The Times BEFORE the Before Times... (Patreon)

Some more stuff from the Way Back Machine.

I'd already established I was willing to make comics base don suggestions or requests, but sometimes I didn't think through the fact that, outside of the small group of people immediately affected, a joke was utterly meaningless. All humor, especially comics, is topical, which makes them relevant to the audience, but if you narrow it too much to a fine point it essentially becomes an "inside joke" aired out loud... and kind of alienating to the rest of the audience. I was still learning at this point.

A "dud" of course is a slang term for an explosive that has not detonated (yet). It is also sometimes used as a slang term for a soldier that doesn't accomplish anything. We're told in the Army that if you ever find a "dud" (unexploded device), do not touch it or go near it, since it could detonate at the slightest provocation. It helps to be clear which type of dud you are referring to before advocating a course of action. 

I think this was one of my much earlier comics-- the old "Joe Rock" comics I have are all jumbled up and I frequently did not put date son them until later. The eyes are also a dead giveaway, the big huge half-saucer eyes with the flattened bottom was a signature of mine at the time. Note as well that I simply did not draw the far side of the face, leaving the eyes, nose and mouth to just kind of float together in a formation. This (to me) reflected an influence from Garry B. Trudeau's "Doonesbury" cartoon style, which was still going strong at that time. I liked his style even while at the same time I thought it was weird, and a lot of people out there distinctly did *not* like his style (or maybe it was the subject matter-- he was very political in his strips). 

We'd sometimes play "combat soccer" which was basically American football, but with a soccer ball. Why was this done? Because we weren't allowed to play football (the American version) since it was felt that the soldiers would be tackling each other. But we could play soccer since there was no tackling. Commanders would walk by, see a soccer ball, and ignore us. 

But we'd play "combat soccer" which had elbow jabs and tackling and so on, so naturally I imagined that no matter what team everyone was on, everybody would want to pile on the Commanding Officer (C.O.), leaving him no end of nightmares the night before.

Enough for now! Until later!