Happy Halloween from mister CUJO

mister CUJO and DARYL would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween this year...

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Promo pics sponsored by Comic Fiction Shop.

Breakdown: Muppets Bleed Red

Some episodes of mister CUJO Explains it All are completely pulled from the pop culture soup I call a brain, while others are based in some sort of factual happening.  Alright, most start from some actual event that I then throw chunky heaps of referential material on. Muppets Bleed Red would probably be the most straight forward of account of what actually happened.

My Aunt Patti, bought me a Kermit puppet when I was around nine years old.  I have no idea what brought that on.  We did live on the Southside of Chicago at the time and things had a tendency to fall off the back of trucks, so maybe she got a deal.  It could be that she saw me talking to myself (something I did often) and thought a buddy on my hand would make me look less awkward in public.  Anyway, that's how I ended up with a Kermit, that would ultimately meet it's end in a really bad rain storm after our basement flooded.  Here's a look at some of the artwork and animation from the episode.

Real American Hero

I was a straight up G.I. Joe kid.  The 3 3/4 inch tall figures that you could conveniently fit a whole slew of into a pimp suede Crown Royal liquor bag.  That shite came at the right exact time for me and my cronies, so everything revolved around the Joe Team for a certain time.  The G.I. Joe cartoon was an actual "run home" event after school and I couldn't wait to get home and binge on the over saturated, cel shaded adventures of 80's toy commerce.

It was originally Duke and Scarlett that I drew to take on the large and formidable "Cybernetic Clothes Pin Army."  Then, I stopped production of the show to focus on shooting a movie.  When I came back to finish the episode, this image felt too static.  I was going to do a more dynamic pose, but by that point, I had gotten the desire to draw Duke and Scarlett out of my system and I now wanted a reason to draw Lady Jaye and Snake Eyes.  Which, where many of the decisions of what to put in the show comes from.  I'll have a base idea or outline for an episode, then I think "you know what would be fucking cool to draw?" And that's how I ended up with the characters of Snake Eyes and Lady Jaye, for the actual episode.

Jurrasic Muppet or KermZilla

Making Kermit, a Cobra controlled, fire spitting, agent of pure destruction and mayhem was probably more fun than it should have been. The original script had a bit about the fact that the Kermit puppet had velcro on his hands.  So it could do different expressions by making it feel itself up all over it's muppet fur.  But, instead of drawing multiple images of a sexually frustrated Kermit rubbing his amphiba-nips, I rewrote it to include a giant Kermit under the malicious thumb of Cobra.

This again brings into play, "you know what would be fucking cool to draw?"  Or to be more accurate "you know what would be fucking cool to animate?"  The time factor of producing the show means I animate things sparingly, but I wasn't going to pass up putting Godzilla flames into a muppet's mouth.

Which gives us this...

Hillbilly Jason

Then there's Hillbilly Jason, from Friday the 13th Part 2.  Before he went Gretzky and starting sporting the iconic hockey mask, Jason Voorhees was just a guy with a sack over his head and an eye hole cut out.  He wasn't super human yet and he actually tried to chase you down, not simply slowly walk behind you, then magically appear in front of you David Copperfield style.  Those elements, makes this the scariest version of the character, cause that's some shite you might actually run into in the woods.  I already put the hockey fan Jason, into the Bar BQ and Government Cheese episode, so this gave me the opportunity to illustrate the bag head maniac.

I hope you enjoyed this closer look at the inspiration and thoughts behind this episode.  Here it is again for you to check out...

Until next time, have a happy...

- Myron A.

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This week's and last week's cover photos and more...

Tweezing Threads: Comic Fiction™ 2014/15 Production

I haven't posted an actual blog article in a long time. To say that I've been busy, while true would be a cop out. There was much housekeeping that needed to be done and some I'm still in the process of doing. I've started some new projects, while putting others on the shelf.  That shelf has become very crowded and some things have collected so much dust I had to evaluate what was worth swiffering. Some things got crated and thrown into the same warehouse that houses the Ark, while others were dusted off and placed in a new wrapper. Let's at least get into what's popping out of Comic Fiction™ through the end of 2014 into 2015.

I felt I needed an image of a shelf. This is the "Mech" shelf in my office.

mister CUJO Explains New Episodes

After the "FanFiction" episode, I had completed two more episodes of mister CUJO Explains it All. Muppets Bleed Red (which was released last month) and POGO-LYMPICS (which will be released on 11/6), and had around six more written. Three of those six will be completed and premiere between now and January 2015.

While I enjoy making the series, episodes were being spit out haphazardly and the focus was all over the place. This was my initial intent, to have an outlet to tell a story, any story, at any time and not be tied down to following a particular plot or character development.  After 14 episodes, I realized I wanted to tell a more structured story, with some occasional left field shite. So, a reorganization and new outline was in order.

My original outline for the series was just that, an outline of titles and brief paragraphs of the stories I wanted to tell. Some were fully developed, while others were just a idea nugget that needed refinement. I could throw an all new idea in that mix or follow what came next in the outline. I dumped that outline and many of the ideas that were in it. 

What does that all mean? It means the show will be going in a slightly different direction.

mister CUJO and DARYL

The revamped series will now be called mister CUJO and DARYL and begin on February 17, 2015. It won't feel dramatically different from what came before, it will just have more of a character and plot driven focus. My previous outline had roughly 20 unproduced show ideas, ranging from pop culture lumps, to character based chunks. Reorganizing to a straight character based structure, I was able to outline close to 50 episode concepts in one day. For me, this was further proof that my natural way of developing stories yielded more content. I will be writing a series of articles detailing the development of the series and speak in more detail on how I came to this point starting in January. 

It's Goddamn Xmas, mister CUJO!

Along with new episodes comes a 3 part holiday special in December. Epic would be one word to describe it. MUTHA-F*CKING EPIC would be two. Or is that three?  So with all that, here's the schedule of mister CUJO episodes coming now through early 2015...

• 10/30/14 - Happy Halloween 2014
• 11/6/14 - POGO-LYMPICS

- EDITED DATES -

• 12/16/14 - It's Goddamn Xmas, mister CUJO! Part 1
• 12/18/14 - It's Goddamn Xmas, mister CUJO! Part 2
• 12/23/14 - It's Goddamn Xmas, mister CUJO! Part 3
• 1/13/15 - Women in Star Wars
• 1/27/15 - Karate Kid Z
• 2/17/15 - mister CUJO and DARYL Begins!

Be sure to subscribe to the YouTube Channel so you don't miss an episode.

A New Feature Length Movie is Coming

I wrote, shot, directed, and am in the process of editing a feature length flick this past spring/summer. In the coming months I will be posting stories, pics and vids from this cinematic monstrosity. I kid when I say "monstrosity."  The f*cking thing is actually pretty good from what I've edited so far, but then again, I made it.  

This the first official photo. Figuratively and literally as it's a pic I shot with my phone once these two items arrived in the mail. You'd think it be easy to find a green hoodie and orange pants, but it was not. Trust me.

Hopefully this gives some clue as to what's been going on and why I've been MIA.  Stay tuned to all things Comic Fiction for mo' updates and date drops.  I'll make sure the wait isn't so long again.

Have a happy.

- Myron A.