) was a supreme honor; he’s an extremely cool guy who regaled everyone with stories about the history of making the series. People got a chance to see original animation cels and artwork, and Jim sketched the classic characters for some of the lucky fans.
Not that I was sitting there the whole time awe-struck (although there was a tad of that). I would like to give a huge, sincere thanks to all of the great many people who bought prints, books, and had their lovely selves caricatured. It was a wonderful, busy, exciting convention and I’m so happy to be a cartoonist.
And maybe just some shades of Stephen King’s “Misery” thrown in there for Clone-Jemini?
Can’t hurt you keep getting teamed up with the big guns. Glad you had a good show. We want to see your caricatures.
I guess Toxsick’s biggest advantage can be his ability to lie through his teeth without even breaking his unflappable demeanor. Not many people think to doubt men like that who can seemingly keep a cool head about everything.
Still, bombing the building probably wasn’t something he did on Jemini’s orders. What ‘grand plan’ could she have had in mass-producing clones, only to blow them all along with a city building? So the question now is – why exactly did he do it? Toxsick doesn’t seem the type to get into anti-cloning zealotry (if he knew about it, he’d probably just shrug and say ‘whatever’).
Scap also seems to have gained a little wisdom, although I can only see his ‘last stand’ stuffing up spectacularly and all the other villains bailing out on him. Or might he perhaps manage to get something meaningful done? Only time will tell.
Also, it looks like Jem-clone will keep Knuckles Sam occupied for a while until her hugging snaps her in two. It ain’t cliche, in fact I’d say probably no-one saw that ‘just-desserts-villain’ ending coming. Well done, mate.
Hmmm, thinking about all the villains, we’ve seen brutes (Sam and Throgor), tricksters (Dadaman and Hypnausea), weapon-specialists (Toxsick, Zodi Jr, and Seal Sakuro), mad scientists (Mira), and masterminds (Jemini, Dugong, and DEHDman).
But all through Scapula, we haven’t seen the kind of supervillain who has the MO of ‘shadow’: the unseen sneaker and butt-grabber. Do you have a character like that in your imagination somewhere?
haha poor jemini dupe. bet she wishes she was part of the 700 mira group
and now you know kids …living isn’t always the best option… that was my dark message for a day
P.S frogwizzard *forgot his name* is looking forward to some action i mean look at that face! says it all
I’m weird, but I love it when bad guys discuss stuff behind-the-scenes. This was one of my favorite episodes (like when the Hobgoblin would stop by the Rose’s penthouse to chew the fat before the next killing spree).
And what I would do to be the inside of that thick lady-sandwich. 😀
@Hoomi As long as she doesn’t shake a jar of pee around (or, y’know, break any legs). Ah, Kathy Bates: she makes obsessed psychotics seem so adorable!
@Bearman Didn’t save any images of the customer caricatures I did, sorry to say. I know a lot of artists at cons who actually bring along scanners to save copies of commissions they make for fans, but that requires lugging around a lot of expensive equipment. Or I could just get on of them magical iPhones with them thar picture-dealies.
@Treike It’s times like this where I guess I didn’t make things clear in the writing; I hate having to explain myself because it means I haven’t done my job as a storyteller. But anyway, here it goes: Toxsick was not acting under Jemini’s orders. He wanted revenge on her when she no longer had use for him and ordered him killed. He’s only partially lying to Scapula, covering up the parts about his voluntary involvement with Jemini.
But seriously, it’s fine when readers question the story. Keeping me on my toes is a big part of making me an active, improving storyteller, which is why I love having the comments section for people to throw in their thoughts. Give me hell, people! Question me about why Darkevilhelldeath-Man was a green sock instead of an orange one! Why does Jemini have two heads instead of five?
Thank you for your input, and as for that unseen villain, I should really make a bad guy named Butt-Grabber. That’s just too awesome!
@BarbaricBob the First Decide for yourself, folks: smashed to death by burning debris or by giant lesbian boobs? Think it over carefully.
@BarbaricBob the Second Flippy has probably seen plenty of this sort of thing many times in Knuckle Sam’s bedroom. Funny how he seems much more interested now…
@George I much more enjoy seeing villains just shooting the sh*t instead of fighting it out. ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ had a marvelous episode, “Almost Got ‘Im”, which was exactly that: just a bunch of bad guys playing cards, telling stories, and snapping at one another. Great stuff.
