In September 2022, I started writing a new comic about Dundee. I ended up producing an entire script and the majority of thumbnails for a 200 page comic. Unfortunately, I'll probably never make it. 200 pages is a lot; I have a job and other projects I'm working on. I made a fair amount of concept art for it though, so I thought I might share some of it.
The story takes place when Irwin was young, shortly before Darren walked out of his life. It is both a prequel and sequel to Jackaroo Dundee and was going to be called Paper House. I'm going to leave the rest of the story a mystery in the hopes that I'll eventually do something with this script.
^This is Darren! Everything was written and drawn before we knew what Darren looked like, and I'd always imagined Irwin was the spitting image of his dad. It was thematically important to the story for them to look alike, so I'd planned to keep it like this even after we met Darren.
The dialogue is blurred in the first two panels because Irwin is deaf in his left ear and couldn't hear Darren until he was behind him. At the start of the story, Irwin uses a hearing aid, but it's later broken.
Windows and door frames are significant! There's nothing behind them. Ever.
I designed an outfit for each character for every scene they were in, paying close attention to fashion trends of the era and items of clothing that they might wear frequently with different outfits.
Sheila's clothes in particular were fun to design. She starts getting more adventurous with her style after Darren walks out.
I realised very quickly that the tone of the story demanded a more realistic style, so it was fun to adapt my pre-existing design for Irwin to this.
The core idea behind Paper House was a young Irwin who hates his dad, but feels powerless to stop himself from becoming just like him. I put a lot of work into this comic and would love for it to see the light of day at some point, even if it ends up in a different form.
The Norman Bones saga on nopixel has got to be my fav of all the stories told on the server. Both Irwin and Norman are such fascinating characters.
Whippy and Ziggy are big inspo for character development. I can only hope that some day i can be as good of a character developer as they are.
This stuff is better than any tv shows out there rn, im telling ya.
pros: prone to sillyness, lots of power and influence, cares deeply for his friends and family, bisexual and inclusive of gender identities and sexualities, lover of pink, good leader, very persuasive, extremely talented getaway driver, passionate and determined, hates cops
cons: hypocrite, criminal biker gang leader, often dirty and gross, uses very vulgar language, three million dollars in debt, has a deal with the devil. his list of crimes (warning: its a lot) -> here