This week’s comic strip is pretty silly. Basically the first two panels are from a longer abandoned comic story about a completely different character who was a car thief going through a personal crisis. I had three penciled pages sitting in my flat files for years and always liked the drawings. So with a light box I simply put Creep Rat in the car and worked out a silly joke and had myself an Underworld comic. The rats in the garage were proto Creep Rats years before I created Creep Rat. Just goes to show you – there are many ways to hit your deadline.
Humor strip by Kaz, about sordid doings in a surreal city.
About Kaz
Kaz grew up a working class brat who loved cartoons, monsters, punk rock and fine arts. He studied cartooning at NYC’s School of Visual Arts under art spiegelman and Harvey Kurtzman. In 1991 he created the Harvey-nominated strip Underworld which continues to be published in alternative weekly papers across the United States. Since 2001 he has written for Spongebob Squarepants, Cartoon Network’s Camp Lazlo and Disney’s Phineas & Ferb.
The robot in panel one haunts my dreams. His mouth anticipates the whine of Creep’s car. Real question: where did you learn the trick of 3-lines/large space/3-lines/large space to shade the edge of metal? It’s so effective on the robot’s arm and on the edge of proto CR’s wrench.
I could have learned that shiny metal hatching trick from looking at the comic book covers of Golden Age cartoonist Alex Shomburg. His 1940’s Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner covers are filled with metal ships and nazi tanks. Thanks for pointing that out. I never talk about this stuff.
As long as we’re getting technical, it’s also very cool how you make the puddles look like puddles by drawing parallel lines in them that are oriented in the direction of the point of view. And Creep Rat looks creepier than the garage rats, because his ears and beard are stubblier than theirs.
Thanks, Comrade. If I study The Spirit I may have water reflecting everything. Good point about Creep.