In Diana Jones: Behind the Scenes

Ah, In Diana Jones. What better way to make a comic than to start with a clever name and create a concept around it? Well, it worked for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

There was a pretty quick turnaround on this comic. I actually don't have many sketches or resources from pre-production because I really jumped in pretty fast.

Yeah that's about it. So instead of my normal format, I'm just going to talk about some influences on this work and then I'll show you the cover and the final pinup.

Besides the obvious references to Indiana Jones, IDJ was also inspired by classic softcore women-in-prison bondage movie series Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS. I wanted a villain that fit the brief of 'bad guys in the 1930s' but had a sexier edge than your run of the mill nazi bastards. I opted to have her be part of the reality transformation.

The choice to include Her and Janet was made pretty early on in the drafting process. Originally it was going to just be a character dealing with reality shifts with no real concept of how or why they were happening, starting with Indiana Jones and ending with Diana Jones: Porn Star. It didn't make much sense to have a character go from fictional to real without a more solid reason than 'because I said so.' So Her was included. Here we get to see Janet and Her in a domestic mode, no schemes or shenanigans. Just two girlfriends having a snuggly movie night. Of course Her libido and love for turning boys into girls had to factor into the plot.

By the way, if you haven't read Thiccer and Mu Theta Mu you should check them out. They're in the PDF Collection on this very site! Some of my finest work, I think. Something to note is these comics all take place in Metro City, my superhero setting with Hypno-Sis and FeMail and all. So reality is a little heightened in this universe and magic works super easy. There might be a comic where Her and Hypno-Sis meet each other head on. I've been low-key cooking on a Her origin comic that might pit her against the mistress of mesmerism.

On the visual side of things, I decided to experiment a little. The bipolar color scheme concept happened very organically. I made the first page with its colors how they were and realized not only was the process kind of fun, it was also very good at establishing the movie reality and the real world without needing to spend a lot of effort explaining that to the reader. I have a tendency to play with color in my Her comics. No idea why, but four of Her five appearances have been experimental in some way. I'd like to continue that theme because it's pretty fun and it gives everything a strange quality, like Her is altering reality passively or something.

Note to writers our there: Don't name a character by their pronouns. It makes it really fucking hard to talk about them!!

Without further ado, here are the cover and final pinup for In Diana Jones:

The final pinup was partially inspired by the inimitable Winton Kidd's wonderful witch drawings from last year. He has one where a coven of witches are in the middle of some wild ritual and they're all floating and naked and horny. It's incredible. If you don't know his work, definitely check him out.

Alright that's all I got on In Diana Jones. I should have one more big comic project in the tank for 2023, though it might stretch to 2024 if the scope gets too large. But that's a story for another Behind the Scenes. Thanks so much for reading!