Love, Lust and a Giant Killer Turtle
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Predictably, the legend of the giant monster turtle that eats little campers like so much candy comes true, ruining a perfectly good summer at Camp Thunderhawk. From the chaos, four counselors (Peter, Raj, Sarah K. and Sara G.) arise to lead their kids to safety and slay this rampaging jerk of a turtle, all while dealing with the epic rigors of summer love. And zits. And Warren Timmings, the crazy man from the woods. Did I mention there’s a crazy man from the woods? It’s a summer camp story. There’s a crazy man, his name is Warren, and he is most definitely from the woods. Love, Lust and a Giant Killer Turtle is our love note to summer camp, teenage romance and bad monster movies. It’s fun, it’s utterly ridiculous, and it’s terrifying, a comedic horror story told with real characters suffering real loss through absurd circumstances. In movie terms, think Shaun of the Dead as opposed to Scary Movie and its various offspring.
Great! Funny-Horror! The intro scene was great and the cut to the story being told to campers, a nice touch. Love the kid that caught the counselors..."How'd you guys know?" "Science." HA! The art was creepy and cartoony, did a great job of telling the story.
I love the fact that this comic is black & white (with some grey-scale too). I actually think it adds to the ambience. I love the dialogue between the characters; very witty. I mean, how many comic's do you read that have a killer turtle in them? That rests my case. Very funny; great art and inks. All in all a little gem to read.
Thanks buddy, good to see you on here. And don't worry, I'll be back at some point ;)
Thanks Jeremy! Good seeing you on here!
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So, fourth! Not a bad showing all in all. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us and gave us feedback, it's been a really fantastic time. Congrats to Dual and the rest of our competition. I think June's crop will be hard to beat.
Very nice! I had the pleasure of seeing a couple of pages outside of Zuda, and being able to finish off the story with Chad's work is always a pleasure. Keep it up guys!
Is it May again?!
And Brandon'sbitches should be ashamed for their lack of creative names.
If it's tons upon tons of people all creating seven different accounts and voting, that's a big deal to me.
That being said, it's an internet contest. I expect there's a little of that across the board, and unless a creator is openly campaigning for his/her friends to register a jillion accounts or has a bot of some sort working in his favor -- and I don't believe he has -- then, I'm not going to get all up in arms over it.
Nah, it's not!
I have made a serious accusation against DUAL, go to its comments and read it! It is important!
love the art, the writing is solid and funny, overall execution is great. but man is that sky and moon begging for hue and saturation. doesn't matter though, got my vote and stars. good work neal and chad.
Greetings, my friends! I predict that this comic will not be able to make it to the top three, but it shall be discovered 100 years from now by archaeologists, who will use it as a Rosetta Stone to decipher all the other buried webcomics. Nothing is unknown to The Amazing Criswell, except, perhaps, LOST's finale. Farewell!
Thanks man! I really appreciate it! I'll make sure the next zuda project I work on is in color ;)
...artwork is really very good, clear and easily understood, with really nice shades and sympathetic lettering, so that the whole thing looks like the complete package. There are no niggling questions about the finishing for me. Colour would have been nice ...
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Want to know more? http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com and we can do it!
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Thanks so much! Guys, my blog has been updated over at http://www.a-blogle-in-time.blogspot.com with promo materials and some behind the scenes stuff. Check it out!
i really like the art!! the storytelling perspective was fun too, from the perspective of a former summer-camp counselor. so i like it. good luck!
Thanks for all the kind words, If you want to see some more turtle stuff I have some of the original lines up on my website, www.chadhurd.com
We've also got some new stuff up for heroes con, hopefully we'll see some of you there...?
Thanks!!!
It looks like you guys have a great, fun story started here. I'm a real big fan of the art. You have a comfortable style going and I think it fits the dialog perfectly. I wish I could read more!!
Thanks for the comments RKB! I originally saw Chad's work on comicspace, and while I hadn't originally envisioned the story with that cartoon-esque style art, right then and there I knew that I wanted Chad on the book and that the book should be in moody grayscale. I've never seen a story like this told in a style like Chad's in black and white, and to me, it's more interesting than color. It's a ballsy choice, but we're sticking with it.
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Thanks! We've caught a lot of flak for spending too much time with Warren and Lindsey, glad to hear someone liked it. The pacing was very important to me. The silent high angle panel where the tension idles between them, that's a big moment, and if it wasn't there, if I just ended after Warren pushed her away, I don't believe it would resonate. I don't believe anyone would care what happened in the scene. He has to cave to the pressure as she walks away, he has to keep trying to make it work, and then, she unloads, crushing his heart right before she dies. Chad's work here is phenomenal.
