I know, I know, it's been a while.
By way of explanation, I haven't posted anything new in The Adventures of Lucky Vega for the past several weeks because I've been sidetracked by other work and other projects--one of which is this year's mind-boggling Quantum Christmas Card. And when you see that, I hope you'll think our little hiatus was well-justified. Also, in the set of new strips for Lucky that I had completed there were a few panels that I wanted to take back for re-drawing because, frankly, I wasn't satisfied with them and I didn't want them going out the way I had them. However, work on the strip is back in progress, so it's time to pick up where we left off.
Next week the Holiday season begins in earnest and I expect to be with you through it with not only The Adventures of Lucky Vega but some other things I hope you'll enjoy seeing almost as much as I enjoyed doing them--including that Christmas Card! So keep on coming back, hear?
So how does Lucky and Roger's test of the Vega Shield in the Immersion Room finally end up? The arrival of Lucky's father decides the outcome of their contest. But will Dr. Vega be impressed with any of it? He doesn't exactly seem happy to see what's going on. Time will tell what's going on with Poppa!
As Lucky and Roger continue their very creative test of the Vega Shield, they haven't yet noticed that they have an audience. Dr. Esteban Vega, Lucky's Dad, doesn't seem very impressed with what his son is up to. Is he just annoyed at the way Lucky is using the equipment or could something else be going on? Future strips will tell!
And now, the start of another reveal and the first little plot twist for the first story in The Adventures of Lucky Vega.
Don't let me hear you say you can't get ideas when ideas are all around you all the time. Sometimes they're even sitting right in your hand. Case in point: Since the lead characters in The Adventures of Lucky Vega don't have super-powers (this is pre-Environauts, remember), I wanted them to have some clever weaponry. One idea that I came up with was the Vega Shield, the reveal of which we saw last week. But energy shields are a very familiar idea; I wanted Lucky and his posse to have something that was distinctly theirs. It then occurred to me that a very clever idea was right at hand--right there in the very materials that I work with as an artist!
Some of you fellow artistic types are probably familiar with the way some inking and coloring pens are made these days. Some of them are actually two pens in one, with a different kind of point at each end. Typically, one end will be a marker-type point and the other will be a brush-like point. In a flash of inspiration I imagined a weapon that would be kind of like one of those pen combinations. At one end it would be a light sabre, typical of the weapons used as the Jedis and Siths in Star Wars. But at the other it would be a particle beam weapon, comparable to Star Trek's phasers and any of the myriad other such beam weapons in popular fiction. This was the birth of the Vega Duoblade! Problem solved, unique weapon created! See, you just have to look in the right place for the right idea.
As Lucky and Roger's workout in the Immersion Room continues, we start to discover the extent of the inventiveness of our young hero and his father as Lucky reveals a new technology and challenges Roger to help him test its effectiveness. What is the true purpose of the Vega Shield? Is it merely a defensive weapon, or is the vision of the brilliant Dr. Esteban Vega much broader in scope? Future strips will tell the tale about the Vega Shield and many other things!
As Lucky and Roger have at it in the Immersion Room, they are surrounded with holographic tableaux of outer space scenes that were suggested by a lot of the things I watch on TV. I'm a science-documentary buff, and I spend a lot of time on channels like Discover, Science, and History, watching programs on subjects including astronomy, astrophysics, and space travel. I can't get enough of shows like that, and I incorporate some things that I see on them into my storytelling. I'm always on the lookout for ideas, and science is one of my favorite places to look!
Lucky, who is capable of virtually anything scientific, is about to try out some of his new super-high-tech innovations with the help of his friend Roger. The Immersion Room is not quite a Holodeck such as you see in Star Trek. Its tableaux are not solid like the ones aboard the Enterprise. But Lucky has something planned for this room this morning, as we shall see...
And now we begin The Adventures of Lucky Vega in earnest. As we open the first story, young Lucky is about to do something both awesome and fun.
