Spoofy Randomness

Character: John Whitebucket

Percy and Holly’s father. Worked as a runner for HUAC, and has since has a severe paranoia of Communism. Outside of his Communist paranoia, he has an uncanny knowledge of world politics. Fun Fact: Early versions of John had him being a classmate of Percy’s

Sponsorship
Ref: Others taking notice | And again | Percy gets on the news | Thomas Gabriel sees the sleigh | Thomas Gabriel introduces himself | Jorocks’s unplanned appearance | Thomas Gabriel helps | Unscrupulous comrades | John is being watched

I think I just broke my record for most reference links, even if I didn’t include links to this same story arc! This comic pulls together a few old loose ends, some of which I’m betting you didn’t see coming. The big one, of course, being General Anatol’s endorsement of Percy’s plan, allowing him to proceed. Those of you who are James Bond fans will likely recognize him as General Anatol Gogol, who is one of my favorite characters of all time and appears in several Bond movies.

While I have always had the idea of outside forces affecting Percy’s dream, nothing was set in stone until the Tornado arc and the creation of Thomas Gabriel. I really like the name as he was a sort of guardian angel during the events of that arc, and I liked the character I had made, so I expanded his role to maintain that guardian angel character. He then appeared in the airport to ease Percy’s passage and helped explain Jorocks being there (how did he know?), but it was never shown who that was. I have since updated his character tags, so apologies if you’re a new reader and had that spoiler.

Next comic is #200! We finally leave the building!
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May 12, 2013
You’ve Seen Him Before
The shadowy character from the airport returns, only not in shadow anymore! Who is it? Any guesses? You will see his face in the next comic, I promise!

John remains a lot of fun to write for with lines such as the one in Panel 2.

For those of you who are curious, this takes place behind the stage. Also, there was a lot more discussion that took place off-panel, but that would be a lot of details that really don’t fit in a comic.
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May 5, 2013
Politicians Fear The Naughty List
The conversation about ownership of the North Pole is actually the result of some light research I did in preparation for this arc. Russia is one of several countries attempting to establish ownership; however, given it is one of the most influential as well as the opportunity it gave me in terms of the comedy of John in Russia led Percy to make his first attempt there.

Jorocks is a lot of fun to draw in this arc. He is so bewildered and out of his depth, and it shows in this strip. He has no idea what he is doing here.
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April 28, 2013
Job Incentives
Ref: HUAC | Architect

I meant to include an earlier reference to the fact that Jorocks’ major is architecture, but I’m not sure if that ever got mentioned before this story arc! I’ve known it since shortly after the comic started (about the time Percy and Nikki were discussing their majors), but I never actually stated it in the comic.

Jorocks amuses me a lot in this part of the arc; he is totally out of his element and lost. He hardly knows how he wound up in Russia, let alone in a room filled with the most powerful people in the country. I enjoy drawing his expressions as he sits and listens to Percy address these people and they take him mostly seriously in regards to becoming Santa Claus, in Russian nonetheless. Poor guy.

I had gotten about halfway done with the text for this strip (the last step) when I realized that Jorocks and John had no idea what was being said. I toyed with a couple ideas, including John knowing Russian (an interesting character twist) and Percy translating for Jorocks, but I decided the translating would be redundant and monotonous. I couldn’t think of an easy way to mention the earpieces in their conversation, so I went with the blurb at the bottom.
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April 21, 2013
The Case Begins
Hey look, John has his helmet off!

…I just realized that John is very much like Beetle Bailey in appearance. The fact that it’s taken me nearly four years to realize that is a little depressing.

Also, in case it isn’t clear, Jorocks and John are sitting while Percy is standing. You can see the back of John’s chair.
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April 7, 2013
Stein Auf
Ref: Jorocks & the Quads | World War I | World War II

Woo, bonus comic for the week! The above link explains Jorocks’ obsession with the Stein Auf shirt. Clearly, Jorocks & the Quads are Lost and Found fans.

And hey, color! It’s been a while since I used color in regular comics! This is the first of hopefully many color comics. Although since the last comic had nothing visible, could that be considered the first comic to switch to color this time around? Anyway, I think I’m feeling confident enough to be pushing color strips out again, which has been my goal for a long time!

I also really like the suit Percy is wearing. He obviously is going to dress up to impress the politicians. My first thought was to put him in the Santa suit, but I think Percy would realize that he’s going to have a hard enough time being taken seriously as it is. So I gave him this suit that keeps the Santa motif, but looks more modern and professional.

Also, I don’t really know how Russia feels about Germany nowadays (if you know, feel free to comment below!), but Percy wouldn’t want to risk it regardless. After all, that was simply a battle of good vs. evil.
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March 28, 2013
Meanwhile, At The Airport…
Ref: How Percy is paying for it (and why Jorocks doesn’t know yet)

323 happens to be my favorite number, by the way. Clearly that is the only significant thing about this comic.
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March 10, 2013
Sleepy Jorocks
Ref: Jorocks’ distrust of Percy’s inventions
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March 3, 2013
An Unexpected Guest
Ref: Jorocks the Ninja 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

I debated about leaving clues as to how Jorocks would have pulled this off, and some earlier edits of the script did have these present. In the end, I decided to add to the mysticism of Jorocks’ fine ability to pop up when you least expect him and not elude to it. There was one very subtle hint, however, and you will also notice that he is the only main character to not appear yet until now…

…Okay, there were two hints. The splash page had Jorocks in it as well, so you knew he was coming some way or another.
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February 24, 2013
On Dasher!
Ref: First time heard | It adds dramatic effect

And we’re finally off to Russia!

Couple of fun notes about this strip. First, the obvious: After nearly three and a half years, Spoofy Randomness finally has SPEECH BUBBLES! This is another vital step in bringing you color comics (which I hope to begin as early as the next story arc). That was my biggest complaint with my previous attempt at a color arc (color was discontinued at the time due to time constraints). The other thing isn’t quite as noticeable, but I did buy some blue pencils and bristol board. It’s been a while since I hand-inked comics and I am a bit rusty, so a bit of patience please. Also realizing that I need to use a lighter pen weight… Anyway, this has a couple advantages. I enjoy drawing by hand MUCH more than on the computer (even if computer errors are easier to fix), and I’m faster at it. The faster I can make comics = the more likely I will eventually start coloring again. You’ll remember that I used to hand-ink before, but I used regular pencil and editing out smudges was a PAIN. So yeah, there’s your behind-the-scenes look at Spoofy Randomness!
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February 17, 2013