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Gamora, I believe was his name. Mothra was the big...um... moth. What was the little Godzilla's name in the Monster Island movie? Y'know, even in Cloverfield, we still didn't actually see the big monster eat anyone. Sure, they talked about it, but definitely not on screen.
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Thanks for adding us as a fav!
the art was real cartoonie which reading your bio didn't surprise me. It didn't really grab me but I think it fit the story well enough, I liked the writing a lot on the other hand.
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I like the fact you had such a good synopsis thinking about shaun of the dead put you in the right frame of mind to read this comic, I also like the fact you have a scarry camp story that's true to set the story up. Great pace and GREAT (you can tell I really mean it cause I used all-caps) use of the 8 screens you have to tell the story, you paid the story off, great job on that. Easy to read font is another mark in you favor. From the synopsis I'm guessing warren is crazy old man is the same warren who 'girl tried to jump my bones , for some reason I fought her off, got eaten by a giant turtle' we saw in the comic. Again kick ass use of your 8 screens here to tell the story. It did have some funny moments/ and scary ones, so I liked it even though my vote is with another comic this month.
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Why no color for your art work??? I don't know what your reasons are but I think color would have really helped this story out, it would set the mood better I think, and I know you would have gotten more stars out of me for it as well.
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what was the name of that giant turtle rip off of Godzillia I think I saw that movie maybe twice (kogo???), I'm guessing you have seen that movie at least once??? It sort of brings up a question I always had for most giant monster movies, why don't we ever see them eat people??? Glad to know your going there in this comic.
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Art was okay to me, you need color man, loved the writing so a fav and 3/5 stars.
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Yeah, lil' campers, they're cute and all, but they never listen.
Very nice. And it's safe to assume some campers won't heed this particular cautionary tale, eh?
lrsteiner- ha! I just saw this blog today! Thanks so much for the review, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you have. Either here or there, wherever,
Neal
Dear Zuda Competitors/Creators,
I recently started a Zuda fan blog, and I would love to interview all of this month’s creators. If you would be willing to answer 5-10 questions, to be posted on the Zudafan blog, please contact me at: zudafan@gmail.com . I’ll try not to repeat any of Rob Berry’s questions. :)
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Science eh? I'll buy that.
Thanks all! We really do appreciate all of your support, as well as your critiques. For those that haven't heard, Chad and I will be wandering around Heroes Con in June. Anyone else going?
JohnnyZito and arttears, thank you so much for the kind words and support!
I love it!
I dig your story it has loads of potential.
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All the marketing you're doing on MySpace is great, too.
Thanks for the kind words on the art, really means a lot to me!
Way to maximize page space. Love the layouts and art. Story is very interesting...let's see where you go with it!
Nice artwork and an amusing story. Its tough to put all that in 8 pages and I think that was a success only by a hair - there is just enough info. On the downside I think the choice of keeping the gray tones throughout hurts it a bit. I think the initial story works well but once we go back to the cabin, I think color would have been a nice change. Good job though.
Gph- Depending on the page, I can generally tone one in 4-6 hours. Some pages are easier than others, the turtle bursting through the water took quite a bit of time, the page after, took less than four. Lettering, I generally do in chunks, two-three pages at a time. Once I've got the intitial style down, they take only a few hours. And generally, I'll do a big pass, come back the next day and read over to correct and edit.
gph-
Length of time per page, I'm going to have to give a ballpark figure because I'm not 100% sure. But I can pencil and ink a full sized page in a day without much of a problem. Neal did the tones for the first part of the story, so if he took care of them again, along with letters and such, it would prob take 2 days per page between us. But that is full sized on paper, since this can be smaller, use digital inks, and I can kind of cut and paste a little more I could probably shave that time down even more.
I really like this, but am wondering where it can go? Is it going to be a story about kids at camp?
Chad and Neal, following in line with Rob's questions to the creators, how long does it take for you per page to go from pencils to inks to color to letter?
-gabe
(And yes, Chad, the same 'gph' from Scoundrel)
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darn it neal, you are right. Maybe we can continue on with an Oprah special, "My father never loved me, and now I'm a giant murdering turtle" hmmmmmm ;)
Ha! Yeah, it's actually a redemption story about the turtle, coming of age and learning to master its murderous tendencies so it can battle the forces of evil. ... Chad, we should've done that.
Looks great! I really love the humor and the art is pretty fantastic!
haha, no no the giant killer turtle certainly does play a huge role in the story. It's in the title! Plenty of senseless killing and decapitation to come!
So... the comic ISN'T about a giant girl-eating turtle?
