The Low Roads, Chapter 2 (comic: M [Ms]/F[Fs] - belly; various; foot).

[Low_Roads]

25 more pages in the continuing story of Mercy Mew, just in time for Halloween festivities! Here's a link to Chapter 1, for those who missed it (or in case anyone wishes a refresher):

Link to Chapter 1: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=22104
Link to Chapter 3: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=25500
Links to all chapters: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=39114

Pages 1-5:

 

[Low_Roads]

Pages 6-10:

 

[Low_Roads]

Pages 11-15:

 

[Low_Roads]

Pages 16-20:

 

[Low_Roads]

Final pages, 21-25:

 

[Kalamos]

Ahhh!
Got it and read it!

...

There is something eerily familiar about your comics, man.
I'd swear I've seen them somewhere else.

The more you draw, the stronger the feeling gets.

...

It's' over... and I'd wish for more.
Plot thickens and I can't wait for the next chapters.

🙂

 

[cosquillero1]

Nice artwork, i enjoyed it !!. Thanks you for sharing Littlebighead !! 😉 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂.

 

[Jaynin]

That's quite interesting, I assure you! A nice plot indeed, which I'm always biased towards. But you draw in such an interesting fashion, everything has a sort of quality about it where it seems like an old style, which I find interesting. (Also infrequent for the eyes of the characters not to be the size of hardboiled eggs. :laughing: )

Anyway, keep up the great work! I can't wait for part three!

 

[Kalamos]

This reminds me the main reason why I like western artists of old better.
The eyes.

...

 

[Low_Roads]

Thank you, Kal! No wonder these stories seem familar... each time we have a discussion, some aspect of it ends up in the plot! First necro-tickling, now remote tickling (elements which grace your own fine holiday offering). As I'll make clear later, a bit of ecto-tickling has sneaked in as well. You're most generous with your perspective and your knowledge, and I'm quick to profit from it!

Cosquillero, thank you for your kind words, both for this chapter and for Chapter 1! I'm delighted to share with folks who are so appreciative!

Jaynin, your good opinion means a great deal to me, coming as it does from someone so well versed in solid storytelling technique! And you're quite right about my drawing style: my influences came well before anime, rooted in '30s theatrical cartooning (examples were quite easy to see when I was growing up in the early '60s) and "funny animal" comix.

Hopefully I can finish chapter 3 before the end of the year. I hate taking so long, but the process I use is a bit makeshift and rather laborious. It does give me time to thoroughly work out plot points, though.

 

[Darth Godflesh]

Another time
Another excellent story.
I agree on Kalamos and Jaynin's comments, it sure takes a while to develop a solid story telling, accompanied by cool "oldies - looking" artwork.
May the 3rd part arrive soon!
Thanks

 

[Low_Roads]

Thanks once again, Darth Godflesh! It's deeply gratifying to receive this sort of appreciation! And I'm entirely mindful of your past recommendation: while Mercy will be present and the story will still be told from her perspective, she won't be the primary focus of chapter 3. I'm fully committed to mixing things up and providing plenty of variety. I'd actually planned this incident as the capper to chapter 2, but the story became a bit involved and I had to break it in half. All to the good: I can now take my time and create a better treatment that doesn't feel rushed or compromised.

 

[Kalamos]

I mean the style: the is something distinctively "retro", that reminds me the black and white toons I used to watch as a child.

...

 

[cyclypse]

Rock on littlebighead! Another 25 to add to the "Low Roads" folder! ^^

Great story man! Very appropriate for the season I would say, and perfectly portrayed! Keep it up! Can't wait for the third chapter!

 

[Low_Roads]

You're quite right, Kal! You and I may have watched the same cartoons as kids (certainly the same type of cartoon)... characters not quite as streamlined as today, a bit more rolly-polly and earthbound, with more of a rural sensibitiy. Such entertainments were a staple of early TV when I was growing up, though the "rural" aspect came to me naturally (farmboy then, farmboy now).

Thanks so much, Anime! It's true, this story most certainly boasts Halloween sensibilities! I was most eager to make the October 31st deadline (it was a near thing, too). Halloween is my personal favorite holiday: few pressures; a certain wild, unrestrained party atmospbere; and the macabre quality I favor! I'm most glad I was able to participate!

