748 – Colors Don’t Bleed…
I hope everyone either had or is having an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend… that’s seems strange to say since Memorial Day is supposed to be a rather somber holiday as we give thanks to all the US troops who have served and sacrificed for the rest of us. So how to do you go about saying such thing when such a large percentage of us will gather around a grill and eat burgers, digs and anything else we find suitable for grilling?
Maybe that’s the epitome of celebrating Memorial Day… by being able to share that day with our friends and family. I know I did yesterday with a great group of people – especially Kelly and Ray, who invited the Flick clan over to their house to help celebrate the day with all their other family and friends.
So, even though it’s not very common for people to read Capes & Babes on a holiday like today, if you should come by the site on Tuesday (or maybe even sometime today) I hope you appreciate the full color strip today.
Now for something else…
I have probably posed this question more than once in this blog – or possibly on the Lightbox Podcast I used to record with Matt Stout but I bring it up again as it’s been growing quite a bit in my mind the last two weeks… so much so that it’s beginning to affect the daily production of this strip…
I am feeling a great urge to shift the emphasis of Capes & Babes away from the general “gag a day” strip but I am in a bit of a conundrum. I want Capes & Babes to still retain its humorous aspects but I am feeling a greater urgency to start exploring the relationships between Marc & Joey. I want to do the same for Roni and Roy too… to kind of explain what makes a vampire like Roni attracted to a werewolf like Roy. I’ve done that to some extent with Roni and Roy in previous story arcs but I REALLY haven’t done that with Marc and Joey.
My fear, however, is that I may not be able to write the way I want for such an exploration between two (and maybe even four) characters without drastically changing the mood of the strips. I think, since Capes & Babes has started, I’ve gotten pretty good at being able to write a set-up for a joke in the last panel but I I’m hesitant to really pull the trigger on writing more “relationship themed strips” in fear of the tonal adjustment the strip might take.
But I’m also very curious from a writer’s perspective… would you all be interested in learning more about Marc and Joey’s relationship even if there may not be a clear cut “joke” in the last panel? Would you all be interested in reading the same about Roni and Roy’s relationship as well?
I am interested in all of your responses so feel free to add yours in the comment section below.
-Chris
I say go for it. Shift the strip. I don’t think you need a gag a day, just something to bring them back. A cliffhanger, something. Talk to Guigar about it. On web comics weekly he was alway adamant about long story lines without necessarily having the gag every day.
Very nice, and very appropriate. Thanks, Chris!
Fitting of the day. Just hope that he either used high temperature grill paint, or that this is a no-longer-to-be-used grill.
Joey did sell him the right paint, we hope.
That is a beautiful paint job. As a Canadian, I also respect the American flag. I would have a hard time wanting to use that grill for fear of getting stuff on that lovely paint job.
You can put me squarely in the “write what you need to write and draw” group. I’ll be happy to see any comics you post. It would be nice to know more about the relationships, and I’m sure that even if you don’t have a joke every time, you won’t be able to not be funny. (If that makes any sense).
Have a good holiday. I’m going to put in the air conditioners now.
I second that. I want to know more about the relationships on this strip.
Be true to the characters. Let them go where and do what they must, to be themselves. I think the strip will survive not being gag-a-day, especially if it becomes more romantic comedy.
I support whatever you want to do. If you are feeling split, maybe doing a few strips relationship, then a joke strip at end of week or every few weeks? I don’t see any rules that one should be mutually exclusive of the other. You have great characters and that is the bottom line for me.
If you give some strips over to the two relationships, you could enrich the whole strip considerable. I agree with Stacy. And how about more of Joey and Roni discussing their respective boyfriends when you do more on their relationships? BTW, what a job on that grill!