Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Okay Rich, I got one for you!

It's an idea I got when going over Father's Day with someone on another bboard, - remember that cool, but utterly inexplicable scene where the Doctor strolls up to his tardis, steps in - and then both doors are flung open as he whirls around in shock that it's just a little white box on the inside?

It happened as some sort of reaction to the Reapers. So then I got to thinking of the Reapers and all those cardises parked around where they were flying ...

What if, as an extra, after the somedaysoonitfeels that you wrap up this comic, you make a page (yes, this is turning into an idea of giving you more to draw) as a flashback/extra/easteregg (it's coming up) type thing, showing that at least one or two of the Doctors happily approach the cardis - and there's no tardis inside! So then the Doctor(or Doctors) are sitting inside a cadallic with Reapers dive bombing overhead, and a time limit on when they can get out and perhaps the Timelords step in to stop things - so you have a cadillac racing across the death zone, trying to avoid or get out before the time is up!

I just think it would be a really cool scene to see on paper, the car skidding around dive-bombing reapers, and perhaps Drax 'getting one with the door' or perhaps two Doctors playing distraction and crunch, oops, so much for that Reaper as they race for safety.

I know, you have far too much to do and here I am throwing something else out at you, that wont move the story along ... but I just pictured that - cardis racing out of the death zone, leather jacketed Doctor at the wheel, and had to share it, - hey, your story inspired it!

http://ninthdoctor.time-and-space.co.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=12&page=13
a place to view pics with a Reaper attack, while your things are packed ...
and, from time-and-space.co.uk -

I have a big question... Was 9 bluffing on page 180? Because he had seen the 10th Doctor's future, and he knew that he would survive. Or does this mean he thought that the 10th Doctor's future was in the past of Dalek Tor?

(Or is it just a plot hole?)

Because the table in the Appendex shows that the 9th Doctor went to the 10th Doctor and the Guardians first...

(Sorry for the repost, I just want to know. >>)

Despite the fact that the 9th Doctor went to battle the Guardians first, he also knew that the time line was in flux. Because he was the random factor when checking into the future, he couldn't predict that he and Drax would also be captured by Dalek Tor. He thought that this turn of events (interferance from himself and his future incarnation) would alter the events he'd just worked so hard to prevent. So his anger and dispair is doubled. Not only is he about to lose to the Daleks as he already has (in his next incarnation) but his grand effort to prevent the Guardians from destroying the universe and rescue his previous selves and companions would also be annulled.

Does that help?
In other words... *sigh* Wibble-wobble, time-wime.
-Rich

Have you based any of the characters upon Hilary or yourself (apart from page 128 of T10D ) in any of your strips?

Nope.
Not us directly. As you noted, the family has a cameo in "The 10 Doctors", but other than that, we do not appear as ourselves. A lot of characters in YAFGC and "House of Paulus" are PCs or NPCs of ours
Mine include:
Eric of Drostardy (PC)
Charla Firelight (NPC)
Captain "Gentleman John" Matheson (NPC)
Ed Cotton (part of Giovanna's crew - PC)
Louis Steward (cameo only: part of Giovanna's crew - PC)
Califf Tambid of Umbril (NPC)
Runt (NPC)
Pidge (NPC)
Sir Idries of Falconheim (NPC)
Sir Catianus of Northgate (NPC)
Penweld Shadowfoot (PC)
Taidor (PC)
Paulus (in "House of Paulus" - NPC)
Demetrios (NPC)
...to name a few.

Hilary's include:
Giovanna
Lady Sidonie of Falconheim
Califfa Vanessa of Umbril
Cassandra of the Book (unnamed cameo)
Calliope ("House of Paulus")
etc.

Eric Jr., Clover and Eric's Halfling Son, heir to Drostardy, does bear a resemblance to our daughter Jenny, but that's more coincidence since I based his look on a combination of Eric's colouring and Clover's curls. He looks like her more now than he did when he was first drawn. I've used a little bit of real life experience when drawing the few strips he's been in, but otherwise any resemblance is coincidence.
It's a lot easier to quickly write for characters I already know, though it is a bit like cheating. But most of the main cast of both comics are totally made up.
So far in the "Doctor Who" comics, the cast has been taken directly from the show(s) or made up for the story.

Waaay back in high school I did a comic strip for the school newsletter. It was about an Australian hunter and his sidekick. I had a writer who did the jokes and I drew them. They were moderately funny, but after about two or three, he got fed up and quit. So I had to write them myself. Not knowing what to do, I had myself, the artist, fall into the comic and it became a trio of characters. But it was very lame. I decided not to do that anymore. Nobody really wants to see that, it's terribly self-indulgeant.
I admit that I write these comics for my own (and Hilary's) amusement, but that's too insular.

