I did some bear research and read a couple books recounting bear attacks. In many of the stories, a hunter would shoot the bear multiple times, but the bear would still kill him. Later, the bear would die, and observers would realize the bear had literally been shot directly in the heart, but that had not stopped it. It had managed to go on for another 20-30 minutes after its heart had been blown out of its chest. In other instances, even while firing at a bear, the bear would bite the gun out of the hunter’s hand and bend it, rendering it useless. I had to take this all into account when writing a story where a group of slackers must face an earth covered in hostile grizzlies. These are not zombies. They do not move slow, their flesh is not fragile and juicy. They are real life monsters.
I recently re-read the entire Bearmageddon archives and I had two realizations. One, I’m really proud of it. Two, I never use Dickinson Killdeer’s name in the comic anywhere. He never introduces himself, Joel and Gogs never use his name… It feels too far in at this point for him to say “Oh, by the way, my name is…” so, with some shame, I am going to work it into the old pages. If you have been reading up to this point you get to see me admit my glaring mistake.
It’s been a crazy week for me. The Axe Cop TV show was just released. If you are a fan of my work, please take a moment to give Axe Cop a watch. The first episode came out Sunday night. I also just got back from Comic Con, and I realized I really need to publish a first volume of Bearmageddon. I was going to wait until it was all done, but there is a ton of people who don’t read web comics who would buy a copy if I had one at my booth to sell. I need to get the uncolored pages colored and find a good end to volume one. Judging from my pacing this story will probably be in the 300+ pages range, so I think we could easily publish 2-3 volumes, and since it will take so long to complete, the money from the volumes would help me keep at it because I’ve basically been doing it for free this whole time.
Lastly, the bear war print has not been forgotten. If you want in on it, email me (use the contact link in the menu). For the uninformed, it is a print I am doing that will feature a crowd of Bearmageddon readers and the main characters all fighting a swarm of mutant bears. It’s $55 and you get to choose your weapon, your mutant bear, and if you are winning or losing. We lost the order-form page/code in the site crash, so just email me and we can work it out that way. I would like to fill a little more space before I start to draw it.
Not really related to Bearmageddon (which is, as usual, wonderful), but holy HELL did I like that Axe Cop short. I’ll be honest and say that I was managing my expectations, thinking it might not live up to the comic, but damn.
It was really, really good. The pacing was perfect. I loved the humor. Nick Offerman is the perfect Axe Cop.
Bears are pretty dang smart but they pretty much don’t take shit from anyone who bothers them.
I honestly don’t think you should go back and add his name to old pages. It may disrupt the flow or make things worst since you weren’t planning for it before hand. Look at what George Lucas did to Star Wars.
I honestly didn’t even notice his name wasn’t used during the story.I think as long as you’re mindful of it from here on out it shouldn’t be a big deal. Great page, keep up the great work.
Up to page 100 would make a pretty good volume 1 if you’re rooting for the 300 page mark, plus it ends with a great final page for it. Seems like the best place around that area without interrupting a big moment.
Loved the Axe Cop show, Offerman is perfect for the role
It’s hard to work names in, how often do you say your name? especially when you’re a wild mountain man
I guess it’s not fair to require people to have read the authors’ comments on a website , but.. every comic has this problem. either names are hard to remember or they’re said in the comic ad nauseum
also I saw axe cop on tv!!! that was great. it was almost as good as the comics and that’s better than the vast majority of comic to tv adaptations
Page 66 is the best break between potential books so far, but that’s rather short for a TPB. Maybe print some smaller runs of floppies, like pp1-21, pp22-45, pp46-66, pp67-88 etc. That way you’d have smaller chapters you could sell and pass around to build buzz. Plus that would get you a product faster since you can do the final publishing prep (color fixes etc.) in chunks.
I’m actually thinking of an upcoming breaking point. Around 120-140 pages is a great length for a TPB and I also have a lot of extra material I could toss in.
Is it me or is Killdeer holding his hand in a REALLY bad place in front of a bear that, while still dying, can clamp its jaws down REALLY hard?
Noooo! Stop kill-stealing from Chuckles; he just needs a little more XP for level ‘Dachshund’!
I’m willing to believe bears won’t drop dead instantly after a shot in the heart, just as much as believing that a wounded animal can very much still kill you before it, too, dies; but going on for half an hour after a busted heart…? Sorry, I wouldn’t have any of that even from Darwin himself, swearing on her mother’s grave. That stuff belongs on snopes.com.
I was kind of hoping the bear would become their pet. Oh well.
Also, totally loved the Axe Cop episode. Some parts were changed up from the comic obviously, but you can only do so much in such a short animation compared to a comic. It was still well done. “Soda is better than juice!”
I must quote Plastic Man (to Batman): “Hardcore, Caped Crusader!”
You don’t have to go back and put his name in. It would also give the wrong feel to the comic: up until now, there hasn’t been enough time for things like namws, and fear of bears has been crowding it out. Maybe it could be worked in during the camp, but since you didn’t then, now would be as good a time as any.
After this bear-killing or somewhere along the line, have Joel complaining about following this guy ‘and we don’t even know his name.’ Then Gogs, being Gogs, will yell, ‘Hey! What’s your name?’ Then, if you like, have Dick put in more backstory.
I would give Axe Cop a watch, but he already wears one… wokka wokka!
oh my i hope so much that the axecop show gets renewed to half hour episodes.
Its impossible to cram all that awesomeness into 10 minutes.
The email on the contact page came back with a “Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: info@bearmageddon.com” error. I was trying to send information for the Bear War Print.
Honestly I thought you were withholding his name in the comic all this time because the “Dickinson Killdeer” thing in the annotations was just an author’s bluff, and this character turns out to be only Hank, back from page 1.
Or maybe Dickinson is more skilled than we thought, and Hank is just one of his many identities.