Chonk!
Happy Day-After-Valentines-Day day, everyone! And yes, Day-After-Valentines-Day is a candy holiday. Get it while the getting's on clearance!
Speaking of romance, I finished watched all seven Fast and Furious movies. 7 was my favourite, but I'm glad I watched 'em all from the beginning. Watching a goofy little movie series about street racing gradually morph into The Avengers With Cars was utterly fascinating. At this rate, they're about three films away from becoming Speed Racer.
-Sam Logan
Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Educational Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!
"Cheese and crackers, Candice goes to Hayle college too? If I remember correctly Sam and Gertrude (and Devahi) also went there too. Its like The Venture Brothers.
Tell us more of Hayle college and the crew's academic dreams, please. Sam got in on a genius scholarship and traveled to a different country to get a degree in Science? Gertrude is an academic standout so apparently Hayle is a very prestigious college implying that Candice and Devahi are also super nerds? What is Hayle college famous for?" -Tom
Hayle is the one and only major college in Newport! So yes, anyone in Sam and Fuzzy who has ever been depicted as attending college in Newport would have been going to Hayle. This includes:
-Sam, who moved to Newport after recieving a conditional scholarship from Hayle, then lost it after one semester due to poor performance. (It is implied, but never confirmed, that Sam moved there from Canada. I don't think he was there long enough to even really consider what his major would be.)
-Gertrude, who attended at the same time as Sam (And was forced to pay for it with her own money!)
-Devahi, who moved to Newport to study at Hayle four years after Sam dropped out. (And who dropped out herself after two years, as we have seen in this story.)
-Candice, who moved back to Newport to live with her father and study at Hayle around the same time as Dev. (A plan that was almost immediately disrupted by unfortunate circumstances.)
-Devahi's friends, Star and Alice, who are currently still students there. (And who think Devahi should rejoin them.)
I don't think Hayle is an especially prestigious college as far as the general public is concerned. But I think it's held in particularly high esteem by the Ninja Mafia elite families. It's an old college, built in the same town as the Ninja Mafia HQ, directly above the Ninja Mafia-controlled city-state of Sub-Newport. I suspect the Mafia (and Mafia money) has probably played a pretty major role in Hayle's history.
"I wrote to you a couple years ago about recording a Noosehead song. For funsies, of course. The current storyline kind of encouraged me to request it a second time. Again, I want your permission before proceeding. I can send you a demo at the very least. C’mon! Whaddya say?" -David
Sorry I didn't reply to you the first time, David. I must have missed it!
I am totally OK with fan art of all sorts... be it drawings, music, sculpture, interpretive dances, or anything else! The only thing that makes me unhappy is when my actual artwork or ideas are literally swiped wholesale and presented without credit. (Or slapped onto merch and sold for a profit!) But if anyone wants to make their own original Sam and Fuzzy-inspired fan works and share 'em freely on the internet, they are welcome to do so. I love seeing that stuff!
"How tough is it to make yourself draw Sam in (close to) the style of yourself from years ago?" -Thomas
It's more... painful than it is difficult, is I guess how I'd put it?
I don't find it tremendously difficult to draw Classic Sam -- I drew him that way for a long time, after all! But most of the changes I've made to his design over the years were driven as much by functionality as aesthetics. And I miss that functionality! A lot of aspects of Classic Sam's simple old design become restrictive or cumbersome when he's being used in anything more ambitious than standing-around-and-talking newspaper-strip style gag comics. His head looks kind of weird from certain angles. His super-basic geometric body anatomy is not great for action or strong posing. He doesn't even reallly have a neck!
For the purposes of this story, I'm working with a slightly tweaked version of Classic Sam that alieviates some of these issues. (He has a neck and collar, for example.) But even so, I'm trying to stay as true as I can to the original... pipe-cleaner arms and all. It's a challenge, but that's part of the fun!
That's a wrap for this week, friends. Come back on Monday for our next comic!
-Sam Logan
Drift it
Heeeere we go! Come back on Friday for our next comic. But not just that! Also a new round of reader Q and A! As always, if you've got a question you'd like me to answer -- about the comic, about my other work, or pretty much anything else -- just pop it in an email with "Q and A" in the subject line.
Fast and Furious update: having finally made my way through the first four films, I have decided to stop pussy-footing around and watch the remaining three in a non-stop marathon this weekend. My favourite thus far has been Tokyo Drift, in which drifting is treated as having the same sort of magical power and spiritual relevance as the Force in Star Wars. A+
-Sam Logan
