Mayberry Melonpool is the television-addicted, somewhat clumsy, not-all-that-intelligent Captain of the "Steel Duck." Oh yeah, and he's obsessed with getting a date. In short, he doesn't have a lot going for him.
No-da is Yoda's black sheep brother. He's a master of the Grey side of the Force -- a skill he uses to cheat at gambling, pick up women and light his cheap cigars with a lightsaber.
Ralph Zinobop is the inventor of the "Steel Duck." He is eager to enter the next phase of his plan: to make money off his inventions to regain his rightful place as ruler of the Planet Zinobop — a planet that he was exiled from by his paranoid father several years ago. His other hobbies include wild get-get-rich schemes and drinking copious amounts of coffee. He also has a terrible temper.
Ralphie Zinobop is an "evil" clone of Ralph Zinobop. Since Ralph was already evil, Ralphie popped out warm, caring and generally the nicest guy you’ll ever meet — essentially, he’s everything that the original Ralph is not. In addition to his personality, Ralphie is left-handed (Ralph is a “righty”), his DNA winds the opposite direction and his fingerprints are reversed.
Roberta Smeffinfeffer is level-headed, if not a little bit insecure. She has the tendency to follow her heart a little too much. Case in point: she's also Ralph (and Ralphie's) ex-wife. She has a background in space biology and studies medicine for awhile. She currently serves as doctor aboard the "Steel Duck."
Sam T. Dogg is completely out of his element. He’s super intelligent, a highly-skilled pilot and has the most common sense of anyone aboard the "Steel Duck." Also, no one takes him seriously because he’s a dog.
Sammy the Hammy is a genetic experiment gone horribly awry. Sammy is part of the ship’s equipment (he’s the engine) as well as a member of the crew. For this reason, Ralph never bothered giving him a name and he remained known as “Hamster 42” for much of his life.
A giant snail gangster has a price on both Mayberry (who he thinks is named "Mulberry Melonhead") and Ralph. His base of operations is on Mollusca 7, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. No relation to Jabba the Hutt.
Yeah, I’ve been studying a lot of the techniques that Bill Watterson used when he started doing the half-page Sunday strips. Sometimes I rip off the actual layouts, but this one was one of mine based heavily on “Calvin and Hobbes.”
Wow what a clever twist and an interesting way to show how different this Mayberry is from the old one. This one was a bit clever than the old one.
Well done Troop, well done ! 🙂
Mayberry is channeling Troop… better stay away from the 4th wall people! It’s getting thinner! 😀
Heh heh, making prop replicas. 🙂
I hope they managed to claim the reward from the Slime Lord, too.
Also, I love the trick you did with boxing the panels in the bottom-left so that people would instinctively change the read-order.
Yeah, I’ve been studying a lot of the techniques that Bill Watterson used when he started doing the half-page Sunday strips. Sometimes I rip off the actual layouts, but this one was one of mine based heavily on “Calvin and Hobbes.”