It’s Saturday night, and we are chillin’ in this part of the galaxy…
Author: jason
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Saturday Sneak Peek: Trouble!
I am working on a couple of other projects besides Suzi.
I had an earlier post about how Lewaine was able to help me refine my workflow to increase my creative output.
This could be trouble… I thought I would share an image from one of those projects. I always wondered what would happen if you took some classic monsters, added equal parts Lovecraft and attitude, and let it bake for a while.
Well, we will find out this summer!
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Inspirations: Lewaine
So I can name all kinds of pop culture references that had a hand in shaping Suzi. But there is really one and only one true inspiration that created this comic, and that would be my lovely wife, Lewaine.
Hottest publisher ever! Lewaine is the one that pushed me to grow and put my work out there for the world to see.
I had a hard drive full of works I had done over the years that had never been seen by anyone other than myself.
I just didn’t really think anyone would care to see my work.
Lewaine kept telling me that I should get my work out there and share it with the world.
She even went so far as to take a couple of her favorite images, print them out, and enter them into a local art show.The prints wound up winning second and third place…and she didn’t even say “I told you so”.
Lewaine began a business helping artists develop online portfolios and webcomic sites, and in the course of building her business, she helped me develop a plan for creating a webcomic of my own.
The problem was, I couldn’t find a story that I wanted to draw. Lewaine suggested that I tell a story that I thought was cool, and she then created a posting schedule that I could fit into my week. I am a full time designer/developer, so the project I started on the side would require a very precise methodology if I was going to be able to deliver on a schedule.
Lewaine Lewaine nailed it! We have been able to refine my creation process so well, I was able to start another project. She did this all while balancing her clients and family life.
Suzi Quazar wouldn’t exist without Lewaine and her vision.
She is the real life inspiration for Suzi. From her grace and strength, to her sweet spirit and beauty, Lewaine provided me the model in which to create this character and tell her stories.
I can’t thank her enough. If you are an artist and have a story to tell, but don’t know how to get your work out there, contact Lewaine or visit her site here.
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Sunday Science: M-Theory
Branes! And no, it’s not a new Zombie cereal knockoff.
You know, like how they have Choco-Pebbles in the 50lb bags at the store?Anyhoo, Brane theory (short for Membrane Theory or M-Theory) puts forth the idea that all matter, instead of being a collection of tiny balls of matter, are instead collections of tiny vibrating strings.
Now Jason, you say, isn’t this simply Superstring theory?
Well, yes, you are correct.
M-Theory seeks to unite the quantum world of strings with our observable world.
The vibrational frequency of the string determines what we perceive it as (ie, gravity, matter, energy).A fascinating topic, especially when you get to the part about there being multiple dimensions, or that our universe could be floating along on one of the membranes.
This is a very fascinating topic, and Tega Jessa over at UniverseToday.com has a great article about M-Theory
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Saturday Sneak Peek: Mecha Madness!
Quad mech trouble! A quick look at an unfinished panel from an upcoming issue!
It’s been a super hectic couple of weeks. But in a good way. I have finally hit my stride on Suzi, and have bandwidth for some exciting new projects that are on the horizon. I will give more details as they firm up, but it’s looking like 2013 is going to be a great year!
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Inspirations: Irwin Allen
I have a pretty extensive list of inspirations for Suzi, but right up at the top would have to be Irwin Allen.
The space family Robinson Allen created just about every one of my favorite shows from my childhood. Classics like Lost in Space, Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Land of the Giants were all required viewing.
Of course, I look back now and realize that most of his shows eventually morphed into kid shows. By season 3, Lost in Space had pretty much became the Will, Dr Smith and Robot Variety hour. I think if they could have stuck with the same formula they used in the first season, Lost in Space would have been remembered very differently.
Time Tunnel Time Tunnel was another show that had a great premise, but lacked in execution. I think this was more a matter of budget constraints that anything else.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was a fun show with a great cast and concept. Land of the Giants was kinda the odd man out of the Allen stable.
