And the Road Trip has begun. Stand by for all types of destruction and mayhem as the gang takes over California and the splendors that state has to offer, especially LA and San Diego. And now I gotta draw a pool scene with nothing but bikini babes… poor me.
Albert Hammond wrote and sang a little pop tun in 1972 called “It Never Rains In Southern California” and it was played, like, non-stop for about a month. I learned to hate it. Hammond went on to become a producer and writer of hit songs for groups like Starship. Good thing as I learned to hate his voice. Leo Sayer had a a #1 hit in 1977 called “When I Need You” which was written by…. Albert Hammond. Even found a 1977 tie-in. Thank you YouTube.
A couple pit stops next week, then we hit the San Diego beaches for some summer fun… even though it’s turning Fall. Hey, whatever…
😉
Let’s hope it doesn’t hail now!
At which point the anger will turn toward Robyn… 🙂
WET BIKINI CONTEST!!!
Not sure why, but your comment JUST showed up in the Spam folder. Weird. But you are a bit early… stayed tooned (nice teaser, eh?) 🙂
How often does that happen to a song? Too often! 🙁
Yes, there are a lot of good songs that have been ruined for me due to the fact that they’re played every hour for weeks on end. UGH!
Thanks for ‘splainin’ who that was!
Actually, this comic was really a test. I have some folks communicate privately that they feel “1977” should be more about 70s stuff… like today I reference a hugely popular song… huge in 1972. If you weren’t around in 1972 with an AM “transistor” radio stuck to your ear, then you have no freakin’ idea what I’m talking about and have to read my explanation to get the joke. Which is BAD.
So, to me, the jokes about Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll work better then referencing 70s stuff. Most of the comics that do this get the polite “golf clap” as in “Nice one, but you can do better!” I think I can…
I like the idea of “mayheim” – is that what’s likely to happen when they reach California: mayhem in Anaheim? Heh.
Okay, a typo got by me, but that’s why I have your readers… to keep me on my toes!! I’m surprised I missed that in the spell check, but the little red lines are hard to see late at night… even after 2 cans of Mountain Dew past the eight o’clock hour!
😉
Obviously you should be drinking V. Or Mother 😛
Also, liked the old Beatles tour reference in the first panel!
YES!! Someone got that! Yay! I was really going deep on that one. For you youngsters out there who don’t know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings, in the Beatles’ first movie “Hard Days Night” John Lennon is being interviewed thus:
Reporter: “How did you find America?”
John: “Turn left at Greenland.”
Apparently, in the UK, they use the expression “how do you find…” as a “how did you like…” type question. But still, great line.
PS: Oh, and literally, you do turn left at Utah to get to San Diego… it’s the only freakin’ turn on the 29 hour drive there.
Actually, the “turn left at Greenland” phrase has sort-of memeified, even amongst people who don’t know its origin. But yes, “How do you find [the new job/life at your block of luxury flats/a new degree course/etc.]? or “How do you find [the steering lock on your Lexus/the feel of guitar neck x or y/etc.]?” is a normal turn of phrase in my part of the world…
I know it’s years later since anyone made a mention,but this joke also comes up in old Looney Toons cartoons. Chuck Jones’s refference to it is usually with Bugs Bunny’s remark “I knew I should made that left turn at Albuquerque…”
In the original version of this comic from 2007, they are shown in Albuquerque turning left. I love Looney Tunes, but went with the Beatles reference this time.
🙂
Albert Hammond? His father sent him money, as I understand things, but he spent the lot in no time flat on some bird he met in Berkley in a Social Science class.
Great rain in panel 3 there. Everyone’s hair seems…neat, for people who are driving a car with, y’know, no roof. Women love open top cars until they ride in ’em the first time. Then they tend to be cooler to the idea of driving topless.
Wait, that didn’t sound right…
Steve (ex-TR6 owner)
Actually, you’re right on both accounts, but getting women to drive around topless is a bit of chore. I find several shots of Tequila helps…
Oh, I left their hair “perfect” so they could be easily identified. Matt Groening said once that a successful cartoon character can be identified by its silhouette. I think he’s right, so my characters really look different by their hair styles. I mean, every “Simpson” character has the same damn eyes! But good for him, easier to draw!
🙂
Cool..those guys had a cell phone in the car to get Albert’s call. Oh wait, he was being sarcastic. haha
Yeah, car phones were around back then, but were bloody expensive. I got my father a CB radio in 1976 that had an microphone that looked like a telephone hand-set and all his teacher friends thought he’d inherited a million bucks or something… Was a cool CB…
You can even make rain look good. Nice skills, Byron! 🙂
That took FOREVER. Started with ONE thin line, duplicated it… moved it… duplicated it… moved it… so on and so on…
Then I duplicated them en masse, over-lapped them and finally added some gray shading at about 10% opacity.
The real trick in the final panel though was I did not ink the car and its occupants. By leaving them in pencil mode, they look more faded out. I first tried a blur effect with an ink layer but it looked simply out of focus. This looks more real, which I discovered kinda by mistake.
The key is to leave a couple small gaps in the lines, as rain comes down randomly.
What model of graphics tablet do you use?
Oooo! A techy question! I love these…
I use a WACOM Intuos 3 model PTZ-631W. The “w” stands for “wide” as in I have a wide ass… no, actually it’s for use with 16×9 LCDs, and it works great.
I draw using Manga Studio EX software. Love the pencil mode with the WACOM as it feel and looks very natural. Saves me a ton of money on paper and pencils.
Interestingly enough, a few folks have asked me about original comics, and since they’re digital, there are none. There go the eBay profits…
😉
I’m with Robyn on this one: I’d rather travel on a convertible taking some rain on my head than in a sedan with hot sunny sky…
But you’re still crazy. CRAZY. 🙂
Have a nice weekend, Sir Wilkins!
BUHAHAHAHA!! Yeah, I’m crazy alright. Most folks cringe at some of the stuff I’ve done. Sometimes I’m amazed I’m still alive… someone upstairs likes me!
I really think the one to blame here is Robyn…
Sorry to bother you again, but what is the usable area of your tablet? I’m trying to figure out what I should be looking at for my Annie-May-crazed cartoonin’ daughter, who just did an extra credit retelling of Brave New World from one character’s viewpoint and did it as a comic book. I’m so impressed with her inventiveness and her talent I could just about burst. Plus, for the first time ever, she finally took some advice and worked in pencil first rather than inking from the get-go.
It’s dead good. Really.
I believe the area is 6 x 11, fairly good sized. The current version (mine is an Intuos 3 model) is around 6×9 and lists around $370 bucks. Worth every dime, as you’ll out-grow the smaller tablets quickly.
Cool she’s got the ‘gift” as drawing is something you can learn, but it helps to have a tendency toward it to begin with. I’ve always liked drawing, and I’m a happy camper these days when I draw, so I say let her go for it if she’s so inclinded.
She can be a “successful” webcomic artist like me… 🙂