3D rendering of The Creep Wagon.
A few years ago, just as I was beginning my new truck driving career, I began conjuring up new additions to my vast and overwhelming collection of projects ranging from books, songs, illustrations, and comic books. The first comic book series idea that came to my mind while undergoing stressful training in harsh winter conditions of Missouri (where I attended trucking school) was about a ghoulish creature who rose from the grave in an alternate afterlife dimension called; Death Valley (yes based on the real-life desert in California as I lived in it very briefly), and was created and ruled by a powerful entity known as Necrow, the pure embodiment of Death.
The ghoul had no idea who he was, what he was, where he was, or even how he was, and this sparked a journey around this new place to find his answers. He learns that the giant mountain looming over the graveyard that he rose from was home to the ruler of this place he was in, so he sets his sights on visiting him hoping to find answers then ends up Necrow's bitch- I mean, his ghoulish assistant, carrying out deeds all across Death Valley. This was the early stages of the concept for the story. I continued to add new characters and develop the concept further, going under numerous changes and designs and after nearly five years, I finally started to take the small steps of drawing and completing the actual comic. I know, that's a long time of planning, drawing drafts of the comic, designing characters that I'm happy with and fleshing out the entire concept before actually sitting down and drawing the comic for real. Another reason this process took so long is because like I said, I had a shit load of other projects on my mind and that I was working on at the same time (some of which were in progress since high school). I don't know what my freakin problem is that I can't just sit down and focus on one project at a time before jumping another and working that a little bit, then back to another and working on that a little bit but it got really frustrating and at times I felt like giving up. I think even at one point I stopped working on Death Valley for at least a full year before returning to it with a newfound sense of inspiration and motivation.
My drawing skills aren't the best, but I have yet to actually sit down and apply 100% focus on designing a panel and completing it 100% instead of loose sketches and under completed illustrations. The below strip is a teeny tiny, ultra mini sample of the vast universe I created and serves as a gateway to actually releasing something and it is by far not a reflection of my ultimate skill in drawing or potential. I just got tired of having my projects sitting around unfinished and not capable of being seen that I just finally said fuck it I'm going to draw this strip with this little sense of humor and call it a day so that I can continue with the rest of the bigger projects knowing that I actually finished and accomplished something in the comic world.
A bit of explanation for the strip is a low level, dry sense of humor that actually shows the developed relationship between the two characters that you don't know yet because I haven't posted anything about them yet.
A little bit about the characters that appear in the strip above:
Mr. Oh (the character in the green pajamas) is one of the main characters out of three in the comic, known as Creep Gang, and who work for Necrow. Mr. Oh can be considered the wild card of the gang, always has a question to ask about something, and loves answering his peers with a sarcastic and often mean-spirited punchline or "joke".
Dr. Sigman is the master psychologist of all of Death Valley. He has nearly an infinite number of assistants across almost any dimension in existence. Dr. Sigman can be considered a mad scientist at times as he conducts often terrible psychological experiments on the residents and citizens of Death Valley either for Necrow or for his own pleasure. Creep Gang, especially Mr. Oh, have been his subject's countless times.
In the strip I try to convey the amount of annoyance that Dr. Sigman has with the members of Creep gang, especially Mr. Oh while at the same time showing his professionalism and monk like patience with his crazed and disturbed visitors and patients. Dr. Sigman doesn't like Mr. Oh very much. You can see his perception of Mr. Oh in his blank, wordless stare after he hears what Mr. Oh was describing which reinforces his belief that Mr. Oh is a stupid, brainless idiot that runs around Death Valley causing trouble with two equally stupid ghouls. The only reason he doesn't book them all into his psych ward is because they are Necrow's perpetual henchmen.
There is so much more to the universe of this comic and am excited to eventually and soonly release bigger completed comics. For now, I I'll have the encyclopedia of the characters and world, more comic strips and panels, and other information on the comic here on this website and other places. If you have any thoughts or would like to support the comic in any way, let me know through the email or comment. I'm always up to hear criticism of any kind, it is much appreciated!
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