College Follies #3 Creator's Commentary Video is up!

Creator's Commentary for College Follies #3, the Power Ranger parody issue, is now up on YouTube. If you already own the comic, let me know and I'll shoot you a link to the behind-the-scenes commentary video, made exclusively for readers who bought the issue. If you don't already own it, what are you waiting for? It's available both as a digital comic and in print, here.

College Follies #3 is out now on Comixology!

College Follies #3, the Power Ranger parody issue, came out yesterday on ComiXology and you can get it here!

The issue was inspired by the 20th anniversary of  Power Rangers and the big anniversary season wraps up this Saturday with a finale featuring almost a dozen returning actors (including Jason David Frank as Tommy) and all 120+ rangers appearing in one big battle. There is no more perfect week that this issue could be released!!!

College Follies #3 on Comixology tomorrow!!!

I've been so busy with the con and other things I just now have time to post this...College Follies #3, the Power Ranger parody issue, will be out on ComiXology tomorrow! It's only $1.99! Start searching your couch cushions for change now!

College Follies #3 Is Out!!!

College Follies #3, the Power Ranger parody issue, is out! Flip on your TV and adjust your rabbit ears, as Stickboy and Psychoboy transform and kick butt! Chatty monsters, oddly shaped giant robots, colorful costumes, inexplicable scenery changes...this one has it all! It's out as a digital comic on Amusedom and a downloadable PDF on DriveThruComics. It's 13 pages of comedic action, plus an exclusive essay featuring my thought on the Power Ranger franchise, which just turned 21 a few days ago. All that for only $1.99!  

It's been submitted to Comixology but I'm still waiting for them to approve issue two, so it may be a little bit before they get issue three up. It will be available in print at conventions for $3, the next one being Winston-Salem Comic Con on Sept. 13. I'll variant cover done by the weekend and up on Amusedom and hopefully printed in time for the convention.

So anyway, stop reading and click on the links below to get the issue already!

     

                   

It's Talking Time! Here's a Video On Issue Three!

Been trying to get this video out for a couple weeks. I decided to not put random movements on the panels to make them easier to look at and read. Let me know what you guys think.



I'm currently wrapping up issue three. I'm still proofing, making corrections and working on the letter column. Normally this is a fast process but I have a) unfinished stuff to promote issue one I need to do b) I have to get issue two ready for early release c) I have a con on Saturday and d) I've got to get ready to work on issue four. I'm doing all this at the same time. It's kinda crazy but I should knock all of it out in the next week or so.

Page Eight...Ready! Robot Fish Beatdown!

So page eight is done. So as not to spoil the ending of the comic before it's released, I'll only be posting exerts from the last five pages. Here's a couple of cool panels that shouldn't give the whole thing away...

 

Next up, page nine, as the action continues!

Page Eight Colors Ready! Can I Interest You In a Gaint Blue Fish Robot?

Page eight is colored. I'll be lettering it later in the week...

Inking Page Eight...A fish in the hand

I'm working on page eight's inks tonight. I'll hopefully get the page colored by weekend's end.

 

Page Seven....Ready! Robot Fish Go!

Page seven with commentary below...

So this page continues the action from the hair missiles and Lavender Ranger's theme song from last page.

And then...it's the Aqua Blue Fishbot to the rescue! The idea is that Stickboy here gets the most useless zords imaginable. A fish was the most useless one I could think of. I later found out the show actually topped me one season, giving Blue Ranger a Dolphin Zord...a freaking dolphin! I can't compete with that.

It was fun designing the Fishbot. With Psychobot, figuring out where to put his joints so he could bend was easy. With a fish I had to be a little more creative, using a segmented body and ball joined fins to allow movement. I sort of had in mind how it would look and function as a toy and I'd totally love to see one made.

I'm more than half way through issue three! Next up, page eight!

Page Seven Colors Ready! Red vs. Aqua Blue!

Page seven is colored. You can now see Fishbot in all it's aqua blue glory! I should be lettering the page on Wednesday.

 

Page Seven Inks Ready! Fishbot In Black And White!

 

Page is inked. Fishbot looks pretty cool inked. I'll be doing the colors this weekend. 

 

Inking Page Seven! Let the Sparks Fly!

