Dead Winter Minicomics Batch #10 (Patreon)

Okay so, this is my first holiday week working on this minicomic project. I managed to get a new page sketched, but I only got two minis drawn in this batch, as opposed to the three or more I've usually done.  This is fine, though, since it evens out with my buffer.  Brain-wise this also means if I get three more done in the coming week that will land right at the nice round number 40, which I'll be happy with.  So anyways, here's this week's minis:

#036: This one's basically The Flintstones opening bit, but instead of landing in his car Lou just crashes directly into the diner for dinnertime.  The electric generator area and the diner are both on the same side of Tombstone, on opposite sides of the same street, so in the mental map of the town in my head the joke is entirely plausible- I also wanted to draw the look on Lizzie's face in the last panel like this isn't an isolated incident, it's not the first time Lou has arrived for dinner in this manner following the sound of the quittin' whistle.  The specific task Lou is working on here is his water wheel.  He mentioned it on page 598, talking to Monday about his job in Tombstone and how an overshot water wheel would be more effective with the shifting of the tides at providing consistent supplemented power to the town, which in turn would open up more non-essential buildings to be wired up for electricity!  He gets to make it!  Also, the guy pulling the whistle was just some gruff mechanic-looking fellow but I'm probably going to say that's Marty Mulgrave, Lou's boss as mentioned on the same page 598, and pull that design into the comic when it's time to draw him.  A lot of working people in this comic wear this sort of Dickie's button-down work shirt specifically because that's the kind of work shirt I wore when I started this comic, it's just always stuck with me as an iconic working thing.

#37: The other update for today!  Sixgun Johnny Rhythm is introduced in the comic as a cat to Monday's cat to his own former employers' various array of mice.  He's sort of a more cordial mirror to Monday and probably the main antagonist to him in the way Frank is to Lizzie.  He is planned to be a boss battle in the arcade game so that encounter would take place between the comic and the events of this mini.  Their naming scheme was derived from a song I learned about through Johnny Cash, "get Rhythm, when you get the Blues", so that's why they're both named in the way they are.  Monday is established as a competent artist on pahe 227, when he drew a rendering of the Omni-mart building prior to their adventure.  It fits his personality as being observant and detail-focused, so this page is highlighting that skill of his again.  Also a fun pedantic note: the strip is titled "Leadslinger" but Monday isn't drawing with a lead pencil, he's using vine charcoal.  If you haven't had the pleasure of working with this analog medium, I highly recommend it with a nice cold-press toothy midtone-colored paper and a white charcoal pencil, it's an absolutely lovely medium to play with.

That's it for this week's mini updates!  The main-page update is a bit longer to compensate, but I'll try to have more to share next Friday.  Thanks as always for reading along, I'm happy to hear people have as much fun with these as I do.   Until next time!