Issue 3 - Ninja Power! - Page 14 - Sit Down and Roll Up

[Adam Dravian]

I just want to point out that Morley’s hair was not inspired by Johnny’s Depp’s portrayal of Sweeney Todd. It’s actually inspired by a certain gothic/punk singer from the ‘80s. We didn’t even realize how much it resembled Sweeney Todd’s hair until someone pointed it out to us, since neither of us have seen the movie.

[Rae]

I like this DM. 

[Rijst]

I like this DM. 

He's a bit heightist though.. :p

[Adam Dravian]

I like this DM. 

He's a bit heightist though.. :p

It might not be the height he takes issue with. Could be the beards. After all, he's got a pint-sized player (Chomer) who's playing a halfling.

[Matty2310]

G'day everyone from Australia! (I and no one I know never actually say that, I'm just emphasising I'm Australian).
So I've been following this comic since about early-December, and I've finally decided to make an account, because the convo's here always look like a blast. Just want to say that Jessica, your art style is awesome, and the very layout of this website is awesome too.

Anyway, I've decided that whenever you post a new page, I'll comment but also try guess whatever new 80s references there might be. Regarding this page, Frost and Morley are obviously Lost Boys, Chomer's Chucky, and since you mentioned punk/gothic references, Rio is based off Echo and The Bunnymen and Shade probably off Siouxie and the Banshee's, maybe. Should be fun being here!   

[Adam Dravian]

G'day everyone from Australia! (I and no one I know never actually say that, I'm just emphasising I'm Australian).
So I've been following this comic since about early-December, and I've finally decided to make an account, because the convo's here always look like a blast. Just want to say that Jessica, your art style is awesome, and the very layout of this website is awesome too.

Welcome to the forum, Australian Dude! I heard a rumor that every time someone posts here, their radness levels increase, so you totally made a great choice. So how did you discover the comic back in December?

Anyway, I've decided that whenever you post a new page, I'll comment but also try guess whatever new 80s references there might be. Regarding this page, Frost and Morley are obviously Lost Boys, Chomer's Chucky, and since you mentioned punk/gothic references, Rio is based off Echo and The Bunnymen and Shade probably off Siouxie and the Banshee's, maybe. Should be fun being here!

Awesome. I totally dig your idea. Frost is inspired by a Lost Boy, but Morley actually isn't. You're right about the Chomer/Chucky connection. For Rio... you know, he does totally remind me of the singer for Echo and the Bunnymen, but I don't think that's who Jessica drew inspiration from. I think Siouxsie Sioux was an inspiration for Kitty, but not so much Shade.

I'll give you a big hint that'll help you out with this in general. Very few characters in the comic have a single '80s source of inspiration. For instance, Frost is partially inspired by a Lost Boy, as you guessed, but he's also inspired by a gothic rock singer. Morely's hair is inspired by one gothic/punk rock singer, but his face is inspired by another goth rocker.

[Matty2310]

So how did you discover the comic back in December?

It was actually unrelated, but I was playing Fallout 3  and decided to look up stuff about it online, and I came across No Mutants Allowed (Not particularly fond of that game are they?). When I browsing the forums I saw a post you made about the comic, and thought it looked interesting, and so there I was.

Awesome. I totally dig your idea. Frost is inspired by a Lost Boy, but Morley actually isn't. You're right about the Chomer/Chucky connection. For Rio... you know, he does totally remind me of the singer for Echo and the Bunnymen, but I don't think that's who Jessica drew inspiration from. I think Siouxsie Sioux was an inspiration for Kitty, but not so much Shade.

I'll give you a big hint that'll help you out with this in general. Very few characters in the comic have a single '80s source of inspiration. For instance, Frost is partially inspired by a Lost Boy, as you guessed, but he's also inspired by a gothic rock singer. Morely's hair is inspired by one gothic/punk rock singer, but his face is inspired by another goth rocker.

Well Damm, I though I was clever. But yeah, it's a good idea that it's not drawn off a single individual character so that they're not carbon copies of the source material. Regarding Morely, I'm guessing his hair is from the lead singer of The Damned and his face from Bauhaus. As for Frost, Billy Idol maybe? Regardless, she's absolutely nailed the 80s goth look.

[Adam Dravian]

It was actually unrelated, but I was playing Fallout 3  and decided to look up stuff about it online, and I came across No Mutants Allowed (Not particularly fond of that game are they?). When I browsing the forums I saw a post you made about the comic, and thought it looked interesting, and so there I was.

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that to be what brought you here. That's awesome. Have you played the original two Fallout games? I served as a lead writer and voice actor for what's probably the most popular Fallout 2 mod, the Restoration Project.

