Flashback Comparison #11

This next Flashback Comparison is supposed to take place immediately after the previous one, which had an odd instance in it of Moe with hair. This was meant to explain that.

I split the second-to-last panel into two in order to make sense of Moe's expressions. This was also the last use of my old pen. Plus, maybe this is where I started having everyone faint.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #10

This tenth Flashback Comparison details Moe's introduction with Bed Monster. I had to flip some of the panels with Moe's bed, as it seemed it switched from being against one side of the wall to the other side (or at least turning 180 degrees).

Moe's style of bed in the original strip is actually a lot closer to the bed I was sleeping in at the time. I updated it to match the way his bed looks now.

Also, I wonder how Michelle is squeezing between the wall and Moe's bed in the last panel of the original?

Yes, Moe has hair in the last panel of the original. That'll be explained in the next Flashback Comparison. I changed it to his dots flying off his head. And in the last panel, his socks are flying off his feet. I decided to get rid of that. I've really improved my bare feet since then, don't you think? They still have the same number of toes, though.

And yes, those are the same pajamas Moe still uses today.

Obviously I had a hard time getting Moe's outstretched arms to have the correct stripe pattern. Bed Monster's appearance in the last panel of the newer version is actually pretty close to what I was attempting to have him do in the original. The problem with the original is that I tried to put the tentacles grasping his throat in front of Moe's hand. It didn't turn out so well. Michelle's shirt changed in the last strip simply because I grabbed the wrong colored pencil when I was making this strip. And now she appears to be more curious rather than angry.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #9

This Flashback Comparison takes place soon after the original scary movie story that I later adapted into the strip. However, unlike the previous one, it has not been seen on the blog before.

I wasn't exactly the best at varying the designs of my cats early on. Except for the color of their fur, they all resembled either Bob or Garfield. Also, Moe hasn't had any allergic attacks when he was near Bob recently, has he? I guess he's been taking allergy pills.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #8

This next Flashback Comparison is a single strip in the middle of a story. It introduces Michelle and Charlie (the latter's first human appearance).

Those of you who have been around for a while, or are a newer fan but have been reading the archives (wink wink), will probably remember that this strip was one of the Long-Lost strips that I revisited in 2007.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #7

This Flashback Comparison is a little long, so bear with me. It's a brand-new story, not relating to the previous one in any way.

Side note: These stories and strips are non-canon; Moe does not actually own a rocket ship. He wants one, though.

I thought it would be a smart idea to put Moe and Julia in separate beds. Also, Moe no longer looks like he swallowed a box of cereal (or...maybe just the box) in the second panel, does he? The pink sky in the fourth panel is not a reference to MagiMiss Julia making the sky pink. In this case, it's just a sunrise.

As you can see, the objects Moe is on are now much closer to actual size; and he has a spacesuit on, so he can breathe. The objects floating in the sky in the first panel are Charon (due to the size) and one of Pluto's other moons. (News Flash: Pluto's FIFTH moon, S/2012 134340 1, or "P5," was recently discovered!) And that thing behind Moe in the "original" second panel is supposed to be a passage to the exhaust, or whatever it's called on a rocket.

I decided to finally reveal here that Julia does have a learner's permit. Yes, Julia was 18 when I started, but I changed it to 14 (now 15) when she became Moe's sister.

Wait, does Moe need to be rescued every time he goes in his spaceship?

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #6

This next Flashback Comparison is quite unrelated to any of the previous ones. It is the origin of my idea for the S alien; I later decided to transfer the ability to an alien instead of a human. It was a one-time thing; no other strips I ever did mentioned this ability/curse.

Man, that's one giant sock!

I think my snake looks more like a worm here. Plus, Moe now makes Julia stiff on purpose; you can tell from his expression in the last panel of the second strip.

I thought it'd be funny of, instead of saying it all fancy, he either didn't say it and made her wait forever, or took forever to say it. It's a lot more like the current Moe to make her wait.

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #5

This fifth Flashback Comparison is unrelated to the previous two or three. It's a single this time, inside the same notebook the first Moe strip ever was written on the back of.

I was considering eventually using this in my regular strip, but then I realized I couldn't because every February 29 is in the middle of my February-March stories. I later realized, what better way to show it than in a Flashback Comparison?

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #4

This fourth Flashback Comparison starts where the third one left off, after Moe's voice changes beyond his control. Again, I apologize for any copyright violation (I honestly don't know why I did that).

If you look closely in the first panel of the original, you may be able to see that Julia's name was originally Elisha. But I changed it to something else because I realized that Elisha was already the name of a character in another comic strip I used to do. Also, I decided I was going to make the Enemy's base more detailed. Oh, I snuck Bed Monster in there too.

I put in the last panel after consideration; I thought it would make the strip much better. Plus, the "power" being lost makes much more sense now, don't you think?

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #3

This third Flashback Comparison shows the week immediately following the previous one. This first one, instead of having an opening fourth-wall-break, has something more like a teaser:

I apologize in advance if this next one violates some copyright rule...

Originally I was thinking about combining these two into one and replacing the second with one about how Moe never looks at his enemy, and so Julia shows him the picture. But then I realized that I needed to keep these more-or-less identical.

I mentioned in my first Flashback Comparison that, in the early days of the strip, Moe was an extreme prankster. After writing that, I looked through my Tricks label, and realized that Moe would still qualify as a (minor) prankster, as he is still playing practical jokes every now and then on Julia.

Plus, I normally don't make characters' shirts and pants the same color anymore, so in the first of these strips, I made Julia's pants the pinkest shade of purple I could find. And I changed Moe's last line so it would seem a bit more suspicious.

When I showed the original to my Dad, he took one look at the soap-bottle-Charlie, cracked up, and asked me what I was drinking back then. I've since decided that Charlie was a soap bottle then due to a curse put on him by Jocken Fred. Plus, I accidentally colored Moe's outfit pink in the first of the original panels, so I made a reference to that mistake by making Moe's pants (in the newer version) pink. Also, at the end of the first original panel, we also read "Yay! Clap clap clap!" But I removed that soon after writing it (yes, I didn't just erase it), probably because Julia would have suddenly gone from "Yay!" to "What the snake tulip...?"

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

Flashback Comparison #2

This second Flashback Comparison shows the six days immediately following the previous one. I only have one copy of each strip, rather than three as in the aforementioned previous one. There were two strips for each "original" page, so I duplicated this in my "new" versions. Also, instead of the "original" dates, I put in a newer style of "date," showing that these strips are Flashback Comparisons. I didn't duplicate the "original" dates because I already had strips from those dates.

In all of the "originals," I've had to edit out my last name for privacy. That's why, if you look closely, the background pixels don't exactly match up in those spots.

I decided to put Julia in the second and third panels because I thought it would help explain the scene. Also, I'm not exactly sure why the spot where Moe's hiding is "top secret." Maybe it's a birthday present. Or maybe it's just because I wanted to use the phrase "top secret" in a strip.

Plus, I think I've really improved my sick speak, don't you think?

I had a hard time scanning the third "original" page, which is why there's a page curl on the left side. Also, I decided to change Julia's lines in the first and third panels so that (for the first) it would make a bit more sense, and (for the third) so that it would seem less rude. I also decided to change the camera to make it more like today's digital cameras, not the giant Polaroid-size cameras of yesteryear (and make it the standard color, too).

More Flashback Comparisons to come! Stay tuned!

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!