Stephen’s Wacky Maze was a concept I had at the age of ten that practically jump started everything I’ve ever done. I had no idea that this silly little drawing would be the catalyst that created an entire universe of stories. The original piece was drawn in the notebook of My Book of Drawings on page 13 which was noted on the cover. As I began to create additions to the series, I eventually decided to remove the original piece from the notebook and place it in a new binder along with the new additions.
When I think back on it, I’m not entirely sure what the inspiration was behind Stephen’s Wacky Maze. Obvious influences like video games are apparent with the use of warps and treasures. But why a maze? I would also assume video games to be somewhat of an influence there as well because they were a big part of my life at the time, and plenty of drawings I did at the time suggest as much.
It all began in 1990 when a 10-year-old boy decided to draw this picture. This was actually drawn inside My Book of Drawings and remained there for sometime until I chose to remove it and put it with the rest of the series. There was no story here. Just an attempt at making my own video game but on paper. I borrowed many elements of games I played at the time, with Zelda II being the primary influence here. I’m not sure where the name came from. I think it was the first thing that came to mind and it just stuck. In the bottom right hand corner the number “13” was written. This was the indication of what page it resided in My Book of Drawings.
The clear influence of video game is still present here. Warp zones, treasures (or tresure as I called it), skeleton keys, and captive kids! It was all there.
The name itself I also a bit of a mystery. At that age, I’m sure I thought I was being clever. Over the years, I became embarrassed by it only to turn around and embrace and even defend it. This is where it began and there’s no shame in that. In part 3, I added a panel at the end of the game that showed a character that was meant to represent me. He had overcome the maze and its subsequent boss and was looking forward to a bright new day. Stephen was not meant to be me necessarily, but a character I wished I could be. I never found it to be a vanity project but escapism, to envision myself in a more interesting world with fascinating people taking part in amazing adventures.
But not really. Being the third entry, I had to up my game. Four starting warps to toss you at a different point in the game. You even had x3 lives and a life bar. This entry is important for three reasons. First, it introduced the Tasdevils with a poorly drawn one down in the lower right hand portion of the maze. Second, it featured the first boss, The Big Boss. His design was a straight rip-off of the main villain in a game called Faxanadu. In fact, that game influenced many elements to this series, which I’ll point out as they appear. And lastly, it featured the first appearance of Stephen. The first drawing I gave him spikey hair but the second picture looked more like a flat top. That design became his trademark look through the series even though it came off looking more like a mohawk. Also I guess you could say that the stories began here, with the defeat of the main baddie bringing about a brand new day!
There wasn’t anything too spectacular about this maze. It tossed in the same tropes as before. However, on the next page, we get to see someone in peril, held captive by this early designed Tasdevil. I never specified who he was, but we can assume he was set free. The idea of a story begins to form as Stephen continues his quest onto another maze.
I upped the ante on warp zone starting points and deadly warp spots, but it’s the usual stuff. Through the warp zone, Stephen finds himself face to face with some sludge monster. Now, I’d like to point out that this monster could have been easily influenced by Hedorah, the Smog Monster from the 1970s Godzilla flick. However, I’m not sure I was that aware of the character at the time. It’s possible but I don’t think I was. Anyway, Stephen beats the monster (in his California Raisin shirt) But is captured on his way to the next maze! We see more Tasdevils and even some creature whose head looks like one and the return of the Big Boss, laughing maniacally!
It wasn’t only myself that I inserted into these adventures. By the sixth entry, I had introduced Jamin who was my best friend at the time. His introduction came after the character of Stephen was captured. How he knew to come after Stephen is unknown. Other friends made cameos as did my own family. It was part of the wish fulfillment to be this kid.
