New Cartoon: "Cup o' Democracy"

So I finally finished another Captain Capitalism cartoon. It has been over a year, and it does not pick up where we last left our hero…but it does have a timely theme, and new designs:

Click here to check it out:

For those of you who have watched the Captain Capitalism cartoon and were confused about the beginning, I made a key, for a non-geeks, to tell you what all of the stuff that is.

The idea is that this is Captain Capitalism’s secret lair. It is kind of a cross between the Bat Cave and Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

1. The Bat Cave always had other Batman suits in it. These are (L to R) the regular Captain Capitalism suit, a take of Lex Luthors Kryponite Powered Super Suit, a parody of Captain America as USAgent, and a riff on the new Alex Ross Captain America suit.

2. These are some designs stolen straight from a Jim Flora cover(see below) I am a big fan of Flora’s work

3.One of the items always depicted in Bat Cave is a giant penny, It had something to do with the villain, Two Face. In Captain Capitalism’s case, it is a giant Ruble.

4.The Supreme Weed from the story I mentioned yesterday

5.Another item always pictured in the Batcave is a giant Joker card. In Captain Capitalism’s case it is a giant Karl Marx card.

6.Batman has the Batmobile, Captain Capitalism has a Chevelle.

7.This is a robot based on H.E.R.B.I.E, a horrible character from an old Fantastic Four animated series(see below). In this case it is a Commiebot that I had in one of the old scripts, and Captain Capitalism has reprogrammed it to serve him. I picture him saying things like “Da, comrade” in a computery voice.

8.Another thing in both the Fortress of Solitude and the Batcave is big stuffed aliens. I think it might have been a dinosaur in Batman…whatever, this is a stuffed Martian Kossak. If that seems odd...it is.

9.Superman had a city from Krypton, in a bottle. The Bottled City of Kandor. This is the bottled city of St. Petersberg.

10.I don’t know exactly what this is, except that it is a Jack Kirby design that was badass of a communist robot that takes over the world that sounded straight out of Captain Capitalism so I swiped it and hid it in the background.

11.I seem to have skipped eleven in my key…

12.Batman and Superman both have fancy computer systems. Captain Capitalism is having problems in the current economy. Unfortunately you don’t see it in the cartoon, because it is behind him, but there is a Commodore 64, and several Apple IIe computers that make up his system. On the screen marked 12, is the open screen from a Commodore 64.

13.This is an old IBM open screen from the 80s

14.These are all Windows 95 “Blue Screens of Death”

15.This is part of the classic game Oregon trail…I am that old.

16.Where in the World is Carmen San Diego

17.Space Invaders

18.Castle Wolfenstein

19.Kings Quest

20.Oregon Trail, again

21.Pong

22.More Jim Flora swipes

23.This is a machine I saw in a Jack Kirby sketch of Reed Richards, Jack Kirby was not just the king of comics, but the king of fantastical machinery. I would buy more tech gear if they would start designing it like Kirby drawings.

This cartoon is not exactly what I originally invented. I had to change the dialogue up a lot to make it work. The original script made references to candidates that by the time I was working on the cartoon were out of the picture. There were Clinton gags. The bench press thing was expanded and had the multiple candidates of both parties vs. older presidents.

I got a little behind on making it, and had to take all of that out in an attempt to make it feel more “timeless” in case something else changes. I kind of felt like I rushed it, but I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

And for those of you who have been on previous cartoons of mine's message boards, who are looking for an actual statement about Capitalism, Socialism, or find some hidden message…I promise you there is nothing there. There is no serious statement, endorsement, or message.

One thing I do worry about it people misinterpreting the line, “What they will look like on currency.” While working on the cartoon, I heard that Barrack Obama said something to the effect of “I don’t look like the people on currency,” but I was already halfway into making the cartoon at that point. And I think either Senator Obama or Senator McCain will look just fine on currency. So don’t read into too much into that.

There is nothing hidden in the cartoon, except hopefully my love for Jack Kirby and Jim Flora’s designs and that I read too many comics for somone over 30.

I want to give a “shout out” to Sam Deats and Megan Kluck who animated dialogue, made some backgrounds and helped me put the cartoon together. They really helped me out a ton. They are great people, who gave me some of their free time, which I know is really valuable. I could not have gotten this even close to done in time for the election without their help.

Hope you enjoy the cartoon.

I should be putting out a link for a game that Powerhouse made tomorrow.