Un-Iverse Update #1 (1/13/24)

I should have two Un-Iverse Updates tonight. This is the first.

My back has been killing me. But I NEED to draw the saga. I'm not using hyperbole there. It's a physical NEED to get it done. So I'm currently playing through some pain. Working on F.I.S.H. #9 "One Shall Fall" (Un-Iverse #64).

As a rule, when I draw pencils, I tend to lean in, especially when shading. If this issue's art seems a little softer than usual, that will probably be why.

Not that the art is bad. At all. This is my first real opportunity to do a bunch of characters from the alien race the Porcinese. I think the designs are great so far, and so far they are off the top of my head because my back did not have the patience to sketch them out and perfect them ahead of time.

One of 'em looks like Bebop from Ninja Turtles, because I am not made of stone.

The female Porcinese I've drawn so far looks fabulous. Again, because I'm not leaning in, she perhaps feels a little less defined on the page than my usual characters,. But I feel it makes her look and feel a bit exotic and ethereal, which is a facet I always intended the Porcinese, particularly the women, to have. Their antennae are both cartoony / basic, and utterly filled with personality. I want the Porcinese to recognizably look like Earth boars and pigs. They do. I also want them to look alien. They do. You'd be amazed at the alien vibe a couple of antennae will give a drawing, especially if you give them a personality and expressions themselves.

I've done two pages of the story so far tonight. I want to do at least six (I'm behind) and hopefully more if I'm up for it. At the end of the night (or more likely the morning) I'll tell you how many pages I completed, and how many more I estimate before the issue is finished.

After ALL the complaints "Echo" has gotten

I feel like nobody has voiced the most important drawback, which goes for most Marvel stuff to begin with. It's the elephant in the room.

"Why isn't Echo punching out talking gorillas?"

And why should I give a fuck about ANYTHING that happens to her, or Spider-Man, or the Avengers, or the X-Men if they ain't shutting up the toxic Objectivist bullshit the Gorilla invariably spews to sound learned and human, but is actually the exact reason they need to get punched out in the first place?

Kingpin? I'm sorry Vincent D'Noffrio. You are not a gorilla. You do not matter. Sure, you deserved to get punched too. But I take no joy in it the way a good old fashioned monkey ass-whomping satisfies me.

It's not wokeness or identity politics that is the MCU's downfall. It's the lack of heroes hitting talking primates. As flawed as the DC Universe is, it doesn't seem to really have this problem. Even Batman fought giant bugs in the TNBA episode "Critters", so you understand everybody in that company gets the JIST of why superhero comic books are important, and should be read. Marvel is sadly lacking there, and Echo has suffered for it. That's all the bad vibes boil down to. Not enough talking apes getting their asses kicked and jaws broken. It's a company wide problem, and I don't think the comic book industry can ever fix itself until every creator everywhere is on the same page here.

UPDATE

I think Dwayne McDuffie was the greatest superhero writer who ever lived because he was one of the only superhero writers who actually knew this fact. McDuffie's death was not just a loss for the industry. It was a loss for unjustly intact gorilla jaws everywhere.

Un-Iverse Update #2 (1/13/24)

Finished the 6 pages. Usually I try to overshoot my goal (and by a lot) for bragging rights, but I'm too exhausted. Goal met and it's enough.

Any additional thoughts?

I love the design of the unnamed Porcinese Queen / Governess in the opening scene. Maybe it's because I didn't lean in, but she has a very exotic and ethereal look, which is something I always wanted to channel with the Porcinese. I wanted the incongruity of them looking identical to fat, slovenly animals, but having the same sense of light magic about them as elves. I wanted both of those opposite things to be true. The Governess is a good start there. Very happy with that.

The antennae help. I wanted them to look like pigs and boars. They do. And I wanted them to look alien. They do. You can claim you can put an antennae on ANYTHING to make it look alien, and while that's partly the idea, I think the real reason it works is the antennae feel like they have personality and are expressive. If they didn't, I question the idea that the Porcinese would even look and feel alien. The antennae aren't alien affectations attached to their heads. They're a PART of them, which makes THEM alien. Funny how that works.

The Council Table at the beginning is shaped like a snout because The Un-Iverse is NOT the comic book title that brags it's the new Shakespeare or modern pop-culture version of Biblical allegories and creation myths. It never was. I find that a bit of a relief, don't you?

Pages left in the story? I estimate I will need to draw 35 more pages before I'm done with the issue.