Jamin Sponaugle was one of my best friends in school. I think the reason I enjoyed his company so much was because we had so many things in common, drawing being one of them. When we were kids, I used to admire his art skills. I always felt his stuff far surpassed my own and only dreamed of getting as good as him. I also wanted to be as cool as he was because he was “the coolest kid” and I was far from it. I could only hope to be cool by association. Here, Jamin comes into the world of SWM as a badass! Why he’s here is unknown, but he’s apparently gonna save the day! Now, the big bad here was actually drawn by Mr. Sponaugle. I wanted to make Jamin look more badass so I gave him a Punisher t-shirt. The glasses I gave him to wear were not flattering but he DID have glasses at the time. Stephen seems to be chillin’ in his cell. Once he saves the day and frees Stephen, they set off together in some kind of hover vehicle to go kick some butt! (That was the first bit of dialogue!) This was around the time Back to the Future part II came out and hover boards were all the rage. I couldn’t draw wheels on a vehicle to save my life so I opted for hover vehicles.
After adding a boss fight and a comic panel, the ideas began to grow. Certain boss designs would become staples. Each subsequent entry I did had minor story panels to lead into the next entry. By entry 7, you could see the series slowly evolving into a comic. By entry 11, an opening prologue was added to give some gravity to the story at hand. The boss featured at the end was intended to be the Big Boss and was named as such. He was a powerful demon who had been creating the mazes, the monsters… everything.
I dropped the roman numerals here and the maze wasn’t anything new with the exception of an extra area, Warp World! A few interesting bits here: Stephen’s Hover Palace was something I designed as a school project to create a unique restaurant. I got top prize for that idea! I included it here just because. Honestly, I’m glad I did because without it, it would be a faded memory. Another point of interest is a story is beginning to unfold. Stephen makes his way to this machine (Jamin is noticeably absent) and ponders what it is. However, he sees the Big Boss in a new form kidnapping his family. Stephen rushes to find the right tools to save the day which he does. Stephen decides he’ll stick to video games from now on. That statement clarifies in some way that Stephen knew he was playing a “real” video game! Thinking this could be the end I made credits. Little known role of Arnold Schwarzenegger was Big Boss, which explains his strange dialogue on the last page.
No More Mr. Nice Butt! No instructions? There were never instructions before, so I’m not sure what that means. And I was serious here when I said “no more Mr. Nice Butt!” We can’t have nice butts floating around here. NO MORE! There’s a bit of insanity going on here. Not sure what I was going for exactly. In fact, the story being presented is strange. We have no idea why Stephen has returned. He is seemingly being lured deeper into the abyss by some odd entity, then runs into a mutated Tasdevil which leads him to some strange abomination. Stephen also decided to be funny with (see: bang?). The creature is standing on some device, which was a TMNT slime machine (toys, man). Anyway, Stephen slimes the creature which returns him to his normal form. The man thanks Stephen, who conveniently had clothes for him. Finally, we learn it was all a dream! But Stephen goes to follow the path of the dream only to learn it was not a dream, but a warning! This is all a clear reference to the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2.
The idea behind the design of this maze was to make it that impossible game level that would make you throw your game controller against a wall. Our protagonist in the story is not shown at first but since Stephen was kidnapped, it must be Jamin! How did he know? Beats me! He finds Stephen and must defeat his jailer, a giant goat-faced robot. But he only has three seconds?? What shall he do??? He saves the day only to be kidnapped immediately after by an army of Tasdevils. The Big Boss has returned again and has captured Jamin as bait to lure Stephen into a trap! Apparently, Big Boss thinks Stephen is an asshole….he’s the asshole…jerk.
More wacky maze fun! Stephen must defeat Jamin’s jailer, a T-Rex with long arms! The boss panel is very important because it introduced Stephen’s sword, the design of which came from one of the swords from an NES game called Faxanadu. Over time, Stephen’s sword became more of a crossbreed between that and a lightsaber. It was his primary weapon for the longest time and even when I began trying to revamp the characters, I wanted to see if I could redesign the sword to make it more believable. It was difficult and the reason why A.C. has a staff. Anyway, T-Rex goes POOF! and Stephen catches Jamin from a fiery death. Stephen and Jamin find the exit home as a simple minded Tasdevil holds a bomb until it explodes.
