Flatworm Jim was the original pilot of the "Steel Duck." A six-foot-tall intelligent flatworm, Jim’s usefulness was cut short when he was injured, resulting in three versions -- good, bad and a two-headed neutral version. All three (or four) now live on Ralph’s asteroid tending to over 6 million hamsters.
Fred the Monkey was Ralph‘s last foray into augmenting lab animals for other purposes. Fred accidentally jettisoned himself in an emergency escape pod, sending him back to Ralph’s asteroid, where he and the rest of the original crew were created.
Mayberry Melonpool is the television-addicted, somewhat clumsy, not-all-that-intelligent Captain of the "Steel Duck." Oh yeah, and he's obsessed with getting a date. In short, he doesn't have a lot going for him.
Ralph Zinobop is the inventor of the "Steel Duck." He is eager to enter the next phase of his plan: to make money off his inventions to regain his rightful place as ruler of the Planet Zinobop — a planet that he was exiled from by his paranoid father several years ago. His other hobbies include wild get-get-rich schemes and drinking copious amounts of coffee. He also has a terrible temper.
Also, I am surprised at how quickly Ralph was able to deduce that Melonpool was a bad choice for the job… It certainly took him longer to figure that one out in previous continuities. (Especially Jurassic Melonpool.)
In “Jurassic Melonpool,” Ralph was an entirely different character. He actually was closer to Ralphie back then, so I never really addressed the whole “how Mayberry became captain” issue. In the “Old School Melonpool” years, people asked me repeatedly emailed or asked me why Ralph put up with Mayberry as captain. This storyline will hopefully make a little more sense this time around — even though it’s quite a bit different. One of these days, I’ll figure out his many alternate universes and reboots I’ve actually done — I’ve been operating under the usea that this is the second — but this doesn’t cover the Melonpool Chronicles comic book, Palomar College, Jurassic Melonpool among others. Yikes!
One other note — With the reboot, Ralph has a whole set of expressions I haven;t been able to use for about 15 years — the ones reserved for Ralphie. It’s been really interesting for me to write and draw for Ralph with a less-limited palette.
“And Ralph’s been regretting it ever since.”
Here we go again as the saying goes. 🙂
And Ralph grasping a straw to save himself… a rotten, weighthed, termitecrawling straw on fire
Clearly, more than Ralph’s life depended on this.
Also, I am surprised at how quickly Ralph was able to deduce that Melonpool was a bad choice for the job… It certainly took him longer to figure that one out in previous continuities. (Especially Jurassic Melonpool.)
In “Jurassic Melonpool,” Ralph was an entirely different character. He actually was closer to Ralphie back then, so I never really addressed the whole “how Mayberry became captain” issue. In the “Old School Melonpool” years, people asked me repeatedly emailed or asked me why Ralph put up with Mayberry as captain. This storyline will hopefully make a little more sense this time around — even though it’s quite a bit different. One of these days, I’ll figure out his many alternate universes and reboots I’ve actually done — I’ve been operating under the usea that this is the second — but this doesn’t cover the Melonpool Chronicles comic book, Palomar College, Jurassic Melonpool among others. Yikes!
One other note — With the reboot, Ralph has a whole set of expressions I haven;t been able to use for about 15 years — the ones reserved for Ralphie. It’s been really interesting for me to write and draw for Ralph with a less-limited palette.
For a second I thought it was a coincidence, then Doc Brown’s words echoed in my head. Nice first nugget of BTTF reference 🙂
While I miss Ralphie, I like the broader Ralph. Curious how you’re going to ultimately handle this.