I gotta agree with Neal, when he first sent the script my way to ask if I was interested it really grabbed my attention, and this is why. The role reversal between warren and lindsey, the theme of the book, and most importantly, it kinda felt real, but in a silly way. Like Neal said, there are no paragraphs of background to get the idea of who the characters are, they develop as the story goes on, like (in my opinion) it should. I felt for them, I laughed at the situation, and I was eager to know what would happen with the counselors. Is this a story? Is the turtle real? Is it a big hoax? What's going to happen to the kids after the counselors leave? I think this 8 pager leaves plenty of questions hanging without being super obvious. So no, it may not be a traditional teaser story, but it's one like the rest of the book, that is just a little different. And I think different is good ;) It's all getting set up for you, and I'll guarantee you won't be disappointed!
Onto question six!!!
-Here's the thing: I hate exposition or rather, people walking in and saying, "Bruce, you weren't like this when we were engaged eight years ago when we were in college together."
"I know that Alice, but I can't help it now that I am a neurosurgeon doctor under a lot of stress."
The scene should just start, boom, and you're off.
Names, I don't really focus too hard on establishing. I try it, sure, and if it works, awesome- but if it sounds dumb or over-explainey, then screw it. The kids are in group shots, deliberately a rolling ball of questions and exclamations. When they breakout, then you get a glimpse of who they really are.
Only two of those kids in the end have names, Oggie and Squeak, but I think you can get the idea of the other characters pretty easily. The sporty twins with the backwards caps. Curtis, the kid in the middle of panel five, screen seven, saying "Sweet," is the kid that has nigh omnipresent grin on his face. And then, the duo of Peter and Raj. Peter is the loud leader, Raj the quiet and logical backup for when Peter's mouth gets him in trouble.
I liked the idea of starting in on this very simple setup that everyone knows, twisting it, and then, boom! a ridiculous turtle appears. Though it may hide some of our main cast, it establishes the tone of the entire book. You know exactly what you're getting into here. You may not know the story, but honestly, if you know the story after eight screens, then that's not a great story to me. I'd be bored.
Also, when Warren reenters, this gives his character quite a bit of weight. So I guess it's a gamble, but to me, it's always felt right. It still does, so... at least I have that?
Thanks! Sorry for the long winded response.
Yeah, the thing with color- once I hear more than a few people say "It screams for color" it does admittedly give me pause. BUT -and this is a huge but- then, I look at Chad's work with the gray tones, specifically screen one, panel four. Warren has turned away from Lindsey, ashamed for being hesitant, Lindsey playing her cards masterfully innocent. This one panel makes me forget eeeeeeevery comment about color. It's perfect. It sells the whole thing for me. But that's me, different strokes for different folks, y'know?
You know, it's funny that the talk of black-and-white format should be coming up for this comic. One of the early posters on this thread mentions how it reminds them of IRON GIANT and I certainly have to agree. Like in that movie the tonality of here is very specific to the mood you guys are trying to create. Black-and-white doesn't seem only the obvious choice, but the right one as well.
NIGHT OWLS is in black-and-white of course, but Bobby uses a combination of cool and warm greys in simple flat tones there to generate a feel like faded newspaper strips. I think its interesting when looking at these panels again to see just how controlled the space is using only a cool grey to get that classic monster-movie feel. The characters are really cleanly delineated even without utilizing hair or shirt color (one of the oldest tricks in cartooning). So;
6) How hard did you guys fight about the idea of introducing an ensemble cast of ten people in eight pages, particularly when only two of them get names and one of those winds up dead?
Seriously, guys, that's a pretty daring way to construct a teaser.
-Rob
Personally I'm very anxious to see more. As per Chad's response to Bob's comments... I had figured that to be the case, otherwise it would have just been a single comic short story. I can really see the potential in the set up for a twisted yet funny series. Being extremely familiar with 70-30's work, I can't see anything coming from any of those guys that doesn't have a great, well thought out story. This is a good, original idea for a comic series, even if the inspiration was based off an old idea. I think it's safe to say that anyone who has seen a Sealab 2021 episode has witnessed a shining example of taking something old and making it something very new and different.
Anyways I really hope you guys win this. Can't wait to see more of the series. ;)
Robberry- Awesome, man, looking forward to the next round of questions.
Bobs yuncle and King of snake- First, thanks for taking the time to not only read it, but also give us honest feedback. It really is much appreciated. As Chad mentioned, we're intentionally playing with cliches at the moment. Not to spoil anything, but these characters in this "tall tale" are important (i.e. we will see them again.) If we get to continue, I hope you guys stick with us, as I'm very interested to see if you'll come around to it. Thanks again for the feedback!