This is the very first time the stories within are fleshed out more. Here we see Stephen going to school only to find his classmates are nowhere to be found. He sees a note that is no doubt from the Big Boss, taunting him to come after his classmates, which he does. This was the first time it was hinted at that there was a direct point of origin to reach what is known here as Wacky World. Stephen just happened to have a machine to create a warp zone to Wacky World, which begins our story. This also marked another first with the title being shown before the maze. Stephen drops in and prepares to journey the maze. For some reason, Big Boss seems surprised he came. The subtitle “That’s it?!” seems to indicate Stephen’s getting a little cocky. The maze may not seem like much but it doesn’t seem like a weak maze either. Stephen fights the Big Boss once again who is now more powerful than ever because of his royal attire. At least, that’s my assumption. But, Stephen came prepared with a BFB (Big Friggin’ Bomb). He drops the bomb upon his adversaries, all the while a Tasdevil eats a booger. Is this the end of the Big Boss? It seems that way. However, a female Tasdevil (you can tell from the bow) escaped Wacky World and is now in our world…laying eggs! (DRAMATIC MUSIC!)
At the end of 11, entry 12 kicked things off with a monster known as a Tasdevil (I know, not very original) breeding an army of Tasdevil variants. By the end, all were obliterated but one. This infant monster was imbued with magic that it used to revive something yet to be revealed.
This entry starts with a brief recap of the last entry, showing the birth of new Tasdevils, complete with powers that they seemingly got from nowhere. While it’s not shown explicitly, one would assume they begin a hellish rampage on our world. Now, I had recently fallen in love with Gremlins 2 and the “variety” of Tasdevils was inspired, if not directly lifted, from that film. Stephen jumps in to begin again. GO! There is no indication that the female Tasdevil went back to Wacky World but as the story progresses (what story there is anyway) you get an indication that she did. “WHA!? A Christmas Special!” Yeah, it was time for that to happen. Christmas specials are always fun! With Big Boss supposedly dead, we’re left with the deduction that the Tasdevils are the architects of the mazes. At least, that’s what seems to make sense. In the boss panel, we see Momma has gotten big! What is Stephen going to do?? He somehow rounds them up into a cage and sets a bomb on it…..don’t ask me how…I don’t know…. BOOM! But he missed one! The Arachnadevil!! Stephen somehow puts a bomb on his back too and BOOM! I swear the kid must shop ACME every day! Stephen is able to enjoy Christmas and then goes to bed. Fed up with his last 12 adventures, Stephen wishes Wacky World away, which does or does not work. However, one undestroyed egg finally hatches and has the power of life as it begins to animate an unknown being….(DRAMATIC MUSIC!)
Entry 13 saw the infant morphed into some bastardized version of the Big Boss, only to reveal it had revived the Big Boss but in a grotesque zombie form. Stephen attempted to put a lid on him for good. Little did he know other forces were at work.
Great!!! I don’t think Stephen was excited…more of a sarcastic “great”…because even though he thought he destroyed it, Wacky World still exists. Now for whatever reason, Stephen seems to be transforming into something on these pages. Perhaps the influence of something in this newly reformed world is affecting him. He finds the infant Tasdevil which has grown into a king! See? All about the power! Stephen defeats him only to learn that the Tasdevil King revived the Big Boss, but in a more Frankenstein manner. The beast was all-powerful! How was he ever going to defeat him?? With a wand of course! Stephen vaporizes Big Boss and even stops him from reviving from his own egg?? “One day!” he proclaims. The Big Boss is no more. Just a fossilized skeletal structure. Stephen and his friends hang out and play chess (because that’s what kids did back in the 90s). However, Death looms nearby.
In entry 14 and 15, we are introduced to two characters who are essentially the Grim Reaper and the Devil. It seems they were pulling the strings. Why? Because for a ten-year-old kid, they personified evil, and I needed the evilest characters EVER! While I don’t think it was specifically started, Stephen was meant to be the “chosen one.” You know that old trope. Again, for a kid, it sounded good at the time. By the end of 15, I wasn’t sure if I would do another. Where do you go after defeating the worst evil? Make an even worse evil.
