Flashback Comparison #1

This year marks the ninth year since the predecessor for I.W.M.A. was conceived. To celebrate this (yes, it's not an early 1900th post celebration), I have looked through some copies of my older strips and picked some of the ones that I think were "turning points" of I.W.M.A. history. I will be posting these on the blog, and drawing all-new, upgraded versions for comparison reasons.

This first Flashback Comparison shows the first Moe strip ever created. Ever. It wasn't exactly funny, but it was the seed for this ginormous webcomic tree (okay, that may not have been the best metaphor). It was created in late 2003 on the back of a notebook. The characters have evolved quite a lot since then (both in looks and in personality), so brace yourself...

Wow.

This was way back when Julia and Moe were not brother and sister. Moe was seven early, and Julia was eighteen. Julia was Moe's friend who just happened to be living in the same building. (Maybe it was an apartment...) Moe was an extreme prankster back then, and Julia had a bit of a temper issue (some things never change...).

When I showed this to my dad yesterday, he joked "Why the long face, Julia?" My brother said Julia's head looked like a hot dog, and compared the shape of Moe's head today to this strip. Also, I have no idea why I dated the strip January 1, 2121.

Now, here's an updated version of this same strip I drew just earlier today, with the same overall plot, dialogue, and setting (or lack thereof); only the style of my strip has changed:

I put in the opening row to flesh out the strip a bit more. Originally it was going to be a message introducing the strip, but after I finished the strip, I realized it should be more funny and drawing-filled.

I'm referring to Moe and Julia as "you rookies" because this was their first strip, and Moe's rubbing his eyes because he's going to need to have his eyes wide open for the entire strip.

Also, between 2003 and 2012, I made two other versions of this same strip; one in 2004 and one in 2005. Here's the first (from 2004). I made a book of some of my earliest Moe strips, and this was the first one. Apart from the date being from the 21st century, and the size and shape of Julia's head, not much has changed:

Back in 2005, I was thinking about making copies of my strips and sending them to some syndicates for preparation in case I was still doing this when I was older and more experienced. I figured I'd do this strip again, but I realized it needed a bit more "oomph," so I updated it a bit. Also I realized that Moe's voice was more like a robot's than an alien's, so I changed it to a robot instead of an alien (I'm not sure why I changed his "home planet," though):

Now, with the newest version of this strip, this makes four different versions of this same strip over eight or nine years.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!