Elect Psychoboy: Why Take Chances?

Above is the final campaign video for Psychoboy.  Basically putting every fear-based, punch-in-the-gut ad together in a blender while sprinkling in some girls in bikinis, zombies and an orgasm.

The last graphic for the campaign went live today, on Election Day. Psycho will continue sharing his thoughts on social media for the rest of the week. It's been fun but I'm glad to be winding the mock campaign down. I hope folks continue find and enjoy Psycho's posts, videos and, of course, the comic itself.

Elect Psychoboy: Are You Tired of Politicians Who Do Things?

Alright, so here's another ad for Psychoboy's campaign in College Follies #4. This time turning the camera on myself, imitating those annoying commercials where voters talk how perfect and wonderful a candidate is or how horrible and evil their opponents are. This is one continuous take in my kitchen. I shot it about 30 times and picked the best of the ones were I actually made it all the way through the script.



I think I got one more of these videos in me and then I'm done.

Elect Psychoboy Yard Sign and Press Release!

Yes, that's a real sign that's now up on University Parkway in Winston-Salem, NC (where I live). I had it printed over the weekend and finally had time to put it up this morning.

I also sent out a release for  Psychoboy's online campaign this morning. Yes! Weekly already put a write up of it on their site. If you have a news site of any sort feel free to put it up. Any suggestions on other places to send it are welcome...

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 29, 2014

CONTACT: Todd Luck, (336) 392-0837, rtluck75@yahoo.com

Mock ‘Elect Psychoboy’ Campaign Spoofs Midterms

WINSTON-SALEM, NC-  A mock political campaign by comic book character Psychoboy is showing just how crazy the midterm election can be. 

Psychoboy is a character in College Follies, a digital comedy comic book series by comic creator Todd Luck. College Follies #4 tells the story of Psychoboy's bid for Congress, showing everything from pandering town halls to him stealing the campaign signs of other local candidates. But the comic is only part of the story, as Luck created a virtual campaign for Psychoboy that includes a website, social media posts, YouTube videos and even a real life campaign sign that sits along University Parkway in Winston-Salem.

“I wrote issue four before the midterm season really got going, so Psychoboy’s online campaign lets me make fun of things happening now,” said Luck.

Psychoboy’s posts on social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Google+ include mock fundraiser announcements like one for Bazookas & Booze, making light of NC Senate Candidate Molotov Mitchell’s recent Bullets & Bourbon fundraiser. His frequent online campaign signs feature slogans like “Elect Psychoboy or you’ll get Ebola” and “Elect Psychoboy because he knows as little as you do.”

His campaign site, electpsychoboy.com, also touts the fictional candidate's lack of substance and qualifications.

“Psychoboy has never served in politics before,” his bio reads. “He knows nothing about government and is only vaguely aware there is a Congress. This makes him the perfect candidate for our time.” 

Luck said Psychoboy’s daily social media posts will continue through Election Day. While he said he hopes the virtual campaign gets people to buy College Follies #4, now available on digital comic sites Amusedom.com and DriveThruComics.com, he also hopes that it encourages people to vote in what he says is a very important midterm election.

###

Elect Psychoboy: He Likes Cute Kittens!

So above is my all-time favorite video I've done. Heck, one of my favorite things I've done, period. This ad actually appears for one panel in  College Follies #4, so it's really awesome to have the advertisement exist in it's entirety for real. Again, I love being able to flesh out the story in the issue with Psychoboy's virtual online campaign.

So this ad is inspired by a longstanding joke I've had that politics often becomes the art of liking the most generic universally, loved thing you can find, basically running on a platform of liking fuzzy animals. The kitten specifically was chosen because of the incident in the New York mayoral race where there was a minor controversy over if the subway system should've shut down to get some kittens off the track. Yes, there were literally candidates trying to outdo each other over their love of kittens. You can't make this stuff up.

More videos to come!

Elect Psychoboy: Anything You Want YouTube Ad

So above is my most epic video to date.

I'll be posting at least once a day for the next two weeks on Psychoboy's social media campaign. Having Psychoboy run for Congress during the midterm election season was always been my goal. This has been an awesome experience, creating his posts and telling the tale online alongside the story in College Follies #4 which is out now (click here to get it). The only thing that's missing is more people to interact with and share his posts.

The thing is, it's the internet. so his posts will be up forever. Check out his website, www.electpsychoboy.com at any point and you can still check out everything he's posted  on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Psychoboy still needs to hear from you. What do you want him to stand for? It can be serious or silly. Reasonable or ridiculous.

