Ladybug Murders
Genre:
Super-Hero, Comedy
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3906
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CONNIE COCCINELLA is secretly LADYBUG, superhuman crime fighter, acrobat extraordinaire, and devoted righter of wrongs. Virtue may be it’s own reward, but her demanding do-gooder gig puts a real job, a significant other, and the means to move out of the one-bedroom apartment she shares with her brother, beyond her reach.
CHARLIE gets government checks for a feigned mental disability and spends his ample free time thinking up ways to exploit his super sis for financial gain. The other thorn in her side is SERAPHINE MIASMA, her archenemy-slash-stalker, an unending source of complications who outdoes herself by announcing that she is in love with her not-gay nemesis, and who needs a place to stay.
These problems are nothing compared to what ensues when Ladybug kills a guard in the course of a museum heist. No one is more surprised by this than Ladybug herself, but the case against her is so airtight – including video of the crime and a bloody footprint that her police contact DETECTIVE SARAH PERELLO assures her is a match -- Connie is forced to question her own innocence. Has she snapped? Been hypnotized? Cloned? As she looks for answers Ladybug learns how quickly doing the right thing can go wrong.
I really love this. The whole thing feels like a Gilbert Hernandez comic, with a little Jay Stephens and Mike Allred thrown in for good measure. I wish I could read more of this right this very second! Voting this month is gonna be tough...
Nice pacing and a fun read. Good luck this month
This is fantastic. I can't believe it isn't doing better. :( You've got my vote, though! :D
Thanks Gnar Duce!
Myman, the process for this story went something like this: I started with a rough outline, basically just dialogue. I broke that down into eight pages of scribbly thumbnails to work out the character placement, then used those as a guide to do panel borders and lettering in Photoshop, refining the dialogue as I went. I printed those out and did tighter layouts, drawing around the finished balloons and captions, then blew up those layouts to 12 x 9 size on a photocopier, inverting the image. I inked the art with a PITT brush marker and pens right on the back of the cheap copy paper, which is thin enough to see through, then scanned the inks and married them to the Photoshop file of the letters. Slapped on some color and voila!
Great Writing! Cool Look! Interesting hook in the plot! Great Job!
Dear Zuda Competitors/Creators,
I’m the creator of the 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.
Feel free to check out the blog: zudafan.blogspot.com
Thanks!
~Liz
how do you make the comics?
HOLY CRAP! So great! That put the hugest smile on my face. Thanks so much, Ross. I didn't know you were the Water Baby guy -- I just flipped through that at Borders the other day! I'm buying all your stuff now! Ross Campbell everybody! He's a FOR-REAL comic book person!
And I just posted your pinup on my blog: www.paulsalvi.blogspot.com.
me again. Paul, i don't know if you check your gmail email account, but i sent some artwork i did there a couple days ago! here's the link again: http://www.greenoblivion.com/ladybug.jpg
hope you like her! :)
lady bugger... (snicker)
Great review, man! Thorough and thoughtful. Thank you thank you thank you.
And bless you, Mooncalfe. You are hereby and henceforth the official Head Ladybugger. I'll make you a certificate or something. :)
Not being very Witchfinder-ish this month but check out my reviews anyway at http://www.mpd57.blogspot.com
this is totally my favorite of this month's batch, everything about it is great. Ladybug Murders is some serious sh*t. things look grim with the #10 rank, i really hope it turns around, but if it doesn't get any further installments with Zuda are you planning on taking the comic elsewhere? Oni maybe?
Out of of all the comics this month, this has the most compelling writing by far. Got my vote. I really want to see what happens next!
Hey I thought this comic was really good. I liked starting off with a superhero who is sucking back ramen noodles. And I found the dialogue realistic, considering the odd goings on it made the whole thing seem natural. Had the vibe of the original Tick comics if you know what I mean. Nice work.
DAMN!!!!11!!! There are three comics I want to win this month! damn damn damn damn damn....
Thanks buddy! Did you name the kid Paulie? That'd sure take the sting off coming in dead last in this sucker. :)
Nice work, dude - favorited and voted for. Now get back to work on ACTION, OHIO! ;)
In full agreement with Bluemaxx, why do the comics I vote for always end up near the bottom?? The moral of the story is either that it's fanboy support winning the day over substance yet again, or mine is the cursed vote of doom, gah. Best of luck climbing the table.
.
P.S. That's not a jibe at EVERY story doing well this month, just at more than a few of those ranked above this one.
I think it's important to remember that overall ranking is not a reliable indicator of quality.
This is a quality comic in both story and art.