 

[Ignatz]

I've been looking forward to this! Great job, reminiscent of the old underground comics of the sixties, but more polished.

 

[Low_Roads]

That's a wonderful compliment, ignatz! Heady company, the likes of Robert Crumb and S. Clay Wilson (themselves quite "retro" inspired)! Thank you!

 

[Kalamos]

-> LBH

Ah, found it!

-> http://www.cartoonresearch.com/tomjerry/

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
Tom and Jerry. The black and white version. Before the cat and mouse.

...

Well, I've always been a city dweller, and sometimes a mountain strider, but I used to watch toons avidly as a child.

And for some reason, these were etched in my memory.

...

 

[Low_Roads]

Van Beuren Studios! Right! I just recently got myself a two disc DVD collection of Van Beuren cartoons from Image Video! Oh yes, I do remember seeing a good number of these featurettes! They're darned hard to forget... as the article states, the animators were crazy for anthropomorphizing common objects like stools and clocks. The reality-bending could become mighty surreal. A lot of the time it seemed as though the participants were tripping!`The Fleisher stuff was easier to see, but Van Beuren's cartoons had a unique character all their own!

 

[Yet_One_More_Idiot]

Brilliant job! 😀

One question? Why was Mercy meant to look into Little Big Head's eyes for exactly 30 seconds, and what does her failure to do so mean (more tickles? He asks hopefully... 😀)

 

[Kalamos]

-> LBH

And the dancing skeletons?
Weren't they funny?

😀

 

[Low_Roads]

Thanks Koopcooper! Wish I could be more forthcoming about the 30 seconds, but important plot developments hinge on it and I want to reveal them gradually. Let me say simply that Mercy's inablity to limit herself to 30 seconds will ultimately prove less important than her ability return to herself after 30 minutes. I trust I have made myself perfectly obscure! 😉 Oh, and regardless, there will be plenty more tickling in Mercy's future, have no fear!

I wish I could remember more about the dancing skeletons, Kal. Which cartoon do they appear in (I definitely remember something of the sort somewhere)? I made an attempt to locate my DVD collection to see if I could find any such, but it's being illusive (my display system stinks, frankly. I can never find anything when I want it). I have an easier time recalling Disney's dancing skeletons ("Skeleton Dance", I think), mostly because the Disney Studio is still around and they're such shameless self-promoters. But it seems to me that a friend and I made note of the comparison when we orignally viewed the DVD, so I must have the darned thing!

 

[Kalamos]

Cartoon Research's review mentioned dancing skeletons in the Tom and Jerry/Dick and Larry toons.

I recall watching them: skeletons were fairly common in T n J toons, and they were drawn in a distinctive way, with fused ribcages, oversized shoes and gloves, and sometimes stylised skulls.

They often play instruments as well - being themselves the instruments, improvising tunes on their own bones and ribs.

And I remember a black trumpet-player [coloured, african-american, you choose the word... 🙂 ] who had a black skeleton as well, and parodied/imitated Louis Armstrong.

...

Woah... I do have strikingly vivid memories of my childhood.

...

Ah, and somehow Spunky and Tadpole came to my mind too.

-> http://www.toontracker.com/spunky/spunktad.htm

 

[Low_Roads]

"Spunky and Tadpole"! We're really strolling down Memory Lane now! I really used to enjoy the serialized cartoon series... "Crusader Rabbit", "Colonel Bleep", "Clutch Cargo", etc. I can just barely remember "Spunky and Tadpole", perhaps because (unlike the others) it's never seen a home format revival. I do remember that it had a rather exotic flavor, though... lots of stuff about smugglers and foreign ports.

This "Toon Tracker" site looks pretty good... I'm going to have to save it to my Favorite Places and explore a bit!

 

[Kalamos]

Yep, it really comes handy for me too, to know the original name those toons went by, but also to track down a couple of tk scenes they mentioned over the mainstream list.

I have a couple of toons in mind, and maybe I should be able to track them down.
And I now know why some others are unlikely to pop up.