header

Snowmen and Sneak-Attacks
And so, as the story goes, it didn't snow in Maine in Decemeber of 1999, so I decided to bring the snow myself to Bob Online. I've always loved snow, though I'm not much of a skier, which is why, if some of you may remember, I did a nice January spread last year featuring Blake pulling Dustin on a sled--if not, check it out here. And after developping new characters for my comic strip in Student Life, I came up with Stanson Rudiger--who prefers to be called Private Rudiger for rank signifigance. I devised an idea to turn the standard "snowball fight with a fort" battle into a military operation, headed by Rudiger itself. Walkie-talkies, supplies, troops...all the goods! And 16 pages later, the comic is a neat masterpiece (if I do say so myself).

Of course it isn't a masterpiece, but my drawings have smoothed out and loosened up alot. I explored new design layout elements and spent a lot of time really considering the gesture and expression of every character. I actually would have prefered this to be possibly twice as long. Believe me, 16 pages was enough and a ton of work, but looking back there are more points that deserve special attention, to help build up the drama and comedy with better timing and story development. Still, I can't compain, the snow scenes are beautiful, Blake and Dustin are possibly at their best...but enough blabbering--let me give you some inside info. Basically the story begins with a simple conflict: to either build a snowman or a snowfort (Blake and Dustin both have their opinions and reasons). So the two go on their separate ways, which is when Rudiger and his crew step in on Blake's territory. Rudiger convinces Blake he is merely merging with Blake as a team, but slowly Rudiger takes over the whole operation...snowball flinging--the battle ensues....I'm not going to give away much else of the story, because you're just gonna hafta read it. The ending, I believe, will throw most of my readers for a loop, but you have to realize what drives the humor of the comic. These are just 9-year-olds playing out in the snow, letting their imaginations drift on a frosty breeze. For those of you who never had the benefit of being able to build snowmen or make snow angels, I hope this can make up for such a tragic childhood :)

Snowmen and Sneak-Attacks


raflynn@art.wustl.edu