After a quick recap of entry 13, we see an unknown force breathing “life” onto Big Boss. We see Stephen and his pals again and Death looking happy as hell. In the next panel, we see two reapers, one being forced to go after Stephen. The leader here is not Big Boss, but an unseen threat that’s apparently been looming in the shadows. To destroy Stephen, they drag him back into Wacky World. “Say what?!?” It got all sassy up in here! This began the lengthier stories in the series. As Stephen fights the Grim Reaper, we learn that it was a recently revived and fully healed Big Boss who is tired of fighting Stephen and has decided to turn over a new leaf and help him. Why? Because villains turning good was popular or something. Afterwards, Stephen finds some vampire supplies and looks in amazement with derp face. Now, Stephen and his arch-nemesis are the best of friends! But the Bigger Boss isn’t having any of that! (That’s not his name, by the way). A chase gives way through another maze until Stephen eventually finds himself cornered by this bastardized Tasdevil. Once he defeated the creature, he is grabbed by the Bigger Boss (still not his name). When all hope is lost, Jamin returns to save the day and holds back the baddie with the power of the palm, which somehow works in a gruesome fashion. Stephen and Jamin toss the Bigger Boss (again…) and the Reaper into a vat of acid that just happened to be lying around. They say their good-byes to their new friend and are glad that it is finally over.
A quick recap shows that our heroes were wrong. It’s not over. One thing I’d like to note here is the slight change in art style. It’s not improved greatly but it seems to be growing. Our supernatural antagonists feel that the best way to get the attention of our heroes is to murder some random shlubs that they just happen to run across. But hey it works because after seeing the wounds of the victims, they know what’s going on. Stephen goes to confirm his suspicions which turn out to be true, much to his dismay. He grabs Jamin and they set forth on another adventure. This was the first time the title was not present above the maze, giving it more of a comic book feel than it had. We see some banter between our heroes about how to defeat the big bads. Their idea is absolutely ridiculous but whatever. They eventually find a controller with a button. Suddenly they become characters in a Tex Avery cartoon, freaking out over the giant Tasdevil general, complete with helmet! The Tasdevil could eat them but instead he eats poison meat, which kills him. But they decide to light him on fire too, just in case. They continue their journey only to run into the Reaper. Clearly the acid did nothing to him. Maybe ruined his robe. They attack and defeat the Reaper but then run into the Bigger Boss, who was probably supposed to be the Devil even though I never said that…never really gave him a name…but here he is half-melted, assuming the acid worked on him, at least somewhat. At some point, Stephen dropped the controller with the button which he steps on and unleashes Big Boss upon Bigger Boss! Convenient! With Big Boss’s help, they defeat the baddies and take their spirits (?) and shove them into a cannon (??) and shoot them into Heaven (???) I have never done drugs but you’d never know it. BOOM AAAAAAAH!!!! To which Stephen responds, “Golly!“….(sigh)
Entry 16 is where things got deep. I have always been fascinated with dark versions of good characters. I understand the concept is contrived, but in my opinion when it’s done well it can be fascinating. Since ideas from Zelda II were constantly sources of inspiration, Shadow was conceived to be the next big threat. While his origins were simple and uninspiring, I wanted to make him feel like a true threat. So much so that I had Stephen get beaten to near death by Shadow. Luckily, Jamin was able to help Stephen from being killed and eventually the day was won.
If you missed it at the end of the last entry, sprinkly stuff fell from the clouds which I’m guess was evil magic. This magic infects Stephen’s shadow and BOOM new villain. Shadow was instructed to make his way to the Wall (as it came to be known) to continue the work of our other baddies. Before he does that, he kills a local vagrant just because. Surprisingly, the officer who witnessed it knows exactly what Stephen’s shadow looks like and KNEW it was his shadow so he goes to question him. That’s a hell of a detective. Stephen is obviously shocked and the officer’s brilliant detective skills make him so observant that he notices Stephen has no shadow. Stephen knows what’s going on but can’t explain it, and the officer has dick to prove Stephen murdered anyone so it’s all good. Stephen immediately takes off to the wall alone and is confronted a new maze, which is meant to be seen as extremely hard but doesn’t look like it at all. Hey, we’re sixteen mazes in, we have to keep ramping this shit up. Shadow confronts Stephen and beats him within an inch of his life, something none of his other adversaries did. Sure, they may have kidnapped him but not this. Shadow proclaims, “I’m your toughest challenge yet,” and it shows. Stephen musters the strength to call Jamin via a walkie-talkie that can communicate through dimensions. Cool tech, bro. Jamin rushes to help his friend only to be caught immediately upon entering. The minions take Jamin to Shadow, who calls him a fool for coming after Stephen whom you think he would have killed during this time. Jamin uses another classic bomb out of the pocket and hits Shadow with it, who somehow lost an eye from the blast. However, Shadow has a heal ball and super charges himself into Super Shadow (I would imagine that’s who he is now). Jamin lunges for the ball but Shadow tosses it away… which seems dumb but we have a story to tell. Jamin goes after the ball into another section of the maze.
