Friday | July 3rd, 2009
Hey, everybody!
Largent here! Here’s something cool you may not know about. It’s a website called GoAnimate.com that lets you make simple, little animations for free! They have various pre-built actions and characters. It’s a lot of fun! I spent a few hours earlier in the week and made this:
GoAnimate.com: Stalled Trek: Amutt Time, Part 1 by Largento
It’s a parody of the classic Star Trek episode “Amok Time.”
Check out the site and you can make your own animated masterpiece!
Hi, everybody! Largent here with a look back into the distant past!
You probably aren’t aware of this, but “The Wannabe Pirates” is not the first time, McCrary and I have worked together on a pirate story!
Waaay back in 1997, McCrary and I self-published a 90+ page graphic novel called “Greyhawk and the Starbucklers of the Caribbean.”
Born the son of the most infamous pirate in the galaxy, he was hidden on Earth as an infant and raised by a human pirate. Eventually his past caught up with him and Greyhawk became a pirate of two worlds, raiding ships of the villainous Zeltorian Empire in space and raiding Spanish galleons on Earth!
McCrary had created the character Greyhawk back in 1985, not long after we first met in High School. After we finished the first two comics we self-published (a 2-issue mini-series called “Mister America”), McCrary and I both knew Greyhawk was the character we wanted to tackle next.
The graphic novel was a fun blend of both space pirates and traditional pirates and took place mostly on Earth after Greyhawk stole something the Zeltorians needed to prevent an invasion by a vicious race of extra-dimensional, carnivorous hunters called the Karitur.
Obviously, a little more serious than our adventures of Captain Flemm!
It was exactly 10 years after we published Greyhawk, that McCrary and I first started talking about doing “The Wannabe Pirates.” Even though they are both very different stories, they do share our love for pirate adventure and neither of them are what you could call “traditional” pirate stories! So, we continue on with our new pirate stories, but it’s fun to look back at the first one we worked on all of those years ago.
And who knows… it just might be that we’ll see our friend Greyhawk again one day…
If you haven’t yet had the chance, check out Kidjutsu.com! It’s a site where kids can go to read comics for free!
We’ve put up a 2nd volume of The Wannabe Pirates strips (this features the first part of the current Henry Morgan’s Treasure storyline.)
M: McCrary here!
L: Largent here!
M: Largent and I thought it might be fun to talk about some movies and TV shows that have influenced us in the creative process over the years.
L: And, if you enjoy the Wannabe Pirates, these are probably movies or shows some of our readers of the strip might also be fans of. We want to start with a current show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In preparation of our clone wars discussion, I went back and rewatched the feature. I saw it was in the theater. You didn’t see it in the theater, did you? I did because I don’t have a big hatred of Lucas like you do.
M: Now, my hatred of Lucas is overrated. It is not a hatred. It is a hatred of the last three Star Wars movies which in the big confusion of the universe are actually the first three Star Wars movies, and in many ways I don’t even acknowledge they exist.
L: But, you had rumblings of hatred of Lucas going back probably 5 or 6 years before the movies were even thought of… (laugh)
M: These are lies!
L: These are not lies!
M: In fairness, I was excited when I heard they were going to make a new Star Wars movie, alright. I was excited. I still like the concept of Star Wars. I still like the Star Wars universe. I’ve just been playing for about 36 hours—not in a row, thank you—this Knight of the Old Republic II, and I really enjoy the universe. I just think episodes 1, 2 & 3 were poorly executed. But, hey, who am I?
L: Who are you? I’ve often wondered that myself. Who is McCrary?
M: Who am I? I just do a little webcomic that no one reads!
L: At least now you are in the majority, I’m in the minority. I have to come across as a Lucas apologist. I still think Lucas knew what he was doing. I think that there was some issues with the fact we knew the original back story was somewhat of a bummer—
M: And it turned out to be—a bummer.
L: Well, I don’t know how far I’d go…
M: Fortunately there is something in the new Star Wars universe we both agree on right now, and that is we both have enjoyed the Clone Wars series on the Cartoon Network.
L: So we want to give the thoughts of two 41-year old dudes, because we are old enough that we actually saw the first Star Wars when it came out in the theater. So, we knew what the Clone Wars were before we knew what the Clone Wars were.
M: That’s right. We knew about them but didn’t have a clue what they were.
