Socialfist in the Making: The Magic World of Shifting Gears

Chapter one of Socialfist ends next week and the story will change over from the artsy-cinematic first chapter to something somewhat different. More characters, actual talking, character interactions, bears, lasers, etc. The basic second chapter package.
I am honestly astounded I got this far though considering that every other version of Socialfist (or the predecessor) had ended by this point. Magical! I had my doubts about making it through this but everything is there this time. By everything though I mean money and an update schedule.
Hopefully the five readers I have will stay because it gets more interesting from this point on as well. I have a basic storyline from beginning to end (of the series) edged out and I like the way it works. Chapter three will get a redraft soon so I get to look forward to that, I have a bonus comic to pen and everything is coming up roses. Obv.
Of course it all depends on keeping my job, getting a better job, making a fanbase and then possibly making money (hahahaha awwwww). Plans are in the works for everything so I look forward to the future I will soon be living in. I am glad to have you all along for the ride.

Socialfist In The Making: Marker Hands

Hey look, old school Zendorsky pic!
I somewhat miss the old comic just because I was more able to do that, just have random scenes of chaos. Not that every chapter of Socialfist will be moody and deal with promotions and evolutions. It will have black humor, rape and I'll probably kill Sue Dibny (that is a thing right?). Also the Comedian will be your dad (is this also a thing?). I am a classy write.
Why pick markers for hands though? From what I remember I have no idea. That was 4 years ago back when I was high on life. It was a better time. I plagued the internet by being a no talent hack. People barely put up with me and I played Magic the Gathering. Magical times.
I do remember one thing though. Parody superheroes, like the entire team was going to be set up like knock off Xmen and Justice League types. It will be less prevalent/noticeable at least on the Russian side since a majority of members were cut including Pankrashka, the dyslexic anorexic person with "acid barf from the buttocks." Let us toast the shitty hero that will never be. Also let us toast Robo Stalin who is also cut.
Zendorsky in the orignal notes (that I brought over form my now stolen craptop) was noted as a guy who "places censorship bars." I think he was going to just carry them around on his back or something. That originated his horrible pun nickname Sin-sword (censored). Oh yeah, I am amazing, I get all of the points for that name and then I redeem them so that Pankrashka doesn't seem like a horrible idea (I will need a Pulitzer to break even, Pankrashka is and always was a shitty idea.)
When it came to the actually drawn design for the actual comic, Zendorsky obtained the marker hands. I think I thought it was just a weird thing that might work. I didn't know of any other heroes at the time who had them. It was also at this time that he gained the ability to travel through the censorship marks like other characters I learned about since then. Still, I think it is a cool superpower actually. Zendorsky also had a labcoat and that was all I concepted, the fro and goatee were both created by the artist for unknown reasons.
Somewhere during the redesign I ended up confusing Zendorsky with another character, Agar or Cmd-Z man (which is the Mac undo key command) who I described as looking like Manic 8-Ball except white. That idea seemed to me to work better and I incorporated that as well as a note on an original rejected design for Rorshach - picture the mask pattern thingy all over him. Pretty much that was just ripped off because I am horrible at ideas. And life. And thinking.

Still the question on your mind might be why markers after all of the rewriting? Haven't you spent too much for a stupid idea like marker hands? My reason is simple - poetic irony-ish. He doesn't really want to be noticed and he'd rather be at home at the time. He tries to remove himself from the world by hiding when he is a away from home. He tries to hide from the government and crosses out his id badge, more or less erasing himself symbolically after he gets promoted. And then shit happens and you have marker hands man, the human doodlebear. He is unhuman, he can't really hide and literally his power is leaving marks and proof of his existence. So it goes.

Authors are dicks. Woob woob woob.

Leave your questions in English (because I keep getting chinese spam comments) and I'll be glad to answer back.

Socialfist In The Making: Spacestations

A long time discussion associate with me who I am known to talk to for topics to discuss here asked if there was a space station where the superheroes were ala the Justice League. This is in reference to the American Justice Squad who are in many ways a more complete Justice League parody than Socialfist (as the AJS have lots of members).

The short answer is no because a space station is stupid and pointless.

The long answer will involve this following scenario involving characters you have not met yet in the series and will not for several months.

The Scene: The Annual American Justice Squad Meeting, the room is filled with super heroes sitting around circular tables. In the front of the room is a long elevated platform with the leaders of the AJS, The Capitalist, Bearman, Libertyger, Democrosee and some more unnamed members.

The Capitalist: And now we open the floor to any and all questions from members. Yes, you in the back there with the giant moth wings.

