Chapter 19 Commentary: I Rip Off Matt Groening More than I Thought

So, it’s been a long time since I’ve done commentary. For a while, I wrote a few paragraphs after each chapter, discussing what I liked about it, what I didn’t. Then, after Vyonafield, I just kind of stopped. With this one, I can kind of see why. All I could think of to talk about at the time was future plotlines that League of Extraordinary Bastards was going to set up, and plans running through my head for Cartoon Billy and Connor’s team-up, which would obviously be loaded with spoilers. But, time has given me a bit more perspective, and now I actually do have things to say about it, so let’s get to it.

Overall, I think this was one of my favorite chapters. I try my best not to play favorites with my characters, as I don’t want any of them to turn into the Wesley, but Cartoon Billy is always particularly fun to write. Part of it is nostalgia, as he’s the first villain I’ve ever written, and one of the few characters to appear in my comic that’s been around since my middle school days. I first created Billy as a rip-off of Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. For those that are curious, that’s sort of the meta-reason his name is Cartoon Billy (the actual in-comic reason is a future plot point, so I’ll drop the subject here). And originally, in my middle school comics, he was a lot like Sideshow Bob. He was a convict with a sophisticated air about him that had an irrational grudge on whatever protagonist I was using at the time (generally Clyde). As time went on and I started caring about storytelling and originality, Billy gradually evolved into the idiotic, egotistical mad scientist we know him as today, almost to the point where there’s no Sideshow Bob in him at all. If anything, he reminds me more of either the Monarch from Venture Brothers, or Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, based on his idiocy, general ineffectiveness, and almost chronic need to be someone’s arch nemesis.

Speaking of the evolution of characters that originally ripped off Matt Groening’s, this brings me to an elephant in the room whenever I think of Moron County’s success: Kiff. Kiff was a character I created freshman year of college, shortly before Moron County first went online. At the time, Futurama had just been cancelled prematurely by Fox, and for all intents and purposes, did not look like it was coming back. It hadn’t gotten its surge in popularity on Adult Swim yet, and it would be another three years or so until Family Guy made its return from cancellation that would pave the way for Futurama’s. What I’m getting at here is, at the time, I named Kiff after the Kif character as a tribute. Now Futurama’s back, and suddenly, the line between “tribute” and “plagiarism” has gotten a little too blurry. Exacerbating this is Kiff’s character development, which has made him far, FAR too similar to Futurama Kif. Both are green. Both sarcastically yet dutifully serve moronic narcissists. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

That said, I have a plan for this. As soon as Moron County gets popular enough that I make an animated or print adaptation (or anything else that actually makes money), or for it to garner the attention of Matt Groening and his lawyers, I fully intend to change Kiff’s name. I have at least three names in mind. If I’m able to change the name on my own terms (that is, before someone legally makes me), I’ll likely make a big announcement, put up two or three names on the site, and let the fans vote. If Matt Groening or his attorney threatens me, I will, after the requisite squeeing at the fact that Matt Groening reads my comic, promptly change Kiff’s name to whatever strikes my fancy at the time, going back and changing it in the archives if necessary. There’s at least some dialogue I’ll have to rewrite (there’s one point where Bobbes comments that Biff and Kiff’s names rhyme), but I’ll worry about that when I need to.

Destructor is also a rip-off of a Futurama character, but in my defense I forgot said character existed at the time. The Destructor in my comic was actually derived from Invader Zim’s Mini Moose, another character that appeared randomly in one episode despite the villain’s claim that he was there the whole time. Also, my version of Destructor’s dead. And never, ever coming back.

Ever.

So I don’t think that’ll be a problem.

Anyway, back to the chapter itself. I first came up with the idea for a villain tryout when I was trying to figure out what, if anything, to do with Larry’s character. It became a given that, if he was going to continue to exist in the comic at all (which was a given, as I don’t like loose ends), he would end up joining Billy. I pondered Billy’s logic for letting him do this, came up with the evil opposite idea, and came up with them holding tryouts for an evil counterpart to Nina and/or Vyona (which set up my planned conclusion of Connor joining quite nicely). This eventually changed into just having villain tryouts to allow for more jokes, but I kept Billy’s evil counterpart idea, mostly because any opportunity I have for Billy to exasperate Kiff is a good one.