So follow Psycho, comment, like and share his stuff. And remember...Nuke Ebola!

College Follies #4, the Elect Pscyhoboy Issue, Is Out!!!

Ladies and Gentleman, College Follies #4 is out now! It's an 8 page yarn about Psychoboy's epic campaign for Congress! Plus, there's an exclusive editorial in the back by Psychoboy himself! All this for only 99 cent!

Click here to get it as a downloadable PDF on DriveThruComics. Click here to get the regular cover as a digital comic on Amusedom and click here to get the nifty digital variant cover (available only on Amusedom).

Psychoboy's online campaign will continue for a couple more weeks. Check out his site, electpsychoboy.com and also look for all the terrific nonsense he's been posting on social media. The best is yet to come as I'll be working on short video ads for Psycho's campaign! Not to spoil too much, but they involve kittens and post-apocalyptic hellscapes!

For the last year it's been my goal to get this issue out before election day. My day job has not made that an easy goal, but it's one I've accomplished with a lot of work and perseverance.   

This issue has been submitted to Comixology, which probably won't get it up before next year. It'll be printed up for NC Comicon next month. I plan to make print copies available shortly after that online. They'll be a dollar more than the digital comics, plus shipping fees. 

I'll got into what's next for me and the series later, but right now enjoy Psychoboy's election madness. The campaign trail is long, but the destination is totally worth it. 

College Follies #4 uploaded for its Wednesday release!

College Follies #4 is done and has been uploaded to both DriveThruComics and Amusedom. It'll be available on both sites on Wednesday! It's not as early in the month as I'd hoped, but you'll still be able to read all about Psychoboy's campaign before Election Day.

It's been submitted to ComiXology too, but their review process takes months, so don't expect to get it on there too soon. I'll be sending it to the printer in the next week or two, so it'll be printed for NC Comicon in November. 

Psychoboy will continue posting for the next couple weeks as the election season heats up, so be sure to check out electpsychoboy.com and follow him on social media!

Issue Four Is Done! It'll Be Released This Wednesday!

I finished the final page of issue four's story yesterday. I can't show you much in the way of dialog without spoiling things, so here's a panel without the lettering...

Well, I can at least show you this cropped panel of Stickboy with dialog...

Yup that pretty much sums it up.

I also finished up the letter column, which will features an editorial by Psychoboy himself. It also features a teaser for issue five. I can't show you either of those right now. But I can at least show how cool the header looks with a purple background...

So, what can I tell you? 

Well, now that I've completed work on the issue, all I have left to do is proof it and upload it, which I'll do this weekend. So I'm officially announcing that issue four will be available this Wednesday, October 22, for 99 cent on both Amusedom and DriveThruComics! 

It's been a long journey to get here. I just got to go a little bit more and I'm done!

Issue Four, Page Seven Done! Psychoboy plays Hardball!

Finished page seven over the weekend. Only one more page left in the story.

I'm going to show some panels without lettering so as not to spoil the ending... 

Yup, it's Chris Matthews on Hardball again. I did a panel of him in issue one from the late 90s so taking another stab at the likeness while capturing the look of the modern show was a thrill. The pic of Psychoboy is from his announcement that he's running for office off social media.

Here we do a reveal that Psycho is the one watching the broadcast. Now, originally I had just planned for Stickboy and Psychoboy to stand there and talk after that and then for Psycho to make a speech on the next page. But I realized I needed to establish the stage, the crowd, where Stickboy was, etc for the speech. So I used the same dialog but instead did this... 

I basically have a couple panels showing them walking from the green room to the podium. It's actually a little more natural this way and a bit more interesting than them standing there talking. Plus I love that panel.

And one last panel, this one doesn't have much dialog so I can show it without spoiling anything...

So the last page should be done this week and I'll have the letter column done by the weekend. I'm tentatively planning for a release next week, but I want to get a little further in before I announce anything concrete.

Issue Four, Page Six Done...Campaign Montage Time!

The great thing about this story is pretty much every new page is my favorite. Page six, which shows the campaign montage, is no exception...

This panel is inspired by the keg parties put on by a group that was against the Affordable Care Act. They literally threw drunken college parties to encourage students to not sign up for health insurance. Admittedly "Intoxicate the Vote" seems kind of sane by comparison. Sometimes, even Psychoboy can't compete with real life crazies

And this panel...yeah, that was A LOT of work on the lettering. I decided to have him stealing campaign signs of local candidates in my area. Most of the designs are made up. What made the work worth it, is I get to show how ridiculously thorough Psycho is, taking everyone's sign no matter how small or unrelated the campaign is. 