Vermoth: Hi, Vermoth. Leader of the Burlington team. I was wondering, can we have a space station?

The Capitalist: Libertyger, would you like to field this question?

Libertyger walks to the podium.

Libertyger: Well, if you turn to page

Bearman rises from the seat and grabs the mic. He is drunk.

Libertyger: Ok. Go ahead.

Bearman: The reason we wont have a space ship is

Bearman passes out on the floor.

So there you have it, intoxication stopped there from being a space station.

As for my personal opinions on the topic, I have prepared the following list:

1. Expensive as hell - space station power, fuel, food, ships, pilots, general technology

2. Travel is hard - you have to go into space and you can't launch from everywhere not to mention weather conditions

3. No Benefits - "Hey guys, lets go to the space station to fight crime. In the space station that we control."

For people who need to respond quickly to emergencies, work on a budget and who do not typically fight aliens it is pointless.

(Yes this means there will be no AJS space station.)

Socialfist In The Making: The World Part 1

Setting up a world is a bit difficult depending on what you want to incorporate into it. For example, if you want a setting based on reality, ie what we live in now but with magic you need to think a bit into the scenario. Where does the magic come from? Where would it change the way things happened? Were there wizards fighting in World War 2? Were there shadow panthers fighting Nazi panzer tanks? In the case of Socialfist there was not. I do want to see this in a video game though. (send money to use this idea please)

Socialfist as it now stands is in a world that is pretty similar to ours except that at some point in the last few decades, people started to get super powers more regularly, I mean Jesus was pretty much Dr. Manhattan with hair. Probably some apocryphal text where he is described as blue. If you want, blame the powers on mercury in the water or Freddie Mercury in the water. Either way is fine for me, here are powers - some magic and some not. The thing is those with powers, at least where we are concerned, are restricted to use them. Errrr, restricted is a wrong word. Naive when using them. These people with powers did their best to go on their own ways and to just stop crime, in the local sense. This means that the world influence is pretty small. Maybe less people died in building bombings. Maybe the bombings didn't happen at all.

The divergence point though that will be relevant is the fact that there are two groups that to my knowledge have no basis in reality but a major effect in the world: The American Justice Society and the group known as Socialfist.

The AJS is your generic analogue of the all American hero teams, Justice League, Avengers or DANGERDOOM. The AJS get their funding from the rich members of the AJS (the Batmangs and the Green Arrows and the Tony Starks. In the comic I call the amalgamation Green Bat and Man). Also the government helps and as such the AJS has a large number of bases around the country. Every other country is screwed for all that you know - I'll probably cover it in a side story. These AJS bases are around large cities and there are 300 of them or so (at time of last counting). That is something like 6 bases per state, more bases for the larger populated, less for the less populated states with varying numbers of members in each bases. For example, the guy stuck in Alaska, AnchorRage, has the entire state all to himself meanwhile Cold Hickory and William Henry Horrorson both run teams of a dozen heroes who are based around Hartford CT. While AnchorRage admittedly has a sucky job, he has about a dozen super interns so he mostly just sits back and collects the government checks while watching tv. You want the American dream (according to some political parties), you are looking at it!

Socialfist on the other hand is a anarchist group (in so far as they want to destroy the current government). The currently are a collective of about 70+ people with varying backgrounds who meet in a community center for planning in a small Russian town - read: suburb. A decent amount are former KGB analogues doing science and 'ssasinations. Despite the setback in so far as numbers, Socialfist has been able to run several successful projects in the past such as the creation of Yuri, the creation of several of Tesla's dream weapons (when do Russians not build lightning turrets?) and the formation of a hidden chamber in the basement of the aforementioned community center that spans about a square mile underground.

What is the point of Socialfist though? To win the hearts and minds of the people living in Russia and the world by... being good people? Its all PR bullcrap nowadays. They want to bring Communism back is the short answer. Heck, add in lasers and you have the Michael Bay political platform - "Win Love With Lasers and Shit!"

Meanwhile the AJS keeps fighting for justice even if nobody is sure what that means.

Socialfist In The Making: Origin Harder

Because I need something to write about - I decided to take questions.

"Why make a Russian Super Friends?"

Short Answer: I am unoriginal.

Long Answer: I am a fan of team based superheroes. Having different characters running around with personalities clashing when well balanced has always been enough to get me to watch a show, it protects from characters getting stale. That is probably what caused me to make the Russian Super Friends. In fact I distinctly (not really) remember the conversation going like this:

Me: We need a comic idea.

Adam: Superheroes.