There have been many Hobgoblins, and most of them seem to appreciate some sick sense of humor. The most recent one had some really funny repertoire with the Kingpin when ‘applying’ for a job as his right-hand man.
I was looking at the cute love between Jemmy & Miss Sam … Then a question came naturally to my mind: are you for or against gay marriage ?
Is it me? … or did Sam get her hair done? Ah, young love….
I agree with George. The thing I really love about this comic is that it’s mostly about the personal lives of the characters. That’s more interesting than the actual diabolical plots (though you DO do excellent diabolical plots, DH 🙂
*goes back to staring at Sam’s boobs* O.o
Ain’t no donut like a Chinatown donut. Must be all that MSG.
I suppose I never viewed Jemini as full-figured, given that the manifestation of her conjoined(?) nature could easily cause thickness via organ and bone hedging; I imagine her spine looks like a “Y.” On the other hand, the lack of traditional fictional multi-headed individual personality development sort of implies she’s simply multi-brained rather than multi-minded, possibly with a sort of directing overmind. On the third hand, both heads could just be sensory appendages while she has her brain in her chest cavity; certainly enough room in there.
I’m also surprised Hypnausea was allowed payrole. Did he plead coercion by threat of Lazorz?
Final note, glad to see Scap’s hat and coat are still around. Their appearance always seems to signal a dramatic shift in our favorite perennial loser, be it through introspection or an upgrade in seriousness, however temporary.
@mehdi If it’s the marriage between a giant biker woman and a two-headed test-tube duplicate…then Fred Phelps would hit the roof.
@SquidRowMommy Her hair looks a little tussled. She probably just stepped out of the shower (she must have gotten dirty at ground zero).
Young love, indeed! But will it last? That is to say, will the Jemini dupe survive?
@Longtail It’s a lot easier to build character personalities with the traditional comic strip format than it is to do action scenes. SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLES FEATURE has largely been an experiment in trying to incorporate action into the stories, but in the end it really is about character interaction and development. I’d even go so far as to say that this page, with donut-munching and shop talk, might even be more engaging than the huge battle scenes with crowds of duplicates (although I worked hard on those, too!).
Proceed with your staring. Enlarge the image until it fills your screen!
@Reikenbach The thickness of Jemini’s body (or, to be more accurate, bodies) all depends on how closely the two twins that comprise “Jemini” are joined. Traditional conjoined twins are usually only connected by flesh (tissue, organs, it depends); polycephaly is a more closer fusion of twins, so it’s a little harder to tell. In the case of Jemini I’m going to guess that each twin has their own set of organs, rib cages and probably even separate spines; I’ve tried to research dicephaly cases in human beings, and man…I am no doctor, that’s for sure.
[Incidentally, the notion of the Jemini twins believing they are one person is NOT a symptom of polycephaly. In Jemini’s case the twins are a bit paranoid and delusional.]
Hypnausea can be persuasive. He may have been part of a terrorist group that caused millions, maybe billions, of dollars of property damage to San Francisco…but a quick handjob to the governor probably spared him some hard time. Moving on…
Nice notice of the ‘hat/coat = dramatic moment’. I swear, you readers notice things I never even consider (or maybe I’m just that transparent…crap, I better go hide my piggy bank).
Is it me, or is Toxsick pretty much the closest thing Scapula has to an actual friend? He has no problem hanging out with the guy, actually defends him somewhat to Jemini, puts up with his schemes with a shrug, and buys the donuts. And I don’t recall Scapula ever bashing him like he has every other villain.
“Those who are strongest are strongest alone, and fill a lonely grave. Those who live longest know of their friends, and who their back will save.” To quote a certain someone.
Love the brooding late night cafe scene, Mr. C…
it’s kinda like Scapula meets Edward Hopper…
🙂
I wonder if that donut shop is anywhere near the diner where Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and James Dean hang out?
@LadyJenn True that, but also keep in mind he was slipping information to Jemini for quite some time and just outright lied to Scap’s face about it. I guess TToxsick is willing to hang out with him and munch donuts, but when there’s a lady calling he knows where his priorities are!
