At that point, Lynette and Jos were still just in my mind, and quite likely to stay there and eventually fade away, like most of the imaginary characters I meet.
This is not a history of Nick and Lynette's galaxy--one day I hope to draw that story! This is the series of events that led to the comic itself.
How did Retired Galactic Presidents start? It started with Nick. One day an old, retired space hero just turned up in my personal fantasy world (which was set in the science fiction genre at the time) and made himself at home. He took over the story I imagined him in and made himself the star. He developed a personality and some supporting characters. Eventually he became real enough that I needed to DO something with him. When my brother invited me to learn to play the CHILL roleplaying game, Nick got his first shot at being put down on paper, as my game character....
At that point, Lynette and Jos were still just in my mind, and quite likely to stay there and eventually fade away, like most of the imaginary characters I meet.
Then a friend of mine, a magazine editor, told me that another editor she knew was looking for a comic to be a regular feature in his magazine, and that she told him I might be interested. He wanted something funny and political.
Meanwhile, after re-watching the Star Wars trilogy (again) another part of my mind was wondering...What happens to all these space heroes when they get old? If you save the galaxy, if you become president of the galaxy...what then?
The two ideas came together, along with my desire to find a way to bring Nick and Lynette to the comic page, and Retired Galactic Presidents was born.(Later the magazine changed their minds about having a comic, but it was too late for me--I was already in the Katon's employ!)
Drawing Lynette was the next step:
Lynette hasn't ever really changed (more hair now though!) She's one of those rare characters with so much personality that they step off the page and try to run your life. "Why are you reading when you should be drawing?" she would demand. "Get up on that drawing board! Go for it! You can make this great!" In the Dinner of Doom story I wrote a scene where Lynette went out into her garden (which had never existed before that moment) Well, Lynette DEMANDED a ROSE garden. Nothing else but. So I, who knew and cared nothing about roses, had to get some rose books to learn how to draw them. Next thing you know, I was PLANTING the things all over the place. Being possessed by a comic character is a bizarre experience. She's chilled out a little by now, though. (Of course, I don't DARE take away her rose garden.)
Jos Twigget has been Nick's sidekick almost since Nick was first invented, and has not changed much either. He joined Nick as a teenager, assuming that one day he would become a space hero himself (or at least the galaxy's first moribundum rock banjo star.) But here he is, middle aged and still answering Nick's mail for him. It's enough to make anyone bitter and sarcastic.
One of the first drawings of Tehallu, the running villain of this epic! So, have you ever seen a comic book villain in REAL life? Someone who runs around in weird armor, with an army of flunkies, laughing maniacally
, obsessed with destroying the world and getting revenge against anyone who foils his plans? Yeah, right! (Well, MAYBE Newt Gingrich...) Tehallu is a politician, not too different from the Katons themselves. The difference is that his schemes are entirely selfish. Tehallu is clever, charming, urbane, and far too self-interested to go out of his way for revenge--unless the chance is too good to miss! His weapons are politics, bureaucracy, greed, petty annoyance, and character assassination.
The first story (the rescue of the planet Neewhomp) was rewritten several times from the first version. Over time Nick has mellowed outconsiderably, and become more gullible and innocent, to balance out Lynette's cynicism, temper, and suspicious mind.
After the first story was originally written and rough-sketched, I went on to write and sketch Dinner of Doom and King Mouse. There are several more adventures that have been written and even more that are still only in my head.
Two great characters
are introduced in Dinner of Doom--the first is Conundrum. He is Nick's mentor, a religious guru with a huge cult following. He was planned as a minor character, but he's too much fun to drop, so he has other future appearances planned.
In that story, the first flashback occurred. It consisted of Nick explaining to Lynette how he had first met Conundrum, years ago. The flashback was SO much fun (for me, anyway) that flashbacks have become a vital part of the Retired Galactic President style. It's hard to explain Conundrum...you'll meet him when I draw Dinner of Doom.
Another character from Dinner of Doom who wouldn't go away--Ambassador Florb of Glorb. He doesn't speak Human very well, and there are no Glorbian translating machines yet. This causes problems
. He appears in a sequel story (Hostages on Glorb) and will also hang on for future episodes. Florb was inspired in part by a story from Fusion, by Eclipse comics. In the last issue is a story (written by Steve Galacci and drawn by Lela Dowling) where a young lieutenant is sent to pick up an alien ambassador, but a vengeful supply sergeant gives him a defective translator...
Twice I started drawing the Neewhomp adventure. The difficulty of introducing the characters before getting into the actual story killed both attempts. I decided I needed a different story to start out with, one which would illustrate the characters' personalities without added "introductory" segments.
In the Neewhomp story, Nick mentioned his new "unauthorized autobiography" and upcoming libel suit as a throw-away joke. (He met Lynette at the spaceport, and they discussed what each had been up to while she had been away.) The idea of what would happen if Nick actually sued himself had already developed in my mind, and I realized that Katon Vs. Katon would make the perfect introductory story--it starts out with a flashback, Nick acting like Nick, Lynette acting like Lynette, and even a chance for Tehallu and Jos to assert their personalities.
Welcome to my fantasy world--I hope you enjoy your stay!
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