L: I remember, like in the 5ht grade or something—I had probably read it in a novelization or something– having a discussion with a friend in 5th grade about what were the Clone Wars. Did they have clones; we assumed that part of it—
M: Uh-huh, that was probably pretty obvious!
L: …but I do remember for a couple of days that was the topic of interest—what were the Clone Wars?
M: Yep.
L: Definitely the quality of it compared to any other cartoon on TV right now is amazing. And, the scope of it… you are watching it and like, “These are mini-movies.”
M: Yeah. Some of them have not been as exciting, but overall, the animation, which I know you are very much interested in because you are working on the Wannabe Pirates animated movie—which is going to be on the Cartoon Network as well, right…
L: No, I didn’t tell you it is going to have a harder edge—it’s going to be on HBO!
M: Wow…
L: It is a mix of the Wannabe Pirates, the Sopranos and Big Love… so… he’s a wannabe gangster, and he has three wives
M: (laughing) That’s… uh, nothing like the cartoon…
L: It’s a little different from the webcomic!
M: We should insert here for the children and their parents listening that that is all a joke, isn’t it Largent? Largent?
(silence)
L: No, of course it is. But, back to Clone Wars, there is certainly something in the animation that appeals to me, and also a great appreciation of the work that goes into watching it.
M: One thing I thought was interesting is they obviously have caricatures of all the characters—exaggerated features and the like—but on all the vehicles and stuff, and the aliens, they make they as they are in the Star Wars universe—more realistic.
L: One of the things I love is looking at the detail, everything has this painted look. If you freeze-frame it, it almost looks like conceptual art, sort of like those paintings they make before making a movie.
M: Yeah, you can almost see brush-strokes.
L: You can. Even to the point where C-3PO’s eyes are painted on, they are not actual separate pieces or anything, so I think there is a lot of detail put into it.
M: Yes. Now, you know I’m not a big fan of this period. I would have much rather seen the stories pick up after the original movies that we grew up with, but—you said epic—the universe feels like it is a big universe and you are following these characters in… um… visually it looks really, really good.. Maybe with the three movies they made several years ago I expected too much, and these, you don’t expect too much. They are fun, and exciting to watch for what they are. Maybe that’s one reason why I have liked them.
L: Well, obviously they are not caught up in the whole Anakin turning to the dark side thing. Because after all those years of wondering what the Clone Wars were, we find out they took place between Episode 2 & 3. At the end of Episode 2, we learn that the Clone Wars have started, and at the beginning of Episode 3, we learn that the Clone Wars are over!
M: (Laughs)
L: What do you think about Asohka? That has got to be the most controversial thing… what do you think about that character?
M: Um… I guess she serves her purpose. I don’t care to see her midriff flashing around. Think that sends the wrong message to the younger crowd, but uh…
L: (Laughs) I like her well enough. I can see where she could be really annoying and she manages not to be really annoying, which I think is a huge accomplishment.
M: I don’t care for—what does call her? Snooks?
L: Snips.
M: To me that doesn’t seem to fit Star Wars, for Anakin to have this cute little name for his padawan.
L: In the feature he calls her that because she is snippy. But, this is the big mystery: we know Obi wan doesn’t get killed, and what happens to Anakin, but you don’t know what happens to Asohka. Either she gets killed at some point in the show, or when the clones get activated and kill all the Jedi off.
M: That brings up another issue. Some people have complained that telling a story from the Star Wars universe’s past takes away a lot of mystery because you know that Obi-Wan isn’t going to get killed, or you know certain things, but I’ve read a lot of historical fiction—like fiction from the Napoleonic Wars. It doesn’t matter to me if we know the end results; it is exciting to see how we got there.
L: Yeah.
M: That part of the Star Wars universe doesn’t bother me—that they went back in time.
L: But, what do you think happens to her?
M: I think she ate some bad eggs and died of salmonella. It is a rather unheroic way for a Jedi to die and they would never speak of her again…
L: Clearly not interested in the big mystery, eh? From what I understand the first season will be coming out on DVD & Blue Ray in time for Christmas.
M: As long as it remains fun, it is nothing that will ever win any great awards, but we are used to being associate with things we hope are fun but will never win awards, too.
L: That’s true. And that’s what we have in common with The Clone Wars. Although, I think Clone Wars will win awards—
M: And we won’t!
L: Right!
M: Well, The Clone Wars gets two thumbs up from us. If you like it, too, let us know what you think.
L: Yeah, tell us where we are completely wrong on this—
M: Which is entirely possible.