I'd have to say that Schanke is more fun. He's snarky and witty and he's got some great facial expressions.

LaCroix's unnatural menace is difficult to capture. There are sequences (in the flashback) where he just doesn't look LaCroix enough. I have a friend who comments on my Livejournal entries who could only describe him as looking "not normal". It's tricky. I think I've managed to get it better here than I did before. And like "The 10 Doctors", it is my hope that my likenesses will improve as the comic goes on.

I pegged Schanke almost right off the bat. LaCroix I'm still struggling with.

Do you ever need inspiration to draw?

Tricky question to answer. I believe one always needs "inspiration", but how do you define that, exactly?
I draw for a living and I've found that in the right circumstances, drawing comes easily and can even be fun. In other circumstances it can be extremely difficult.

For work, if the script is good (read: Not TOO terrible), the designs are appealing, my mood is good and I feel well (I find I draw better when I'm still a little sleepy in the mornings), then I have a great time drawing. It's fun, time passes quickly I like what I produce.

By about 3:30 or so in the afternoon (especially if I've had a busy day), I start to konk out and it becomes more difficult to keep going. I have to make a conscious effort to make my hand push the pencil and the drawings get sloppier.

The comics, however, are a different story. Those are mine. I draw them because I want to and I'm not trying to get approval from anyone (well, Hilary, but that's different.) It takes a lot less effort to draw them and they come out faster and better than the professional stuff. I can usually easily keep going on them after 3:30 though my wrist and fingers get a bit sore.

On the other hand, there are times when I get bored with it. Or stuck. A few time during "The 10 Doctors" I felt like I'd written myself into a corner and had to sit on it for a few days (or weeks...months). Sometimes with YAFGC I'll find that I have to draw a comic so that I'll have something to post the next day and so I've struggled against inertia to come up with a gag.

Another problem is that I'm impatient and things have to get drawn immediately. Otherwise I get frustrated and give up on it. Like I did with my comic about the animation industry "24 fps" (which you can see in the Comix Blog archives). That was all done in FLASH with vector graphics and took a while to work on. Since I no longer have all-day access to a computer, I gave up doing it. Too bad, really because it was quite amusing and had a bit of a following. I still have a bunch of gags I scribbled down for it so maybe once in a while if I've got the time and inspiration (!) I'll give it another go.

Not sure if that's answered your question or not. If not, please elaborate or give me an example.
-Rich

I havent read that, I really have to get around to finding a copy (maybe over Christmas) and reading that to see how good it is.

But that then makes me more puzzled about Ainley's eyes in the comic. If this is post Survival, and the film shows he still has cats eyes (and still in Ainley's form) at the time of execution (or even if wasn't Ainley, but a rapidly decaying body, he still had cat eyes from Survival) - why doesnt he have cats eyes in the comic? I took his appearance as a big clue that he was pre-Survival, as much a clue as to when he's from as which regeneration/body he wears.

Is he wearing contacts to fool his host/avoid being attacked as the Devil or a demon? Or does he fluctuate back and forth in your between Survival/Movie concept?

(If this is some twist or some explanation is coming up in the story, a wait and see answer is fine, of course )

Another out-dated question.

Why does 9 realize that there's been meddling when he's with the other 10 Doctors, when obviously, he's seen the White Guardian and the Black Guardian? (Granted, there were other meddlers in the equation, but still)

Yikes... I'm going to have to reread some of it to answer this one.

I think it's something to do with the Time Viewer thingamabob that Drax had in his cardis.

A pesky question:

Rich-will you put me out of my pain and bless me with some Doc9/Eccleston adventures soon?

He is the one Doctor who really is lacking in stories and I loved your take on him

Here's a question...

Has Robin Hood ever appeared in the Doctor Who stories of the ComixBlog? If not, had you ever thought to have the Doctor and company encounter him?

I know that you don't do requests, so please don't consider this to be one... It's something that came to me after I encountered a particular book on Robin, and I immediately thought of the ComixBlog.

I can only tell you this: YES I have an idea for a 9th Doctor story and intend to do it soon. Soon, however, is the bad news. I've got lots to do, and at least 2 more stories to get through before I even consider it. So it may yet be awhile.
Sorry;
-Rich



Robin Hood has *not* appeared in a ComixBlog story as yet. It is, however, a fascinating suggestion. If I were to handle it, I would probably go back and research the entire thing and try to portray the truest version of events to the best of the knowledge at my disposal. I would also probably make it a William Hartnell and/or Patrick Troughton story, since they're the ones I most fondly associate with Historical account stories.

It's definately something to think about, thank you. It goes on the list of possibilities, which, I must confess, is already pretty lengthy.