I totally understand the hate a lot of the old Fallout fans give to Fallout 3. It's a radical departure from the games they loved. I actually enjoy Fallout 3, despite being a huge fan of the original games. It doesn't hold up to them, but I just kind of view it as its own thing. It probably helps that I like playing the Elder Scrolls games.

Well Damm, I though I was clever. But yeah, it's a good idea that it's not drawn off a single individual character so that they're not carbon copies of the source material.

Right. It's good for legal reasons, and it also makes for more interesting characters. A lot of the main characters, like Alex, are like a hot dog of '80s influences (do they have hot dogs in Australia?), where they're pieced together from so many sources that you can't really single out one core influence.

Regarding Morely, I'm guessing his hair is from the lead singer of The Damned and his face from Bauhaus. As for Frost, Billy Idol maybe? Regardless, she's absolutely nailed the 80s goth look.

I agree, she totally nailed the '80s goth look. And you, Australian Dude, nailed Morley's influences. Good job. Frost, however, is not inspired by Billy Idol, though I could see where you'd get that, with the hair.

[Matty2310]

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that to be what brought you here. That's awesome. Have you played the original two Fallout games? I served as a lead writer and voice actor for what's probably the most popular Fallout 2 mod, the Restoration Project.

I totally understand the hate a lot of the old Fallout fans give to Fallout 3. It's a radical departure from the games they loved. I actually enjoy Fallout 3, despite being a huge fan of the original games. It doesn't hold up to them, but I just kind of view it as its own thing. It probably helps that I like playing the Elder Scrolls games.

Funny thing is I only started played Fallout 3 because me, my brother and a friend were in the city and we saw the then recently released Fallout 4 on the television screen in a shop window of a media and electronics store. My brother had already bought 3 some years before, so he said I should try it out. So if it hadn't been playing on at that time, I wouldn't be here.

No I haven't played the first two, but despite what I read from them, I still enjoyed the game. I guess I was really interested in how retro-future 50s aesthetic held over into the future and into the apocalypse. I myself, who plans maybe on being a sci-fi writer (I'm 20) had ideas for a post apocalyptic 80s aesthetic cyberpunk world (I dropped but still intend to have plans an 80s esque world). So what that game did with it's lore interested me.

do they have hot dogs in Australia?

Yep.

I agree, she totally nailed the '80s goth look. And you, Australian Dude, nailed Morley's influences. Good job. Frost, however, is not inspired by Billy Idol, though I could see where you'd get that, with the hair.

So Australian Dude's my nickname? That was quick.
I knew it wasn't Billy Idol, since he's not exactly a goth rocker and has already been referenced anyway. Sisters Of Mercy? With the sunglasses, leather jacket and all.

[Adam Dravian]

No I haven't played the first two, but despite what I read from them, I still enjoyed the game. I guess I was really interested in how retro-future 50s aesthetic held over into the future and into the apocalypse. I myself, who plans maybe on being a sci-fi writer (I'm 20) had ideas for a post apocalyptic 80s aesthetic cyberpunk world (I dropped but still intend to have plans an 80s esque world). So what that game did with it's lore interested me.

I can't think of '80s cyberpunk without thinking of one of my favorite franchises: Shadowrun. Are you familiar with it? More recent incarnations have moved away from the '80s aesthetic, but the first couple editions of the tabletop RPG (and the media that was based on it) are totally awesome.

I once had an idea for a setting that would mix '50s and '80s aesthetics, sort of like the movie Streets of Fire. It'd be an alternate timeline where an apocalypse happened in the '50s, but the current time of the setting would be in the '80s. Never did anything with that idea.

So Australian Dude's my nickname? That was quick.
I knew it wasn't Billy Idol, since he's not exactly a goth rocker and has already been referenced anyway. Sisters Of Mercy? With the sunglasses, leather jacket and all.

As they say in Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja: "Got it!" You're good, Australian Dude.

[Matty2310]

I've heard of shadowrun as a SNES video game, just found it's also a boardgame.

My idea was similar to your's except the apocalypse happened in 1990 and was set 100 years later in 2090
 What I very much had in mind was Bladerunner and Akira esque cities. It was too hard to think of multiple stories to set on Earth so I've decided to have stories set in multiple parts of the galaxy, although Earth's cities are still 80s like. I wanna work an 80s aesthetic into it somehow.

OK I'm guessing Shade is somewhat based off Elriva (also, I believe I know who Shade really is and why she's nervous). Regarding how I know the others? What can I say? I'm just really intelligent. OK, I'm not gonna lie, since I'm such a wonderful person, I'm gonna be honest and say that me knowing them partially has to do with me seeing this video a few weeks back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aanGIkAzFy4.