Voyage to the bottom of the sea The writing was really all over the place, but back then, Deanna Lunds mini-skirts could make me overlook a lot of plot holes.
Irwin Allen produced some popular disaster shows like The Towering Inferno and The Posideon Adventure in the 70’s,
but was never able to recapture his success on the small screen.
Land of the Giants Irwin Allen had a good run, and created some iconic characters in science fiction. I hope to capture some of that fun in Suzi’s stories.
What do you remember about Time Tunnel, Lost in Space or the other Allen shows?
all images copyright of their respective copyright holders.
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New Mix on Radio Cosmos
You like music?
Who doesn’t?We beam our music into the heavens, so you never know what will turn up on Radio Cosmos.
Playing the best music from, well, whenever!Click here or in the sidebar!
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Sunday Science: Dude, where’s my jetpack?
Jetpacks. A long time staple of science fiction, and the true hallmark of the world of tomorrow.
Never be late for work again! In the 50’s, everyone thought that the future would be full of the things. Well, here we are in the 21at century and all I got is a Kia. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but dang, we can make celebrities out of Kim Kardashians and Justin Bliebers, but not be able to fly around free as birds?
Or can we?
Let’s take a look at the history of this crazy idea.
I think you will find it’s even older than you thought!Leave to the Russians to come up with the idea of strapping rocket fuel to your back and lighting it off. Inventor Aleksandr Fyodorovich Andreyev came up with the idea back in 1919. Technologists of the time loved the concept, and a patent was issued, but it seems common sense prevailed as no prototypes were developed.
In 1958, Garry Burdett and Alexander Bohr supposedly developed a jump belt that used compressed gas to propel the wearer up to 7 meters in the air, but it seems no one was interested and financing never developed.
Cutting to the chase, in 1965 (a great year for innovative creations!) Bell Aerosystems began developing the Jet Belt. The first test came in 1969, when a pilot flew about 100 meters in a circle, about 7 meters off the ground. While the system worked, it was deemed too complicated and dangerous (it operated below minimum safe parachute distance and was very heavy!)
The Bell Rocket Belt is probably the most famous of the jetpacks.
Gotta find Penny and that stupid Bloop! It was used in the James Bond film Thunderball, as well as on episodes of Lost in Space and the 70’s tv show Ark II.
A really cool device, it could only fly a little over 30 seconds.So, it looks like we are still a ways off from being able to jetpack ourselves to work and avoid rush hour traffic. Then again, if people can barely handle cars, do I really want to be flying around with them too?
Texting and jetpacking?
Nancy Atkinson over at UniverseToday.com has an article that shows us the jetpack technology of today. Go learn something! It will only hurt a little bit…
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Saturday Sneak Peek:The sad time
Lost in another galaxy. It’s a big lonely galaxy out there…
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Inspirations: Matt Mason
Space toys. Growing up, I wanted to be an astronaut.
I remember all the rocket launches from the late 60’s and early 70’s, and watching as man took his first steps on the moon.
Don’t bend those joints too much! Major Matt Mason was the must have space toy back in those days. Remember, this was waaay before Star Wars made space toys common place.
Made of a flexible rubber, he had a wire skeleton that suffered from metal fatigue once the joints were bent too much.
That meant that if you bent his arms or legs alot, you soon had a Matt Mason that was missing some limbs!
He did have a cool space station and accessories, like jetpacks, space sleds and more cool stuff.I remember having the space crawler and that rascal could rampage over just about any obstacle.
Space Crawler laughs at your obstacles! You can still get these guys on ebay, and for a while, I had a home business that would refurbish the broken ones and sell them.
Back in 2001, I was contacted by a guy who wanted to “lease” a Matt Mason from me to use as a prop in a play.I sent him one and a few months later I got a package from London. Inside was an autographed program from the play This Is Our Youth, starring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, and Summer Phoenix.
They also included a photo of the cast holding the Matt Mason.
What were some of the toys you remember growing up with? Leave a comment and let me know!
