Well, we are almost at new stories! Just a few weeks and with the holidays for many of us, it'll fly by. Certainly it feels like time has zoomed to this point (for me, at least) since my October update.
This post is mostly a prep for 2023. In the comments on my November post, Mangler said he had some reading to do to refresh his memory. I get that. I thought the same thing.
Cave Time is a magical thing, inspired by comic books with their sliding time scale. Beau was forced to take a four-week vacation in a post from January 1st, 2019, for example. Buck arrived for winter vacation in a story published on December 1st, 2016! Both of their extended stays are finally coming to decision time in 2023. Maybe one day we'll even reach early June for Cody's 30th birthday.
PREVIOUSLY IN THE CAVE ...
However, that's a 2023 goal. For now, I'm just trying to learn. For this Sentinel image, I used a Dan Mora Superman here as the base to get the proportions right, but every line and color in the hero are mine. It's my first completed image. Lines are too thick and colors are clumsy, but it was fun to do as a learning exercise. I used a background from The Orville TV show. I doubt I will ever draw complex backgrounds on my iPad.
This is another original character, Parkour, the urban jungle warrior, using another Dan Mora image (he's my new favorite artist in the world if you can't tell) as the base. It's my second play-image. I think the pen work is already better than in the Sentinel above, however I think fingers will be a struggle for me for quite a while. Again, I used real images for the background. Parkour is the primary hero in a story I've started that might appear in late 2023 or more likely 2024.
Of course you can read any stories you want, but I selected a few that I think are most relevant to the upcoming tales. One easier way to go even deeper is that a few 2023 featured Cave characters have tags at the bottom of the page.
PREVIOUSLY IN THE CAVE ...
The Road to El Paso 1-2 and 4-5
- How Beau's story started ... Route 69 S105: El Paso TX (Beau meets Ben)
- Buck's first story ... Encounters: Thanksgiving 2015
- Buck arrives in LA for the winter ... The Cave Undercard 14: City vs. Country
- 10 weeks ago ... The Cave Unleashed 7: Beau vs. Toby (Beau takes on his brother and boss)
- 4-8 weeks ago ... The Cave Unleashed 8: Beau vs. Keith (Beau takes on his boss 3 times)
- 4 weeks ago ... The Cave Unleashed 10: Beau vs. 'Lethal' Lee Evans (Beau's drive to LA)
- 3 weeks ago ... The Cave Unleashed 11: Beau vs. Buck (Beau makes a new friend in LA)
The Road to El Paso 3
- Jeff's first time narrating ... Route 69 S106: Forth Worth TX (you can get his voice)
- 4 weeks ago ... The Cave Unleashed 10: Beau vs. 'Lethal' Lee Evans (Lee's first story)
- How Lee met Jeff ... CLAW 10: Jeff vs. 'Lethal' Lee Evans (battle for the AWE belt)
The Cave Undercard 34: Xaq vs. Valet
- Bird Boy faces Moneymaker with Valet ... The Cave Undercard 13: Bird Boy vs. Moneymaker
- Valet challenges Bird Boy ... The Cave Undercard 25 (near the end after stakes)
- Xaq learns of the challenge ... The Cave Undercard 26 (in the epilogue)
The Cave Shorts: Bull meets Ash and Mark
- You can meet Ash and Mark here ... The Cave Undercard 28: Tarantula vs. Web
In addition to what I previously shared, there are three more stories uploaded, meaning that February - June will all have two stories!
April 17 & June 20: The Cave Unleashed: Asgard Adventures 1 & 2
A new hand gets a great introduction to his life at Asgard Ranch as young Zeb ends his first week on the job having dinner with his boss, Doug, and then he meets Doug's "friend" from LA, Josh.
- Check out Josh's first visit to Asgard Ranch ... The Cave Unleashed 3: Josh vs. Doug
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| Josh / Doug / Zeb |
May 15: Alex Miller's Vault: Kick Kid Gets Tickled
I've created a new story category ... Alex Miller's Vault. These are "inspired by" stories that build off personal experiences I've had. They're all fictionalized, some more than others, but if you're the guy(s) who was(were) part of the experience, you'll definitely recognize the stories and your role in it.
