Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Synn’

57 items.

Inside The Book No 57

November 20th, 2009 | by Scott Story

057

Ah, Freak Daddy—May he rest in peace.  Freak Daddy died in an all-out assault on Dr. Synn during the War in Heaven, and Freak Daddy died there, impaled on a humongous talon, then dropped several thousand feet to the earth below.  His body, what could be found of it, could only be identified by a process of elimination.  Coming up with a disco themed character is easy, because most of the work is already done for you!  I remember seeing “Saturday Night Fever” at the theater in its first run, and that was my sole exposure to that world of vice and dancing.

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Inside The Book No 54

November 10th, 2009 | by Scott Story

054

Ah, my first concept sketch of Dr. Wissenschaft.  The idea of this old villain came to me complete, as sometimes happens.  Where a character like Titanium Tom called for almost endless design sketches, I guess the idea of an ancient Nazi villain is so engrained in our collective unconsciousness as to be a no-brainer.  I remember seeing the “The Boys from Brazil” in my teen years, and I believe that movie had a big effect on characters like Dr. Wissenschaft and Dr. Synn.  The idea of this frail, ancient villain being more dangerous than all the super-powered muscle heads in Spire City appealed to me.  There is no super power that trumps genius, even a dark genius like that of Dr. Wissenschaft.

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Fan Art From Antoine Gagnon!

August 13th, 2009 | by Scott Story

Here is a Antoine Gagnon’s rendition of Dr. Synn!  Antoine is a good friend and fellow Webcomic Planet Collective member, and his comic is The Drunken Fools.

drsynn

Click on picture for full-sized version.

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Inside The Book No. 40

May 21st, 2009 | by Scott Story

2009-05-21inside-the-book-no-40

My first drawing of Eris, aka Lady Chaos.  It is of note that her energy, rising from her head, always extends off the panel, indicating that she is hooked into the universe itself.  This is so, because she is the embodiment of chaos as an elemental, universal force.  Up till now, Eris has been seen in the company of Dr. Synn, but she will soon become a major player in the Spire City universe.

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A Conversation With Benita Story

April 27th, 2009 | by Scott Story

A Conversation with Benita Story, Co-Writer on Johnny Saturn, by Scott Story

Most of you know it by now, but Benita Story is an integral part of the team that creates Johnny Saturn. She is also my wife. What follows is a casual conversation about what she does, and her views on it.

Scott: Benita, how did your role as a co-writer on “Johnny Saturn” come about?

Benita: I’m not really sure, actually. I think we just started tossing ideas around about a story we’d like to tell, and one thing lead to another. I remember a lot of “What if…” and “What about…” and “That’s a great idea, but what if we did…” It’s like the story of twin boys – what one doesn’t think of, the other will. That’s us!

Scott: Well before you assumed the co-writer’s mantle, you were making up characters for the series. Would you tell us about that?

Benita: Ahhh… Dr. Synn. Well, you had this temporary name for the villain of the Johnny Saturn story, Dr. Synn. I liked it and it immediately conjured up the character pretty much as he ended up being. First, though, I knew what he looked like. I remembered a line from the movie “Addam’s Family Values.” They were at a school function (Halloween?) where the kids were supposed to be in costume. The teacher looked at Wednesday, who was not in costume, and asked, “And what are you supposed to be?” Wednesday deadpanned, “I’m a homocidal maniac.  We look like everyone else.” That’s why Dr. Synn is dressed like a businessman in a white linen suite, fedora and walking stick. I wanted him to be able to walk down the street in any city and no one pay much attention to him. I wanted him to be proper and polite, even to the point of leaving a tip in a café that he blows up theminute he’s out of it.

