"Murder Track" ("Speed Racer")
Pencil Marks: I knew even before I started on it, setting out to do an manga based picture was going to be tough. I'm talking something with a straight-up eastern look and feel to it; perhaps having the panels read right to left like a traditional (and correct) manga is. I went through every possible thing I had and when I realized that wasn't very much, I hit the libraries searching for reference materials. And I drew; taking away things I typically put in my art and forcing myself to askew other things to the point of ridiculousness.
As you can see, I screwed it up.
When I handed it to Tony, I had an idea what the script was going to say. But to try making it a little more authentic, I asked him to come up with his own dialogue instead. I wanted that 'lost in translation' appeal and figured shoving him in the deep end without a little warning would do that. Of course he pulled through as always, but even with his skills, it seems nothing could have fixed this awful mess I created. In the end what we have is a non-eastern manga page that's in full blown color, reads from left to right making absolutely no sense, and doesn't even end in a cliffhanger.
I can't speak for Tony, but as far as my involvement with this goes, I have shamed my family. - Jake
Ink Smudges: Man this is just painful. Here I was the previous week saying I had all my bugs worked out after the long sabbatical, and then this pic hits.
Out of all the films for this summer, Jake and I both felt Speed Racer was going to be the "lock" of the season. We had a solid idea we felt comfortable with. Hell, there wasn't any back and forth over the concept like most weeks when Jake told me his idea, I was sold on it. But sometime between concept and completion, things just fell through.
My first gripe was I just couldn't in good conscience turn in a non-colored final piece. I'm just not that skilled as an inker to put it out there in all its nakedness. So I decided to follow the Wachowski Bros. idea of just filling it with color. At least there I succeeded, but in a way if also failed, cause to me it still looks rough - yet it has grown on me.
Then came the final insult. I understand Jake's plan for the "lost in translation" scripting, and a few years ago I probably would've been able to pull it off. But once I was done, and in the thick of things, I just couldn't come up with anything. So what we've got here is some of my worst dialogue ever, and on top of that - its not even the hilariously bad dialogue that I was shooting for.
I do stand by our posting this picture though. A wiser man would've said to just delay the pic till you can come up with something else. But I personally feel that everyone should be able to witness this picture. Warts and all. - Tony