Just one bear to go. I tried a number of possible bits of dialog for Dickinson to indicate that he is looking for the last bear and it seems to have escaped him for a moment, but in general I really hate when comic book characters talk to themselves just to let the audience in on what is going on. I do it as little as possible, and I think Dickinson is more effective as a generally quiet character, especially when he is so deeply focused on bear killin’.
We’re coming to the end of a scene I’ve had swirling around in my head for years. It’s been thrilling to finally bring it to life and see you all react. I really appreciate the comments. This story is just getting started. I can’t believe we’ll hit page 50 next week. We are really just getting over the hump of the bridge into Act Two. I would not consider this Act Two yet, but we are close. Considering Act One generally takes up about 1/4 of a story, it’s safe to say this story is going to be over 200 pages. Be strong little fingers! I hope the color team can hang on that long, this page is glorious!
Speaking of the color team, I posted links to their sites in the links section. Check out what these guys do when they are not coloring bear fights. Color flatter Matthew Sargent even has his own web comic called Bag Drop. Noah and I did a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cover together for the new IDW series. It will be the alternate cover in April on issue #9 so keep your eyes open for that.
Also, I’m not sure if I mentioned it in the blog yet, but the Characters Page has been updated! Big thanks to Mike Weber for making the Character and Links pages so nice and tidy.
Alright Bearmofos, we’ll pick this back up on Friday!
Ethan
Couldn’t resist! Had to see what happens next!!!!
Dang! You beat me to the punch!
I am you…
Oh yeah!
wtf
I know, right?
is the bear in panel 1 crying?
naw g, hes getting pok!’d cantchoo read
I think the arrow hitting him so close to the sinuses caused him to start to sneeze then instantly die. So this facial expression is right on the hairline between pre-sneeze and instant brain death.
I love you Ethan- you complete me.
🙂
Is it Friday yet?
By the way, I don’t think you need to make Dickinson Killdeer talk to himself to let us know what he’s thinking. I think the look on his face conveys it perfectly!
Though I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to find that he DOES talk to himself a bit. He strikes me as the sort who doesn’t often have a lot of conversational companions available.
good point
I think when he is just hanging around whittling and peeing in the bushes he is talking to himself, or to a raccoon or hawk or something. But when he is in deep focused bear fight mode, he is silent.
what are yall referring to. i don’t see him talking to himself.
if you’re talking about the “i got this” that’s gogs. if you’re talking about a different page fill me in
talkin’ ’bout the blog, G.
bu-bu-blog? i still don’t get it
First paragraph. I talk about how I *considered* giving Dickinson dialog in those first panels and it wasn’t working.
now i understand
Wow. 50 pages already. That’s just crazy.
The comic started in early August, meaning its taken about 6 months to get to 50 pages. If the comic is going to be 200 pages like Ethan says, we’re in for another year and a half of Bearmageddon!
Is it bad that I’m kind of glad to see Gogg leaving the strip? Kid got kind of annoying. But I guess most of them are annoying and that’s the point. Whole growing experience thing while being attacked by bears making them all realize that they need to grow up… my dad told me about his experience once…
He’s not dead yet! I don’t think he’ll die this early in the story, or at all for that matter.
Dickinson is pulling back another arrow. Bear dies first.
Knowing that Dickison was looking for one more bear would’ve been easier if you had him look around in one bigger panel. You know, showing him turn his head around or something like that, or he could’ve grunted… That’s for you to figure out, I just didn’t get it from his face expression that he was looking for the third bear.
Very happy for you and stoked for the TMNT cover! Maybe the first of more mainstream gigs that hopefully involve getting paid? 🙂
So, this Friday, are there going to be a lot of chuckles? (this is a clue for what I think happens next)
Either Gogg is a small man or that bear is huge. Maybe Goggs will fall over backwards and stun the bear with the back of the ax.
bit of both. Gogs is scrawny, the bear is massive.
