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Chapter 5 - Page 11
DAJB on Feb. 13, 2008
Now, if you're paying attention at the back … Panels 5 - 8 on this page of pseudo-science is our not-so-subtle way of telling you what Doug's “powers” are and how he got them. Yes, real powers - at last! The “Brain Storm” whose theories are being recounted here, was a character who never made it into the final comic. There's a little more info on him (and some other rejected characters) here.
Note: If you need to remind yourself how Doug came to be in this position, it's not too late to re-cap on Part 1 of Doug's story!
Reminder: And, if you haven't checked it out recently, don't forget to look in on DajbDevil, one of my many childhood misdemeanours now cluttering up the BVC Scrap Book!
CoyoteLongshot at 10:38PM, March 9, 2008
Interesting explanation...
DAJB at 11:31AM, Feb. 17, 2008
Ark: The stealth bomber was apparently an accident. The Delta-wing design was to allow for extra fuel and enable transatlantic bombing raids from Germany to the US. The fact that the design made it near-invisible to radar was a bonus! And, yes, we have more characters to introduce in [i]Shades[/i] ... mainly bad guys from here on in, though!
Arkdelta at 3:51AM, Feb. 17, 2008
Yeah the Germans were in the process of inventing tons of stuff at the time, I remember at the end of the war, the US, Britain, and the USSR all rushed into the country with their Secret Service branches to see how much technology and how many scientists they could grab in preparation for the coming Cold War. I didn't know about the Stealth Bomber thing though, that's interesting...much more effective than the US stealth project that was in development around that time (the Philadelphia Project, which, I've been led to believe failed on a truly spectacular level.) Ah, pity about Brain Storm, (and Dreadnought too, a superhero with that kind of name built around the concept of Naval Supremacy sounds like a really neat idea) but I'm sure we'll see plenty of other interesting characters.
DAJB at 1:01AM, Feb. 17, 2008
Ark: Thanks. Actually, although this "fuel" is obviously fictional, the Germans did have a lot of technology in development which we are only now beginning to understand and use. Did you know they had a working prototype of the stealth bomber? The US has kept it stored it in a hangar since the war and has only very recently realised what it was and started to build their own! And, no, Brain Storm won't be appearing I'm afraid! You can read a little more about him (and why he won't be appearing!) in the [url=http://www.drunkduck.com/community/view_topic.php?tid=36931&cid=2548&comic_id=18888]rejected characters[/url] forum entry.
Arkdelta at 8:53PM, Feb. 16, 2008
Wow, I think that would be a really, really, really, really, really valuable substance to get a hold of. I mean, just think of the fortune you could make in the Aerospace industry alone. Not to mention the neat-o sky fortresses you could build, why stop with a super-plane when you could have a flying castle or two? Clearly we will have to capture and experiment on Doug for the good of human progress! But seriously, I like the way that Doug got his superpowers, in a way he had to *earn* them through skill (surviving long enough to make it to the plane) and bravery, and I respect that. So any hints on when we will meet this "Brain Storm" guy?
DAJB at 7:26AM, Feb. 16, 2008
Thip: Exactly. One of the questions I often put to other people when they show me scripts is [i]why[/i] do their main characters become super heroes? If a hundred people gained the ability to walk through walls or turn invisible, I suspect only a small minority would choose to become a do-gooder and, of those, I imagine most would probably be heroically inclined anyway. The others would probably just use their "power" to sneak into cinemas or something! Midge: No problem. And, although Doug's main action scenes occur much later on, yes, you will get a [i]small[/i] taste of Doug using his powers soon ... on the very next page in fact!
thip at 6:55AM, Feb. 16, 2008
Always difficult to come up with a plausible explanation for something as implausible as superpowers ;o) Still, as always, you manage to give it that small "anti-heroic" twist - Spitfire is a her BEFORE he becomes super - "he never hesitated". It's easy to charge right in without hesitation when you know you are super-something, it's another matter when you know it'll kill you! You're doing some very nice writin' here! Oh, and I love the grungy graphics, too!!!
TheMidge28 at 11:09AM, Feb. 15, 2008
Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like some [i]super[/i] powers there! looking forward to seeing him in action...if the flashback allows for that! :)
DAJB at 11:54PM, Feb. 14, 2008
SoItBegins: Thus a [i]super[/i] hero is born! I'd say the fact that he flew his plane into the German bomber expecting to die suggests he was already a [i]hero[/i] before this! Alana: Thanks, Alana. You could almost think it was planned, couldn't you! ;-) JMT: Stay with us ... Doug will re-enter the story "proper" towards the end of Chapter 6. Promise! Sky: Yes, I love Harsho's grey-scaling on these WW2 flashbacks. Although I'd always planned it this way, it was only when I finally saw Harsho's B&W pages inter-cut with the colour present-day sequences in Chapter 2 that I realised the book was going to work exactly the way I'd imagined it! (And, yes - just enough ... Any more and the sham would completely fall to pieces!)
