Lancaster goes to Print!

One thing I always knew I wanted to do if I ever printed Lancaster was to redo all of the art and the story as well. Lancaster started out as more of a 'let's see if I can actually do this' sort of thing, so a lot of the early story is really loose. Also, and not to sound conceited here or anything, my art has really improved over the two years that I've done Lancaster. So much so that it almost hurts to see some of the older pages.

Here are three pages from Episode 3 - Hotel H-E-Double-Hockeysticks. Lancaster arrives at Angston Suites and has to deal with Frank Nurd, the surly bellhop. I originally had Frank play a bigger role in the story, but I think 4 antagonists would have been too much for one story, so Frank just played a bit part.

And here is the same sequence as it will appear in print. Admittedly, the art didn't improve much. In my defense though, the entire first part had to be done in a week. The bell joke remained (come on, who can't resist a desk bell?), but a lot of the dialogue was tightened up, and Frank, as a character is a lot more fleshed out than before. In the first strip, he just seems kind of grumpy. In the new one, it's a lot easier to tell he just plain hates his job, but the only reason he hasn't been fired is he's Hoyton's nephew.

Sorry I can't show you folks more, but if I did, you probably wouldn't be inclined to pick up Furrlough #162 to see the rest! It should be at your local comic book store within the next week or so, or you can order it when it pops up in the Radio Comix Online Store. If you're feeling particularly saucy, pick up Hit the Beach #13 for some more art by me. Non-Lancaster this time, but who knows what the future brings?