A hero left behind when the King of All Bad Guys kidnapped all the good guys. Army Chihuahua used to be a soldier who helped win the war against Chicken Head. However, he had left his pet chihuahua at home unfed, so when he returned from the war it bit him in anger. This gave him the ability to transform into a chihuahua when he’s ready to fight, which is pretty much all the time.
Powers: Transforming into a Chihuahua when he’s ready to fight
So, that’s it. This concludes AXE COP: REVENGE ON RAINBOW GIRL.
Thanks to Ethan and Malachai for letting us take a shot at our own AXE COP story. Thank you for reading. If you commented, thanks extra for that. This has been a long slog- I’ve been working on this comic for almost a year now, in between other projects. Getting feedback was the return on my investment and I appreciated all of it. …That was a lie. I didn’t appreciate the guy that said “I don’t like this artwork” a couple of weeks back. That guy can get eaten by sharks. The rest of you, though, you’re nice.
Now that my docket’s wide open, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. I’ll be needing new art projects. Got one? Hit me up at my FB page. Don’t mind the zombie and skull art, I do metal album covers and that stuff is all over the place over there.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go treat the kids to a coffee party.
KIDS’ QUOTES OF THE WEEK
We’re playing pretend. “Okay, you be Spider-Man and I’ll be the King of Ostriches.”
-Charlotte, 3 years old
“Mommy! Mommy! …Mommy, listen!
Mommy, listen to this! Ready?
Are you ready?? Fish skipple.” -Amelia, 4 years old
Not having much of anything to say today, I guess I’ll plug myself.
I do illustration and design for hire. Check me out here at my page. Contact me if you have something you want me to scribble. Here’s a recent project I completed for an AT&T conference done in my best attempt at a Jack Kirby style, of all things.
I also do vocals in Lich King, we do 80s thrash metal. I understand there’s likely not much organic overlap between Axe Cop and thrash metal fans, but screw it, we go where the fun is. We have a song about Axe Cop that Ethan’s been kind enough to spam to you a few times. Here’s that and a couple of other jaunty ditties.
We’re touring in March down the east coast with our pals Exmortus. If you’d like to come out and see the (other) guy that draws Axe Cop making a fool of himself on stage, here are the dates. Click the image for more details. Y’know. If details are what you’re into.
That’s it for this week. Next week, Rainbow Girl and the fire-breathing dragon strike.
KIDS’ QUOTES OF THE WEEK
Charlotte’s playing Minecraft and flying over a desert. A forest appears. Charlotte: “Oh look, I can burn down the forest and build a house there!” Me: “Why do you have to burn down the trees to build a house??” Charlotte: “Because we need space!” Me: “I think you just want to play with fire. There’s
space in the desert, why don’t you build a house there?” Charlotte: “Because sand is stupid! …Okay,
now let’s light some trees on fire.” -Charlotte, 8 years old
The kids are being shown STAND BY ME. Charlotte: Why do they keep saying the F word? Amelia: I don’t hear it, all I keep hearing is “f***.” -Amelia, 6 years old
UPDATE: the splash image is no longer found by clicking the image, but you can CLICK HERE for it.
Let the violence commence!
Today’s page is what’s known as a double-page splash, so it’s technically two pages. When I started plotting out the comic I did it based on how I wanted it to look in print. Ethan says that’s the way to go, but because I wasn’t paying attention to how to leave off for each page, sometimes the pages for the site will leave off on a boring panel. Keeping two media in mind when drawing these things is not easy. As a double page splash it doesn’t really fit in the page format for the site, so handy Axe Cop site-guy Doug worked up a way to have it work out. Click above for the full-sized page.
The only dialogue here wasn’t written for the comic. In the telling, Charlotte merely started describing the fight. For the beginning of the battle, though, I wanted a big double-page dealie with an introduction to the action. I took the dialogue from something Charlotte said when she was four. We were on the couch and she attacked me, and we started wrestling. She yelled “THE FIGHT BEGINS!” I always liked it as a line that one combatant would yell as a battle kicks off, and it seems very appropriate to Axe Cop. So here we go.
