October 3rd, 2007

The Zombie

Hey, YOU! Read this!

October 1 -  Keeping with a tradition that now goes back a few years, I was unable to post an "October 1" entry on the actual 1st of October.  It is 3:00AM on the 3rd as I type this, and I'm again playing "October Catch-Up" because of the start of my Fallfire art contest!  Long-time WOMP-Blog readers know what's coming next; constant pressure from me to get YOU to enter the contest!  In a nutshell, the concept of the contest is to get artists, of any and all mediums, to produce new, spontaneous work inspired by the word "fallfire," all for prizes and glory.  Ah, just click on the Fallfire link already.  It's the only way I'll shut up about it.  Anyhoo, with the contest and FallCon prep, I'm running short of spare time.  I've got meetings with potential sponsors all day (starting in just a few hours, actually...yipes!), so let me get right to this month's "...Of The Day" theme, which I will describe in greater detail in the "October 2" entry to follow.  After all of the research into Crusty Bunker last month, and years of talking about other comic book topics, I felt like it was finally time to focus a little on my own work.  Sort of.  You know me; I can't really just promote myself, so there is a "twist" to what I have planned.  You'll see what I mean after reading the "October 2" entry, but, just to get things rolling, I'll wrap up this entry with your "Forbidden" WOMP Character of The Day - Birilla!

The Zombie

Where does an 800 pound Birilla sleep?

October 2 -  So, I'm going to daily post what I'm calling "Forbidden" WOMP Characters.  I've been drawing comic book stories for decades, starting around the Summer of 1972, when I was just a wee WOMP.  That's when I discovered the very concept of creating comics, when I was inspired to illustrate the "adventures" that my toys had.  That's where Monkey was born.  It wasn't long, though, before I started to expand my tiny handful of characters to a crew, then a group, then a pantheon.  Along the line, I've created and drawn many characters of which I am quite proud, some of which I am still trying to utilize.  Then there are the other characters.  Beginning all of those years ago (when I was just six years old, after all), right up through today, I have had many "false starts."  These are characters that were poorly thought out, foolishly redundant, alpha versions, somehow offensive, obviously stupid, copyrighted to someone else, or otherwise completely unusable for anything but the learning process...and, now, as fodder for the WOMP-Blog.  As I list these now-forbidden characters from my own lifetime of creative development, I hope to delve a little into the character creating process itself.  For example, the name I provided for the "October 1" entry was Birilla.  Created when I was about twelve years old, Birilla was, uh...well...let's just say that this is how I actually described him at the time, thirty-five years ago -

Birilla - this villian is a cross between a bird and a gorilla.  This strange creature was formed in a nuclear reaction.  On side of evil.

Beyond being evidence that I've always had a problem spelling the word "villain," this little snippet of back-story pretty well sums up why Birilla didn't "make it."  I may have been twelve, but I knew a turkey (or Turkilla) when I saw one.  Still, I had to actually see the character to learn that.  Part of my "process" back then (and probably still) was to just explore any concept that struck my imagination, no matter how bizarre.  More tomorrow, but here's another "Forbidden" WOMP Character of The Day - Old Man Meriwether!