The first of these was actually Flag vs. Flag, which I've already re-branded as The Vault instead of Encounters. I have two done, one of which will appear in mid-May in the short story slot. In the new stories, I'm using Impact wrestler Joe Hendry for the lead character, Alex.
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| Joe Hendry. |
And one last thing ... I've been doodling on my iPad! I'm a little embarrassed to share these, but I just felt like why the heck not. Up to now, when I've used drawings, I've been using work by professional comic artists and just re-coloring them. I've decided to try to make more original images. They'll never be professional-level, but this is a free blog with amateur stories, so I don't need them to be perfect.
My goal is to get to detailed images that are 100% original. I started playing with the pens and layers using Dan Mora's work as my base, but now that I've done a couple, I am starting to create original figure sketches from scratch that will eventually turn into original images that are not traced from someone else's original art. These would be the base for fully developed superheroes.
Enjoy! See you on January 1, 2023 for Sentinel - Chapter 1: Introduction.
Alex
Happy fucking new year!!!!!!! 2023 is looking to be an EXCELLENT year. Can't wait to see whats up for Valet. He is my ideal wrestler--smaller but devious and villanous.
ReplyDeleteMangler (will not let me publish signed in)
Ugh, the comments thing drives me nuts. I used to be able to do it in Chrome, but when I returned to the blog, it wouldn’t even let me do that. The only solve I found online involved disabling something (I don’t remember now), but the juice didn’t seem worth the squeeze (an expression an old boss used to use that feels like it’s dirty but I guess isn’t). I comment using the Name/URL option, re-entering it every time.
DeleteAnyway, thanks for the comment! I’m a little freaked out that 2023 is less than three weeks away, but oh well.
Ooh nice drawings! Here's to a great 2023!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I appreciate the positive reinforcement. It took me some nerve to post them, but it will hopefully inspire me to keep working on them.
DeleteCan't wait to see what happens! I love Beau as a character (so loveable oaf) but I love seeing Xaq get beaten down and put in his place. You have so many great stories and series: i love the bad boys series as well. can't wait for 2023!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. You'll see multiple stories with Beau (three matches) and Xaq (only one match, so far, but another story with him in it).
DeleteI do love visiting here and seeing the "Spoiler Alert!" image. Thanks for the "Previously on..." list, which is very helpful. Also very cool that you are dabbling in drawing - I think they look great and look forward to the new hero story. I think in a last post you mentioned one story but it's awesome there will actually be 3 (three!!!!) Beau stories!
DeleteThanks … I’ve always doodled but never really pushed myself beyond masked faces or upper bodies. I’m interested to see if I can do more with full figures.
DeleteBeau does get quite a workout this year … four matches in three stories. He’s in a ring and on the mats, inside and outside, faces bigger, same size, and smaller opponents, has grudge and friendly encounters, singles and 2-on-1, squashes and competitive, and wrestles in US three states. Phew.
Thanks, Alex! This is really useful.
ReplyDelete2023 will be the year of our king Xaq!
King Xaq? You’re rather optimistic, aren’t you? :)
DeleteOh, I have no idea whether Xaq will beat Valet! Probably not if I was forced to guess. With his crush on Winston, and how much he clearly loves their BDSM scenes, I can easily imagine him getting off too much on another small-ish guy dominating him.
DeleteIt's just that Xaq is always the king, whether he's getting his sexy ass kicked or not, and no matter what scenario he has to suffer through. There is a reason he's the muscle freak. :)
Damn, Winston is so lucky...
Oh, I have no idea if he'll win or not. Those sessions with Winston could help (by telling him how to deal with a smaller opponent) or hurt (Valet reminds him of Winston and he gets too horny/submissive).
DeleteBut Xaq is always the king, no matter if he wins or loses. :)
Damn, Winston is lucky!
Merry Christmas. Sorry about that … I didn’t realize that your first comment got caught as spam for some bizarre reason, so it was awaiting approval.
DeleteThat’s sound logic. We’ll see if it’s right in a few months …