Interestingly- or not- Axe Cop’s “get out of my way!” on Page 3 was likewise based on something Amelia said when she was three. I probably couldn’t communicate what was funny about it, but she was grinning and barreling at me at the time.
First (non-child) blood next week, as we learn how to kill bad guys Dinosaur Soldier and Army Chihuahua style.
KIDS’ QUOTES OF THE WEEK
The following was a playful insult: “You’re a baby. You’re a baby that was just born out of a belly.” -Charlotte, 5 years old
This was a song:
“i only had a sissy if you only had a sissy
with a gun, with a gun, with a gun” -Amelia, 3 years old
Merrrrrry Christmas, y’all! I wish I had more of a “very special Christmassy episode” to share with you today, but today’s page is all about the plan.
I thought I’d talk a little, today, about the art process. Unless you like art-talk, the following chunk of text will be terribly boring to you so skip to the end for your Kids’ Quotes and you’re free to leave. For everyone else, let’s go.
I work entirely digitally these days- everything from sketch to finished happens in the computer. I understand Ethan works the same way. The difference between us is that now and then, I think he still likes to draw on paper in the real world. Me, I couldn’t be happier to be done with paper, art supplies and scanning. I don’t have to go to the art store anymore at all, now, and I love it. It’s kinda like when you discovered Netflix and began dancing merrily on the grave of Blockbuster Video.
I’ve tried going wholly digital in the past with Painter and Photoshop. Painter had a completely baffling interface that I couldn’t figure out and Photoshop’s brushes were nnnnot good for inking. I felt trapped in the world of drawing on paper. Then- and here’s where what I’m saying is going to start sounding like a paid endorsement- I tried Manga Studio in March of last year. A colleague had used it and recommended it, and it was only $80. I gave it a try and was impressed- it did almost everything Photoshop did (at least for art production), the interface mimics Photoshop so it was easy to pick up how things worked, and the inking handled like a dream.
Ethan uses it too, but he’s much less… I dunno… evangelical about it. I use it for almost everything and I sing its praises all the time. These days I only open Illustrator and Photoshop to do lettering and photo manipulation, respectively. I’m churning out pages in a quarter of the time and at twice the quality, and I do it going from sketch straight to inks. I never fully pencil anything out anymore. I’ve pioneered a technique- or at least I think I came up with it- that maximizes speed and efficiency in digital inking. It involves using two layers. If anyone’s interested in the full inking process, sound off in the comments and I’ll detail it fully.
Here’s a video I made doing the art for my pin-up in the new Axe Cop print volume.
KIDS’ QUOTES OF THE WEEK
We’re playing superheroes one day. Me: “I’m Superman. I can fly and I’m strong. What can you do?” Charlotte: “I”m Spider-Man. I can play on my ropes, jump,
stick, and make everybody pay attention to me.” -Charlotte, 2 years old
On the phone with mommy, who’s at work: “When you come home, can I have you?” -Amelia, 2 years old
If you’re looking for a nice present to get me, I could really use one of these. Don’t look at the price, just get it for me… we’ll both be happier that way. Merry Christmas everyone.
This page was a project. Most of you, if you requested to be drawn “at the wedding” are in this picture. A few people were in previous pages. Thanks again to everyone who helped me pull that off!
So, I’m sure it is obvious this story is almost over. What’s next? Well, I’ve got plans. I will be focusing on the next Dark Horse miniseries “The American Choppers” next, which will be print-only. But I have two things to keep you busy for at least the next 22 or so weeks after this story ends, and possibly I take a short break between “seasons”.
First, I have drawn Ask Axe Cop #100, but I have only posted up to #86, so I have 14 of those to post. I will post one per week after this story ends.
Also, Tom Martin and his niece Charlotte proved themselves to be a great team on guest episodes, so we have decided to team up and let them do a full-length guest story. If you need a refresher, here is one of the comics they did for us. More on this project later!
And, as I have said, new episodes on FOX start Nov. 2!
Malachai and I are currently writing the new story and it’s awesome! I’m excited to draw the insane stuff he’s coming up with. We have created so much together I often forger how fun it is until I do it again. Thanks for reading Axe Cop and making it possible for me to have such a cool job.
