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Mary Ann can been seen holding that “Gumdrop Gang” penguin in my second Serenity Rose student film, Good Guys Wear Black. I guess it’s a popular show in their world! Part of the fun of world-building is figuring out what kind of pop culture people are into.  Lots of references to a little vampire monkey called “Fan-gee the Dracukey” in book one.

I had no idea what cartoons were being made for tiny munchkins in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, so the Gumdrop Gang isn’t based on anything in particular. I was probably relying on vague memories of the Discount Disney toy commercials they shoveled at us in the 80’s. Care Bears and Wuzzles and whatnot. Even then, I only had the blurriest recollection of what actually happened on an average episode of The Care Bears. What did those guys get up to, exactly? 

Let’s speculate wildly!

I know the Care Bears could blast energy from their chests, so I’m assuming it was mostly a combat show. Yeah, a sickening, Pokémon-style cockfight deal. Or wait, no – bearbaiting. Of course! Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite! 

As the episode starts the blue bear with the cloud is going on about his “feelings” or whatever. That doesn’t fly in Reagan’s America so they chuck him in the fightin’ hole to toughen his blue ass up. A bunch of vicious dogs are set on him. Blue Boy loses a few fingers and an eyeball, but eventually fires up the ol’ “Care Bear Stare” and disintegrates all the dogs. Covered in dog ash and his own gore, Blue staggers over to his human buddy (there’s always a human buddy) and asks if he did good. Adam feels his muscles to make sure he’s a bad-ass now, reminds him not to do drugs, and fin. Think I pretty much nailed it there.

The Gumdrop Gang isn’t like that, though. It’s more about bouncing on a small hillock and smooching.

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It’s funny seeing Sera’s teensy lil’ square CRT TV there. That was still the main kind of TV in 2003. Giant flat-screens were still pretty new.

I, of course, had no need for a flat-screen. No, I already had the bleeding edge of 2000 AD television technology: a vast, majestic, widescreen 32” Philips Behemoth that cost thirty paychecks and weighed seventeen dump trucks of iron ore. A bunch of us bought those things back in the ZIM times. And why wouldn’t we? We were all young, dumb, and full of the financial means to purchase instantly outdated refrigerator-sized televisions. My DVD of Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic looked glorious on that thing. (Until the TV developed a green haze in one corner and I just had to live with it for five years.)

But getting back to this page, I just noticed Tess has a pocket watch on her wallet chain. This is a very cool and very luxurious way to live and I recommend it to you all. I had a wallet chain at the time I was drawing this page, but all it did was connect one part of my belt to another part of my belt. Absolutely useless for time-keeping!

Also noticed this page takes place in an alternate reality where Tiphany has no nose. (“Tiffany” is just a mistake by the news people. Even though Tiphany spelled it FIVE TIMES.)

Went ahead and looked up the map of Crestfallen in book two, and the Darkroom club is very much NOT “off the beaten path.” It’s right on the highway! Sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Penciling SHOCK CITY 2 was a little easier this week. So yay! Still not fast enough, but that’s comics for ya. Also had my first chat with the marketing folks, so that’s cool. Hopefully be able to announce some junk soon.

Apropos of absolutely nothing, yesterday I watched a documentary about the history of the Lollapalooza music festival. The first tour in 1991 featured Nine Inch Nails, Siouxsie, Ice-T, Living Colour, Jane’s Addiction, and a bunch of others, and the entry fee was… get ready for this… $21.50.

You have to spend $21.50 to park at a Nine Inch Nails show these days. WILD.

NEXT WEEK: DANGER SCARY!