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 The Adventures Of Duke Part V!Posted by Ron on July 10, 2009
Well, there you have it, The complete incomplete Adventures Of Duke! I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into my past as much as I had digging it out. Sorry that there was no conclusion to the tale but be well assured that Duke made it out alive as I've used him since... Oh, crap, I actually don't think I HAVE used him since then soooooo maybe he's NOT alive. I suppose your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, I very well may be posting more cartoons from my High School newspaper at some point in the future as I found the majority of those as well. Later!
I used some interesting angles on these old Adventures of Duke strips. I think over the years I've actually grown LESS creative in regards to page and panel layouts. Guess I need to take some tips from my former self in my current work. It was especially eye-opening to see my Jack Kirby influence in panel four. The Kirby Crackle rules!
For your viewing pleasure (or at the very least, a chance for you to point and laugh), I now present the third part of The Adventures Of Duke.
Here's the second installment of The Adventures Of Duke. For some reason, when I first starting being published in my High School paper, I wanted to remain relatively anonymous so I either didn't sign my work or signed it simply "RWB." What I didn't realize at the time is that by remaining unknown I was limiting my dating life because, as everyone knows, cartoonists get all the girls. LOL!
As you can see by my sparse posting, I've been less than motivated in my drawing as of late. I'm gearing up to make a comeback soon and thought in the meantime, I'd go back to where it all began.
At the end of my Sophomore of High School, I submitted some single panel cartoons/spot illustrations that were published in the last edition of that year's school newspaper, The Reporter. Fueled by the desire to compete, though, with wrestler/cartoonist Tom Jaroski's superhero farce called Mat-man and Takedown, The Boy Grappler, I spent the summer creating my own serialized strip based on a character I was already doing in some mini comics. Unfortunately, the newspaper passed on the strip, which I then never completed other than the five strips I submitted. But now, here, for the first time ever, is The Adventures Of Duke...
I was gonna say that my son Kyle got his talent from me but I don't think I could have done as nice of a job as he did on this self-portrait so maybe I got it from him. LOL! By the way, note the iPod. They RAWK!
This is the second part of the Pete & Pig mini story arc that I first posted back on April 20th! I have one more, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
In other news, the Indy Webcomics Group that I'm involved with is putting together an anthology to come out later in the year. I just began working on a short horror tale for it. I'm trying to break out of the box a little with this one. Hopefully it turns out well.
Here's an illustration of Star Trek's Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) that I did over the weekend. If you haven't see the new movie yet, you need to go out and do it NOW. It could very well be THE movie of the summer!
I don't normally do sports humor 'cause it's honestly just not my thing, but since this is an instance of sports meets music, I'm gonna go for it. And since the Cincinnati Bengals' Ben Utecht used to attend my church when he was with the Indianapolis Colts, I feel that I have an obligation to throw this one out there.
It's been quite awhile since I've done any official Dakk Waggitt Platypus spoofs, but after Free Comic Book Day I had an outburst of motivation. The first result is this one of an old-school Wolverine. Enjoy!
I had to throw up a second post to give a shout out to Bill Charbonneau, creator of the hilarious webcomics Small Market Sports and Voices In My Hand, who did a fantastic version of Dakk Waggitt for his Twitter-based Fan Art Friday. Thanks, Bill!
 Speaking of Twitter, I'm there. Where are you?
As promised, here are some better shots of the merchandise I had available at my appearance at Free Comic Book Day at Downtown Comics in Castleton a few weeks ago. The first piece was The Spectacular Toon It Up, a 24-page collection of my Toon It Up, Pete & Pig and Modern Daze strips.
 The second was a print version of the 6-page I, Platypus: The Chronicles of Dakk Waggitt tale called All Points Lead To... that I posted back in October.
 The last was a collection of Dakk Waggitt Collectible Trading Cards from various incarnations of Dakk that I created last year. I had full uncut sheets as well as standard 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" cards. On the back was the I, Playpus logo as seen on the last item and the card number.
 See you Monday when I'll be unveiling my brand-new Dakk Waggitt Wolverine illustration. Have a great weekend!
I've put together a few more photos from my appearance at Free Comic Book Day at Downtown Comics a couple of weeks ago. I'll be posting again tomorrow with some better shots of the merchandise I had available.
   Oh, yeah. Before I forget, my Roller Girls Rawk! illustration that you can still see below has been chosen as the cover for the Naptown Roller Girls' charity coloring book benefitting Girls Inc. Kewl!
Today's Toon It Up strip was to appear in !@#$%! Indy.com Magazine before they !@#$%! discontinued running comics, not that I hold a !@#$%! grudge. ;) Speaking of guitar legend Joe Satriani, for those following the music world these days, he is part of a new supergroup called Chickenfoot that also features ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony along with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith. Their self-titled debut is scheduled for a June 5th release and is a guaranteed scorcher.
 
