THE LIONHEART STORIES
CRITTERS #35-37
Rich And Stupid
Lionheart poses as a bodyguard in
order to interview egomaniacal movie comic Freddy Lucre,who is
quite paranoid. And with good reason, it turns out - someone
is trying to kill him! Freddy is one of those stars who, after
a series of inexplicably popular films, write, direct and star
in a horribly bloated and incoherent project of their own making.
Think Harlem Nights and Hudson Hawk. Lionheart gets more than
an interview, as he accompanies Freddy on his near-death trek
across the promotional landscape.
Freddy's stalker is finally revealed as one of the manufacturers
of merchandising tie-ins for Lucre's failed epic, The Soaring
Of Buddy Sawbuck. His overstock of Freddy lunch pails and mouse
pads has driven him over the edge.
As mentioned previously, I can write parodies of pop culture in my sleep, so this was an easy one to pull together. I really enjoyed laying on the detail in any shot of product merchandising, and you can browse the panels set in the merchandise warehouse for hours without ever seeing every movie tie-in. It seemed appropriate to include a tie-in in this story, so J.P. Morgans' Fission Chicken flies in at the end to save the day.
CRITTERS #43
The Tenants
Yet another alien is lurking in Lionheart's
vicinity, and this one has way too many eyes and teeth. Following
up on a strange letter, He meets Crystal, a woman who sees monsters
on her TV. Lionheart dismisses her story too quickly, and leaves
just before the alien comes - a - knockin'. He arrives in the
nick of time to endanger everyone and make a mess of everything;
it was of course a friendly alien.
Oh, the joy of 24 pages in
which to tell a story! Lionheart breaks free of 8 pagers just
in time for the collapse of Critters. The alien is one of my
favorite creations, with his multidirectional features and continuous
mouth. A delight to draw. Ditto for his room fulla junk, which
is thick with detail and shadow.
I love SCTV and reference it occasionally in my work; this story
has my favorite homage. Al Camembert and Floyd Robertson are
the off-screen newscasters.
Hey, look - a girl! There aren't a lot of them in Lionheart stories,
and I've never really warmed up to the idea of funny animals
with lipstick and heels. That whole porno funny animal underground
is a mystery to me.
Fun coincidence: in this, my first all-Lionheart issue, is a
letter from a reader trashing Lionheart whilst praising others.
A "creatively labored effort" he called it. The punch
line? He's from my home town of Erie. That's why I left there
in the first place, people like him. People who tape Gilligan's
Island and eat too much pork.
