|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 10, 2008 17:41:30 GMT
Nigel, Do you ever look in any of the other boards on this forum or do you just stick to the main STC one out of fear for your sanity? Let's see if I can catch up with my questions... Nope I don't really look at any of the other boards - I'm sure I wouldn't understand.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 10, 2008 17:46:52 GMT
Ahhh... my memories of that story were fuzzy. I mostly remember him fighting a shark then explained he was tenderising it! Hilarious.... Anyways that leads me onto another moronic question; initially Plunder and his crew was presented as a force to be reckoned with but later became comic relief. How come this happened and also, was it intended to be anything to do with their exposure to the Chaos Emeralds? [/nerd mode activated] Also, Charles; can I ask a cheeky question and enquire into whether STCO is planning a Plunder strip? ;D I decided to make Plunder a more humerous strip because my other Sonic Universe strips were essentially serious and I wanted a change of pace. I aways thought Plunder was kind of a humerous character in the Sonic strip actually. I never gave his exposure to the emeralds another thought after that particular story.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 10, 2008 17:53:12 GMT
He was a quota-filler for Deb Tate. She was content working with Nigel and Lew all the time but someone at Egmont wanted her to work with more than just the same two writers all the time. (I hear that Lew was bothered by his use of Tekno.) Yes Sidewinder's gang was arrested in New Tek City in #118, but they were arrested while committing crimes in the Metropolis Zone. It is therefore reasonable to assume that when Mr Fry appeared in #150 he had been extradicted by the MZ authorities, and that the others might have been as well. The idea was that STC should use a new writer to bring in some new ides or something or other. All he did was use our (Lew, Rich and my) characters without asking us and without understanding what what the Sonic strip was all about. Irritating. Still, he wasn't around for long.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 10, 2008 17:54:29 GMT
Fans make up their own minds about continuity, the editors have no standing, so Pppppppppppppppppbbttt. I thought this was the writer's job
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 10, 2008 17:56:29 GMT
I assumed they were all in the Special Zone, but so what? He's behind an atomic bomb and two doomsdays (and got off scot free too). Why wouldn't he have an extra-dimensional panic room or emergency shuttle, a mansion on Mobius, a magical resurrection contract with genies (probably with a catch), whatever makes for an interesting story? The Sidewinders of the world always survive. Great thread, Nigel (and great idea, Pete!). Just wondering, is this new pitch of yours and Nigel's 'Gimmik' or 'Magpie', or something new? Hi Ed The pitch is Gimmik, partly redrawn and totally rewritten.
|
|
Ed
Ex-Hume
Satan (Apparently)
Posts: 4,320
|
Post by Ed on Sept 10, 2008 22:32:46 GMT
Awesome. Really hope you find a home for it.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 11, 2008 21:56:39 GMT
For Nigel - what made you decide to populate the Special Zone, and to specifically populate it with superhero pastiches, and then why'd you decide to have Sonic trapped there for a while? well, it was my job to write a story so I made one up. Sorry to be flippant but I'm not sure how to answer this. I will just say that I specifically didn't want to do any superhero pastiches - I wanted to play with the genre not spoof any particular superheroes. I know Lew parodied the Hulk and Spider-Man but that wasn't what I had in mind when I came up with the idea.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 11, 2008 21:59:17 GMT
Was the Nameless Zone supposed to be on Mobius or in an alternate dimension? Who keeps repairing the bridge? The Nameless Zone was connected by some kind of portal wasn't it? That would make it an alternative dimension probably. In any event it's someplace far far away.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 11, 2008 22:00:40 GMT
How did you get involved in STC in the first place? Didn't I already answer this? Basically somebody I had worked for previously recommended me to Richard Burton.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 11, 2008 22:03:05 GMT
This question is stupidly far-fetched, but whatever. If you found out that they (whose "they"? I dunno, Sega?) were making a new and improved Decap Attack game, would you try to get involved somehow regarding the script/dialogue or would you simply leave them to it? I wouldn't hear about any new game Sega was working on so I'd never be able to get involved. But if I did somehow get the opportunity to write for a game I'd be delighted.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 11, 2008 22:04:18 GMT
What species of animal is Queen Zorabel? I don't know. Who says she was based on an animal?
|
|
|
Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Sept 11, 2008 22:32:11 GMT
What would you say was your favourite of the more humourous moments you wrote in the Sonic stories?