This entry also wound up being the longest of the series. It was at this point I was starting to get a desire to tell stories. The concept went beyond anything I had considered before and upon finishing it, I wasn’t sure where to go from here. Eventually, the idea to end the series came about since there were only so many ways to draw a maze and I really didn’t know where to go from here. So, entry 17 was hastily put together to end it all. While I don’t hate 17, I wish I had stopped at 16 since it felt like a proper finale.
Some time has passed although it’s not specifically stated how much. Stephen’s new hair style should let out know that things have changed. The inhabitants of Wacky World are dying until Stephen throws his sword into the ground which revives….utter nonsense…They lure him back to Wacky World but fortunately for him, these guys are dopes. The maze idea had gotten a bit stale so I copped out here. Stephen fought the same generic baddies as before. Again… …and again…oh on this page we learn that the magic powder is poison! Who knew?? So he goes to fight another baddie… …again…and uses said poison to stop him. Then he steals something from the corpse. A random cat runs by and he drops what he stole causing his sword to fall in it as well. Apparently it was yucky. But then the secret weapon arrives: the Robo-Devil!! They can’t make mazes but they can make this…. Stephen uses his sword which I guess became more powerful in the yucky stuff and uses it to malfunction the Robo-Devil, thereby destroying it and ending this mess once and for all…AGAIN.
After I decided to end Stephen’s Wacky Maze, I still wanted to utilize Stephen as a character in some way but wasn’t quite sure how. To test the waters of straight storytelling minus the mazes, I chose to write a continuation to Stephen’s Wacky Maze called Stephen’s Weird Adventure that would be narrative driven. The story tries to explain how this evil kept coming back, but it’s ridiculous and not one of my favorite works. But it was a first.
I believe this was the first appearance of Stephen’s jacket look. It’s a look I kept him in going forward. The cover art was done by Jamin Sponaugle featuring Stephen slaughtering some Tasdevils. Clearly, a much different style than my own. Stephen and Jamin are now older. Stephen finds the corpse of a Tasdevil on the way to a party, clearly a very swanky one! He finds Jamin and shows him what he’s found. Jamin agrees to help take care of whatever is happening, but Stephen decides to get more help. He enlists the help of two other friends: Scott and Ryan. Together, they set out to investigate a mysterious building that appeared as soon as they were prepared. Stephen breaks in with ease and they head inside. Such a phenomenon did not escape the eye of the Carthage Courier, who was able to interview AND publish a story about our heroes during the time they went inside. Anyway, the Tasdevils are setting traps and look decayed as hell. The main baddie cut his own arm because that’s what the cool kids were doing. Our heroes make their way to the army of Tasdevils to find their leader. The head Tasdevil tells Stephen that as long as his heart still beats, they will live. He wasn’t as eloquent as that but you get the point. Stephen understands the riddle and insists on a heart transplant because they’re easy to come by (right?). A scientist appears randomly and wanted to research a Tasdevil. So our remaining trio is sent to retrieve one. Fortunately one came looking for them and made the search pointless. For whatever reason, I was trying to explain the anatomy of these creatures, but it never goes anywhere in the story. Here, Stephen has speedily recovered from his heart transplant, and the doctor hands his old heart over. No questions asked. The scientists “fix” the Tasdevil which then kills them upon resurrection, gruesomely I might add. The Tasdevil grows in size and attacks more innocent people. Soon, Stephen destroys the heart (which should have already killed them since it no longer beats…) and sends the Tasdevil into an insane transformation process, showcasing previous iterations from the series. After being handed a $50.00 bill for his surgery (obviously no real concept of cost), Stephen thanks his friend and walks off into the sunset. THE END!