@SpilledInky Except, y’know, Hopper would have actually made the art look good, AND probably get it in a gallery somewhere!
@JerryBenedict If dead celebrities rise from their graves to go get donuts it’s best to stay out of their way (especially Elvis).
Scapula having a good idea? Gasp! It can’t be!
@ToCoWu There’s having a good idea, and then there’s successfully pulling it off. We’ll see how far Scap gets!
Why do I have the feeling that Scap’s “big thinking” is going to end up in yet another monumental disaster? When will Mira get Narcissistic Personality Disorder treatment? And what is Knucles Sam serving, chicken soup for the soulless?
Contradicting an earlier statement I made, Scapula has one or two others who act relatively congenial toward him. Rizz comes to mind.
@MarkStokes To answer your inquiries, 1) Probably, 2) Never (not one of her would do it), and 3) Correct. It’s soup made out of soulless chickens (that’s what happens when you turn your back to Jesus, chickens!).
@Reikenbach That’s right. Rizz is friendly to Scap, as long as he keeps his hands to himself, doesn’t hit on her and remembers to tip. Otherwise he’s dead meat.
I almost considered mentioning the hippies as well; sure, they were high at the time, but Hypnausea’s likely (sky) high most of the time, too, and still can’t stand Scap. But then I remembered they were dirty, filthy hippies.
Incidentally, is Toxsick’s brush with Jemini’s goons an illustrated moment? I went back through the archives trying to find it, but to no avail.
scapula has the brooding face of a batman but the fighting skills of a weenie he should travel around the world and learn some actual skills or atleast buy a gun
I can’t believe how many of these I’ve missed. Where has the time gone? O.o
So what happened to our anti-anti-hero?
@Reikenbach Hippies…nasty, smug, stoned hippies! Arrrrrgh! (does anyone remember John Cleese screaming about communists at the end of the Monty Python sketch “Bicycle Repair Man”?).
Regarding Tox killing Jem’s assassins, it probably happened, albeit off-panel (sorry to make you sift through those dusty old archives). He’s pretty bitter about the whole thing, hence his recent demolition work.
@BarbaricBob He could do that…but that would take actual effort, which is beyond his capabilities. Success will fall right into his lap someday, wait and see.
@Jande Remember when you got sick back in school and you had to do ‘make-up assignments’ when you got back? I hated that. Well, your make-up assignment is to go back and read all the crap I post!
Regarding the anti-anti-hero…I don’t know who that is. Inverto? We’ll find out what happened to him next Sunday.
In defense of my earlier point, he was more or less ratting out on D.E.H.D.man. And of course he lied……. he IS a villain who probably made a lot of cash in the process AND slept with the gal who Scap can’t stand. Guys do that all the time, why shouldn’t he?
Not saying Toxsick would take a bullet for Scap (who would besides me?), but he definately strikes me as the ‘here’s five bucks, don’t worry about paying it back’ kind of pal.
@LadyJenn That makes sense. The funny thing about these villains, not just mine but in a lot of Marvel/DC comics, is how often they are unspoken friends or colleagues (see my earlier reference to the “Almost Got ‘Im” episode of Batman). It’s sort of like that comradery that exists in the workplace; you can sometimes feel close to people in the office you never talk to, just because you’re all working for the same jerk in charge.
Toxsick, Throgor and Hypnausea would probably never say anything positive about Scapula, but they sure seem to end up hanging out with him a lot. Hey, it’s not like the other ambitious criminals are hiring costumed weirdos and deformed freaks.
Say, speaking of costumed weirdos, I don’t believe we’ve seen a costumed weirdo fighting for idealism. Suppose it’s because, in this world, being a beacon of light gets you shot.
Also, I believe the nicest thing Toxsick ever said about Scap was that he “isn’t such a bad guy, most of the time” or similar. By itself, that’s not much, but compared to all the crap Scapula takes from just about everyone, deserved or not, it’s downright warm and fuzzy.
‘course, maybe I just like Toxsick ’cause he wears a Smurf cap (it was white originally!)