And then, there are Tara and Mollie. You had drawn a picture of a blond girl with cupie-hair in your sketchbook. She just spoke to me and said, I am Tara, the grand-daughter of Karl Wissenschaft. But, the further I delved into her character, the more conflict I felt in her for all her perfect exterior. It was then I realized she was a robot based on the successful experiments Dr. Wissenschaft had done on a homeless girl.  Also, I realized he had done more than based her physical aspects on this girl, but had gone so far as to download the memories and personality of this girl into Tara. But who was this homeless girl? Mollie. She came to me whole and complete as she is. A mutilated survivor of Dr. Wissenschaft’s life’s work. The Yin to Tara’s Yang. And that’s all I can say, because I don’t want to give away some important plot elements.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Interesting Johnny Saturn Review

February 23rd, 2009 | by Scott Story

This is from the blog Topics For All, posted on February 10, 2009.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the author’s name, even if I like what he says:

Johnny Saturn

Designed by Benita and Scott Story, Johnny Saturn gave a new definition to the concept of web comic. There is a main super-hero tale at the core with a mystery man that’s been through lots of challenges in a life where there is an eternal battle between the forces of good and evil.

Hence, the typology of the characters animating the world of Johnny Saturn is close to any Romantic plot with legends, angels, demons and lots of fights between them. But there are also mad scientists and demigods as well as all sorts of conceptual beings, making up the puzzle world that is the very charm of the Johnny Saturn comic.

Basically, Johnny Saturn represents both a web comic and a superhero and fantasy book; yet, many fans consider it as the figurative representation of the way our life goes in or away from the acts of justice. On top of these all, good seems to spring from questionable deeds too, not only out of purity.

Johnny Saturn is who faces the evil Dr. Synn and his schemes. We will not consider Johnny Saturn a real hero, since he lacks the powers and the personal history that would make him one: he is the average man caught up inuncommon circumstances who has to do what he has to do. As the story in the comic {moves on|evolves, Johnny Saturn gets to other inspirational life knots: he shows the sacrifice of a savior and the determination of a leader.

The creators of the Johnny Saturn comic got something more than fame and success with their ongoing story of the character. The Storys manage to be witty and interesting in creating moods, profound messages and lots of complexity without assaulting the reader with visual tricks.

Mondays and Wednesdays are the regular days when new episodes from Johnny Saturn are uploaded; four years have passed since the release of the strip, and it still enjoys an ongoing success as thousands and thousands of fans get on the Storys’ official site every day.

Johnny Saturn is imbued with the concepts, issues and taboos of our world: yes there is drug addiction, depression, suicide, anger, grief and lots of others, but they are all approached in a very straight-forward manner without dramatizing. Even political themes become manifest in the story of Johnny Saturn, but the advantage here is that a comic leaves freedom enough for allegories without hinting directly at people and events from real life.

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Let the Games Begin!!!

January 12th, 2009 | by Scott Story

Howdy, folks!

Scott and I are continuing to have very detailed business meetings all aimed at what we want out of the website for 2009 – The Year of Johnny Saturn (Da-Dummm!)

Beginning this past Monday, there is a contest for all of you die-hard, rabid fans of Johnny-Saturn: Synns of the Father. The contest is “Who Said That?” and has 20 quotes from throughout the first story-arc. So, put on your thinking-caps, go through the archives or pull out your issues 1-5 or your copy of the graphic novel and see if you can tell us who said the quotes.

Email your answers to storyartstudios@yahoo.com and the first 10 people to send us the correct answers will win a calendar (Johnny Saturn or Scott’s Fantasy Art calendar), a copy of the Scott Story 2005 Sampler (which contains lots of full-color art, an interview of Scott and full color concept art for Johnny Saturn and Dr Synn), and a copy of the 2006 Scott Story sketchbook (which is jam-packed with tons of Scott’s art from over the years). This contest is not limited to those within the continental United States, but is for all our fans, no matter where in the world you live. We will even mail a package to Timbuktu!

The questions can be found on the Contest page, or right here in this blog post.

Let the games begin!!!

Who Said That?

