9 - Round 2 (vs. Toni McQueen), Part 1 - Sins of the Fathers

Round 2 (vs. Toni McQueen), Part 1 - Sins of the Fathers

Sean:

I know what you're thinking: "WALL OF TEXT, OH GOD!". Well, good news! This was written so you can skip it altogether and still enjoy the actual race.

Round 1 was a real test for Sam, it was a lot to draw, ink and colour in a relatively short space of time. This time around, we decided to condense the story into as few pages as possible and any extra stuff I'd produce. As we'd entered the IDD as a writing/drawing team, I was limited to writing only (otherwise it would be unfair on all the other entrants). Hence, this massive wall of text.

It was just coincidence that the Docs ended up facing two young girls in a row, and I'll admit that it was quite difficult for me to write - throw anything at me and I'll have a good stab at writing it, but I really struggle to do young spunky women. Luckily, ImABunny's Toni McQueen was a foul-mouthed determined young thing, so in the end it was basically like writing Ralph on a combination of estrogen and steroids (that's not meant to sound insulting, I mean that as a compliment). Her story was that she had been cast out of her father's racing federation and forced to find her own way back into his good books.

In fact, it quickly struck me that Toni and Ralph were very similar in terms of being determined to get their ways, and that a lot of what defines them comes from paternal issues. This page of text was born of the idea of Ralph looking at Toni's perspective from having the experience of once being in her shoes.

Writing cartoon characters in prose is a weird experience. You're taking things that belong in a visual medium and are then using words to describe what they do; it's quite a surreal thing to do as it feels like trying to give weight to something that should remain light and airy. For instance, rather than just show Ralph working on diabolical schemes, I had to work out what he was thinking about, which is another layer of depth he wouldn't normally receive.

Sam:

I'm probably the biggest fan of Sean's writing style. Reading Ralph's thoughts and description in prose was just brilliant. He has a fantastic way with words and the funny pictures they make never fail to amuse me.

That image of Ralph the prophet is probably my favourite so far in the Derby.

Credits: