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Distressed Damsels: The SCHOOL OF SHASTI story, part 1
🕑 Added 2019-11-27 14:01:00 +0000 UTCShort version: Folks, check out the first part of an incomplete commissioned “Dirty Pair as damsels in distress” story I drew for a generous friend (and pre-Patreon patron, of a sort), cranked out in a pencil-based, proto-Empowered format only a few years before I realized this could be a viable way to produce “real” comics.
Obviously never intended to see print, these DiD pages dial up the cheesecake level a few degrees higher than I ever did on actual DP material, as you might notice; this would be similar to the exaggerated “Every Shot Must Be Hot” approach of the early Empowered stories. I suppose you might consider these to be my equivalent of Japanese doujinshi “fan-comic” work, more or less, so I felt free to work in a little titillating content than usual.(Don’t expect any explicit content, though; however cheesecakey, these episodes and story fragments are even more decorous than Empowered.)
In theory, this episode would’ve taken place around the era of the flashbacks in Dirty Pair: Dangerous Acquaintances, my second DP series, though these aren’t quite in continuity as I see it; for some thing, as in all these DiD showcases, Kei and Yuri are way, way too easily distressed. (A Patron, howeva, has pointed out a highly amusing, No-Prize-ish caveat that could explain this phenomenon, which I’ll have to scan and post here on some future Wednesday.)
Long version: Thing is, by the point I cranked out most of these stories, I had become bitterly dissatisfied with my conventional process for drawing comics. My workflow as of the last Dirty Pair series in 1999-2000 had become so slow, laborious, and mindnumbingly tedious that I never drew another conventionally formatted, multiple-issue comic again. (Yeahp, I've been effectively retired from drawing comics in that conventional manner for almost 20 years, now.)
My over-elaborate work stages for comics back then went as follows: I’d initially scrawl out page roughs, then expand those into some very tight and detailed layout pages (in the same proto-Empowered format seen here); then I’d enlarge those layouts and transfer ’em to Bristol board, where I’d redraw the same imagery even tighter; then I’d go on to ink the pages, so I effectively wound up drawing the same comic page three g-d times. Then, ’twas time to spend at lest a few days working up detailed guides for the lettering and coloring, just in case I wasn’t already thoroughly sick of the repeatedly revisited pages.
The only part of that process I even vaguely enjoyed was drawing the early “supertight layout pages,” which I was often—and frustratingly!—told were more fun to read than my finished comics. So, when I had the chance to knock out a bunch of throwaway stories like this in pencil-rendered, layout-page form, I had no problem drawing these in my increasingly copious free time while I tried—and, largely, failed—to scrape up mainstream comics work as a writer. (More on that failure later.)
These goofy, continuity-free DiD scenes weren’t, after all, real comics, which would’ve required all the miserably slow and repetitive art stages that I had grown to despise; and since they weren’t going to see print, I could churn ’em out heedlessly and rapidly, without agonizing over storytelling perfection, repro quality, or larger audience reaction.
This two-parter and future posts to come are commissioned stories, yes, but more in the sense that several generous folks—patrons before the Patreon concept, in effect—paid for ’em, rather than specifying specific scenarios as such. Almost all of these pages have never been seen online because the generous and understanding commissioners were cool with not posting these pages anywhere, as I was none too eager for this work to get out while I was still scrambling to get mainstream comics gigs.
Anyhoo, I’ll blither more about these episodes in future posts, as some of ’em do bring up larger issues about my future creative process and storytelling approaches. No, really!
And now, some quick commentary:
This was the first time I'd drawn the classic Yoshikazu Yasuhiko outfits since way back in the second DP miniseries in '89; this time around, I had a much greater appreciation for the costumes' low-riding hiphugger shorts. Can't recall for certain, but I think the Yaz outfits might've been the one patron-requested parameter for the story.
