Not so very long ago, before my King Monkey strip, I drew another strip about a useless Victorian inventor with a very big hat. I was looking to create a whole world, with a large cast of characters, rather than the smaller double-act framework of King Monkey. Apart from Isambard himself, there was his girlfriend Amelia, who was a would-be romantic novelist and poet, Enoch, his dumb pal, his Scrooge-alike boss Mr Muckworm, Ratbone the detective, Saucy Jack the fiend, Barnacle Grudge the sea-captain and Constable Dunstable. There was also a mad professor type, a pub landlord and a boxer/bouncer too, but I can't remember their names. As you can see from that list, they were all Victorian archetypes, not so original. But I think the strip worked-I just felt that there wasn't ever going to be much of an audience for it.
The following strips are from the second phase of Isambard, after I redesigned the characters and gave it a typographical overhaul, not, for once, using my own font (which is called Jumpytype, if you're interested).
And that's it. You won't find out how they fared on the moon because I never drew it. And I never will. (Unless someone pays top dollar, or top guinea in this case)
4 comments:
these are bloody good. i can see king monkey in it, but prefer the drawings and varied cast. classics.
Thanks, Waldo. I like the drawings rather a lot. For my next effort, I may go this way.
Excellent stuff, Alex. Perhaps combine them in a book on Lulu? Partcularly like the "I was in the pub" one. It's a great, fully realised world you've got there.
I haven't got enough. Only about 30 strips in total. Ah, if I only I had the time to realise all the projects I want to do.
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