I'm a reporter in my day job and accusations of candidates stealing each other's signs is fairly common. So now you know, if campaign signs go missing, it wasn't a prank or calculated political tactic. It's just Psychoboy being thorough. No real campaign signs were harmed in the making of this comic. 

So with page six out of the way, I have only two pages to go! I'm going to try to draw, ink and color page seven this weekend. Can I do it in 48 hours? We'll see. Wish me luck!

And in the meantime be sure to check out the Elect Psychoboy site and follow him on social media for more of his awesome campaign!

Elect Psychoboy is a go!

So I completed Psychoboy's campaign and social media pages this week and have his initial posts ready to go. The idea with issue four is that part of it is told in the comic and part of it is an interactive online experience. 

The site, electpsychoboy.com, is up now. Be sure to check out everything on there. His biography alone is priceless. More stuff will be added later as he gets responses on what his positions should be and I create some short YouTube ads for his campaign. 

And then be sure to join Team Psycho by liking or following Psychoboy on social media. He'll send you ads and other nonsense from his campaign regularly (probably about once a day), In a couple weeks he'll be asking what you want him to stand for, what positions he should take and I'll be adding whatever it is to his platform on his site. Build a Death Star? A giant robot in every yard? Eliminate all taxes and completely pay off the national debt? The sky's the limit! 

This experience depends on you. You're going to need to like, favorite, share and comment on the posts in order for this to work. I need to reach as many people as possible. 

You can follow Psychoboy on Google+, Facebook and Twitter (they'll be a bit of extra stuff for those of you on Google+).  I'll be sharing his posts using the College Follies pages on Twitter and Google+ and my personal page (Todd Luck) on Facebook (since posts on the College Follies Facebook page don't seem to reach anyone).

It's a relief to get this going. I'm also halfway through the story, having completed page four, which I'll be posting later today. I'm on schedule to complete issue four in October!

At this point, this blog will feature major announcements and posts on page completion as I shift over to social media posts for Psychoboy's campaign and the occasional post to remind folks the first three issues are out.

 So click on the links in this post and tell your friends, let's make this campaign epic!

Issue Four...Psycho Goes To Washington!

So issue four is called "Psychoboy Goes To Washington." In it, Psychoboy runs for the House of Representatives, recruiting his best bud Stickboy to be his campaign manager.

I haven't written the script yet, but I'm thinking it should be around nine pages long and cost 99 cent online. Since I'm capturing an entire campaign in a short story, obviously they'll be lots of jumping around in time and summarizing in the story. But the comic will only be part of it.

I also want to tell the story online in an interactive way. Psychoboy will have an actual virtual campaign while I'm working on the issue. He'll have a campaign site and be posting on social media. Having no convictions of his own, he'll be asking you what he should stand for, letting you write his platform. He'll also be posting hilarious campaign ads, both memes and the occasional YouTube video as well as various other miscellaneous nonsense. It's going to be a lot of fun and I hope a lot of people sign up for and share his posts.

If you want to be an early adaptor and join Team Psycho you're more than welcome to look Psychoboy up on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and start liking and following him now. I'll be launching everything within a couple weeks and I'll let you guys know when the campaign is ready to go.

With the added virtual campaign, I'll be posting on here a lot less. There will still be posts to let you know what my progress is, I always want you guys to know where I'm at, but they'll be less detailed and less frequent. I'll still posting announcements and whenever I completely finish a page. Showing every bit of the creation of the series was great when that's all I had to show, but now that the series is out, it's time to switch gears and try something new and different that I hope you guys will enjoy.

My goal is have the issue done in October. I doubt I'll hit my original goal of having it done the first week of October but there shouldn't be any problem getting it out before the election.

In my next post I'll be announcing my fall convention appearances. Until then, remember to vote early, vote often and vote Psychoboy!

Letter page ready! Issue 3 is done! And next up is....

So I created the letter column last night with an editorial with my thoughts on Power Rangers and why it was chosen as the subject of issue three. It was a bit long, but with some cutting I was able squeeze it in. You'll have to get the issue to read my morphin manifesto.

 

But what I will show you is the customary "next issue teaser" at the bottom. With this, I finally draw to an end work on issue three. All I've got to do is read over the issue a couple more times and then I'll send it off to Comixology on Wednesday. I thank Ron Wasserman and all the other musicians who did music for Power Rangers for getting me through the issue, chances are I'll be still be enlisting there services when I need some I energy beats to create to.

 

But for issue four we'll be going into some very different but equally awesome territory. I'll go into detail a little later but for right now, this teaser says it all...