Brawl in the Family - The Madding Crowd, Part 10 1/2 - R.A. Wonsowski

Layout:
123
444

Panel 1- JACK RYDER (with the CREEPER's mind still inside) is bounding down a hall with holding cells on both sides. He is swinging a mallet sledge into the head of DARK RYU with one hand, and pressing a door lock panel button with the other, sliding the bolts back.

RYDER: (with musical notes) doodlee-DOO-doo!

SoundFX: SMASH!

RYDER: C'mon, Kirby! Now's our chance!

Panel 2- As RYDER exits panel right, JACK "the King" KIRBY comes out of his cell, pencil behind his ear and lighting a cigar with a wooden match.

KIRBY: 'bout time. Where to?

RYDER: The Legend of Zelda!

Panel 3- RYDER proudly holds open another cell door. KIRBY looks inside, revealing a confused ZELDA FITZGERALD, holding a framed photo of her husband, F. Scott, in one hand and a martini in the other, dressed in 1920's fashion.

RYDER: Ta-daa!

ZELDA: Is this gin?

KIRBY: Hey, goofball! Ya realize this is all in yer head, right?

Panel 4- Foreground, we see JACK RYDER, ANDREW BENNETT, SHADE the Changing Man, and JACKIE ESTACADO strapped to medical gurneys. Though unconscious, they are all in obvious agony. They all have some sort of scientific apparatus strapped to their heads, but they have that Ditko-esque mystical design to them. The wires that lead from the headgear flow into input panels in the walls. Behind the patients stands ECLIPSO, wearing the Darkness, head back in ecstasy, arms spread wide, fingers splayed. Black Diamonds are wedged between each finger, sparking with indigo energy.

ECLIPSO: YESSSS...THE MADNESS GATE OPENS! THE SUNSET GUN CHARGES! 

ECLIPSO: THE ENDGAME BEGINS!

...to be continued...

Brawl in the Family - Little Fox Redux - Grant McLaughlin

I was quite taken with these two days' worth of strips and thought I'd try my own hand at some "Little Fox" comics.  In Brawl in the Family style, I've written up three short strips, each one in the three panel style (more or less).

Egg-cellent

1 - Little Fox stands, annoyed.  Little Leon (an egg) is next to him, yelling - the source of Fox's annoyance.

LEON: Hey!  You!

2 - Little Falco walks into frame, pointing quizzically at Leon the egg.  Fox maintains his annoyance.

FALCO: Who's this guy?

3 - Both Falco and Fox are annoyed now.  The egg continues to shout.

LEON: Annoying bird!  I am the great Leon!

FALCO: You've got to be yolking.

All Ears

1 - Little Fox sits on his Little Landrover / bigwheeler, talking.  He looks a bit tired / stressed.

FOX: ...I guess I'm just worried about being thrust into a position of real leadership before I'm ready.

2 - Fox lets out a bit of a sigh, looking somewhat relieved.

FOX (1): *phew* It feels good to get that off my chest.

FOX (2): Thanks for being such a good listener.

3 - Switch to a shot of Little Slippy the tadpole, floating in his fish bowl atop his own bigwheeler, doing nothing.

NO COPY

Playmates

1 - Little Fox and Little Falco are talking.

FOX: That new kid sure is cute.

FALCO: You should go talk to her.

2 - Top half panel.  Fox looks aghast.

FOX: I'm sure she has better things to do than hang out with me.

KRYSTAL (off-panel): Hey, Fox!

3 - Bottom half panel. Fox looks over at Little Krystal (who has walked into the panel frame).  Fox is really nervous; Krystal simply looks happy / content.

KRYSTAL: Wanna play?

4 - Fox and Krystal are playing with some dinosaur toys.  Both seem to be having a good time.  Little hearts can be floating up above a bashful Fox's head.

NO COPY

Brawl in the Family - Kirby Time - MK Stangeland Jr.

Why Brawl in the Family?

I'm gonna get you, Kirby!

6 Years

15 Songs

3 Books

600 Comics

It’s been said that 90% of everything is [Junk], and it’s probably even higher for fan works. Not to fault them for expressing their love of their favorite media, but it does absolutely nothing to increase the actual quality of what they put together.

But even so, that still leaves upwards of 10% that’s still absolutely worth it, often time even making up for the 90% you have to trudge through to find it.

Matthew Taranto’s Brawl in the Family is part of the other 10%. A fan comic featured around the world of Nintendo (even if it oftentimes skews heavily towards Kirby), BitF is a comic that even so manages to oftentimes stand on its own feet with comics that are entertaining in their own right and are made better with familiarization with Nintendo’s history rather than just being made understandable.

Not corralling itself into one particular style, Brawl in the Family stretches across a range of layouts and themes, from one-note gags, to long-form multi-comic storylines, to dipping its feet into the realm of horror, to comics that are just plain weird.

And in the end, Matt brought it to a close while he was at the top of his game rather than stretching it out indefinitely and forcing himself to write something he wasn’t happy with, complete with a story arc recognizing that he’s but one of many people who’s influenced the ‘lives’ of the characters he wrote about, and acknowledging the countless others in the past, present, and future that have and will inevitably do the same.

So let’s do just that – pick up where Matthew Taranto left off and add a few more pieces to the lives of these characters. Because Brawl in the Family is proof that the other 10% - especially the other 10% made by so-called amateurs – really does exist and is worth paying attention to.

That includes any play-at-home folks who feel inclined – just go down to the comments section below and try your own hand with a script to SHOW US YOUR MOVES!