DORIS DANGER!

COMMENTARY:

Inked by DICK AYERS!

MIKE ALLRED DOESN’T SWEAR

I’ve read about how it’s important to Mike Allred that his comics be all-ages-friendly, and that his stories are something he could share with his children as they grew up. In his “G-Men From Hell” film, the actors were swearing in some of the scenes, and when he visited the set and they asked him how he liked the film so far, he mentioned the language, and they removed it all. He’s said he likes using language like “Gee whiz” and “golly,” things like that, as an alternative to bad language, and it creates a fun atmosphere for the comics stories to take place.

Well, I don’t necessary agree with all that for my own stories. However, Doris Danger stories are the closest I’ve come to that attitude. So on panel 1, we have “Oh crud.” Notice the giant monster is stuck in that hole, and he never gets out. So you may have anticipated some real exciting giant monster action this story, but it will wind up being pretty anti-climactic.

TELL DON’T SHOW

I tried to draw ropes falling from the trees above, but wasn’t convinced it “read” that way. I felt I had similar “rope-drawing” trouble on the previous pages. I hoped Dick would improve on the ropes. But I realized it’s easy enough to just have the character SAY what they are, in case there’s any question. I always loved when you see a picture in a comic, and then the dialog has to just repeat what you see in the picture. It makes it overly redundant. It’s part of the “language” of old comics. It adds such a suitably awkward, stilted reading experience, which I find ideal for Doris’s storytelling. It’s like, “Well, readers, you can read the comic, or just look at the pictures. You’ll probably be able to figure the simplistic story out, either way.”

CAMERA CATASTROPHE

Panel two, Steve mentions that Doris’s camera was destroyed, and too bad, too, because that photo she could have captured just now would have clearly proven the existence of giant monsters. This would come to be a theme in the stories, where her camera keeps getting destroyed when she was so close.

MONSTER LIBERATION ARMY* (* M.L.A., fans!)

Panel three, we introduce the MLA once again, in basically the same scenario as previously, where they arrive seemingly out of nowhere, fight the army, and call them names. I knew I wanted this organization to appear as though it’s got a lot of varied members with various specialties, so whereas the first appearance showcased a karate guy, a woman “bow-and-arrower”, the “leader”, and someone suspiciously A-Team-like, this second story adds a bird-trainer and a cowboy.

AFRICAN TRIBESMEN

The final panel reveals menacing tribesman observing from behind. And if you’ve ever read a comic before, then you know that when you’re in Africa, menacing tribesmen of one sort or another are bound to turn up somewhere! Here are some panels I swiped from: