We have seen the aftermath of Robyn’s temper, but I’m fairly sure I’ve never really shown her in the act of smacking someone. Why not end the week on a satisfying “POW!” from the old Batman TV show? Damn straight. Well, so much for that… I changed the third panel. The first version didn’t work (as you can read in the comments below) and I decided to change it all together. The first version, for those of you that missed it, had Robyn’s arm apparently in the act of punching the boss, but I didn’t do a great job of rendering the scene, so I dumped it. Never done that before, but what the heck.
FIVE COMICS this week again! All in color! Come on, let’s hear it for the very tired artist!
We start up Jeff’s “Get A Job” segment next week. Promises to be fun. But in the meantime, we may take a short pit stop with Bud and Lily too. We’ll see…
One more time to Dave Edmunds. Had to work this one in. 1970 was a great year for hard rock singles. “Mississippi Queen” “Let’s Work Together” “Whole Lotta Love” “House of the Rising Sun” and a lot more. This one is a real toe tapper and a throw back to the “oldies” sound of the 60s. It is funny how we considered the 60s tunes “oldies” in like 1970. The music scene had evolved from the Beach Boys sounds to the sounds of Cream and Hendrix. For the better too, I might add. Enjoy your weekend!
**************************
…and Byron shoots, scores, and invents the icing bikini top!
It’s amazing what the four of them have influenced in present time… from getting Van Halen signed to getting Timothy Leary hooked on drugs. Seems the space-time continuum is somehow centered here in 1977. Coincidence? I think not.
A good Doctor is due to arrive soon too…
🙂
Well, you and I know that history often doesn’t give the *true* innovators the credit they deserve 😛 😛 😛
A good Doctor, eh? Hmm. That covers a wide range – from Carlin to Seuss to Sardonicus*** to Teeth to Strange to Doom to Ock to Horrible to, well, *The*… 🙂
*** So, like, does anyone else here remember Spirit?
Well, in fact Dr. Carlin is coming back soon, but that’s not *who* I was referring too. Not being totally immersed in this Doctor, I may have used the wrong reference. Phone booth anyone?
🙂
In the words of Jack O’Neill, ‘I got nothing.’ Apart from Rufus, of course (but that’s George Carlin anyway), and Clark Kent!
…and if you’d said ‘police box’, then yes, that’s be the *The*…
See, as you know, in the USA we don’t have Police Boxes, so I brain farted and called it a phone booth, as that’s what Superman runs into to change from Clark Kent to Kal-El. My bad. But… YES that one.
Ah, but *which* ‘that one’? Looking forward to this 🙂
Easy… what year is it? Should give it away… 🙂
That icing Bikini top makes me want cake and a hot chick to eat it off of. I love being bisexual! Giggity giggty goo! Alright! 😀
I think Cinemax has a movie on tonight with that plot… 😛
Yep. It’s called Bitchslap 😀
Actually, that was a pretty dire fillum, apart from Michael Hurst’s highly amusing performance and the sweet Lucy Lawless cameo.
Oh God what did I start? lol Damn I wish I had a hot girl friend to have hot lesbian sex with. haha ow I’m just trying to mess with your heads. 😉
That 4th Wall Stare is soooo Bugs Bunny! Big Boss Man really needs to understand that “You’re OK” is a very relative phrase not to be applied lightly.
Robyn continues to look delicious … 😀
Thanks! I’ll take a Bug Bunny comparison any day! Yes, Robyn likes the 4th wall indeed.
🙂
Okay, you know what… I am sooooo writing that first panel in to my strip. I have just the idea how to do it too! 🙂
By the way, man… my cousin-in-law has become an avid reader of my comic and, as such, has been slowly “discovering” other webcomics she likes. Your strip is also one of her favorites. 🙂
Hey Chris! Yeah, I gave your comic a nod a couple comics back when I first showed the company’s name. How could I *not* use that name? Indeed.