You know what they say, the best friends you have are the ones who pick on you. And let’s face it, most of these goons would be stunned to heart failure if ANYONE called them a friend.
Speaking of these goons, any particular one I should be bugging Trevie to give up his writeup of?
So the duplicate Jemini survived, huh? That sounds like it could lead to a future plot development where the two Jemini’s run into each other.
And don’t worry about your piggy bank. We know where you hid it, but we sent Scap to retrieve it! Because none of us could be bothered to nab your Sacajawea dollars, state quarters, and those darned Canadian pennies you’ve been mysteriously hanging on to for some reason.
@Reikenbach For some reason ‘idealism’ always makes me think of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. I have nothing against Rand (she makes some good points, and some not-good-at-all points); my whole notice of her in the first place comes from my favorite comic book artist, Steve Ditko.
Although mostly known for creating Spider-Man, Ditko went on to create a slew of Objectivist super-heroes (such as the Question and Mr. A), who were intensely, almost insanely, committed to their rigid code of morals and justice, and often enforced them with murdering criminals. It’s all too easy to turn a character like Mr. A into a border-line villain; in fact, Alan Moore did just that with Rorschach from ‘Watchmen’.
Where am I going with this? The answer is I had planned for a Mr. A-type of parody myself until I noticed it was pretty much already being done by Marvel. After the Spider-Man movies were released and Ditko’s name became popular again, a few of Marvel writers caught wind of his philosophy and began to use it in Spider-Man stories, as either parody or distant disapproval. One example was a character named the Extremist, whose costume was patterned after the ‘Black-White’ calling card of Mr. A, who believed there was ‘no gray area’ for justice. Not surprisingly, the Extremist was a villain (although you could call him an anti-hero or vigilante), with little or no redeeming qualities.
Whew…that was a lot, right? Long story short, I may return to this idea someday, but only if I can find something original to bring to the table. Otherwise all I’m doing is making another Rorschach clone, and we have enough of those.
@LadyJenn Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…as long as they don’t smell awful. That’s why Scap doesn’t hang around Babirus much.
Let Trevie choose! I liked his last diagnosis a lot. As long as we’re on the subject of choice, let him have fun with interpreting the weird stuff I make up. You readers always seem to notice a lot more than I do, so share your thoughts.
@macsnafu Ha! Shows what you know! My piggy bank is full of PORN! Lots and lots and lots of porn!…no, wait, I meant corn. It’s full of corn! Really!
Great, now I need to go say some Hail Mary’s on my rosary…
I’m saving the Canadian pennies to throw off a tall building and make a hole in the concrete…only it will be a hole in the shape of a maple leaf, I presume.
I love Steve Ditko! I’ve even got an early edition of that polemic “Avenging World”. But my favorite Ditko work is his Shade, The Changing Man. Great plotting, Interesting concept, strange villains, and of course, wonderful artwork. A shame Ditko didn’t get to finish the dangling storyline.
I remember hearing from a professor who taught a class on graphic novels that Rorshach was just an expy for The Question, as DC barred Moore from using their preexisting characters in a script that would essentially end their heroics and tarnish their image. Superman for Dr. Manhattan, Batman for Owlman, yadda yadda.
Not sure where I was going with this. Anyway, by Idealism I meant what is traditionally thought of as Good. Cape, opera mask, powerful chin/huge tracts of land and underwear on the outside. Perhaps Altruism would be a better word; Good is too abstract and relative a concept, I feel. For all the various costumed weirdoes, we haven’t seen one in primary colors variety.
@macsnafu I would really like to read Shade; that’s one of Ditko’s creations I’ve never gotten around to even flipping through. I think Vertigo revamped the character, but, knowing Vertigo, it’s probably nothing at all like the original.
@Reikenbach You’re halfway there; DC had picked up ownership of characters created by an old company called Charlton comics, whom Ditko had worked for. Dr. Manhattan came from Captain Atom, Nite Owl was Blue Beetle, and, of course, Rorschach was directly based on the Question. I’m not sure what the direct reason was regarding not using the Charlton characters, but in the end it was probably a wise decision to just go with “original” characters.