Haha, I would have shouted “LOOK BEHIND YOU!” Instead of WOAH BRO! But.. 😀
If it were me I’d leave Nigel chained to that tree…
yeah but we gotta keep him around to clash with everyone a while longer, I can’t get rid of him that fast!
I am going to feel so conflicted if Gogs dies. Impressed by the killing of an established character, but disappointed that a funny character is gone.
I do believe this is the part where Gogs is gonna kill a bear with one punch
I love the fact that the “camera” is embedded in the tree.
yes this is the view from a beetle on the tree between Burton and his trunk mate.
How do those arrows work? They don’t have the groove in the back that makes it sit on the string better. I guess Mr. Killdeer could just be that good at bow and arrow. That said I’m loving every panel of this.
I believe there is a line there in the back but it is pretty thin. The light is just probably not hitting right. 🙂
See, the bear thought everyone was yelling “Porkins”, not “Gogs”. Honest expendable main character mistake…
yeah it probably would’ve been wasted anyway, but I appreciate you wanting us to know ahead of time that there was another bear, so it didn’t seem like it was out of nowhere. I myself have to get out of the habit of having characters constantly express what they currently know, so the audience can keep track.. feh.. they won’t anyway. It’s fine.
ah man I missed the chance to be in the first five.
Gogs is gonna muff that bear up!
Man, I just re-read this, and it’s a million times more exciting when you can just “turn the page” instead of waiting 3 days!
I agree, I just read through this whole scene from when they pull up to the activist camp int their van. It moves really fast! Especially from the moment the bears come in, it really is made to be a page turning book but for now I just have to work within the confines of the medium.
I had a horrible dream last night. The previous page was the last page ever and it was TERRIFYING
Rest assured, unless actual Armageddon happens, Bearmageddon still has a lot more story to tell.
Awesome sound effects these last few pages.
Looking good.
Great looking last panel there!
Gogs is my favorite 🙂
Man, you draw a mean bear. Really conveys their mass.
thanks. They may be a bit bigger than the bigger sized grizzly/kodiak bears of reality, but I want them to feel enormous… sort of like a real bear probably feels when you see it coming at you. In the moment it probably looks about as big as an elephant, though if you saw a photo it might not be as big as it is in your head in reality. I want these bears to feel threateningly massive.
i like the lock necklace. nice touch.
since bearmaggedon has picked up, axe cop has slowed to a crawl. i like it this way though, i’ve always liked bearmaggedon more than axe cop
the things i liked about axe cop got repetitive after a few story arcs (no offense)
Yeah, one page of Axe Cop per week, 2 pages of Bearmageddon a week. But what you don’t see is a print-exclusive Axe Cop miniseries I am working on at the same time. So Axe Cop is actually getting more attention, you just aren’t seeing it at the moment. And no offense taken.
just puttin it out there, i like how you respond to a pretty substantial amount of fan messages. I like to imagine that you live like a rockstar and that it’s actually your manservant typing these responses as you dictate them to him while his children feed you grapes from a gold platter
Is Bearmofos new or have we been called that for much longer?
Friday 9am is Saturday 1am for me. It’s the same wait but it feels so much longer especially now that it’s all action.
Was Dickinson in the cub scouts or something? He has a cub scouts ascot on.
Pretty sure that’s Webelos, the group inbetween Cubs and Scouts.
I predict an arrow in the bear pooter.
…
And, I would buy this if printed.
I mentioned this in the last comments… but here’s a pic of the Webelos neckerchief slide. http://bit.ly/wx0D37
Haha, I was in scouts. I knew the Weblos scarf isn’t blue. Its just a fun word to say! Webelos!
Quick, Gogs! Do that crazy “run up the tree and backflip” move! SEVER THAT BEAR’S SPINE!
Last frame makes me wonder – would an arrow to the genitals of a bear cause it to double over in pain, or become an insane blind with pain killing machine?
all the bear attack stories I read, the bears don’t retreat from pain, they run head on into it. So I think that even an arrow in the bearnuts would only add to the beasts rage.