The character of Detritus was inspired by my friend Daniel Rivers. I say “inspired” rather than “based on” because while both Daniel and Detritus are short, very smart and (at least at the time the character was created) complete horndogs, they’re otherwise dissimilar. Daniel and his sister were raised by their single mother in northern California. Detritus grew up with his parents on a hippie commune in Oregon. Daniel has gone on to do his graduate work at Stanford. Detritus and Buffy (not the TV character) Crawfield bought the commune in Oregon and are raising their kids there.

I last saw Daniel when he officiated at Cindy and Mike’s wedding. He wrote a great ceremony. I’m going to have to see if I can get a copy of it. It would be worth publishing here.

From the 1997 sketchbook – this is a prime example of a doodle page. No figure here is related to any project that I can remember. Despite all the times I’ve said I don’t remember in past posts, that lack of memory usually has to do with dates rather than projects. If a drawing has a specific story (as in, piece of fiction) behind it I usually remember that there is one.

From the look of the page I was probably doing sketches so I could test a pen. Ever so often I would try to find an off the shelf pen as an inking tool. I used to use Rapidographs but the time and expense of maintaining them had me give them up. Too many clogs. Too much time cleaning a tool that I rarely used.

Short on time today so all I’ve got to share is the sketch. Cheers!

I imagine this one was one of the many pages I sketched while waiting. Sketches generally get done for two reasons. Either I have an idea and I’m trying to get it visualized or I’m killing time. Often I’m killing time and, at the same time, trying to sketch out some image that’s been nagging my mind.

Today we begin another sketchbook. I’m unsure on the year. Based on pieces at the end of the book I’m pretty sure that this is from 1997. This page would be a good clue if my memory about its contents were anything other than vague. Mostly it’s my versions of characters from a comic strip collection that I’d read shortly before I did the sketches. Unfortunately I no longer remember the name of the comic strip or where that collection is in my vast library. The series had been originally published in a college newspaper. Beyond that I’m coming up blank.

One of the many comics projects I’d like to do Someday is a series of remakes of b-movies. If it were successful enough I’m sure I could think of others to adapt but currently are four movies I’d start with. And, yes, I’d make a few changes.

The Monster of Piedras Blancas – the biggest change here would be a redesign of the monster. The story itself simple and sensible enough that I don’t see a reason to mess with it much. I’d probably flesh out the characters some and either make the boyfriend less of an idiot or have the creature rip his head off.

The Horror of Party Beach – I’d make the biggest changes to this one, enough changes that, frankly, it’s not the same story and I could call it something else if I felt like it. No one would know. Except you folks. Gone would be the radioactive waste, the mammy housekeeper and the ridiculus sodium bomb resolution, even the beach. Instead we’ve got fish sauce, chili sauce, dueling restauranteurs and a lake infested with fish zombies.

The She-Creature – This would be a fairly straight forward adaptation – a noir detective story with a literally monstrous killer at the center.

The Milpitas Monster – redesign the monster and make the story much much creepier. Actually have the monster kill some people.

Maybe Someday.

I have an irrational affection for The Horror of Party Beach. The movie features some of the goofiest looking monsters you’re likely to see so, of course, I feel a need to take care of them and actually try to make them scary looking. The monsters are the corpses of drowned sailors that have been reanimated by radioactive waste. For some reason this means they’ve grown googly eyed fish heads and scales. Radioactive waste is so creative!

There are fish zombies littering my sketchbooks. The one finished version I’ve done can be found here. It was used for the cover of the webzine Decompositions last year.

Today’s sketch features the Shepherd, a relatively recent creation. This is the first time I’ve put him down on paper. If he hangs around my imagination long enough I’m sure he’ll show up here again. If he sticks around I’ll have more to say about him then.

The first superhero I remember inventing was the Alpha Beast. I’m not sure how old I was. He was scientist named Brian Daniels who invented a machine that could de-evolve any living thing to an ancestral form. So, of course, he used the machine to transform himself into a superpowered reptile-simian. And then he fought crime. Because that’s what you do when you’re a genius who can transform himself into a completely non-existent ancestral form. He called himself the Alpha Beast because alpha=first. It surprises me that I knew that as a kid. I’m pretty sure I learned that from reading comics.

AB’s physical form was inspired by the monster Gog from Spider-Man #103. Brian Daniels had technology that prevented his brain from de-evolving with his body so he was both super strong and really smart.