One moment that sticks out for me was during "Robotnik Reigns Supreme" (I think it was issue #129), where Robotnik sends Sonic to the stage of a theatre packed with booing, jeering Robotniks telling him to "get off the stage, you amateur!". I really liked this part; it just seemed so wonderfully demented, and seemed to give a good insight of Robotnik's warped sense of humour.
I don't know why I find that part so funny, I just do. So what would you say was your favourite "funny moment"?
|
|
|
Post by Charles on Sept 12, 2008 0:00:06 GMT
Sorry to be flippant but I'm not sure how to answer this. Mainly I was wondering why you decided to trap Sonic in the Special Zone for a while.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 12, 2008 7:34:27 GMT
What would you say was your favourite of the more humourous moments you wrote in the Sonic stories? One moment that sticks out for me was during "Robotnik Reigns Supreme" (I think it was issue #129), where Robotnik sends Sonic to the stage of a theatre packed with booing, jeering Robotniks telling him to "get off the stage, you amateur!". I really liked this part; it just seemed so wonderfully demented, and seemed to give a good insight of Robotnik's warped sense of humour. I don't know why I find that part so funny, I just do. So what would you say was your favourite "funny moment"? I don't even remember the scene you mention - but maybe it is vaguely familiar now I think about it. It's so long since I've looked at this stuff that I just don't recall lot of it so any favourite bits would change if I actually read through the stories. Would it be a bit weird if I decided to sit down and read my own stories? But anyway. I liked the Bruise Brothers gag with their mother. Oh,I just remembered about all that Blockhead Bill stuff - I enjoyed writing that. I loved the bit where the Fundamental Four were changed into a pot. And there was all the fun I had writing duologue for Charmy Bee - I liked the way he beat the Scarlet Serpent (or whoever it was) by buying out his company. Y'know I always thought I had just about the right level of humour in my Sonic stories and it always bugged me that the editor seemed to think that Lew should be brought in to add more humour. I think it would have been a lot better if Lew had been encouraged to write more dramatic stories personally. Of course what I really always wanted was to be allowed to write all of the Sonic strip myself. If that had happened then you'd really have seen someting...
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 12, 2008 7:42:24 GMT
Sorry to be flippant but I'm not sure how to answer this. Mainly I was wondering why you decided to trap Sonic in the Special Zone for a while. Well, it was just a change of scenery - a chance to do something slightly different with the character. There was no specific moment when I was inspired to do this as far as I can remember. My main memory of this (as I said) was a conviction not to have the stories parody specific superheroes - I thought that that was not a good idea but I cannot back that up with any logic - it was just my instinct. Why did I trap Sonic there? I don't know. Presumably it just added to the dynamics of the story. It was just a plot thing. But it's tough question a bit like me asking you "why did you ask me about the special zone?"
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 12, 2008 7:49:13 GMT
Somebody was asking about my background story for Knuckles. The one that was approved by Sega. Notice that I don't assume that they know anything about their own game:
KNUCKLES HISTORY OF THE ECHIDNAS BY NIGEL KITCHING. 22/10/97
THE OFFICIAL STORY FROM THE MEGA DRIVE GAMES Knuckles lives alone on the Floating Island and he is the last of his race. The ancient race of Echidnas who once ruled the Floating Island have long ago vanished. Originally Knuckles was Sonic’s enemy but they have since teamed up to fight Robotnik.
This background to Knuckles raises a lot of intriguing questions; why did the original race of Echidnas vanish? Why is Knuckles the only survivor? We know Knuckles was raised on the Floating Island but by who?
In Sonic The Comic I have already added a few hints of my own to some of these mysteries but I would now like to establish a constant back story for Knuckles.
I should perhaps explain that the Drakon Empire are a race of powerful alien baddies which I have created as enemies of Sonic.
SUGGESTED HISTORY OF THE FLOATING ISLAND ECHIDNAS The Echidnas and the Drakon Empire are ancient enemies. In the days when the Drakon Empire had an outpost on Mobius they and the Echidnas were at war (for at least some of the time). In these days the Floating Island was a normal island and not the flying version it is today and it was not the only place on Mobius which was inhabited by the Echidnas. This war was over the Chaos Emeralds which the Drakon Empire claimed belonged to them. The Echidnas lost the war and their entire race were taken prisoner. Just before the last of the Echidnas were captured some scientist put their champion (Knuckles) into suspended animation and hid him, along with the Chaos Emeralds on the Floating Island. When the Drakon Empire returned to search for the Chaos Emeralds they found the Island vanished and assumed it had been destroyed in an act of sabotage by the Echidnas. In actual fact the power of the Chaos Emeralds had lifted it high into the sky and hidden it amongst the clouds. The plan had been that Knuckles would revive and organise a rescue, he would have the power of the Floating Island and an army of powerful robots with which to accomplish this task (These robots have already been introduced into the series, by the way). Unfortunately the plan went wrong in some fashion and Knuckles ended up being in suspended animation for thousands of years and, when he finally did revive he had no memory. Knuckles was able, from various bits of evidence, to find out that his people had left in a hurry and that he had been entrusted with the Chaos Emeralds.
