I find the fun, on-the-fly feeling of Dungeon really inspiring, and I wish I had the time and the talent to come up with a similarly rich fantasy world on my own. We've made a few different tributes to Lewis Trondheim on the blog here over the years—here's one, here's another, and here's a third, from the oubapian pages of Elm City Jams #3—and I'm sure this won't be our last.
If it weren't for the complicated rules I set for myself in this project, I might have done a bermaw for last week's letter instead of a babel fish. Instead, I found myself scouring the various volumes of Dungeon for a different creature that was definitely not sentient. (Most of the creatures in Dungeon seem to be persons, or else they aren't named.)
But Marvin the Dragon gets menaced by clacking spiders partway through the second (U.S.) volume of Dungeon: Zenith. If you've never read any of these fun books, though, the place to start is with Duck Heart, Zenith's first volume.
(The chronology of the books is complicated.)
It's right after this moment that Marvin delivers the first "TONG DEUM" fiery-acid dragon-breath spew of the series. Dang, I love Dungeon.
Now, will you help me decide what to draw next week? I know which universe to use, but I have two options, equally fun to draw, within that universe. What do you think? (Voting will be open until next Friday.)
What beast should I draw for the letter D?
10 comments:
What will you do in the event of a tie? Break it, according to some typically complicated rule you invoke/create, or draw both?
I think if there is a tie I will consult a domestic authority who could act as tiebreaker.
Hey, I thought I commented on this yesterday, but I don't see it here, so I'll try again! The clacking spiders terrify me... in fact I think they gave me nightmares last night, but I forgive you.
As to next week, how can anyone possibly not want to see your take on a garbage octopus?
Also, my word verification is pouthqu. Doesn't that sound like a good monster? Maybe that could be our next alphabet...
Personally, I'm pulling for the reptile. But I'm going to abide by the results of the poll, whatever they are.
If we're going to do an alphabet of captchas, we'd better start collecting them soon... (Gotta captcha them all...)
The clacking spiders are kind of cute. I'm glad they're not like barking spiders.
Everything in the Dungeon books is kind of cute, Lupi — which is what makes the mayhem so much fun! (You should see what it looks like when Herbert the Duck explodes a goblin by hitting it with a feather.)
A thought occurs, which I bounce your way since I don't have the book to hand and haven't read it in years: how is it indicated in Dungeon that the spiders, they clack? There is a conspicuous absence of sound effects in the Trondheim version as compared with your klakkity one...
They clack (spelled the way my sound effect spells it) in some earlier panels. And Marvin refers to them as "clacking spiders" a few pages before they appear, when he first sees signs of their presence.
Interesting...so do you think they're keeping quiet (and maybe keeping still) in that Dungeon panel, or should their klak klak effects be taken as read?
Idle thoughts...
My take on it: having established that this is the sound the spiders make, Trondheim & Sfar can leave the sound effects out, and we'll still "hear" the clacking. Sort of like McCloud's example (in UC) of the kitchen atmospheric sounds and smells.
"These giant spiders are like that domestic kitchen."
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