[Jessica Safron]

G'day everyone from Australia! (I and no one I know never actually say that, I'm just emphasising I'm Australian).
So I've been following this comic since about early-December, and I've finally decided to make an account, because the convo's here always look like a blast. Just want to say that Jessica, your art style is awesome, and the very layout of this website is awesome too.

Anyway, I've decided that whenever you post a new page, I'll comment but also try guess whatever new 80s references there might be.

Hey, thanks a lot! And welcome to the forum.

OK I'm guessing Shade is somewhat based off Elriva (also, I believe I know who Shade really is and why she's nervous).

Elvira's in there, along with a couple others. I think I took a little inspiration for her eyeshadow from a picture of Siouxie Sioux.

You've been great at guessing so far. Even the guesses that didn't quite hit the mark have at least been in the right ballpark. And I thiiink you're the first person to point out Shade being nervous and whatnot. I can say that you're definitely on to something.

Rio bears a bit of an odd reference that I semi-inadvertently imposed on him. I don't think we've told all those details yet, so here they are:

Frost used to be the name of the guy currently named Rio, and Suther was the name of the white-haired guy. I was working on the page prior to this one, and I felt like Suther was waaay too much of a blatant Lost Boys reference. Adam gave them those names in the first place, and I still feel like Frost was a better name for the lipstick guy than it is for the other guy, because it sounds so elfy and froofy. But in addition to my grievance with the name "Suther," Adam kept wanting to call him "Frost" instead for some reason, maybe due to the white hair (come on, Adam, Frost was the one with snowy white dots on his dumb pajama shirt), so we made that change.

That left lipstick guy nameless. We brainstormed. One of my suggestions was to give him Morley's name because he ended up looking kind of like Morrissey, which sounds like Morley (Morrissey's one of Adam's favorite musicians; I'm not a big fan, but it seemed like a fitting enough connection). But Adam had named that character Morley for other reasons. Trying to think of a new froofy sounding name, I suddenly I asked Adam, "Hey, what was the name of the purple-haired guy in Jem?" It was Rio. And then it dawned on us that our character even looks kind of similar to Patrick Nagel's cover illustration for Duran Duran's album Rio. Duran Duran is a pretty far cry from goth (Jem too, for that matter), but I was so happy about that coincidence. And that's the story of Rio's name.

[Matty2310]

Lets just say that I was going through the whole of what's here so far looking for references and a couple pages back I noticed something. It's quite clever I should say.

[Adam Dravian]

I've heard of shadowrun as a SNES video game, just found it's also a boardgame.

The SNES game was my introduction to the Shadowrun franchise. I totally loved that game, and I remember going to a comic book store and being blown away when I saw that there were Shadowrun novels. Then I learned the franchise started as a tabletop RPG, which I actually didn't even know was a thing. I had heard of Dungeons and Dragons, of course, but I knew D&D as the Saturday morning cartoon and comics and novels, and only had a vague notion that it was some kind of board game or something. I was oblivious to what D&D was truly like.

Of course, I instantly went and purchased a bunch of the Shadowrun RPG rulebooks, and read them over with the intent of playing with my friends, but we never actually got around to playing because the rules were so intimidating. Still enjoyed reading the rulebooks though, because I was so in love with the setting.

Now that I've got years of running D&D games under my belt, I'd love to give Shadowrun a try.

My idea was similar to your's except the apocalypse happened in 1990 and was set 100 years later in 2090
 What I very much had in mind was Bladerunner and Akira esque cities. It was too hard to think of multiple stories to set on Earth so I've decided to have stories set in multiple parts of the galaxy, although Earth's cities are still 80s like. I wanna work an 80s aesthetic into it somehow.

Sounds awesome. Writing sci-fi is intimidating to me. I've recently been doing a lot of sci-fi world-building for the first time, as I develop Satan Ninja's space setting. I intend to write some stories that detail some of Ket and Darwick's adventures, so I wanted to figure out the key factions in space. Once I figured that out, things began falling into place and story ideas started coming to me.

Frost used to be the name of the guy currently named Rio, and Suther was the name of the white-haired guy. I was working on the page prior to this one, and I felt like Suther was waaay too much of a blatant Lost Boys reference. Adam gave them those names in the first place, and I still feel like Frost was a better name for the lipstick guy than it is for the other guy, because it sounds so elfy and froofy. But in addition to my grievance with the name "Suther," Adam kept wanting to call him "Frost" instead for some reason, maybe due to the white hair (come on, Adam, Frost was the one with snowy white dots on his dumb pajama shirt), so we made that change.

The white-haired shirtless dude in leather totally looks like a Frost to me. Way more than dotted-shirt lipstick dude.

[Rijst]

Oh man, and here I was being proud I recognised Stallone's face in Viper. I'm clearly under-80s'd or something because I'm missing all of these references!