Of Mice and Manta Men
In anticipation of the upcoming Doctor 13 collection (in stores Sept. 19), here’s a little sneak peek behind the scenes. One of my favorite scenes to draw was this panel of Black Manta taking possession of Captain Fear frozen in carbonite. The joke started with the Star Wars reference, and we wanted a villain with a bit of a sci-fi, Darth Vader-y vibe. Just thinking aloud, Brian suggested and immediately shot down using Darkseid. That guy’s all over the place and he would have been too predictable. I may have suggested Black Manta just because I’m a Superfriends nerd, and by our own internal logic, it seemed the perfect choice. Surely an erstwhile ruler of the seas would have some grudge against a lusty pirate! Perhaps he’d dumped some cargo…? We’ll get around to telling that story at some point.
The script called for some anonymous henchmen, and not being an Aquaman scholar (it was a morning class on the other side of campus), I drew Fishtroopers to go along with our homage. They would be colored bright orange, like koi! In particular I liked the fins on their heads, and the guy backing up the flatbed cart. Anyway, Brian thought it was just a bit too much Star Wars, and we went back and forth a bit. Maybe deep sea divers with antique helmets, like you find in fish tanks? That seemed OK, and would work into our future plans for the story, but I still wasn’t sold.
But then Brian found these guys…
Sold! Now if I could only get Brian to stop calling me “Tadpole…”
September 7th, 2007 | Posted under Comics
Comments: 11
Comments
Pingback from Blog@Newsarama » Behind the scenes: Dr. Thirteen
Time: September 7, 2007, 10:33 am
[…] his blog, artist Cliff Chiang provides a glimpse behind the scenes of Dr. Thirteen, his offbeat […]
Comment from frank cairo
Time: September 7, 2007, 5:57 pm
i hate to say it but i love the fish-men better than the manta men. hey just my opinion. they both look great by the way i loooooove your art.
Comment from Cliff
Time: September 7, 2007, 11:22 pm
Thanks!
I thought they worked well, too, but the sad fact is the fishtroopers were overkill when we still had another Star Wars joke (”chocolate bar?”) on the next page. Kill your darlings, they say…
Comment from Mike Getty
Time: September 8, 2007, 12:38 am
You know, this book had the same fun approach that I liked about Nextwave. It’s a shame that there aren’t more plans for that or Dr.13.
MRG
Comment from Kyle Latino
Time: September 8, 2007, 9:52 am
I can’t wait. I didn’t read it while it was going on, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to get the trade. Yeah!
Comment from Cliff
Time: September 8, 2007, 12:46 pm
Cool! Let us know what you think after you’ve read it.
Mike, I dug Nextwave too, although I didn’t pick up until just recently. I do think it’s hard to maintain that kind of insanity in an ongoing format, so perhaps the occasional mini-series is for the best.
Comment from Laura Gjovaag
Time: September 9, 2007, 3:07 pm
Gonna have to get this now. Must also blog it on the Aquaman page…
Comment from Cliff
Time: September 9, 2007, 3:40 pm
Excellent! I’m down with Aquaman. The recent Showcase collection is the best comic I’ve read in a long time.
Comment from Vincent Paul Bartilucci
Time: September 9, 2007, 5:41 pm
This page with the Manta-Men (MANTA-MEN!!!!) tickled me so much that I bought the original art thru your rep at Splash Page Comic Art.
What do you expect from a guy who references Tusky the walrus in his e-mail address?
Comment from john lewis
Time: September 9, 2007, 11:53 pm
I’m having a nerd-gasm of epic proportions right now.
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