SoItBegins at 10:01PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Huh. Thus is a hero born. Hey, it could have been worse. A lot worse.
alanajoli at 6:52PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Oh that's really nice--it picks up right where Doug left off telling it! Well done!
jmt at 6:38PM, Feb. 14, 2008
no doug!
skyangel at 3:11PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Brilliant page! The black and white toning is really effective, and I love the explanation for his origin,just enough science to give it plausability!
DAJB at 2:16PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Space: Oh, you know us Brits ... we've got history coming out of our ears! Beretta/Terry: Thanks, guys! Midge: Ah - so you're the guy who's going to ask the questions everyone else in the class [i]wants[/i] to ask! The clue is in the nature of the gas which "lends its properties" to whatever it's in. It's "lighter than air" so, just as it helped the German bomber to fly, it will do the same for Doug. Also, it has "incredible strength" so, in the same way that it made the bomber extremely resistant to attack, so it will make Doug difficult to harm. Pseudo-science, see? Can't beat it!
_T_ at 2:01PM, Feb. 14, 2008
This is a cool sequence. Very nicely done!
spacehamster at 1:13PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Ah, origins. Nice work, as always. The historical layers are holding together really well.
Beretta40 at 12:53PM, Feb. 14, 2008
Awesome
TheMidge28 at 11:44AM, Feb. 14, 2008
Not to be the dumb guy...but what is his power?
DAJB at 9:07AM, Feb. 14, 2008
DocShadow: Heh - thanks again! Trevor: Thanks. I think, for a super hero comic, we were running slightly below quota for explosions so we made up the shortfall here! ;-) one: Indeed it does! (See the response to Symon and DocShadow, below.) JNP: Heh - you'd be surprised how many similarities I've found between those old comics and my new ones - vampires in both [url=http://www.brokenvoice.co.uk/hunted%20surround.html]Hunted[/url] and [url=http://www.drunkduck.com/BVC_Scrap_Book/index.php?p=349588]The House That Drac Built[/url], the reference to super heroes travelling by taxi in [url=http://www.drunkduck.com/BVC_Scrap_Book/index.php?p=355591]DajbDevil[/url] and a certain female warrior appearing in [url=http://www.brokenvoice.co.uk/Previews%20files/rome%20p01.html]Where the Buffalo Rome[/url]!
Doctor Shadow at 8:29AM, Feb. 14, 2008
@DAJB: It did indeed and I never thought that at all ;) - good stuff as I said, excellently done!
trevoramueller at 7:48AM, Feb. 14, 2008
Nice gray scale job on the coloring! The action is constant and heart-pounding on this page. Lots of explosions. :D
one_am at 6:59AM, Feb. 14, 2008
guess that explains how that gigantic plane stayed aloft. nice work. i also like the monochromatic scheme - fitting for a flashback.
JustNoPoint at 6:55AM, Feb. 14, 2008
With gas prices now I would hate to see how expensive that kind would be today! Super power giving gasoline... there's a twist Last panel he should have said " OH CHUTE!" ;) I noticed something from your old DajbDevil writing to here. You seem to like superheroes falling from the sky ^^
DAJB at 6:46AM, Feb. 14, 2008
Abt: When I have a character on their own, I try to show the character's thoughts in caption boxes rather than have them speak out loud in balloons. In this case, though, I was happy that someone probably [i]would[/i] mutter these things out loud. But it's a fine line, I agree! I grew up with Adam West's [i]Batman[/i] and the 1960s comics, so I see the role reversal as a recent (but very cool!) re-interpretation of the character. Superman is more of a mystery to me. I've not yet seen a version that fully reconciles his two identities but someone here (you? JNP?) recently recommended John Byrne's 1980s re-boot, so I'll be hunting that down at some stage. cs3: Thanks! Albone: Dull flashbacks? Not in [i]my[/i] comic! And, yeah - Doug's cool!
Abt_Nihil at 6:20AM, Feb. 14, 2008
Nice pseudo-scientific explanation here, topped off with some classic hero-talking-to-himself lines... Shades has never been as "classic" as on this page. I do have some love-hate-relationship with superhero standards, so I think you found the right balance in this comic. But it's a thin line! :-) And to follow up on your reply on the previous page: Batman and Superman have traded places along the way, right? Superman used to be "real" and Clark the disguise, nowadays it's the opposite. Same with Batman: Batman used to be the disguise, nowadays Bruce Wayne is considered the disguise. I grew up with the latter versions, so I always found it natural to think that Batman is actually that little boy who saw his parents murdered before his eyes, and Bruce Wayne is some sort of caricature of the man he could have been, had his parents not beed murdered.