Book Club Bonuses & Comics Courses

Hey, Vancouverites! Are you -- or do you know -- a teenager who wants to hear me prattle on about making comics? Because I am teaching a special two-hour course about comic character design next week at Surrey's City Centre Library! It's from 2-4pm on Tuesday, March 19th.

And hey, everyone else: I've just finished up the next batch of Book Club bonuses! Once again, I've got two new desktops for anyone and everyone who has picked up a copy of my latest book, Sam and Fuzzy Under the Influence. I'm also including a little feature about the mysterious cancelled 2003 "dark" Sam and Fuzzy spin-off, complete with sample art and inside info about how it all came together (and then didn't come together).

If you haven't already nabbed a copy of the book, just pick one (alone or in a book bundle) by Friday, March 22nd, and you too can get all this stuff. Just hit up the image below for more info.



-Sam Logan

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Pre-planned Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"I was reading over a big chunk of the archive and notice a Q&A on page 1449, where you jokingly (or so I thought) informed us that the sick Buddy subplot would 'have massive, game-changing consequences on a scale never before seen in Sam and Fuzzy, or webcomics at all!' Were you already making plans for Buddocalypse at that time? Were you toying with us, saying something that is 93% true without us (or at least me) believing it?" -Jake

That was me deliberately toying with you. Buddy's monstrous fate were planned right from the very first strip he appeared in, and is, in fact, the only reason he was ever introduced into the comic at all!

It's actually good example of the kind of broad-strokes planning that I use when writing the strip. As long as I know where I'm going with my "big story", I can tailor each "small story" I write to help set it up. The opening chapters of Fix Your Problem and Are Very Famous were partly created to introduce a source for Buddy's mutation (the wine) and an opponent for him to fight (Fig Pig), respectively. But beyond those kind of requirements I was free to write whatever kind of fun stand-alone romp stories I wanted to do at the time. (It didn't have to be wine, and it didn't have to be a mutant stationary mascot.)

It works for character as well as plot, too. As long as I know where a character's major personal arc will go, I can make sure that all the smaller stories I write along the way help to bring out or reinforce those arcs. Like in Are Very Famous, I knew I needed to show Sam and Fuzzy's growing animosity, and establish Fuzzy's present day feelings about Hazel's ten-year-old betrayal. I wound up writing a story about Rikk Estoban and art thieves, but I could just as easily have made it about rhinos running a dog food factory if I'd thought that would be a better way to make Fuzzy confront his feelings.

"Um, ok, doesn't Rexford have a fancy tooth that Hazel stole for him?
Or is the tooth just really inside his mouth? Or did he just take off
all the decorations on the tooth?" -Juliette

I'm not going to lie, Juliette. I put the fancy tooth really far in the back specifically because I never wanted to have to draw it again.

"So in this strip we see a bunch of goons carrying Sam. Are any of them Ox by chance? Is he still with the band, or is he with the mafia again?" -Tom

I am happy to report that Ox completely recovered from the drumstick that got lodged into his brain and is still the man pummeling Noosehead's drumkit.

That's a wrap for this week, team. See you on Monday!

-Sam Logan

Corgis

This week, I'm busy putting together the desktop art pieces that will make up our next free Book Club Bonus Pack! Here's a sneak peek at the one I'm working on right now:

As usual, this bonus pack will be sent out free to everyone who has picked up a copy of Sam and Fuzzy Under the Influence. So if you've already bought one, you have something to look forward to! (And if you haven't, there's still time to nab one.)

-Sam Logan