Distress - Page 36
mattchee on Aug. 27, 2008
One of the major differences between the old version of this comic and this current version, is that the Mastors never had any true definable powers. Mostly whatever we felt like giving them at the time (pretty regularly they shot “energy” from their hands…. which… admittedly… is always pretty cool). So one of the major resolutions I had made when re-booting this was, I needed to give these folks specific powers to work with. So, I gave Peter force field generation, D has the power of death (see more on that later, perhaps?), and Matt & Jefe have… well….
Puppet Powers?
Mind control, really. They make people their “puppets,” hence “puppet powers.” Dig? Yeah, well when I was writing this page I said to myself, “geez, I'm calling them puppet powers.” Then I had to wonder if I had ever mentioned this previously in the comic, or if I had noted where the name came from. There it was on page 6 “Mastor of Puppets.” I laughed and pondered whether anyone noticed this blatant Metallica reference.
You see in high school I was interested in two things. Metallica and comic books (or even better, comic books about Metallica). Naturally some of these things trickled over into my comics at the time. By trickle I mean I named my main character Mastor of Puppets. Yep.
I've mostly played this down, which also has been partly due to the fact that I'd rather have my characters refer to each other by their regular names than their “hero” names. But it came up here as this “Puppet Powers” it made me cringe a little.
So then, over this weekend, I was reading the latest issue of Madman (which has been mindbendingly crazy but seems to be coming together pretty well now), and started to realize that all of Mike Allred's little references have been fun all this time, and not really that goofy… Frank Einstein, Mott from Hoople, and the latest… turns out his dad's real name is PT Townsend?!?! Just to name a few.
So that, and the fact that I've been having a lot of fun with using weird re-spelled/anagramed references for extra and place names … (By the way, you guys have been slacking on that contest. There's one really obvious one you've all been missing!) I've become okay with this.
PUPPET POWERS!
(not to be confused with that line Scrappy Doo says)
Also, for all you reference hunters out there…. there is one other BLATANT Metallica song title reference in Mastorism. It actually comes up a lot, and I'm surprised no one has called me on it yet. No prizes cause I'm practically handing it to you, but… um… I'll write something nice about you in my next blog thingy if you're the first to guess it! Go for it!
Thanks for checking in guys… what a note to leave a thursday on, right? Tensions are running high on Planet Aerth…
See you all Tuesday!
–matt
Brogan at 11:54PM, Aug. 29, 2008
Nice strip you have here...
mattchee at 4:40PM, Aug. 29, 2008
Jabali - It's cool... someone will catch it eventually. A hint would be... its an old school reference. Really old. And I agree, the different powers adds to the team dynamic. I'm planning on developing that little more as time goes on. I'm a Madman fan from way back. Jeff actually turned me on to it, and I've been a fan ever since. The recent series is pretty crazy, and out there. It's starting to solidify more, but its clear Mike now likes to deviate from the narrative style we'd become accustomed to in the 90s. But yeah... definitely diggin it! DAJB - Puppets and dolls, huh? Interesting, though... very interesting! jazzcop - Thanks! I figure, at least "puppet powers" sounds a little less run of the mill than, oh, say your standard "mind control." And yes, its embarrassingly true, there's more than a couple close up shots of me (one where I make a "mean" face) in that video. Man, that was almost 10 years ago... which reminds me, I have it on VHS and not DVD. I should go get that! always1961 - yeah... that's what I said! PUPPET POWER! we ll see - Hmm... not if Jefe has anything to do with it, it would seem! slimredninja - Thanks! Yeah... big Allred fan here! Appreciate you stopping by!
slimredninja at 9:06AM, Aug. 29, 2008
Great comic you definitely got some Madman influence but thats a good thing
We ll See at 10:36PM, Aug. 28, 2008
Will DJ prevail & become a Mastor...?
always1961 at 10:32PM, Aug. 28, 2008
puppet power....i`m ready for the next installment
jazzcop at 7:55PM, Aug. 28, 2008
what a fun page. the puppet powers threw me at first, but, remembering your love of metallica and the early comics brought back all those wonderful memories... ...and any one who has it, be sure to check out matt's cameo in the"Metallica - S & M with the San Francisco Symphony" DVD, for real...he's rocking in the rafters!
DAJB at 2:26PM, Aug. 28, 2008
We do say hols (sometimes!) It rhymes with "dolls" (although I guess you probably pronounce that differently too!) which seems kind of appropriate on a page about puppet powers!
Jabali at 2:24PM, Aug. 28, 2008
I must admit that I'm very bad with references, even when I like Metallica a lot. Now I totally like the concept of having different Mastor powers so they can add something different to the team. About Madman I totally agree with you about the direction the comic is taking and how Frank is getting a little darker still is my fav comic.