The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 28/28

Cue the soundtrack to "Chariots of Fire," I have finished the marathon!

This Chapter of THE LAND OF DOOM is complete. As you can see, there is still a lot to cover. Don't worry, YB and me will take up our journey again sometime in the future. But for now, we'll be going back to our regular weekday posting schedule (thank heavens!) and bringing you some new comic stories.

Book #28--the final book:

Title: AMBULOCETUS: The Walking Whale

Synopsis: Remember the craze for "Mixed Up Fairy Tale" books like The Stinky Cheese Man? Well, I want to do a "Mixed Up Non-Fiction" book. Non-fiction has always been more appealing to me than fairy tales. I think messing around with the genre could be a lot of fun.

So, this is a book about the Ambulocetus, a real animal from the Eocene era (and yes, I am on a pre-historic mammal kick, thanks for asking.) This was an early ancestor of the whale, but it lived the life of an otter/alligator, in Pakistan. This would be a dry, informative, natural history book, but with a twist; the ambulocetus talks back. He's a sassy ambulocetus who constantly argues with the narrator and tells jokes, slowly taking the book over and making it his own.

Here is a phrase that has never been typed in human history: "Sassy Pakistani Whale-Otter-Gator."

And with that, I'm stumbling off the the finishers corral, to pour water on my head and maybe enjoy a Blue Bunny ice cream treat.

We'll do a post-race summary on Tuesday, and take a look back at the highlights. I'm taking Monday off.

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 27/28

Here we are, the eve of the final day of the marathon! This is exciting--we're almost there!

Book #27:

Title: The Last of the Scrubbing Bubbles

Synopsis: An adventure story starring licensed cleaning company mascots. The Scrubbing Bubbles take on the world's filthiest bathroom, and only one survives to tell the tale--sorta like the graphic novel 300, but with Scrubbing Bubbles instead of Spartans. Cameos are made by Mr. Clean and the Foaming Pipe Snake.

Hey, this is my marathon, I can break some rules!

Of course nobody could (or should) publish a book starring characters from advertising. But I've always enjoyed the Scrubbing Bubbles--I loved them as a kid. They are so neat, so determined. They are a team, they cruise around churning out bubbles--what's not to like? They are also one of the few cartoon characters to survive the 2-D to 3-D transition gracefully.

Maybe I should contact SC Johnson, or whoever, see if they are interested in a book tie-in...

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 26/28

The LAND OF DOOM will be back tomorrow--I've got a nice page of it, it just needs coloring. Sorry for the gaps! But the marathon's the thing!

And here's today's--#26:

Title: One Trick Ponies

Synopsis: Three Miocene Era ponies (three-toed Hypohippus, to be exact) are being chased by a giant Terror Bird (Titunis walleri.) To escape, they must use their "tricks," one can jump super high, one can run very fast, and one can bite.

Kinda like "The Seven Chinese Brothers," only during the Pleistocene.

At what point did ponies become GIRLS ONLY territory? If kids are around a real pony, EVERYONE'S excited--but as soon as the pony moves out of reality and into entertainment--BOOM--just for girls. Here's a shot at making ponies fun for girls and boys. Are there any other animals with such a one-sided gender fanbase?

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 25/28

Mile 25! Oh, this is brutal! Feel the burn! Feel the BURRRRN!

Title: Lumberjack Troopers

Synopsis: A mysterious seed falls to earth and begins a plague of "Space Weeds!" It's up to a team of elite lumberjacks to put a stop to the invasive species. With the help of a genetically resurrected Castoroides beaver and a jar of weapons-grade termites, our team will face the ultimate killer-plant threat! Prepare for TREEMAGEDDON!

Ah-ha! It's the long awaited answer to last October's SPACE WEED story a.k.a. "My Idea For a Saturday Morning Cartoon." See it here (scroll down a ways) this is the prologue to LUMBERJACK TROOPERS!

Mark my words, Lumberjacks are the next big thing! I predict they'll be bigger than Vampires! (and more useful!)

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 24/28

Picture book #24...oh this is soooo cheating.

Title: Lewis and Clark in the Bottle of Thunder

Synopsis: A historically accurate cartoon adventure starring Lewis and Clark. This book focuses on the start of the journey, as well as some strange medicinal practices, i.e. the bottle of thunder.

Sure, I did this story last year on the blog--scroll back a ways, you'll find it. You can read the whole story, find out about the bottle of thunder and everything.

It's cheating, I know, but I've got soooo much on my table right now. I have several paintings due today, as well as a certain robot/holiday book due right around the corner.

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 23/28

Book #23:

Title: World War Bun

Synopsis: World War One with Bunnies.

Let me tell you about one of my favorite scenes in all of children's media: it's Halloween, Charlie Brown is dressed as a ghost, Snoopy is dressed as the World War I Flying Ace, as Snoopy exits the door, ghost-Charlie Brown gives him a rigid salute, then Snoopy goes out and has a "Dogfight" with the Red Baron. He crashes, shakes his fist at the sky, then wanders the bombed-out French countryside to some cool clarinet music (or is it an oboe?) he sneaks past signs that say things like, "Pont-a-Mousson 3km." Then he goes into a house and marches to Schroeder playing, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" then gets weepy during the sad part of the song, but shoulders through it bravely. Gosh, what a great scene. Nobody, nobody was as cool as Snoopy.

This is at least six, seven minutes of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" which is, what, 22 minutes long. What modern tv programmer would allow such a strange, slow scene? Anyway, I love it. I loved it as a kid and I had no idea what on earth it was. It was World War I--and it was soooooo cool.

So that's a little of what I'm trying to capture here. Plus, there aren't a lot of kid's books about WWI, let's explore it--with bunnies.

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 22/28

Monday, mile 22--phew, these last miles are hitting hard. Once again, to stay on top of the marathon, I'm skipping today's LAND OF DOOM. I've got one in sketch form, it'll be up tomorrow--the LAND OF DOOM may stretch out longer than the Picture Book Marathon--I've got a lot of material, and only a few more days. We'll see how it goes.

Book #22:

Title: "No Touch the Ground"

Synopsis: The picture book version of one of my favorite games as a kid, "No Touch the Ground" a.k.a. "Hot Lava" a.k.a. "Climbing on the Furniture." This one would be a wordless book. Each page featuring a room in a house, with a different reason why you can't touch the ground; 10,000 foot drop (seen here on the cover) pools of lava, snake pit, etc.

What did you call this game? Anyone else call it "No Touch the Ground?"

The Land of Doom/Picture Book Marathon 21/28

Mile marker 21 everybody. Phew, this marathon's flying by! Here is my wordiest-yet LAND OF DOOM strip.

Picture book #21

Title: "Boating With Credit Card Bill"

Synopsis: Sure, buying a boat is fun, but not when you have to take Credit Card Bill on all of your trips. He gets bigger and bigger, making it nearly impossible to enjoy your boat.

Credit Card Bill could have his own series, Building a House With Credit Card Bill, Watching TV With Credit Card Bill, Off to College With Credit Card Bill. He's got loads of potential.