Super John Doe Junior

March indeed. But soon it will be April. Which means April Fool’s Day. Which means that this morning, on my weekly radio show (”South by Southwest”, Monday mornings, 8:30 to 10:30 AM on WMPG in Portland, Maine), I devoted the entire two hours to playing “fool” songs like “Mr. Fool” by George Jones and “You Played Me For a Fool” by Slim Willet. I only play music recorded prior to 1975. Any other fans of vintage country music out there?

But I digress. I just sent a package of character designs and turnarounds out to LA. The charming and lovely Therese Trujillo will in turn forward those to the multitalented Fred Gonzalez and Brian Hogan, who will be storyboarding and directing this short, respectively. Sunil is also on board, which reminds me that I don’t even know Sunil’s name yet. Sunil, maybe you can just go with a singular name, in [Read more…]

What would any superhero story be without the sight of a panicky mayor (or police commissioner, Batman fans) trying desperately to summon said superhero via some sort of telecommunication hotline? Here’s Slumber City’s mayor doing just that. “Super John Doe! Come in! SUPER JOHN DOE!! ARE YOU THERE??”

Spent a good chunk of the weekend listening to voice auditions for SJDJ. What a blast! Some clear favorites have definitely emerged, and I’ll be talking to Meredith soon to make my picks official. All for now.

Lincoln

It’s really not all that difficult to master the Mister Spock Vulcan salute when you’ve only got two fingers and a thumb.

This suave and debonair fellow is part of Junior’s dream sequence in “Super John Doe Junior.” He’ll either be an adversary or a love interest. Still trying to figure that out. More soon!

Mister Lincoln

Thus far, all the characters I’ve posted and written about here at Blog Central have been male: Super John Doe, his son Junior, Junior’s dog Blimey, and of course the villainous Evil Butthead. One might justifiably be moved to ask: hey, any chance of getting some face time for the ladies here? Ask and ye shall receive! On the left is Robin, Junior’s sidekick; and on the right is Mom. In my initial board Mom was wearing a dress that made her look way too June Cleaver, so I changed that up. Next post: a sneak peak at the alien who co-stars in Junior’s fantasy sequence. All for now. So long, friends.

Lincoln

I’m a cartoonist, not an animator or a board artist. So when it comes time to tell a story, I always gravitate toward the comic strip and/or comic book format. When you’re talking little boxes, dialogue balloons, and onomatopoeia, you’re definitely talking my language.

When I first sent “Super John Doe Junior” to Frederator, it was a 17-page comic book, 12 panels per page. Here are a couple of those panels (hand-colored to look a little more snazzy on the blog). I’ve since edited the original story and created a more conventional storyboard, but we’ll be hiring a real board artist once we get into production.

All for today. So long, friends.

Lincoln

Inspired by the buttocks-shaped cranium of Evil Butthead, our man Steve Levinson took it upon himself to do a quick animation of said villain. IF I’ve managed to successfully upload it (always a big if), you can check out the quicktime movie here:

Click here to view!

Thanks, Steve! Impressive initiative.

Lincoln

Pop quiz, gang: Is the title of this blog
a.) a quaint cockney expression which immediately brings to mind the spectre of Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins”?
b.) the way you feel when you’ve eaten too much blime?
c.) the name of the canine character pictured here who plays an important supporting role in “Super John Doe Junior”?

And the answer, of course, is d.) all of the above. Blimey is modeled after a proper British butler. Can’t wait to hear the auditions.

I know I want him to be either white, off-white, or gray, so I’m fiddling around with my prismacolors. All for now.

After my only marginally successful attempt to post an image of Evil Butthead the other day, here he is for real, in all his skinny-limbed, fat-headed glory. Ain’t he cute?

Once again I take mouse & keyboard in hand for yet another attempt at a successful image upload. Here’s Super John Doe, the ordinary suburban dad who happens to be a superhero.

Okay, did this actually work? I’m taking the new scanner out for a spin, but I’m not sure if the sinister leer of Evil Butthead has been successfully splashed across my blog or not. If so: HERE HE IS! If not: WHERE IS HE??

Anyway, if you can see him, friends & neighbors, let me know what you think of his twin-orbed cranium along with his wardrobe borrowed from the fashion files of Elwood Blues. I’m sure he’ll dig the feedback.

Up up and away, over and out, and all that jazz.