I think this back story gives the possibility of interesting plots but there is one thing which should not be done – Knuckles should never reunite with his people, we don’t want a Floating Island full of Echidnas and, on the other hand we don’t want Knuckles leaving the Floating Island to join his lost race. The simplest answer might be if we discover the Echidna race have become fragmented and spread across the galaxy – it has been thousands of years since their abduction after all.
So Knuckles’ quest to find his people is ultimately doomed but it would be nice if he could find out about himself and perhaps meet some of the people with which he shares common ancestors.
|
|
|
Post by Pete on Sept 12, 2008 9:00:06 GMT
I think a nice alternative to that could be that Knuckles wouldn't allow the other Echidna's back to the island; the possible feeling of rejection and all this responsibility placed on him, whilst they, ultimately, fell into slavery. Should Knuckles have discovered his people captured by the Drakon's, he could have mounted a rescue, but his misplaced anger could get the better of him, prefering to remain alone afterwards.
As for Lew not writing serious strips; he had his moments; Brutus and Game Over were suitably dramatic and tense. Not many comic writers would resort to the main villian saying "[censored] this, just destroy the planet and be done with it".
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 12, 2008 9:08:22 GMT
I think a nice alternative to that could be that Knuckles wouldn't allow the other Echidna's back to the island; the possible feeling of rejection and all this responsibility placed on him, whilst they, ultimately, fell into slavery. Should Knuckles have discovered his people captured by the Drakon's, he could have mounted a rescue, but his misplaced anger could get the better of him, prefering to remain alone afterwards. As for Lew not writing serious strips; he had his moments; Brutus and Game Over were suitably dramatic and tense. Not many comic writers would resort to the main villian saying "[censored] this, just destroy the planet and be done with it". I just said I'd have liked to have seen more of this kind of story.
|
|
|
Post by Pete on Sept 12, 2008 9:32:27 GMT
Yeah, I was just pointing out that he obviously had the ability to write like that, which was never really explored.
|
|
|
Post by Nigel Kitching on Sept 12, 2008 10:10:01 GMT
Yeah, I was just pointing out that he obviously had the ability to write like that, which was never really explored. What I seem to remember is Lew saying somewhere that he was asked to bring humour to the strip. I just didn't think the strip was actually missing humour. It would have been better just to get Lew to do the kind of work he thought was best. Of course I don't know what was actually discussed between Lew and the editors.
|
|
|
Post by Charles on Sept 12, 2008 15:21:33 GMT
IIRC Lew knew Game Over was likely to be his last strip, so he could basically go nuts.
|
|
Ed
Ex-Hume
Satan (Apparently)
Posts: 4,320
|
Post by Ed on Sept 12, 2008 20:19:03 GMT
I know Lew's said this but I wonder... his early strips weren't particularly comedic, especially after a ten issue run debuting the Marxios and Plunder, but they did have less overt menace, less edge (and they were shorter). I suspect this was the point of contention more than humour per se -- the overt comedies were a later development.
|
|
Prowler
Big Time Boomer
McBuzzkill
Bashing Buzz Bomber Badniks
Posts: 177
|
Post by Prowler on Sept 14, 2008 0:15:10 GMT
Dear... well whoever made that horrible mess on the very last ever STC re-run issue, Who's "bright" idea was it to ruin the very last STC Re-run issue with a) A totally sub-standard/lazy front cover? b) That *UGLY* green 'strip' down the left-hand side of the front cover!? *pukes*
|
|
|
Post by Retro on Sept 14, 2008 0:32:40 GMT
I quite like that art actually.
|
|
Adamis
Artist Hume
Yay
Posts: 1,339
|
Post by Adamis on Sept 14, 2008 0:47:39 GMT
Me too. I've been searching for that artwork minus the writing for weeks. Without results.
|
|