Well, Dreg's the main character. His home, along with his two associates, is the Bradley slums, and in it his does entertaining stuff for me to draw. He's the leader of the group, the man with the plan, though he has tenuous control over his men at best. He is a fine athlete (as his physique suggests, hehehe) and despite looking like a hippopotamus, I think he's the sexiest character I've ever designed. He has a real taste for human women, who unfortunately tend to find him repulsive.

My Relationship with Dreg

Ah, well, Dreg's been through a lot of changes throughout the ages. In the original novel (read the origins page to learn more), he was actually human, and a very badly defined character. He was also too much of a superhero for my tastes, never screwing things up or getting into any real trouble. It made him really hard to relate to, and thoroughly uninteresting. I also could never really decide what the hell he looked like.

In fact, it was as soon as I tried to do so that his current form came to me. I don't know how it did, it just did. The way you see him now is pretty much just how I imagined him, and he hasn't really evolved since. One of the easiest character designs ever.

He's also clearly the character I've worked on the most, seeing as I've had to model him in 3D (that was an epic journey in its own right) and he appears the most in the comic.

If I had one word to describe Pendy, it would be “cunning”. If I had three words, it would be “cunning little bastard”. Though “hairy”, I feel, could play a good role in his description, as in “cunning little hairy bastard”. Pendy's older than his associates, and has a very laid-back view on life, relationships, and other people's feelings. He has mastered the art of seduction, and of negotiation. Dreg uses this to his utmost in dealing with his clients, though is also at risk of it being used on him. Did I mention Pendy's a cunning little bastard?

My Relationship with Pendy

Pendy is actually a modified version of a character with the same name in my second novel. Their characters aren't exactly the same, but they play the same role in the group dynamic. He is the real superhero of the group, as in, he is untouchable. He's generally everybody's favourite character (including mine, though I have a weakness for the crazy gecko in pages 12 and 13...).

Drawing him is fun. I think the original influence for him would be the Asterix and Obelix (though I make no pretense of drawing as well as Uderzo). I particularly like painting him- the contrast in his black-grey hair really makes for a pleasing effect, in my opinion. I also like writing for him. I like cunning little hairy bastards (such as the one in page 9).

Bogger is the siege weapon of the group, there to carry heavy things and hit people on the head a lot. Not the brightest bulb, he has a tenuous grasp on human interaction, and relies on Dreg and Pendy to do all the talking. He's not to be used for the more subtle jobs, but whenever Dreg needs a bit of muscle, Bogger's his man. Dreg and Bogger also have a good friendship, and I'm currently toying with the idea that they're flatmates...

My Relationship with Bogger

Bogger, like Dreg, is another veteran, coming as he does from the first novel, though he's sobered up a little (in the novels he was generally the worst for beer). However, I think I prefer him as he was in the novel, and will put his behaviour in the comic down to a temporary case of soberness.

He's one of those characters who I thought I knew what he looked like (big, fat, dumb...) but still haven't nailed down his form. In the comic book, you can see that his proportions are constantly changing. One day I might figure him out visually...

Yeah. Well. Isabella's a bit of a walking cliche really. Constantly pissed off, (supposedly) sexy female who has a short-lived role in the comic. She is one of the baron's daughters, and has got into a lot of trouble, having generally pissed off everybody she knows, and fearing for her safety the baron (perhaps unwisely) decides to have Dreg and his crew shepherd her through the Bradley slums, where (most of) her enemies won't see her.

My Relationship with Isabella

Isabella always was a problem for me. I still feel guilty about how I treat her in the comic, and live in constant fear of being called a misogynist. Also, she has no real personality, and I have yet to write a decent female character.

It seems that female leads are particularly difficult in the genre of humourous sci-fi. I mean, as far as my two main influences for this kind of writing go, Hitch-hiker's guide to the Galaxy and Red Dwarf, women don't have the best roles. Trillian from Hitch-hiker's guide is boring, and the same is true for Kochanski in Red Dwarf. Do women not make funny sci-fi characters? Or are the kind of men who write humourous sci-fi scared little geeks who wouldn't recognise a clitoris if it attacked him in the street (no offense intended to Grant, Naylor and Adams)? Discuss.

Drawing Isabella, has been traumatic. I simply did not know how to draw women from imagination. I'd drawn a few in life drawing, but that implies a different set of skills (I rant a bit about this in the making the comic page). I just carried on all the same, and she's really not particularly well drawn. But a little later, I spent a considerable amount of time simply drawing lots of women from imagination, and observing comic strips to see how comic artists do it.This was a particularly pleasant time in my life, and yes, several of them were naked (I'm one of those geeks). I made a huge amount of progress, and some of it shows in the comic strips because I did the inking after having done this. In fact, the dreaded page 8 was made after this, and I think she looks much better in that page.

I'm also particularly proud of her arse in page 7.

I certainly didn't make things easy for myself by giving her that stupid costume. Still, I wanted to have all those bum jokes (for which I have been severely critisized...).

I also rather like the drawing of her to the right of this text...