There were a few gags that I planned to do but left out for various reasons. Mike’s appearance as a Klingon was originally going to be a standalone comic, with Kiff mocking him for being a Trekkie, but I couldn’t really come up with a way to make this funny enough to use a page on, so I just stuck it in the montage. There was also going to be a fight scene at the end when Connor basically killed all the other applicants, but I decided that her blowing up Destructor after he tried give a group hug was funnier. Finally, I was going to have Bobbes try out, and have Billy (the only other character aware of the fourth wall) patiently explain that Bobbes is a protagonist, but that felt too much like it was ripping off The Order of the Stick. At least, moreso than this chapter already was.

Anyway, that’s about all I’ve got. There’s a fair amount I’d also like to say about Connor and Larry, but again, this is getting to the point where I’m afraid I’ll spoil future plans for those characters. So I’ll save that for a later commentary. My next one will probably be on Stupid Christmas Carol, so look forward to it hopefully sometime next week.

State of the Comic; Long Overdue AggieCon Post

So okay, wow. It’s been a long, LONG time since I’ve posted anything on this blog. A lot of this is because I don’t have much to write about. Most of my writing talents go towards the comic itself, and I’m just not opinionated about enough things to sustain a blog. I also tend to second-guess everything I say and do. This has been good for me survival-wise, but it does make blogging kind of difficult. When I’m done writing, a lot of the time when I read over it I actually find myself disagreeing with what I wrote. Combine that with the fact that I’m no longer in a school that makes me write things (just one that makes me draw and paint things, which is a much nicer deal), and I just don’t write that much these days aside from scripting and planning Moron County. Hopefully, that’s going to change now.

Anyway, on to the state of the comic.

As some of you know, Moron County turned six years old a couple of weeks ago. I also attended my first convention as a panelist last month, in the form of AggieCon 2010. I had intended to do a blog reporting it immediately afterwards, but real life kind of made me concentrate on other things for a while. At any rate, I should at least acknowledge some of the fine folks I ran into.

First of all is A. Lee Martinez. I was on several panels with him, mostly about comics, comic book movies, and drawing comics. He has numerous books out, and if the one I’ve read, Monster, is any indication, they’re quite good, so definitely check them out.

Second is Mel White, who was awesome, and did more than any other panelist to make me feel welcome. So a special thanks to her, and also check out her comic Coyote. It’s excellent.

Next is Martin Whitmore. He’s an awesome artist who does a comic called Tasty Flesh, about strippers trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. Now, you could probably tell from my description that it’s not exactly safe for work, but if you’re somewhere you can get away with reading it, definitely check it out.

Finally, a special thank you to my good friend and loyal reader Veronica. She was on staff at AggieCon this year, and it was in part thanks to her that I was invited as a panelist. She also hung out with me for a bit, went to one of my panels, and talked up Moron County like she was getting paid. Thanks again, Vern.

Back to the comic itself… wow. Six years. And if you combine the old comic with the reboot, which I’m doing because it’s more impressive that way, there are over six hundred comics online, which in the web comic world is something of an accomplishment. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

Now, obviously, just because the comic’s still kicking doesn’t mean it’s where I want it to be. If I want to do it for a living, I realize I need to start treating it like a business. The fact that I had to beg for feedback to get comics after two weeks of silence isn’t good, and I’m aware the fault lies with me, not my readers.

Obviously, Moron County needs a more active community around it, and the first step is to get more readers. I’m going to make it a point to set a new goal each month for myself to make this happen, and this month, it’s to start advertising again. Also, I’m going to update this blog more often, once a week if I can manage it. I have several ideas already. There are chapters I haven’t given commentary on yet, and I also have some interesting ideas for short stories and a review series that may be a great idea, or a horrible one. I’ll keep you guys posted here in the coming weeks!