Owlman. Derp. Take a class, study the book for weeks, write three papers on it, see the (disappointing) film and I still can’t not think of Nite Owl as Owlman due to seeing DC’s evil-twin-Batman first. Captain Atom does make more sense (INFINITE POWER), though he thankfully has the decency to wear pants while he’s playing god. I’d completely forgotten about the original Blue Beetle.
Probably posting more here than conscience should allow, but old Mr. Mandarin decided to surface in my mind long enough to tell me that those first two characters on the window mean ‘sweet,’ emphasized by doubling. What’s the third character?
@Reikenbach That is a mystery only Google Translator knows, since I’ve already forgotten what those Chinese characters mean! I guess the secret is safe with my piggy bank full of…corn.
I might take that Zack Snyder film more seriously if they re-edit it to focus less on gratuitous male nudity (who co-directed this, Joel Schumacher?!) and more giant killer monster octopus.
/…giant killer monster octopus…/
Sooo…more gratuitous female nudity?
The back issues of Shade used to be pretty cheap, but DC just put out a Ditko Omnibus including the Shade issues:
http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Ditko-Omnibus-Vol/dp/140123111X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321651202&sr=8-2
Peter Milligan’s version of Shade on the Vertigo title was so different (and to me, disappointing) that I wrote in and told them to stop crediting Ditko with creating it. And, in fact, I believe they changed it to “inspired by” or “based upon” instead.
As for the Charlton characters, DC was originally planning to use the characters in their own comics, and there was a planned comic that would have put them all together as a team, but that comic fell through. DC thought that Watchmen would have altered the characters too much for their plans. So Moore created the analogs. Beside the Ditko characters, I really liked Pete Morisi’s Thunderbolt, and had high hopes that were once again dashed when DC’s Thunderbolt came out.
This weeks strip looks great. I’m a fan of cleavage and you draw it well sir. I’d also love to hear some of these Ren and Stimpy stories Jim Smith shared with you.
@Reikenbach Gratuitous octopus nudity, sure! Yowza.
@macsnafu I read about that, too. Thunderbolt was apparently scrapped when the character’s original creator died and some sort of rights issue came into play (odd, since so few superhero creators ever own the rights to their characters). I’m not sure about the details, but you can probably read about it on-line.
Watchmen probably would have been hurt if readers were ‘required’ to go back and know about the characters beforehand. I think a lot of Watchmen’s strength is that it is a self-contained story, with no prequels or sequels to tamper with it.
I think I saw that Shade collection; there has been a sudden spike in Ditko awareness recently, and numerous hardcover collections of his work have been springing off of the comics shelves. The Creeper looked like fun.
@MortJMoose For Ren and Stimpy stories it’s best to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth (“No, sir, I don’t like it!”); both John Kricfalusi and Jim Smith have blogs of their own which talk about the history of cartoons (not just Ren & Stimpy), so give them a peek:
http://www.jimsmithcartoons.blogspot.com/
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/
Awesome. Thanks for the info.
Seriously, you have probably the most entertaining fanbase around hun, hehehehehehehe. I love the comments section almost as much as the comic.
…. I’m sorry, the second to last panel has distracted me from the content going on around it! .. say WHAT now?!? [glares]
No better place to hatch a plan than at a bakery/donut shop. I love the way you do all your dark scenes. I’ve been trying to get the hang of it for an underground series but without much success.
@LadyJenn Looney comics attracts looney readers! Simple as that.
@jynksie I know where your priorities are. Just zoom in on the image until it fills your monitor and enjoy the show!
@TonyMcGurk It takes work, because if things get too muddy you wont be able to see what’s going on (or you could use the old cartoon shortcut of a pure-black room with only the characters’ eyes showing). Just practice some light-and-shadow inking/coloring techniques and you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
oh man… that second to last panel is fantastic, hahaha
@Ash Awwww. She is rather grand, ain’t she?
Great strip. The last four panels have a “Mysery” feel to it for sure.
Sorry I could not make it to Comikaze. Sounds like it was a great success.
I came back to this one to check something & I just noticed Toxsick’s comment about the puppet thing. Darkevilhelldeath-Man is behind all this???
Whoa, is this ever a late reply!
No, Toxsick was referring to events in SINISTER MONSTER DOOM LEGION.