Glad to hear I haven’t pissed off at least one or two female readers with Robyn’s semi-naked storyline. The men of course are still lighting their cigarettes…
🙂
My cousin-in-law Susie loves your females. I don’t know why or how I missed the lettering on the van – all the more reason why I gotta quit reading webcomics in the morning… gotta wait until the caffeine fully kicks in, ya know? 🙂
I hear you. I read most comics before I commute to work and it’s not a good time to absorb everything.
🙂
Every now and then I play the art critic on other people’s webcomics, so please bear with me. This is just a suggestion.
The final panel is lacking in clarity; at a first glance it seems like she’s punching her fist against the door. I’m guessing what’s meant to be happening is she’s slugging her boss. However, since there’s no sign of him or any reaction it almost looks like he’s just vanished (or even just closed the door on her). The emphasis on the doorknob also makes it seems like she just hit the door, not the guy.
If the boss was maybe partially shown in the panel (but you don’t need to use the old cartoon cliche of only his feet showing) it might clear things up a tad.
Sorry to be a prick, but I just thought it would help things. Nobody likes hearing grandpa lecture, but occasionally the old coot has a good point!
Prick? No, no, I own that title, sir. You may use some other adjective for yourself if you’d like!
🙂
Okay, I respect your opinion so much that you convinced me the final panel sucked (or at least was not clear). So… I decided to redraw the last panel. No matter what I did, showing the boss getting punched took the funny out of it for me. So, I decided to do what Robyn originally was going to do to him in the first comic and that’s dunk him a huge vat of cake dough. Funnier. You get to see more Robyn and that she picks up her trademark top too. It also makes it clear she quits and/or is fired. You can decide on what the boss is saying inside the dough!
🙂
I wouldn’t normally change a comic like this, but it bugged me that it wasn’t clear.
Nice work! Sorry to have been a nag, but it came out really funny and clever!
…next thing you know someone’s going to pester my comic, saying, “You should change all the comics so that Scapula is a talking dog! That would be SO much better than this crap!”
OoooO! Now the dog idea rocks…
🙂
PS: You weren’t a nag. I ignore nags. Ask my wife… (ba-da-boom)
For teh Record #1 — The original was pretty clear to me, especially given Robyn’s cocked fist in 2nd panel. However, I’m a fairly long-term fan and was expecting pretty much a strip as-posted (the 4th Wall Stare was still a lovely & cute surprise, though 😉 ).
For teh Record #2 — DadaHyena was dead on the mark. Kudos for an excellent eye. My fanboi’s eye was too easily satisfied by my expectations.
For teh Record #3 — Just awesome re-write, Byron! Before I got to the comments, my first response upon seeing the revision was “Oh. YEA!! Moer Robyn!! 😀 ” And, immediate 2nd was “Oh, sweet … classic (and often best) comedy is to show the aftermath and leave the event to the imagination.” Big WIN all around!
The only thing missing would be the Atomic Wedgie she should have given him while carrying him by his elastic wasteband to the mixing bowl.
Batter up! 😉
One for the money… two to get ready… go cats go…
Sorry, got distracted there. Yeah, the original wasn’t bad at all, and if you looked at it for a moment, you got the idea, especially with the subtle cocked hand in panel two. But comedy is always best in showing the results and not the actually event.
Most cartoons have the characters slide off screen, then the camera shakes on the background plate while a bunch of sound effects go off then we see the characters covered in whatever it was they ran into. Easier to draw and in, essence, funnier.
Yeah, no matter what I did, showing Robyn pounding the guy just wasn’t funny (except for showing his shoes exiting the frame which is too cliche at this point).
🙂
even when I did 5x a week, it was weak grayscale. Not sure how you manage, old man ;0)
It’s not easy and it explains why I’m so tired of late! This working two or three jobs is getting to me!
