I love Schlock Mercenary.
Yes, I’m addicted. When I was a kid, I was a total geek for anything Isaac Asimov, sciencey things, drawings of mathematical equations (even though I knew nothing about what they meant), Star Trek, Star Wars, space, astronomy, Carl Sagan, the big questions, the “Alien” movies, sci-fi TV shows, the game “Star Frontiers” by TSR (sci-fi version of D&D, basically), cheesey-yet-character-driven-which-means-meaningful 80′s shows, Saturday morning cartoons, old comic strips like Alley Oop, Flash Gordon as drawn by Al Williamson at the time, Buck Rogers, and classic sci-fi pulp magazine covers which I’d find in the antique shop I grew up in. Of course, I was also a total geek for D&D, Conan, Lord of the Rings, comic books, and all sorts of other fun stuff, but we’re just talking sci-fi for now. 
Somehow, Schlock Mercenary makes me think of most all these things, in its way, thanks to Howard Tayler, and likely his similar interests. There’ something about the comic, and the whole Howard operation that’s just… FUN to me.
I had the pleasure of meeting Howard back in 2008, and chatting comics and such, and I admit it adds to the fun because he IS his comic. lol (probably true about many of us cartoonists, which explains why I own a horned barbarian helmet for no real reason). There’s also a professionalism about his approach to his work that I find inspiring, as well as the involvement of his wife, Sandra, both of whom I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with now and again and find them to be graciously good people.
So, I wanted to take a moment and pay homage, in the form of a few sketches, that, incidentally, after seeing a few of them, Howard wound up publishing in his Schlock book “Resident Mad Scientist.” Go get yourself a copy at Howard’s site, you won’t be disappointed.
Anyway, wanted to share. I love comics, obviously, and sometimes ya’ just gotta show the love! Go, Go, Tagon’s Toughs!!
I am lucky enough to live in the same state as Howard
The Howard is a good man. Do you listen to the podcast he does also?
What about a nod to The Impossibles, which I found absolutely fascinating when I was below the age of literary consent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impossibles_(TV_series)
Wacky Races just cries out for a treatment in D.R. style.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_Races
Howard does an incredible job with Schlock. He keeps his stories entertaining, he updates on time, and he knows that his readers are vital to his success. He’s one of the people I always point to when talking about the right way to do a webcomic.
I still remember his big April Fool’s joke a while back, when he made it look like he was actually missing an update. For him, that was a radical thing to think happened!
And as for Schlock Mercenary… had never heard of it before now and was prepared to dislike it intensely when I saw the art style on the current page, but as I moved back through the archives the ensemble of art, story and humor sucked me in. Now I know what having an alien mutant baby sitting on your head sucking your brains dry feels like.
Please, please tell me you’re going to give Bill anti-matter epaulets!!
Also, where is the thooom and foooosh?
I found out about LoB from one of the links on Howards site.
Yah gotta love a weapon that goes “ommminous hummmm”
hehe. Never mention Carl Sagan around a real astronomer or astrophysicist… Having read Astronomy and similar rags since 1978, it was noteworthy that he wasn’t well thought of by professionals in the science fields. Schlock is probably the right term. Most of his ideas were debunked (nuclear winter, for example) but that didn’t stop him… A lot of things like gravity assist are also mysteriously attributed to him that others came up with, too. He’d fit in well today, though. He was about 30 years ahead of his time as far as the sloppy scientist who lives for the limelight.