1. Bless me gnarly bones!

2. Can you imagine a machine with instincts?

3. Come on, boys! You’ve been invited to dinner!

4. Distractions! Why are there always distractions?

5. He never disgraced the badge, and he died a hero!

6. I shoulda’ just let you arrest me. It beats owing you a favor.

7. I’d like to think that, at the last moment, Johnny laughed in the face of death… or at least, smiled.

8. I’ll give you another example if you say ‘pretty-please.’

9. I’ve got our bloodhound on the scent!

10. It is time to move the world.

11. Not on my watch, mortal!

12. Nothing like a mini-twister to take the starch out of your shorts!

13. Okay…Now that I have taken your measure…it’s my turn!

14. Tell all your friends that you kicked my ass.

15. This day just keeps getting better and better!

16. We’ve had a special cell created just for you… in the eighth ring of Hell!

17. Wow, cool costume!

18. You c-can’t be Johnny S-saturn! He d-died!

19. You’re a mess and you smell bad!

20. Young people never listen.

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2008 In Review

December 24th, 2008 | by Scott Story

Year in Review: Johnny Saturn

As 2008 winds down, and Benita and I make big plans for Johnny Saturn in 2009, I think it’s worthwhile to review our year.  In many regards, this year was huge for us.  In other regards, it was a “rebuilding” year.

The biggest event of our year was the publication of our graphic novel, “Johnny Saturn: Synns of the Father.”  It was very heady for us as the book’s listing came up on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and numerous other websites.  Later on, we also published “Johnny Saturn” no. 6, and the “Johnny Saturn Pinup Gallery.”  This latter was particularly satisfying, because artists from all over the planet contributed pinups.

Next up for us was building of the current johnnysaturn.com site.  Prior to this, Johnny Saturn was distributed among Graphic Smash, Webcomicsnation, Comic Genesis, and Drunk Duck, while the blog was located on Myspace.  We had pretty much maxed out the scattershot approach, and now it was time to consolidate.  In June, we discontinued or downgraded all those other sites and established a WordPress-based, Comicpress run site to be our hub.  This was a titanic undertaking, one that involved reformatting all the old strips, learning new skills, and eventually even changing web hosts.

The third biggest coup for the year, and arguable more important than the first, was placing twice in the Webcomic Readers Choice Awards, winning first place for Antagonist of the Year (Dr. Synn), and third place for protagonist of the year (Johnny Saturn).  Many benefits issued from this honor, including the friendship of Phil Hofer, aka Frumph, of the Frumph Webcomic List.

After that, the comic collective Palace in the Sky asked us to join, and we happily did so.  This collective is primarily made up of high quality fantasy comics, but Johnny Saturn, while not a traditional swords & horses fantasy, came to fit in quite well in their lineup.  Palace in the Sky continues to be one of our big referrers, and we are proud to be associated with them.

Also of note, 2008 saw Benita and I interviewed on a Podcast for the first time, and our friendship with Chuck Moore of Comic Related.  I had one article in Sketch Magazine this year, and have submitted two more.  Benita and I joined the Indy Webcomics Group, a local collective of cartoonists who have garnered national attention.

All in all, this was a year to remember!

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Johnny Saturn Reviewed At Comic Related!

October 30th, 2008 | by Scott Story

By John Wilson of Graphic Content, on Comic Related on 10-29-08

Johnny Saturn
By John Wilson

Johnny Saturn issues #1-6, Scott and Benita Story, Story Studios LLC

This is a comic that defies characterization. Is it a superhero book? Definitely. Is it a fantasy book dealing with demigods, demons and angels? You bet. Is it an allegory of the common man’s struggle for justice? Sure. A cautionary tail that sometimes bad things must be done for the greater good? Without a doubt. Scott and Benita have crafted a story that is all these things and more.

The story follows Johnny Saturn, a street level non powered hero how does what he can and what he must to foil the activities of the evil Dr. Synn. Johnny is not a Meta human or powered in any way. His body is a map of the destruction he has physically suffered in his quest. Every bone in his body has been broken, some many times. He requires pills just to move. He does not suffer fools, especially super powered heroic ones that try to interfere with his work and is a firm believer in the ends justifying the means. Even death can not keep him from his tasks. Johnny is the classic street level hero. A Batman without the money and gadgets, The Shadow sans the mental manipulation, Daredevil with no radar sense. Just a man doing what he must because it must be done. And along the way, Johnny becomes a savior, an inspiration, a leader and punches out an angel! Who could ask for more?