🙂
‘Not sure how you manage, old man ;0)’
viagraformangastudio.exe
😛
Tut, tut… no blue pills for me yet. 🙂
LOL! I was surprised this one got past your spamcatcher. And the .exe filename means it’d be for your Manga Studio, not for you…
Great stuff! I’ve been viewing “1977” for a while and look forward to your work! Love the comic and the music.Thanks for all the hard work!
Welcome to the party, pal! Great to have you along for the ride!
I appreciate when folks take time to post a comment, means a lot to us comic folks, so thank you for that!
🙂
haha I wanted to do something like that to my new boss ( well he;s kind of my boss) wen he touched my ass today. I did punch his arm a lot though. Too bad my punches are too weak he thought I was playing. lol Well that’s lucky cause I’ll still get work from him. xp
Well, I really can’t comment on the situation, but most men are good guys and even though we talk up a storm, we have a certain respect for women. But, there are those slobs out there that give most of us a black-eye. Those guys make me sick.
Well it was kind of my fault. I shook my ass at him a few days before. lol God I hate when I act like a cock tease. I really don’t mean to but I end up doing it anyways… :/
Just a comment on your changes to today’s strip: I’ve no objection to the change, and it’s true that sometimes when even just one person points something out to a creative artist that artist might be moved to make changes, but one comment from one commenter doesn’t equal a bad review 😀
That’s all this was. It just struck me as really obvious once it was pointed out to me. Dadahyena’s opinion I also respect, so I knew it was not just a flippant remark or a negative criticism, but a comment pointed at improving the comic.
I do like the new third panel, even though it was not my original intent. Seeing more of Robyn in icing is never a bad thing. I don’t think they make enough icing for Lorraine’s boobs… I’m sure we’ll find out someday.
🙂
Seeing Robyn’s now-ex-boos in a LOT of icing is also never a bad thing 😀
Or even now-ex-*boss*. Serves me right for not looking before I pressed Post!
Byron,
I jut wanted to say a huge “ROCK ON!” to doing 5 colored strips in a week. I hope you rest up this weekend, you truly deserve it. If you make it down to Dragon*Con next August, the first round of beer is on me.
Keep up the great work,
Mark (aka Lorraine’s next boyfriend)
Howdy Mark! It takes only an invitation of a free beer to get me motivated to show up somewhere. I hope to appear at a lot more conventions next year. Even if I can’t have a table, I want to come and rub elbows with readers and fellow comic creators.
That’s the fun part! 🙂
Another great one! And I picked up on a detail and I’m kind of stuck on it. Great hand drawings here! Puts the expression in the whole character. Now I know where to look for inspiration!
Rock on.
I talk with my hands, as do a lot of people and in the static world of comic strips, I have found (for me) that besides the facial expressions, one can often tell a person’s reactions by their hand gestures. I have spent the past year working on hands and seem to get them right most times. I still come up with a funky drawing now and then, but I’m getting better.
Great work doing 5 color strips in one week. Which would explain the following little, um, mis-speak:
“This one [“I Hear You Knocking”] is a real toe tapper and a throw back to the “oldies” sound of the 60s.”
Maybe you forgot that the first time the song charted was when Smiley Lewis did it in 1955… Which, after doing five great color strips this week, must have tired you out and made you forget to do a tiny re-read…
Not that that detracts from the good work, mind you…
I was aware it was a remake from the 50’s… my meaning was that *this* version had a “throwback” sound to it that that reminds you of the classic 60s sound, and for a song that came out in 1970, it was ironic we called the 60s tunes “oldies” already.
I wasn’t that tired, I probably was not entirely clear on my meaning.
🙂
Fair ‘nuf; that makes sense now. And if you weren’t that tired, I probably was…
It’s all good man… I love interaction, and most times I *am* wrong. Like I said, I probably was not entirely clear on my meaning… and I’m good at doing that. It sounded okay to me… but…
🙂
Missed this last week as was away for a long weekend.
Fantastic week of strips (literally!) love the ending with the new amended drawing.
Glad I could be there for the 5-a-week revisit! 😉
Keep ’em coming boss!