Here we introduce the sub-villains of this first episode… the Jack Pack! The frantic foursome was one of those “happy accidents” I had as I developed the story (so much so that I’m not sure how long they’ll be sub-villains….) As I was putting this together I was trying to think of a situation that introduced our hero in a… well… heroic manner. Immediately “thwarting a bank robbery” came to mind (classic “western” antagonist action)…
Part of one of the drafts for the Araknid Kid synopsis (actually… I think the one I submitted with the original 8 pages… not the one that was published on the site… all were done with the help of friend, John Gunningham) said “…the Kid is well equipped to deal with anything that comes his way; be it rustlersonmechanicalhorses or …” I knew that I wanted to display that. As I began doodling these “rustlers” I started thinking about cards (like playing poker in a saloon)… thus the Jacks were born. I thought that it would be fun if each Jack had a specific character traits and weapons.
Jack Spade: The Leader, weapon of choice: Spade (NOT a shovel) Jack Diamund: The Slippery Sly one… weapon of choice, Daggers (to tell if you have a real diamond, you can see if it cuts glass…) Jack Clubbe: The Jokester, weapon of choice, a Club (also outfitted in Irish Clover green) Jack Hart: The “Good-Looking” one, weapon of choice, cross-bow (kinda like cupid)
Here we continue the background on who eventually becomes the episode’s title villains, Kracker & Flea. With panel one, I wanted to give a geographical depiction of Hattahtak Territory’s location (if you take out HT you’ll have the California coast as it currently exists ). What’s more perfect than show it while displaying the incoming meteor.
Panel 2-4 show the unknowning entertainer enjoying a cracker snack while behind him the flea notices the incoming danger.
Page 3:
Kaboom! Meteor hits (campfire scene at night because everyone knows explosions look better at night ). And when the dusk clears, we learn that not only are they still alive… but the flea… can talk! (dun-dun-dun)
Thus ends the Villain origin sequence… unto the “dispatching of subvillains” in the coming pages.
This first Araknid Kid story follows, what I see as, Saturday Morning Cartoon aesthetics. We begin by introducing the main villains in a “before-they-were” scene and try to convey as much background as I can. Here we see russian flea-circus entertainer Ritz Nabiscov finding a plot of land that he plans to claim as well as a glimpse at an incoming situation.
The characters Kracker and Flea were original adversaries of my costumed crusader “BugBoy” (a mild-mannered student who won a mysterious box containing an alien bug costume which gave powers to the wearer) and can be seen in this horribly animated cartoon “Bugboy 3: Kracker and Flea” (you can see my knack for creative titles goes back to my high school years… when this was created).
For the Araknid Kid story I’ve modified the origins and tried to do the whole “pixar” thing (the lizard scene in the first few moments of the cartoon… on the tree… is mimicked in that first panel of this story). Ritz Nabiscov has undergone a vast character design change, while who they become is closer to how they were depicted back then (a few additions to make them in the western setting).
). What’s more perfect than show it while displaying the incoming meteor.
