Teri Artwork for Dave's Dynamic Deadly Comic!!!
In return for this artwork, I sent Teri an ergonomic computer keyboard and a check for a computer. It was worth every penny. This comic has ended up with me the central figure in the scripts; it is the only thing holding these otherwise unrelated comic book stories together. I really notice that Teri is great with smiles, facial expressions, and body posture.
Dark Dave!
I was thinking of Wolverine, Punisher, and Batman when I wrote this. (Ever see Duh Punisher movie? That was the EASIEST Strom's Index I ever wrote; saw the video when I was in a comic book shop.) Teri did an exceptional job with this; I had originally envisioned it to be just one picture with the accompanying text, but Teri broke it out into several panels, and it works MUCH better that way. I especially like the close-up of my face in the second panel, and my trembly fingers reaching for the toilet lid in the third. Here is the art description that I originally sent for Dark Dave:
Art for Dark Dave: I am stepping into a dark, grim-looking room. We see me from the back. The dark, grim-looking door is mostly open. I have my right hand on the door, and have just finished pushing the door open. My left arm is hanging straight at my side, my left hand in a tense fist. My posture is grimly moody, standing tall but slightly hunched due to the enormous burden of grimness that I carry upon my tense shoulders. I am dressed in black clothing that looks like a mixture of body-armor and leather. Attached to my person are guns, knives, and maybe a chainsaw. At the back of this room is a toilet. OK, I just gave away the gag. Make sure that this toilet is not very visible, and cannot be recognized until the reader has stared at it for a few minutes. If that is not possible, try others way to suggest that this is a bathroom. Maybe a grimy, gritty sink in the dark, dank shadows would do it better.
PRODIO
For the PRODIO script, I first sent Teri my script, and she read through it. Originally, the kid was only in the first half of the story, but Teri commented that she really liked the kid, so I rewrote the script accordingly. Then I had my older nephew Eric take pictures of me and my younger nephew Mark in the general positions we are in the PRODIO comic, sent them to Teri with the rewritten script, and off she went. Mark really did say "I wanna mohawk" when he was about seven. He also typed "David is a big fat lardy whale pig cow" into my organizer. Now I have to get the older nephew into a script. Teri captures Mark's facial expression and attitude perfectly in the second panel. And I said to draw me with a car-salesman smile, and she did that perfectly. On Mark's shirt, WPOD is from The Tubes' song White Punks On Dope, and TV OD is some real punk song I heard years ago about someone who sticks TV antennas into his veins, and lets the signal run into his brain, TV OD, TV OD, TV OD. There are two misspellings: one is mine, the other is Teri's. I never could spell cavalry. By the way, real dittoheads say "dittos," not "ditto", but I like the sound of "Ditto ditto ditto," so there.
Cro-Magnum Vs. The Evil Sorcerer
I thought of having a pathetic old man being hacked up by some big dumb barbarian, but changed that to pathetic little me. This is the first comic script I thought of, more than ten years ago. Finally figured out what to do with it.
Artists Wanted!
I wish I could have Teri do more art, but she is busy with her own comic, and that pays her bills. Any artists out there who would like a little work drawing 1 to 4 pages of my comic can send one or two pages of copies of your art (I will not return them!), along with a brief resume of your work if you have been published anywhere, to the following address. I will look it over and if I decide the style would fit my comic, I will get back to you. I hope to go to print before 1999.
David Strom
2050 Royal Drive, #32
Santa Clara, CA 95050
e-mail: [email protected]