Knight Hawk/Apocalypse (1993)

Matt Campbell has been making his fortune in video games. His latest comic project is something called The Boy Who Left Heaven, which is currently in pre-production. He used to be posting his development work at http://www.projecthellmouth.com however it looks like future work will end up here http://www.tbwlh.com

Spy Guy Bootleg (2001)

I wondered about the Bootleg cover. But in the end, I had to go with my gut, that SPY GUY on the cover would give away the story. It was interesting that people who already knew about the SPY GUY character would respond to it by saying “YOU CHANGED THE CHARACTER!”. No. That’s Sgt. Hunter. Just read it.

I still think the A-V ‘note from the president’ layout on the inside front cover is the best. Mark Oakley comes close with Thieves & Kings inside front covers. But I figured I’d steal from the best!

Yeah, I like the look of The Skunk character too. He was designed right on that page. He’ll have to return in a future story.

As for the guns, thanks! I use reference.

I’m trying to do my best Gerhard meets Manga on the backgrounds and tones… I’m slowly getting better.

That 4 panel action sequence was the one that made me think “I REALLY need to improve my action sequences”. It was a big reason why SPUD & HARRY was a big action sequence. I just wanted to get better.

Ah yes. The Squee-gee guys. When I was living in Toronto circa 1997, you couldn’t walk a block without tripping over a squeegee kid. I didn’t drive a car, but would still get offers to have my sunglasses cleaned. When I started the Bootleg script, I knew they had to play a part in the story. KMFDM introduced me to the term ‘conceptual continuity’. Chuck Palahniuk was the one that explained it. I’m a big fan of that as well. Look for more of it in SPY GUY #1.

The ninja dialect: yeah, mostly.

The restaurant part concerned me. I didn’t know if it held up at all. Then I saw that Lambiek.net used a panel from the sequence on their website, and now you tell me that dialogue worked, and now I think that part doesn’t concern me as much as it used to.

The 1920s flash-back also concerned me…

That alley sequence was what inspired me to do the Frank Miller Sin City style pinup shot in Minis. I thought I really botched it the first time around.

It’s interesting because with so much of this comic I was flying by the seat of my pants, that when there is a panel arrangement that worked well (such as this one) I’m pleasantly amused. “Huh. That one turned out alright.”

The rubber chicken was a gag we came up with for the videogame. I had to use it here in the comic. The trench coat gag (being able to house damn near anything) was the very first one I came up with for SPY GUY way back in 1986.

The gun under the chin thing is another that falls under the “Huh. That one turned out alright.” I like the way that sequence turned out.

I use letraset.

Thanks.

As for the SPY GUY videogame: We used the assets for it in an Alias|Wavefront demo for a gaming convention (it wasn’t E3, it was the other one). The game itself was never finished, but you could run a 3D Spy Guy through the streets of Venice. And he did pull a bazooka out of his trench coat.

Spy Guy Minis (2005)

To be honest, I wondered the same thing. That’s why I wanted to see if I could pull it off in Minis before committing to that kind of ranting in the “real” comic. There is a fine line between pulling a punch and wussing out. So yeah, there’s a danger, but I didn’t want to wuss out.

My take on this is; if you are thinking of doing this, then there is a good chance that you should just do it. Chances are, if you do, then it’s coming from your gut, and you’ll end up with the most powerful, honest material you could ever hope to come up with. And if you muddy the character? Well, you took a risk.

Yes they do.

Current events and pop-culture commentary had always played a big part in the SPY GUY continuity, dating right back to the high school comics. To me, that’s an important element of the character and universe.

Yeah. I like the name Mississauga too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississauga,_Ontario

Thanks.

Thanks again.

Me too.

Ah yes. This strip is one of those where I decided to take a risk. Testing the threshold. I showed it to a few people, who all responded the same way. It always provoked a reaction. And it was never more negative than “that’s sick”. I thought I went too far. Then I heeded the words of Chuck Palahniuk and thought that’s just far enough.

I’m pretty sure I got the tiny panel idea from Mark Oakley. They work well as punctuation I think.

Thanks.

Interesting reaction to Hat Attack. Interesting because I really pondered over what SPY GUY’s head should look like. At the time, I wondered if so much pondering over it was silly. But an “ah!” response tells me other people had pondered the same thing… interesting.

Yes, the Godlike lettering is the Godfather font. Seemed appropriate. Also, this whole strip is based on an actual conversation I had with Matt Campbell. The Cerebus line seemed the perfect way to cap the conversation.

I keep forgetting that strip is in there (as well as the COMING SOON in Bootleg).

‘Nuff said.

Thanks. I think that cover turned out pretty good. The only thing I’d change is to try and align the background strips better to the edge of the page so they are visually centered better. Oh well. It’s a learning process.

Spud and Harry (2007)

Thanks again. I’ve always loved those flip covers… especially if used in proper context.

The SPY GUY Universe thing is definitely something I was trying to emphasize here. Glad it worked!

So far no one has slammed me on my Spud diatribe. Actually, I got a blank stare from a co-worker who seemed to think it got too cerebral (when he was just expecting something funny). But other than that, all the feedback has been positive. Then again, I’m not famous enough for people to write in to tell me that they hate me.

Thanks for the kind words Jay. I’m hoping the artistic learning curve takes another leap on this next comic. It’s getting there…