SINISTER MONSTER DOOM LEGION pt.12
In the original rough draft, the kidnapped scientist was just your typical nondescript old guy in a lab coat (your generic cartoon scientist). I decided to make things a tad more interesting and changed him to instead resemble my late grandfather. I normally try to avoid inside jokes as much as possible, since they can be irritating to readers, but this isn’t so much of an inside joke as it is giving a character some personality by basing him off of someone I know (Hellboy, allegedly, is modeled on Mike Mignola’s own father).
Well, that may not be entirely true: there is one joke here that makes more sense to me than it might to anyone else. My grandpa, while a short guy, was insanely strong. Whenever I used to greet him there would be a ‘handshake battle’ where he would try to get me to grip down on his hand as hard as I could, and every single time I couldn’t make him feel a thing. Then he would grip down on my puny artist paw as hard as he could and let out a mock yell (like in the cartoon above). It was all in good fun, although sometimes I wondered if he ever had the urge to just pull my arm right out of the socket. Ah, Grandpa. You are still remembered.
Say…did you hear someone mention an animated SCAPULA cartoon? Tune in next Sunday for an interesting development.
Animated Scapula? How about animating my idea so I don’t have to spend 3 months doing it?
Love how the good doc is based on your grandpa. When I drew Abe Vigoda it reminded me of my dad.
I love the fact that the scientist could hold his own (if only for a little while) with the bad guys! Nice way to break stereotype and it’s cool that he’s patterned after your grandfather. Nice work, Aidan! 😀
I kinda behave the same way when there’s a hot fudge sundae with my name on it. Just DO NOT get in my way, I’ll run you down! I’m also partial to movies that DO NOT contain Tom Cruise! I’d get along with this motley crew it seems!!
Love the uni-brow, we’ll all have one of those eventually! o.O
You always feature such amazing locations in your work Aidan (on top of all the other cool stuff)! I love the observatory (I wonder if they recite a lot of ‘I see London, I see France’ limericks there)?!
Great tribute to your grandfather as well, D.H. – very, very cool. 🙂
Love the 1st panel. I was in Oregon lately and noone told me about no Observatory.
Thanks for avoiding the usual puny scientist stereotype! And that was a nice story bout your grandpa. He must’ve been a real great dude.
Bring on the ‘toons! Let’s see some seriously animated Scapula action! Meanwhile, I’m goin’ for a root beer…Thomas Kemper style.
…and guy with gun wins again.
lab coats do not show weakness, they hide muscles!
@Bearman Man, Abe Vigoda would have been an awesome dad! He was my favorite in “The Godfather” (well, other than Lucca, but you sure as hell wouldn’t want THAT guy as a parental figure!). And, of course, he was also in “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm”, one of the best animated movies ever.
@George It’s up to us entertainers to break the old stereotypes…unless if they’re still funny. The “crabby schoolteacher” will work forever.
@jynksie Mmmmmm…fudge. And hey, this comic was posted on a Sundae! Huh? HUH?…aw, screw it.
Tom Cruise is still hiding in the closet, and not even Stan Marsh can get him out.
@SpilledInky Thank you, good sir. The observatory is fictional, so don’t go touring through the chilly Oregon mountains trying to find it….or maybe it’s a government secret?
@speearr Same thing above regarding the observatory.
Thank you, my friend. Grandpa was an extremely awesome guy, and I think he gave me a great appreciation for humor. Without him, I might be doing ‘soap opera’ comics.
@squidrowmama Brig is a real two-fisted (root beer) drinker! YEEAH!
“Animated Scapula”? Could it really happen? Well…guess you’ll all have to tune in Sunday and see.
@Evandenoob Isn’t that always the way? Especially here in Los Angeles.
@Roland Damn right! Look no further than Bruce Banner (or “David” Banner, whatever you want to call him).
Yeah, always watch out for the lab tech with the spanner. He’ll be the one with muscles under the lab coat. He hurt my Throggy! I didn’t know you had a grandfather. No wonder
It’s nice to hear that at least the monsters support our national rail transportation. Love that second to last panel btw!
@Jande As much as we all love Throgor, it’s also funny to see him suffer. That’s really the entire appeal of SCAPULA (not to mention a number of other cartoons…would people really give a damn about Loony Toons or Tom & Jerry if they weren’t killing each other in every episode?).
@Nate Fakes I take the Amtrak whenever I need to go long distances (such as Portland), not only because it’s a helluva lot cheaper than flying but also far less hassle and stress…usually.
As is the rule of any public transportation, make sure you don’t get stuck next to someone who’s going to annoy the living hell out of you. On my way back from Portland I was seated next to a big fat guy who told a very long story about not seeing his daughter for twenty years, cried loudly, then promptly fell asleep and nearly rolled on top of me. Fun memories.
@Dadahyena Yeah, I know that Aidan, I’m just hamming it up. <3 lol Oh, yeah, trains –in winter, take a blanket, they don't heat the cars.
Man, I’m way behind on my comic reading again. I gotta catch up soon. I agree, though, root beer floats wait for no one, in my opinion, when I crave them.
@Jande Ohhh, playing mindgames, eh?!
I don’t remember if the train was cold, namely because the guy sitting next to me had such horrible B.O. (you could melt diamonds with it).
@Dan Long Don’t worry, you can always catch the “30 Seconds with Bunnies” version of this storyline! Thumbs up on the Root Beer Floats…damn, I wish there was an A&W around here.
@DadaHyena: Lol soap opera comics. Any particular examples?
@speearr Hmmmmmm….ummmmm…daaaaaauuuhhhh…”Life in Hell”.
Sorry, my mind went blank.
Soap opera strips: Mary Worth? Prince Valliant? Mary Worth was a complete waste of strip space. IS a waste–I think it’s still running. Lol
Mind games? –I suspect one would need a mind for that kind of thing. But I’ll check in my skeleton closet when I get a moment of free time. :’o