Jet Packs and Time Machines – The Best Semi Sci Fi Comic Strip Out There.
The semi-sci fi comic of the future… sort of.
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At risk of embarrassment, I have to say I don’t get it.
I like the legs-wheeling running effect, but the last panel is throwing me. Is that thing over Grampa’s head a chainsaw cutting through something?
Oh, come on, me! (pd guy)! Grandpa’s asleep! The chainsaw in the log as a deep and witty, and long-accepted, metaphor for loud snoring (would usually be a saw, but we are talking technology here). Fractal, hovering overhead, is monitoring the boys’ plight and is requesting instructions, but Grandpa is blissfully unaware of the unfolding drama, despite his mightly control of tech. Therein lies the irony.
I must admit, I had to look long and hard before I worked it out myself on the third read through (third time’s the charm, they say). But I like it, Jim.
Do super villians actually sleep? I thought they just took massive doses of multivitamin and caffeine tablets. Though Gandpa IS retired, of course. Hang on, do super villians actually retire?
Thanks, Doug. As I said, I posted with risk of embarrassment. Sawing wood, snoring, I get it. Asleep at the proverbial wheel, as it were. Hey, it’s Monday and I’m hopped up on Zycam. Whaddya want?
@Me!: Don’t worry about that… it happens. This one was a struggle for me, and I suppose you could say I over drew this one a bit.
@Doug: Three times you had to read it? Darn. What was throwing you off, was it all the artwork? Was the chainsaw unclear? (Obviously it was if me! didn’t see it…)
Oh well, this was my first attempt at a no dialog strip (I added the countermeasures line after the fact.) and it’s tricky. Something I have to work on.
Perhaps the most unclear thing is Grampa’s pose. It looked to me that he was looking closely at the monitor with the countermeasures suggestion, althought I do see a similar looking warning in the monitor behind him. If he were reclined back in the classic exaggerated comic pose, head rolled back and arms dangling straight down, I don’t think there would have been any confusion, at least not for me. Now that I get it, it’s quite funny.
I really like that triangular Darth Vader-esque mask.
Ah the leaning back sleeping pose… Curse my Grandpa character design and the high-backed chair!
Seriously though, this might be a candidate for redrawing that last panel. I should be able to only redraw the grandpa part.
I didn’t get the cainsaw either. Now that I see it, its a funny strip. I think the countermeasures line was a great addition. My thought was that if you made the log longer and perhaps added a branch sticking off of it then it might be more readily recognizable as a log which might in turn make the chainsaw more recognizable. I think that the saw reads just fine as is, it was just the lack of context that turned it into an unrecognizable jumble for me.
The whirling legs are great too.
I agree, there is a contextual issue… A few tweaks to help spell things out a little better would definitely help. Maybe accentuate Grandpa’s sleeping pose, and the log for sure.
Asleep at the wheel, funny stuff Jim. Like the action you throw in.
Jim, I just gotta tell ya – I know we have discussed your obvious Watterson influence in the past. Well, I was reading the local Saturday paper today (Tuesday – on top of things, as ever) and there in the comics (best bit of the paper) was our old friend Calvin, lying in bed snoring, with a chainsaw in a log above his head!
It all makes sense now. The Watterson influence is stronger than you think – you are channelling Calvin. He grows up into a super villain (like you couldn’t tell he would) and becomes Grampa! Bloody obvious, really. I reckon even the timeline probably fits.
The human brain is an odd thing, innit? At first I couldn’t work out the chainsaw at all, and now I look at it I can’t see how missed it. Context is a wonderful thing.
OH GEEZ! Darn it Doug, I thought I came up with the chainsaw! Now I find out I’m subconsciously ripping off Watterson!
Whoa…Doug, you just made this strip that much more awesome.
…and it was already plenty awesome.