The Storys tap into the iconography of superheroes and put their own unique spin to make them all their own. The Utopian is on the surface a hero in the Superman ideal, but scratching that surface shows a hero that sees himself above the common man in more than the obvious physical sense. From Johnny, The Utopian learns the true nature of hero and of sacrifice. On the surface the heroes that The Utopian leads are just an ad hoc Justice League, but they too have quirks and tweaks that push them beyond their surface iconography and make them special. This hurts all the more when many of them do not survive the story. We know little about these characters but we become connected. That is the earmark of great storytelling.

Scott Story’s artwork is an unmistakable draw to this story. In an era of over processed, over rendered and generally overblown art, it is refreshing to see line work and style that harkens back to the best days of the Silver Age. Scott infuses meaning in just a few lines and establishes mood and character for all his creations without having to beat the reader over the head with overblown visual trickery. He is an incredible talented colorist as well. His work is layered and vibrant without being gaudy. It is easy to see that this is a labor of love for both creators because that love is evident in every panel.

Thankfully, the story does not end with these six issues. The world of Johnny Saturn is alive and well in new adventures every Monday and Wednesday at www.scottstoryillustrator.com/johnnysaturn/. While there, make sure you check out every area of the site by these two stellar creators (no pun intended). They are every bit as eclectic as the world that they created.

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Supers, and Metas, and Cyborgs, Oh My!

October 9th, 2008 | by Scott Story

Hi, Folks:

Recently, a friend and I were talking about the different types of superheroes operating in Spire City, and I realized that there is a pretty wide spectrum. As a group, we call them meta-humans, but this isn’t all inclusive. I imagine I’ll return to this subject and flesh it out many time in the future. Here is the short list:

  • Android: A robot that appears sufficiently human to easily pass for a human. Tara 5.0 is a prime example of an android.

  • Cyborg: A human surgically augmented with scientific implants. Many of Dr. Wissenschaft’s mercenary soldiers are cyborgs.

  • Gadgeteer: A human who invents or adopts gadgets of some sort to work as a vigilante. Tilt counts as a gadgeteer, as does Staff of Life, Captain Barometer, and Hyperspace.

  • Mad Scientist: While technically norms, superhuman brilliance is arguably the most potent meta power. Combine this with mental illness (Dr. Synn) or amorality (Dr. Wissenschaft), and you have a foe not to be taken lightly.

  • Mecha: A robot with an onboard human driver or pilot. The difference between a mechanaut and a mecha is often one of size; if the driver can wear it, he’s a mechanaut; if the device is large enough to be a vehicle, it is a mecha.

  • Exonaut: These are normal humans who wear powered exoskeletons, wearable robots, or other similar costumes that scientifically augment their wearer. Examples would be Tactical and Deco. Mechanauts are sometimes also called human tanks and power armors. Non-powered armor, such as a bullet-proof vest, does not make someone a exonaut.

  • Meta-human: Any person who is “more than human,” whatever the source of that power. Most of the superheroes and super villains in Spire City fall into this category. There are subgroups of meta-humans, such as Speedsters (Hotfoot, Celerity), Brutes (Alaric, Skorn), and Winged Wonders (Peregrine, Free Ranger).

  • Mystery Man: Non-powered, themed vigilantes more common in the 1930’s through the 1950’s. Johnny Saturn I would be a good example of a classic mystery man.

  • Norms: Within the meta community, standard humans are usually called Norms. Martial artists are still usually norms; if they adopt a theme and become vigilantes, they graduate to mystery men.

  • Paranormal: This covers all humans (and other creatures/entities) that are magically based. A standard human adept in magic would be a paranormal, as would angels and demons and elementals. Examples include Persephone Synn Underhall, Norgiel the demon, and Turiel the angel. Many characters who are living avatars/embodiments of certain principles belong to this group, as do mythological humans (such as the late Musclebound, son of Hercules).

  • Robot: Artificial scientific constructs. These often have humanoid shape, but they cannot pass for humans as can androids. A robot with a human pilot is a mecha. A good example of a robot would be the self-aware Oppression Wave.

  • Zomborg: A clinically dead human that is surgically augmented and turned into a mindless cyborg. Dr. Wissenschaft regularly recycles his slain mercenaries and cyborgs into zomborgs.
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