BATDOG: An All New Webcomic - new '66-inspired strips!

[BATDOG]

Hi, everyone!

Earlier this month my wife and I made a trip out to Pittsburgh to meet Adam West, Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar. PennDOT had closed down one of the major highways for weekend construction, so we ended up being stuck in traffic for over 4 hours! What should have only been an hour and a half drive turned into an all-day road-trip chalk full of bumper-to-bumper gridlock. I have to admit I was getting a little anxious the later it got, wondering if we’d even get there in time. Much to my relief, we finally pulled up to the convention center around 5 o’clock. The Batman gang was scheduled to leave at 6, so time was short, but I was so happy we’d made it at all that I gladly paid my admission and hopped in line to meet some of my childhood heroes (and snag some autographs). I had brought along some artwork of “Batdog,” a cartoon I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, and I was going to show it to the cast and maybe get their input. At the last minute, exhausted from the car ride, and with droves of fans queued up behind me to shakes hands with Batman, I decided against it. The old gang was in great spirits though - very warm and friendly. I’d always wanted to meet them and I was glad I’d gotten a shot at it. I was really hoping I’d get a similar opportunity with Yvonne Craig, and her recent passing has made me doubly thankful I got the chance to spend a few moments with the others.
So, I didn’t get to talk “Batdog” with Batman, but after spending the rest of the night and half the next day kicking myself and regretting it, I decided to go ahead and launch a webcomic. It had been a couple years since I’d done any work at all on the cartoon, and I thought it would be a huge shame to let it all go to waste. The older I get, the more commitments I have and the greater the likelihood that it’s all going to become just a box of ideas that never see the light of day. So, why not roll some dice?

I began drawing the cartoon with my older brother when I was about 7 years old, and re-runs of the '66 TV show were, by far, the biggest inspiration for me. Countless lazy afternoons were spent sitting in front of the old floor-model TV console in our living room and drawing on top of a phone book for support, but when Batman came on the screen, he had my full attention. If I recall correctly, the show was running on the Family Channel at the time. It's been about 20 years since I first sketched out Batdog and in the time since his creation, I've developed an entire rogues gallery and have filled entire notebooks with ideas and designs (I've often wondered just how many trees had to be chopped down to make all that paper that's passed through my hands). It's a little more sophisticated than it used to be with the old college ruled loose-leaf and Crayola colored pencils, with the addition of a scanner, Photoshop, and a couple decades of experience and development, but the spirit and the fun of it all has never left me. I had always set out to make comic books out of it, but recently I fell in love with the idea of releasing Batdog like a syndicated comic strip, inspired by the style of the more recent Dick Tracy run by Mike Curtis and Joe Staton (who, oddly enough, also drew for Batman in one of my favorite comics, "Two-Face Strikes Twice," which was a throwback to the old Dick Sprang adventures), and now that I've tested out that style, I think it really suits the work.

Today I completed my 19th daily comic strip. I haven't missed a day since I started it up and am hoping to close out a 3-week run on Saturday before settling in on a twice-a-week update schedule (Tues & Sat). Managing two offices, keeping active in my local church, and being a young married fella with a mortgage and a dog have made this quite a marathon for me. Most of the work has been done late at night when the Mrs. is sleeping, and I had the advantage of having some completed art before I began posting, but it's becoming much more challenging to keep up with and I'd rather the strip retain its quality than its consistency.
Take a look and let me know what you think! It's all being done for fun. I'm not a big time comics talent or involved in the industry in any capacity. Just a Bat-fan with a penchant for drawing cartoons and I thought I'd share it here to see what some fellow '66 fans thought of the project. There are a lot of references to the ’66 series that will be peppered throughout but only a few have made it in so far (“False-Fish” and a particularly angled shot of the villain). Way more to come (and soon!)

This link starts at the beginning of the strip:

http://batdog.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

Hope they're as fun to read as they have been to make!

-Nathan

[elmrgraham]

Excellent.By the way,is the feline cat named Selina Kyle aka The Catwoman?

[BATDOG]

"Felina," but you might be on to something...

[BATDOG]

http://www.batdog.thecomicseries.com/comics/31

False-Fish, a '66 Batman inspired villain makes a cameo in today's strip. More to come!

[BATDOG]

http://www.batdog.thecomicseries.com/comics/37

Yesterday's strip introduced the "Bat-bone," Batdog's direct hot-line to Police HQ. The next strip will also be very '66 Batman-inspired and will feature a new character based on the show.