Inks on page seven have begun. I'm over halfway done with issue three! And I can now mark off "Monster hits hero in chest and sparks fly" off my Power Ranger cliché checklist.

 

Page Six...Ready!!! Trash Talk, Theme Songs and Hair Missiles!

So page six is done...

Pretty traditional Power Rangers monster battle stuff here. The Rangers and monster exchange smack talk in the form of even more bad puns. The monster charges at the Rangers while yelling. And then the Rangers attack, here with hair missiles, which are awesome.

One gag that was added in the dialog was the bit about the Lavender Ranger theme song. The original sixth ranger, Tommy (played by Jason David Frank) had theme songs as both the Green and White Ranger. Arguments on online groups about who would win between two rangers usually have Tommy beating his opponent. In one such debate, between the original Green Ranger and a later White Ranger named Trent, someone posted something to the effect of "Talk to me when Trent has his own theme song."

Best thing ever. This gag just popped in my head, where Psycho's comeback against in the monster would that argument and I could add his theme song (sung to the tune of the original Green Ranger theme) over the action. I think it was the perfect touch. Life is more awesome when you have your own theme song.

So next up...Stickboy's zord!

Page Six Colored! Launch Hair Missiles!

Man, those are some pretty colors. Page six is colored. I'll probably have to wait til later in the week before I get a chance to letter it. Till then, enjoy a brightly colored man-eating giant fish monster and hair missile explosions. Godzilla eat your heart out.

Page Six Inks Ready! Let the Violence Begin!

Page six inks are done. There's nothing like inking hair missiles. I'll be coloring it this weekend.

Inking Page Six...Smack Talk Go!

I began inking page six last night, I got the top third of the page done where the monster and Psycho exchange smack talk. I'll get around to inking the action panels today hopefully. 

 

Page Five Ready!!! We All Love Gaint Robots!

Here's page five with commentary below...

Panel One- Here we introduce the Psychobot. Power Rangers has had zords that are giant robots of automobiles, construction equipment, planes, trains, animals, monsters, dinosaurs, mystical creatures, samurai warriors...but there's never been one of just a dude, just a giant robotic version of an ordinary human. So that's Psycho's zord, a giant robot of himself.

It was easy to design, just add some joins and turn his skin to the metal color the Megazord's face is and...I kept trying to figure out someplace to put his ranger color (lavender) which ended up being his purple pants.

Another thing to note is that the setting is now completely different and the colors are slightly darker. This is a homage to the difference between the American and Japanese footage in the show, which you could tell from the change in contrast and settings during the scenes. The idea is that, like it's real life counterpart, Super Rangers switches to Japanese footage when they get in their bots. The idea of some Japanese guy with Psychoboy's hair makes me smile.

Panel Two- Finishing up the gag from last page on the flailing your arms around to summon a zord.  "Epileptic Cheerleader" Heh.

Page Three- Bad puns are part of the requirement for being a Ranger, look it up, it's in their contract.

Panel Four- Like the transformation panel I added in the morph on page two, I felt I needed a panel to establish him jumping up the zord to get in it for the scene to read correctly in comic form.

Page Five- The cockpit has gone through some changes since I planned the story. At first, I was going to do some Kibry-esque complex wires and gadgetry in the background. but as I drew it I decided to go with a more Spartan approach like in the show. But as I was looking up color references, I realized I'd made it a little too plain and threw in the iconic glowing zord emblem in the background like have on the show, which I really like.

Red was one of the dominate colors in Psychoboy's room in issue one so I went with it for the cockpit. The duel joysticks to drive his bot are inspired by the arcade game Robotron because...well, why not?

And I love Psychoboy's line here. If that doesn't set the mood for the rest of the issue nothing will.

So next up...page six as we begin the unspeakable violence!

Page Five Colors Ready! Gaint Robots Wear Purple Pants!

Page Five colors are done! Coloring a giant robot is like a life long dream I never knew I had. Should wrap up the page later in the week!

 

Page Five Inks Ready! All Aboard the Psychobot!

Just finished inking page five. We all need a giant mecha in our lives every now and then. I'll be coloring it tomorrow.

 

Inking Page Five! Look! A Giant Robot!

It's been hard to work around my day job the last couples days, so this all I've got done on page five so far, I should finish up the inks tomorrow.