(Click “published” above to see the published page 005, inked by Dick Ayers!)
Panel four introduces THE M.L.A.*! (* “Monster Liberation Army”, fans!):
(NOTE: Watch TWO commentary videos about the Monster Liberation Army: Monster Liberation Army and G.I.Joe, and Monster Liberation Army and the A-Team (both for $7 Patrons).
The creation of the team, and the name, “M.L.A.” PROBABLY dates back to James Bond’s villainous nemesis, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion – which made its appearance in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Thunderball in 1961), or the popular The Man from U.N.C.L.E (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement) tv series (1964). But MY influence was Marvel Comics’ S.H.I.E.L.D., H.Y.D.R.A., A.I.M., DC Comics’ S.T.A.R. labs, and so on.
Of course, visually and thematically, the MLA is highly influenced by the A-Team, the 1983-87 tv action series about a colorful assortment of mercenaries framed for crimes they did not commit, and who now are dedicated to noble causes as they choose their assignments as soldiers of fortune.
Another important influence is the G.I. Joe line-up of colorful army characters. I owned a couple of the original 1964 dolls (hand-me-downs from older cousins or uncles, perhaps?), but the influence on the M.L.A. was the 1982 action figure line, with each figure exerting his or her individuality thru necessarily more and more production of additional product to sell, and therefore need for recognizable diversity, in costume design and color, unique weapon choice, and a handy file card detailing their personalities and specialties.
The final influence was Mattel’s 1976-1981 “Big Jim” toys, particularly the P.A.C.K. series, whose unique characters spell-bound me as a child, and only as an adult looking back did I realize that their packaging was drawn by Jack Kirby!
There was a period where I fantasized about making business cards that said “I’m a card-carrying secret member of the Monster Liberation Army (your name here)”, or MLA hats or t-shirts. I printed a few out one year, but I wasn’t happy with the design. I’ll have to re-visit that merch brainstorm…
The idea of the M.L.A. jumping out from the ground (in panel four) was stolen directly from the John Milius film, “Red Dawn” (1984) in which Russians invade America, and a few teenagers (including Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen) shoot off their big guns, single-handedly stave off the Russian armies, and save … AMERICA, AND democracy! 
I FEEL like I watched that popping out of the ground scene A TON, but I may not have seen it, more than a couple times. That said, it IS in the trailer, right about at 1:45:
SOUND EFFECTS
First and second panel of page five, I tried to give the sound effects a similar kind of humor to what I was attempting with the monster names. You know when you’re a little kid, or when you’re watching a kid, playing with toy army guys or cars or whatever, and you always come up with the coolest sound effects for your guns. I remember as a kid pretending I was riding a motorcycle around and going “bwa-na-naaaaa, bwa-naaah!” I wanted the stories to feel like a kid was in the bullpen writing them, making all these noises out loud with his mouth, going, “Oh, yeah, THIS is what a gun sounds like. This sound effect is SO cool! And realistic!”
(above) David Lloyd talks about how doing “V For Vendetta” (1989) with Alan Moore, they thought it was amateurish to include sound effects, because if you saw, for example, a gun firing, you should be able to realize it’s making a “BANG” sound, and hear it in your head already, and therefore the word “bang” on the page is redundant. They did the whole book off this theory, eliminating sound effects, as well as narration, so that the only thing you read were words people spoke aloud. Just like it would be in real life (or a movie). That’s a great exercise. It makes the comic very cinematic, and can raise some narrative challenges, to convey a story without relying on these (frankly) cheats. But I made the conscious decision to do the opposite of this. To accentuate and exploit the “crutches” of the comic book language. Make everything sound effects and narration, to the point it just sounds silly.
So in my original script, I brainstormed maybe twenty or so sound effects for this gun-shooting scene – most of which I would have gladly included if only there were more room in the panels. In addition to the realistic”bugga bugga, pwee pwee, cuh cuh, koom, pyoo pyoo, boosh, bloosh, and doosh” gun sounds you see on the page, I also listed :
ZWAZWAZWA!
CUNCH!
CUNCH!
COO! COO!
COCKACOCKA!
POOP! POOM!
POOP! POOSH!
And SPAH! SPAH!
ASKING QUESTIONS?!
Along this line of pushing the absurd conventions of comic language, in panel three, Doris says, “I can’t believe my eyes?!!” That’s not a question, but I felt it was appropriate “comic book language.” I’m sure I make editorial mistakes in my comics (mis-spellings,poor grammar, whatever) – but more often if you see this sort of “mistake” that makes for awkward reading, it’s actually very purposeful, to put the stories in keeping with the history of “comic book language.”
