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Friday, April 8, 2011

Superhero Girl 46



There's a new supervillain in town and only Superhero Girl can stop him!! Will she be able to triumph against this adversary??? (She'd better.)

I think a lot about timing when I write and draw The Adventures of Superhero Girl. I think this strip is a good example of how pauses can make a comic a lot funnier than it actually is. That one pause in the 5th panel where the "victim" is welling up with tears still cracks me up. I remember as a much younger and less experienced art-person being put off by comic strips that didn't have a final one-two punchline (first punchline: amusing! second punchline: the actual funny one, usually in response to the first punchline. It was weird how it well it worked). Later, as a more mature and developed artist I've learned that comics don't have to follow beats in order to be funny (I'm thinking of Kate Beaton's work, and a lot of other online comics that don't use any kind of conventional timing, but manage to be pretty damn funny throughout all their panels, not just the final panel), but I still like timing a lot, and try to stretch myself to make it work when I feel it should be a part of the comic.

Anyway! I hope you have been amused by this peek into the Artists' Process. We now return to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

15 comments:

  1. Hey and what's with the Blofeld cat-lapping? Supervillain Girl...

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  2. I used to call that one-two thing "Story, story, story, punchline, zinger." Having stolen that from masters like Schulz and Watterson, it served me well in my pokey little comic strip days.

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  3. I think it works nicely. A lot (as in 99% though I might be off on that - not sure if it would be optimistic or pessimistic, maybe both at the same time?) of cartoons and cartoonists have forgotten what timing is and just blunder through without a regard as to how effective a pause-beat can be, both in humor and drama.

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  4. Nicely put, GuanoLad. That's better than my one-two illustration.

    Braxton: you don't watch TV with your cat in your lap? You're missing out.

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  5. I like the sillyness of this. You've found the right mix for sure, superhero antics but silly and skewed towards the normal life aspects. And really, marshmallow menace is great.

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  6. The victim's about to cry expression works really well contrasted with the steely gaze of the news guy, who is dead serious about the marshmallow threat. Classic.

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  7. Nobody watches TV with a cat in their lap, the cat watches TV with a human keeping their ass warm.

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  8. King Ninja, Shrink Ray Guy, and The Marshmallow Menace. This town DOES have pretty strange villains.

    Any subtle reason why it switches from marshmEllow in the 2nd panel to marshmAllow for the rest?

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  9. Hah, no. It's called "Faith can't spell." :P

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  10. am i the only one who wants to give panel five victime a hug? i hope he/she can find marshmallows for his/her hot chocolate.

    i wonder what the marshmallow menace will do will all those marhsmallows. My money's on making a marshmallow golem. it would be invincible, i mean, you could punch it, but it would be too soft to shatter. i guess you could melt it, but then it might just become a marshmallow slime-like thing and try to absorb us all inside it. I wonder how it would feel to be absorbed by a marshmallow slime. would panel five victim like it?

    So yeah, just wanted to say that i'm really interested in superhero girl and that panel five victim is my favorite character so far (it's the face, it's too adorable.) Keep up the good work.

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  11. it's dcab0e84-6273-11e0-a23f-000bcdcb471e again, just wanted to apologize for failing so badly with my name, i'm really sorry.

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  12. Doonesbury in particular is famous for that sort of 'after the joke' dry humor. It can be extra hilarious!

    Faith, are you still selling originals? I'd like to buy one if possible.

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  13. I like the “Fwip” action sound when the news guy suddenly turns. I also dig her true arch nemesis sitting in her lap watching his diabolical plan unfolding.

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  14. I love the newscaster, suddenly pausing to stare at the camera in a somewhat accusatory manner, then suddenly "FWIP!" turning around to talk into the camera from a different angle. All the while you can see a bit of the arm of the crying girl, just out of shot.

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  15. I do love that wiggly, frowny face too. A++ Would watch her break down into tears again.

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