Between * Wars Comic

Congratulations: you survived the 70s!

We want Moore!

This strip was inspired actually, by a remark that a Facebook pal of mine, Paul Bateman made a couple of months ago. Something about “…back in the days when they put asbestos in classrooms…” Maybe Paul can remind me of the context? It got me thinking – about a week later – and for some reason an image of action hero, Chuck Norris popped into my head. I’ve seen exactly one film starring Norris – ‘Enter the Dragon’ perhaps? Not sure. Anyway, he seemed perfect for this strip but he didn’t really figure much in the 70s. Next, I turned to my other pal, Neil Baker for advice and he suggested Roger Moore. Perfect! Which also sparked the “cocked eyebrows” line.

There’s a new format this time – as an experiment. Portrait, instead of landscape. But this strip is unusual, not just for its portrait orientation, but also in that it takes us out of the 70s at the end. Let me know what you think of this oddity? It’s almost like breaking through the 4th wall.

Art Notes

Format

I was getting frustrated by the restrictive landscape format and had a go at this tall, narrow shape. I though it’d open up possibilities with framing but actually I just ended up doing the usual thing. There aren’t any panels which drop down to span two rows. Maybe next time!

If there is a next time. I like the huge page I ended up with, but some readers enjoy the “seeing it all in the browser at once without scrolling down” effect of the previous strips. I like that too. But I ended up with a JPEG image that’s a whopping 470kb to download!

Still not simplifying…

Another thing that happened with this strip is that, once again, I haven’t simplified things like I keep on vowing to. This strip took a long time to draw and colour. 1.5 – 2 days. I need to cut down on the amount of ideas and panels. I could actually have got a few separate strips out of this one instead. Like Surviving the 70s: Nos. #1-5. Silly me. All used up in one go!

I also need to start using my design head a bit more when I’m drawing. Think about simpler shapes and how it’ll be to colour them! I seem to just throw loads of stuff into each panel, recklessly!

** Stay Groovy, all you 1970s kids! **

– John White