Compared to paintings, I guess the art doesn't live up... but as a quirky superhero comic, I think it's right there. There's nothing wrong with the art at all. And I'm shocked you're in tenth! Hopefully my vote gets you going on your slow journey to the top!
I'm not gonna knock anyone's/team's title, I like a good few this month, but people forget the difference between eye-candy and substance. Have you read Marvel's Toxin? Gorgeous art! The story wasn't there. Not comparing anyone specifically to that raping of literature...any one of the titles this month, with only given their 1st four pages, is still way better than that. But I digress from my past regret of buying by judging a book by it's cover...heh. Yer art is great, man. It's your story thats fantastic. Anyways, I don't mean to sound pretentious, I just really dislike to see a much undeserved 10th place. And, to me, that isn't opinion, just logic. You DO have all month though. So...Good luck!
I'm not saying the art is bad. No no no. I like it just fine. Its just not the absolute best of the best this month.
Don't worry, Dooomcat, her feet are super-strengthenized and invulnerble. I really did think this through!
The art is really awkward in places (especially the last panel of page 3!) and I'm not sure anyone should run around a city without shoes... but interesting characters :)
Thanks Steve! I did hope that when people saw the words "foot fetish" they'd have to keep going despite themselves.
It's nice that you guys are responding to the writing -- I realize I have a long way to go as an artist, and it would be nice if someone started paying me to write things so I didn't have to. Yup, I hate drawing! Vote for me!
Welcome back! I have to say... out of all 10 comics this month - this is the one that drew me into the story the most. Must've been that thing about the foot fetish!
Thanks for the feedback guys!
hey, you have a cool work!its one of my favourites superhero stories at Zuda.its a good way to work with the superhero genre,let it very interesting. congratulations!
While the art isn't the strongest of all the others this month, i appreciate the introduction to the characters, the action in the story & the strong cliff hanger.
I agree with some of the people who say that the action sequence where she takes the gun away was kind of weak, but I think that if you were to win & you had more pages to work with, we would have seen more in depth storytelling, instead of just --Climbing up a wall/Feet take gun away--it would be given more time to set up the payoff.
The rest of the story certainly makes a point to me that you can tell a good story & pace things well. I would have much rather had the story go the way it did than have an extra page of her beating up the bad guy(girl).
You've got my vote.
This is good! The art isn't my favorite here but the great dialogue and pacing more than makes up for it. Good luck overtaking the favorites!
Cool comic. I like the setup and premise for it, sorry didn't get to see the mystery unfold. The humor was great and the art, while simple and basic, fit nicely.
This was the best written story of the month in my opinion, i thought alot of the details of the artwork were very cool and kind of funny, like her toes, for instance. subtle, but yeah, kind of long. you get five stars.
Its tough to comment on the story here. Theres alot going on and most of it is, like, super wierd. The art is ok, the character designs are good, but theres not much in the way of environments and the collors are a little flat. I'd've like to see some more black shadows to up the ante on the noir feeling that you have going on a little bit.
I really don't like the costume design (and it's unclear to me whether it's meant to be poop) but i like everything else about this piece.
Oh man! Would you believe that Part 2 of this thing is absolutely jam-packed with fried chicken and bacon?! For real dude!!!
Man, the hits keep on coming this month. Great job! Indie/Mystery/Humor/Giant Pompadour- if you can work in bacon and/or fried chicken this may get my vote yet.
Thanks to everyone who ventured in here this month and left some feedback. I'm especially glad to hear you liked the characters, Reuben, since that kind of sentiment is what it's gonna take for me to get anywhere in this month of just-astoundingly great great great-looking comics.
Boy, someone at Zuda really loves commas -- my meticulously-honed synopsis is now chock-full of, weirdly-placed, ones. But I love you guys anyway!
Fave and vote.
Very original. I'm a fan of the simplicity and flatness. Your compositions really help move the dialog and story along.
The nemesis using a hostage situation to apologize was a nice touch.
Pretty good! The dialogue and pacing of the story is the best part.
The art is good but I'm not crazy about the flat colors, looks unfinished.
Overall very well done!
...
Good Luck!
Love the characters.
Pretty darn cool. Really dig the art on this one too. Whew, tough month...
interesting
good luck
Vigilantes, murder, foot fetish...the last one's weird...but ya, very new. Yer art is still the best on here. Good to see you back. Really dug the "real" dialogue. It made it seem like you weren't reading but listening. Nice.
Strong concept, like your art too... Good luck.
Art, dialogue, and concept all got me.
The action sequence was a little weak, but other than that, I think this comic held my interest maybe the most of all I've read so far. I have to know what happens! The art is not my usual taste, but I think it works very well here. Good luck!
Good luck, and welcome back!
i like it! good luck!