WIP -- Mr. H style... (Patreon)

Bea R. didn't know what to say.  Well, I KNOW WHAT TO SAY: football.  Here we are at the end of the strip, of this arc, and this stuff was published a YEAR AGO.  Football.  You'd think football is fun, but it's not; it's an American misery!  Everyone dislikes football: their team sucks, the other team sucks, the players suck, the other players suck, the pundits suck, the broadcasters suck, the rules suck, the commercials suck, the whole thing is a world of suck!!!

Yet through it all, people continue to watch.  However, they didn't read this comic, but those who did left because FOOTBALL SUCKS.  And we also discovered why football sucks: these uniforms and helmets were a year of pain and frustration.  There was so much detail almost continuously.  Meanwhile every sucked, because they bitched about Hubbs and Ellie, screamed about how the end should transpire and if it didn't they were quitting, and we lost 3/4 of the audience over this last year...

Overall, looking back, these are pretty cool.  Through all the sucking' an' bitchin', it's a good passage through fire for us.  We don't want to do it again, but it is like some kind of horrid attrition, a pyrrhic victimry, a big old finger to those who don't get us, get American football and don't like comic strips in an old-fashioned style.  It taught us a lot about the audience, and about the error of changing dramatic storytelling rhythm.  It also portrayed general audiences as a monolithic group that prefers less-involved stories and sillier/lighthearted situations.  It aimed us toward our next project, which will be silly, lighthearted, less-though provoking, less engaging-enraging.  

As for this work, it brings me back to heady days where I would contemplate all the personalities and situations and what was being said in every panel and every bit of dialog.  I felt I was at my best as I wove together dozens of characters and a dozen storylines and also plugged in some subtext connecting the series together in a tidy package.  Now, looking back at the art, Bea R. translated my roughs extremely faithfully; I always hope she improves them massively, reworking them, etc.  With this lot, I don't think she had to rework them, and the energy she kept or amped up into pencils was really uplifting after an absence of a year.  My inks were pretty good, but I have mild regret--I wish I had more frenetic inking styles during high-action.

S.O. COOK--the coach.  We never revealed his whole name!  Short order cook.  His line to Kenuggy was ripped right out of Doctor Who "Warrior's Gate" when Romana leaves the TARDIS and Adric asks if she'll be OK.

CHIC KENUGGY--the "noob", young guy, freshie, and a kicker.  He and ALBERT ROSS (albatross) were a two-man crew written after the Eagles' kicker Jake Elliot.  During the incredible season ramping up to the Super Bowl, Jake was brought in from the Bengals' practice team to f-up a few kicks before getting himself threatened by Fletcher Cox... and he promptly kicked a record distance field goal.  Later in the season, he kicked a return that was caught by the opposition, and they had a clear run to a touchdown; Elliot was the only player in the way, and he rammed his tiny body into the runner, saving the day, saving the play, but getting a concussion and remaining out for the game--forcing 2-point conversions to win the game.  Jason Peters' carting from the game and season due to injuries was fodder for Albert's departure.

HUBBS plays the typical "savior QB" who is fresh and young and seems a miracle.  Usually they burn out within a few seasons.

"SWEET" KEL PICK is the typical long-game loser who plays it lax and never sticks his neck out for nobody.  His sort hang on as backup QBs until they are forced to take the reins due to misfortune... and then the ageless decision that drives story: rise to be a hero or run away.

It's a keen story that plays better in the book I am compiling.  I feel sorry for everyone tortured by reading it daily.  The book is slow to arrive, but I still hope for a Christmas publication.  In two weeks, the art for IN SECURITY is done!  And in two weeks you will have seen the end of it, so enjoy what you can.