Me: Crappy superheroes.

Adam: Hmmmm.

Me: Communist crappy superheroes. Like the Superfriends or Xmen but crappy.

(Note: Conversation may have not happened like that at all, I did say crappy a lot then though.)

As a kid I really loved the Xmen, I had a Sega Genesis game and I loved the series that were on and I still do. Heck, I rewatched all of Xmen Evolution this month and I currently have the 90's series on my Netflix list. The variety of powers and personalities always seemed cool and more realistic (or at least more so than the Justice League). The characters were flawed, real and human...er mutant. When the movies came out, they only rekindled my love (though re-watching them all as I did Friday, I must confess that I can't stand the third one anymore.) Of course, I never owned any comics of them or any other comics for that matter till I was 17 so that limits my knowledge to the shows, a DC Encyclopedia a friend had and Wikipedia which is probably for the better.

"What time period does Socialfist take place in?"

Socialfist takes place in an alternate 00's, somewhere around 2001 or so though the beginning scene takes place in what is about 15 years earlier.

"Are heroes known or are they kept as national secrets?"

Socialfist will focus on two opposing groups - Socialfist who are the Russian insurgent superheroes who are meant to inspire a return to communism and The American Justice Squad who represent the Americans. Socialfist is not an official government group or even one that needs protection since most of the members don't officially exist so to speak. The American Justice Squad on the other hand are to put it lightly - above the law. Due to political powers held by members of the squad, laws have been passed to protect their identities so that not even members of the American Justice Squad know who each other are. At least in theory.

Socialfist In The Making: Yuri Part 2

Fresh off the color additions!

The current description of Yuri in my Encyclopedia has:

Yuri - Genetically made superman. Blindly follows orders and has several problems when people question what he knows to be true. He really only follows the party because he grew up following them and does not truly understand communism, the economy or leadership. Enjoys wearing military-esqe outfit and the fact that he is trusted with leadership. Tends to abuse leadership abilities. He is currently 30/16 (mentally). He is able to levitate up to 800 lbs (including himself), shoot lasers from his eyes, is super strong (800 lbs) and some other stuff probably. Costume is too big for him.

The idea is rough with enough room where I can insert background ideas and nothing really pins me down. It also helps to establish personality and characteristics. I personally love the sheriff badge on him. The look of mixed confusion and ire with the soldier-esqe pose also makes it work. The outfit follows the military ideal though there is the problem that he is not a military member. He literally works for people who have no authority and he has little authority himself.

Also the Entry is pretty mixed up and random. When I work on the official Wiki for the comic in a few months I can easily use this fact sheet.

Artist is Remus B.

Socialfist In The Making: Yuri Part 1

Yuri was the simpler character to design, at least at the beginning. At that time the team was all somewhat based off of famous superheroes in the Justice League (which still had a show at the time). Yuri was the Russian Superman. Literally when originally discussing designs with Adam, the first artist, the description was "Superman with a Russian hat." I suggested a beard and a pipe. The pipe would talk to Yuri in times of trouble. Adam suggested furry boots and big shiny teeth. In short: we had no idea how to design the character (or any character for that matter). I kept the design description for the short term artists (i.e. the people who never really did anything). Finally when it came to Iori, I had a plan.I sent Iori the following description:

"Yuri/Kaptain Kremlin - The leader of the group created in a government experiment. Tons of powers. He's essentially the generic superhero built like Superman, red, yellow and black tights with the hammer and sickle. Large beard."

My amount of character design progress and thought was amazing! All that thought about personality. The way I went into the background. You could tell I really thought about the character. Like I could tell his backstory in a second at the drop of a hat and... yeah. Still no idea what I was doing. Iori did a very good job creating the following design . I liked the design at the time, partially because I did not have to give thought to it. (Tangential thought: I would not mind a coffee mug with a picture on him. Thanks Photobucket!) The design was done and I started putting him in wacky situations and . . . actually I didn't. The first version of Socialfist spent a good portion of the time leading up to Robo Stalin before switching to a battle without him (and then forgetting about him). That was one of the reasons I restarted.

I ended up actually writing a bit more about the character the second time around. I never sent the description to Iori though and it was probably good since it added very little. The second description was :

Kaptain Kremlin - Russian super hero created by Sergei Notskalm. Not much else is known.

Known Powers: Flying, Super Strength, Laser Vision, Indestructability.

Real Name: Yuri 23

The second version started with Yuri being the stereotypical psychologist while yet being an idiot. The design didn't fit the idea. Besides the hat, beard and the color scheme Yuri could have been used for any basic superhero. To be honest I was pretty unsure of what to do. I did receive an additional headshot of Yuri for the site though.

