Nov 20
Here were have the final page of the final online Dead Duck story. As I mentioned last week, I’m ceasing work on the online Dead Duck comic indefinitely, which was always the plan from the beginning. I just wanted to give you readers a taste of what was to come in the Dead Duck graphic novel, and after having posted seven of the eighteen stories here online, I feel confident that your appetites have been sufficiently whetted. If you haven’t already, go out and order your copy of Dead Duck, either from you local comic shop, bookstore, Amazon.com or from Ape Entertainment themselves. Everything I’ve posted here will be in the book, as well as the eleven Dead Duck adventures that I’ve never shown anyone. I may be back to post new stuff on this site from time to time, but for now, feel free to rifle through the older Dead Duck posts. Or better yet, buy the book!
With this last page of “A Tale of Udder Importance”, I jumped over the same obstacles that every other creator has when drawing characters from Norse mythology–avoiding the 40-plus years worth of designs developed my Marvel Comics’ artists for Thor and his brood. I think I did right by avoiding drawing any actual gods (though I would like to try my hand at my own designs for them one day).
To my knowledge, Marvel never drew Audumla in any of their stories, so no worries there. I can imagine their logic–or illogic–being that having a giant cow in an epic superhero book would just be too goofy. As if superheroes aren’t goofy on their own.
I really enjoyed drawing Audumla herself. I purposefully avoided drawing a classic Disney-esque cartoon cow, and instead opted to study real cows for my design. I found out just how fascinating their physiognomy really is, and how different they are from the over-simplified anthropomorphic creatures spat out by most cartoonists, myself as guilty as anyone. It’s pushed me to look closer at my subjects, even in cartooning, when attempting to insert them into my creative worlds.
I also enjoyed drawing Ymir the frost giant, particularly the icicles on his nips. That’s just a funny visual to me, and the sort of little detail that I love to illustrate. The way I drew his “hair” is a throwback to a character I created in high school called Freakinstine–a short and horny little Frankensteinian creature.
This was probably the biggest and grossest poop joke I’ve employed in “Dead Duck”. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me–I’d long ago accepted toilet humor as one of my creative devices. But I can justify it if I need to by saying Zombie Chick’s gag at the end eclipses it. It was rare, throughout the course of the book, when I’d get to draw Zombie Chick in anything but a black bikini (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so I relished this chance to draw her in a Norse God ensemble, complete with muscles and flowing hair. And if you look reeeeeeaaaaaaalllll careful, you’ll notice something popping out of her metal chest plate. My wife, who’s always been my biggest Zombie Chick fan, did question such an intimate exposure of Zombie Chick’s bod, but I contest on two parts:
1. You don’t actually see her nipples. What you see is the outer rim which surrounds the nipples–the teet ring if you will.
2. What I show here in the barely revealed teet ring is nothing compared to the large black blossoms I show silhouetted on Zombie Chick’s chest in every Dead Duck story. Christ, she may as well be naked.
So there you have it. Hope you’ve enjoyed these comics online, and I bring some fresh Dead Duck material here at some undisclosed time down the road. But for now, run out and buy my Dead Duck graphic novel for the real goods. The visceral experience of holding the printed book in your hands beats out the digital scrolling of what you see here any day. Much appreciation, my friends and fans, and I hope to have more to show you soon!
Much love,
–Jay
1Comment
