Fran Danger! Personalized Comic Book

Here's a project I was actually a bit skeptical of at first, but wound up being a great experience with one of my favorite clients so far. Skeptical only because some clients wouldn't have been so aware of (or sensitive to) how time consuming a project like this could turn out to be. Ann contacted me about doing a full color comic book to give to her husband for his 50th birthday, celebrated last summer. Fran, a neatnik by nature, had been teased most of his life by his family for his borderline OCD behavior, to the extent that they'd created a super hero alter-ego for him, Fran Danger, who he transformed into whenever he did anything even slightly unorthodox. I think there's even a theme song. Best part about the book, it's all true, I saw the house firsthand. Only one word can describe the housekeeping and yard maintenance... pristine. The man even organizes his light bulbs in a single closet according to size, wattage and color. Light bulb organizing! I seen't it! For someone who doesn't keep his DVDs in their respective cases, this development gave me chills. Anyway, here are some pages:








Below is the cover before I added color to it. I water colored it, which is always this weird decision I somehow arrive at when working with a tight deadline. Water colors, quick drying and fast to apply, is also totally unforgiving. Once the color's down, it's there for good. It used to get me into trouble in school projects too, because once I started messing up a painting, there was no turning back, I'd ultimately give up and start the whole thing over from scratch. It's a slippery slope I seem to find impossible to break away from, despite being the cause of so many avoidable all-nighters. There's a definite flaw in my reasoning there, somewhere.


For sake of comparison, below is one of many reference photos of the real live Fran Danger! needed for the project. I tried to keep the likeness of the comic character as close to reality as possible throughout the illustrations.




For the record, Ann (Danger!) was awesome to work with, I hope her family was as happy with the final results as I was! You can order your own copy for about $7 (+ shipping) on lulu.com by clicking the title of this post. I don't think Fran would mind.

-Kung Fu Mike