When it finally came around to redesigning characters for the current version of the comic, I had a plan. I was going to figure out characters beforehand. I did this actually and the new Yuri design is pretty awesome though I am currently waiting for a color version. When that comes, I will post it separately with the colored photo and the revisions there.

Socialfist In The Making: The History

Way way back three years ago the world of the Internet was very different at least for me. For one, I read some horrible webcomics that I don't care to name. Fanboys also updated regularly. Kate Beaton was not getting discussed in newpapers. I didn't have the blog. I also was pretty naive about the Internet and the cultures that existed inside of it. I still am pretty naive to be honest but I understand enough to function inside of it.

I had recently moved towns across Ohio and was studying graphic design. I made friends with another student and we started making comics for a website called Sketchbattle. After two comics we stopped because I wrote really long scripts and they were not all that funny. When VG Cats had its holiday comic contest, we went and made a comic more complicated than it needed to be - we actually drew everything out when all we needed to do use clip art. We didn't place to our knowledge since Mr. Rasoomair never discussed winners besides the first place which was disappointing.

The contest rekindled and refocused the ideas we had. We'd not go ahead and simply write comics insulting people. We'd not make a video game strip. We would make a comic unlike anything we were aware of. A comic to take the webcomic world by storm.

The plan was to create a sort of parody X-men team. We decided to make the team Russian and to give all of the heroes horrible superpowers or ones that seemed stupid. We called the team Super Feudal Communist Russia Team Squad Now!. To be honest, the title was "somewhat" similiar to another cartoon show we were unaware of at the time called Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!. In our defense though, the comic was on ABC Family. We liked the title and I came up with a list of Russian names with superpowers to go with them. The list included the following now-abandoned characters:

Robot-Stalin - Stalin's head on a robot body!

Aria - carries a cornucopia that summons snack food!

Konstiantinova - attacks with onomatopoeias turned into weapons!

Spera - able to smash beer cans!

Zach - able to turn 7up to club soda!

and

Pankrashka - able to barf acid from his butt! (That was actually what I wrote down.)

Needless to say many of the characters lack class and tact. It was going to be a series where the heroes would have a theme of the week. They would make jokes about Mongolia. The enemies would be characters like The Wiki, Super Hemophiliac and and Carbok the Destroyer. Adam drew an image of Robot Stalin and then stopped drawing the comic (http://majorca.deviantart.com/art/Robo-Stalin-53995984).

Since I had done the writing and concepts, I decided to continue with it and I went through a string of artists who did very little work as well. One quit after drawing two facial sketches and a few never kept up.

Eventually I asked a friend and trusted critic if he wanted to draw it and he blatantly told me he did not. He thought the idea was juvenile and it needed work. I was stunned and went to reconcept ideas. I went back and cut out heroes. I decided to plan out ideas. I decided to not write down my ideas at all. It was still a bit of progress.

At this time I finally reached college and posted offering money for illustration and I began the first revision of the comic. The artist, Iori Pic (http://iori-pic.deviantart.com/) was ready to do work so I sent my character ideas and he did the character concepts. I was honestly not sure what I was doing. I didn't want to complain about his work because I figured he knew more about comics than I did. He probably didn't but I never complained. Even when he purposefully put in a character design as a joke. I literally had to be coaxed by him to complain. He started drawing the comics though and I finally had content. Then after 11 pages, I stopped.

I have a lot of confidence in my art. I liked what I wrote when I originally write it. The problem here was the fact that I didn't know if it was good. I eventually linked my dad who I trust. We have similar senses of humor. He had no idea what was going on in the comic. I went back through and all of the "really good ideas" I had were just being strung together. I sent Iori an email to stop production - I had a rewrite to do. This time I planned out chapters and arcs. I looked into symbolism. I tried to be more professional. After 11 pages (done over several months) he was forced to quit due to work obligations.

I decided to revamp more. New character designs. New personalities. I was going for an epic restart. The work was hard and finding an artist was tedious. I finally have one though to consort with. I have a co-writer who will disagree with me. I also have a title now.

Socialfist is going to be amazing because of my failures, because I have matured and because it is a strong idea.

Over the next few weeks I will introduce characters, character designs at various stages and some of the ideas all while getting stories done and progressing more and more in the comic design.

Hopefully the next blog updates will be more frequent, I ended up watching all of Xmen Evolution on Hulu, all 52 episodes in about 24 hours. I think I have "earned" a rest.