Hey all, welcome to Boxcar Astronaut’s 40th strip! I’m glad that this one fell on a milestone of sorts because I feel that everything from the concept to the execution is beautifully done. Not to sound cheesey, but I just can’t help but smile when I look at it. It really gives me a warm feeling inside. I’m not sure where I got the idea to show the character’s dreaming, (I think it was at work, of all places), but it really made for a strong Boxcar strip when all was said and done. There’s a lot going on here so I’m going to go panel by panel and gush over what Marc has done with my little idea which, now that I think about it, was relayed in a telephone conversation. Usually I will draw a little four-panel sketch of the strip and show it to Marc, but this time he didn’t even get a chance to look at before pulling the imagery right out of my brain perfectly. Just goes to show you how well we work together creatively. But, I digress…
First off, we have Ben dreaming that he’s a super-cool space warrior (of course), with a nifty Adam Strange-esque design for his dream avatar. Very dashing! Is Ben imagining himself grown-up here, as a swashbuckling star hero, or could this guy be a character Ben saw in a movie or TV show? Hmmmm. Next, we have Devin, sweetly slumbering in dreamland and battling evil as a cosmically-charged comic book hero! And not just any hero, there’s a name and a story to this guy, thought up by Marc in one of those “I wish I had thought of that!” moments. Folks, meet “Power Boy”, star of his own hit comic and weekly animated series. He fights crime along with his partner, Jigowatt. Yes, that’s right, Power Boy & Jigowatt…“PB&J”. Brilliant!
Then we have Robot, who was the one character that I was struggling to come up with suitable dream material for. I finally settled on a spaceship or flying saucer (you know, because he wants to get off Earth), but I was never really happy with that. Marc came up with the perfect suggesstion for what a Robot’s “dreams” might consist of. Binary code, naturally. ( I love how Robot’s eyes are darked out here, incidentally). Finally, we have my favorite panel, Caveman and Diogee. It’s truly too adorable and funny for words. Honestly, if you can look at the two of them snuggled up together and not smile you have no heart! I told Marc I wanted them to be fighting over a bone in their dream together, so of course Marc kicks the funny quotient up several nothces my making the bone ridiculously huge. Great stuff.
Well, thanks for stopping by and checking out the 40th Boxcar Astronaut webcomic. I hope you like it as much as I do, and we’ll see you for the next 40!