Yeahp, Ninjette's shorts from Empowered are descended directly from this take on the DP's old oufits. (Kozue's notably flat chest, howeva, is clearly not descended from this rather, ah, bouncier version of the Lovely Angels.)
For a story in which I was getting paid for fetching damselry and not backgrounds, I'm still vaguely impressed that I added a loosely scrawled hexagonal floor pattern under the hapless pair.
And with the page above, we clearly see engineered multiple-personality Shasti popping back and forth between different aspects. (Gotta admit, I do sometimes miss writing this character.) Note that she's sporting a top derived from the "young Kei and Yuri" 2000-era con sketch below:
And, in closing:
So, in the page above, Shasti is switching between her bubbingly social, coldly analytical, and raspy-voiced warrior modes, as helpfully indicated by the shapes of her word balloons. Frankly, though, I don't think this "sink or swim" approach to escape artistry is a very effective teaching style.
Anyhoo! Next Wednesday, tune in for the exciting conclusion of the DiD story fragment "School of Shasti," which wheezed to a halt once I hit the point that my pre-Patreon patron didn't feel like paying for any more pages. (Some of the other hitherto unseen stories in this format run a lot longer, I should note.)
POSTSCRIPT: Patrons from the $10 and $20 tiers, stand by for a bonus Wednesday post featuring a few pieces based on your DiD art requests, including one that ties (ha ha!) back to this story, however loosely.
Comments
KranberriJam
This is excellent stuff!!!
Aidenke
The commentary lends a wonderful context to the proceedings, and definitely enhances the value of the already-fun posts. For the time you spend on it, it's appreciated effort! :)
PixelThis
Wow
Steven Ng
I thought I was overburdening you by ordering 2 or 3 commissions a year in the late 90's. I now see some fellows really went wild and I should have done the same.
Strypgia
Oh my. Shasti's right, they look _nice_ in this. Love the low-ride hip-huggers, oh yes. Some space-magitech going on to keep them from falling out of their tops in Pg 4 panel 1, for sure. And absolutely zero complaints at the bouncier version of the Lovely Angels, no complaints _at all_. Getting a bit of an Ocelotina vibe from social-mode Shasti, there, too. The amount of detail in every shot of the way-back DP stuff may have been lots of work, but it was always an eye-catching element of your work that was appreciated. I love that element that you always put in, as far back as the first DP stuff I saw by you, Sim Hell and Plague of Angels. It really made the cyberpunk, super-edge-of-tech feel of the DP's world feel real. And come to think of it, how much does commissioning these kind of pages cost?
Strypgia
That is very sad, since an encounter between permanently-poor-self-esteem Emp and the _literal_ space-hopping superspies that the Lovely Angels are would be positively hilarious. And of couse, Emp would feel once more oppressed and glum at their hardbodied hotness versus her own more generous curves.
Jack Hallows
looking forward to this... maybe Emp need to s jump into this class lol
Adam Warren
Oh, that stuff is cheesecake-y as all get-out, believe me. (BTW, I'm glad the commentary provides some value for ya!)
Adam Warren
Alas, I most assuredly do NOT have the rights to the DP, or I'd have reprinted that stuff a bajillion times by now. (Dark Horse is trying to get permission to do so, but I've mostly given up hope on that front.) So, I'm afraid that no DP/EMP crossover is likely (to put it mildly).
andrew
"that ties (ha ha!) back" Those kind of gags are bound to come up. ;-) Speaking of puns...I wanted to say that "decorous" DiD-istry is appreciated but had to look up the word to be sure I'd grokked it contextually. One of its synonyms is "restrained" which is either a coincidence or some sublimely subtle wordplay on your part.
Warren Beall
Jiminy, This is good stuff. Also..man I'm feeling some hard DP Nostalgia. any chance you could make a DP/Emp crossover (Since you have rights to both so..for once..you'd be the final say?)
Otaku Twenty-Four Seven
If the artwork is as wonderfully cheesecake-y as this, feel free to blither away! Love your work and your commentary just as much.