Here are the two pages I submitted for the Naptown Roller Girls' charity coloring book benefitting Girls Inc. When I get a chance I'm going to do up a color version of this and post it as well.
In other news, I've finally finished writing the first chapter/issue of my I, Platypus: The Chronicles of Dakk Waggitt graphic novel (I know, what's taking so long?). My appearance at Downtown Comics last week really motivated me. But now the hard work begins...
Poor Pig!
Here is the last of the photos from my appearance at Free Comic Book Day at Downtown Comics last Saturday. I wasn't thrilled with the way the Star Wars Clonetrooper turned out AND it was a lot of work. The Godzilla one, however, I liked a lot and will be on my "to do" list. The only problem I had with that one is somehow I forgot his tail. How, you ask? I have NO IDEA, I answer! Enjoy the weekend and see you back here Monday for a brand-new Pete & Pig!
   
Here are a few more photos from my Dakk Waggitt sketchfest at Free Comic Book Day this past Saturday. These next three are a little odd in that they all feature Dakk dressed as a heroine. As weird as it was seeing my masculine mammal dressed in drag, I thought it worked. Here you can see him outiftted as the X-Men's Pixie (I think that's her name but I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will let me know), Wonder Woman and Catwoman. It was especially nice to see some preteen girls into comics. Maybe there's still hope.
  
Come back tomorrow for the last batch of photos and Monday for a new Pete & Pig comic!
Here are some more photos of the kids that I drew Dakk Waggitt sketches for at Free Comic Book Day last Saturday. I liked both the Batman and Superman ones out of this batch. I had already started a more modern The Dakk Knight that I have yet to finish but I really like the old school feel of this one as well. You'll most likely see both of those as well as a Superman one (Without the gloves, though. What was I thinking?) in the near future.
  
This past Saturday I made an appearance at Downtown Comics in Castleton for Free Comic Book Day. I had mini collection of Toon It Up comics (Toon It Up, Modern Daze, Pete & Pig) called The Spectacular Toon It Up, an I, Platypus: The Chronicles of Dakk Waggitt mini comic featuring the "All Points Lead To..." story and sets of Dakk Waggitt trading cards. I got to talk to Jeff Himes of IndyWebComics.com for a few minutes but once the kids found me, I was drawing sketches of Dakk Waggitt steadily for the next few hours. What a great time (though my hand was hurting a little by the time I left)! I've included some photos of the kids and their sketches and will post more over the next few days. Of these sketches, the Wolverine one was my fave. Hopefully soon I'll have an official version of that one.
   
This week's Toon It Up pokes fun at one of the worst fiascos in the history of moviedom: George Lucas' box office failure Howard The Duck. Oddly, I remember the movie fondly and even though I do want to see it again (and have purchased the DVD but not opened it), I'm afraid that it really IS as bad as they say and I'm not sure I want to spoil my memory of the film. Hmmm, what to do, what to do...
In other news, for those near the northeast side of Indianapolis, I'll be at Downtown Comics in Castleton this Saturday doing sketches and talking with the kids coming to Free Comic Book Day! I hope to have a mini collection of Toon It Up comics (Toon It Up, Modern Daze, Pete & Pig) as well as an "All Points Lead To..." mini comic and possibly some Dakk Waggitt trading cards. Maybe I'll see some of you there!
I hadn't done any Pete & Pig comic strips for a couple of years but a few weeks ago I came up with a few jokes that I thought would fit perfectly into the world of said comic. So here is Part One. Enjoy!
Today's Modern Daze cartoon was published in last week's Indy.com Magazine and online at IndyWebComics.com. This cartoon marks the last comic that will be published in Indy.com Magazine as they have had to make cutbacks and, unfortunately, the comics page was the first to go. Oh, well. Such is life.
This week's Toon It Up comic strip appeared last week in Indy.com Magazine and today at IndyWebComics.com. I did this strip a few weeks before T.I's felony weapons charge that landed him a one year and one day jail sentence. If I had known, maybe I'd have changed some of Marshall's lines. Then again, there's no reason to tick off a guy who's just bought some illegal guns, is there?! |
 Bio Ron Braun is an accomplished cartoonist and illustrator whose creativity has birthed such comics as Life As We Know It, Hello Cruel World and most recently, Toon It Up. More
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