After this story, I was eager to move Stephen in a new direction. At first, nothing initially came to mind. But then I began developing an idea around a little hideout I created down in the creek next to my house. That idea opened the door to the wider universe I was creating. I just didn’t realize it at the time.
After some time away from the series, I thought it might be fun to revisit Stephen’s Wacky Maze with Stephen now being a full-fledged superhero. Remembering the hero of legend, the people of this land sent a beacon to summon him back to fight back the returning evil. He followed the call and went to rescue this world. The story did nothing more than return the character to his roots, making me wish I had done more with the idea than what I did.
This was a story I did just for fun. This took place some time after the original stories. Stephen had recently joined with the Destructors and after awhile he took a break. But, it didn’t last long. Once the ancient hero of Wacky Land (or Wacky World… I wasn’t consistent), Stephen White defeated the evil Tasdevils and the Devil (aka Bigger Boss). It then became a peaceful land, ruled by King Sataris, who was rescued by the hero when he was a boy, who may have been first seen in entry 3. The king recognized the impending doom on the horizon and decided to find their lost hero. Stephen has to remember the wall and make his way back. Something happens in the narrative but I’m not sure what. Eventually, Spike the Tasdevil teams up with the Devil and the Reaper and presents Stephen with a new maze. Stephen fights the Reaper then finds a controller like before to call Big Boss for an assist. They have to stop leaving those things around. Stephen fights the Devil. Big Boss fights Spike. Ultimately, the heroes win. King Sataris offers his crown to Stephen but declines. Instead, he nominates Big Boss for the crown, who accepts. Big Boss sends Stephen home where he is greeted by Lightning Bolt, letting him know his vacation is over. THE END!
That story pretty much closed the door on that chapter of Stephen’s life. The character, not me. From there, his primary book became The Destructors. However, there were some aspects about the character, as well as other ideas, that I was interested in exploring. Yet The Destructors was not the appropriate place to tell these stories. I needed to consider an alternative.
TASDEVILS 2020 (1992)
Tasdevils 2020 is important for many reasons. First and foremost, this was my first attempt at writing a full story. Most of my comics were two to three pages at best. So, the fact that this particular story spanned over 22 pages is a huge step up. Furthermore, my approach to this story was to view it through the lens of an actual movie. This is an approach I had not considered before, but would adopt and expand upon as time went on.
I’m honestly not sure where the idea for this story came from. Part of me thinks that it came from this desire to write a story in the future. Another part of me considers this my first attempt at horror. I always envisioned the poorly-named Tasdevils to be vicious creatures. I think the key reason they resemble sharks is because that was the largest predator I knew of that terrified me. Give them arms and claws and they become scarier. So, I believe I was inspired by creature features I loved at the time to make a horror movie centered around Tasdevils.
Despite that, this reads as a follow-up to Stephen’s Wacky Maze, almost like a legacy sequel 30 years later.
Again, since I had not adopted a cinematic approach to my movie comics yet, I put in comic reference notes like you would see in actual comics, so you know what issue of a comic series to look for if you are unfamiliar with the events being discussed. It seemed relevant at the time. Anyway, Junior complains about “Dishrags” who is the son of Rags from the Vein Voodoo Team, seen in the pages of The Battles at Fort Destruction. I guess it felt like an appropriate moniker, even though it’s ridiculous. As Stephen tells Junior all about his exploits, Dishrags finds his father’s old magic wand and book of magic. Without hesitation, the little bastard revives the Tasdevils., or at least five of them. Five very distinct Tasdevils that have apparently been seen before. While none of them have ever had names before, here they were given the most simplistic names to match their… personalities (?). We have The Boss, P.M.S. (which is a terrible joke I didn’t understand at 12), Spike, Mouth, and Hunger. Once introductions are out of the way, they decide to go on a killing spree.
Despite being a police captain, Stephen learns of the murders via the news. It seems some local beat cops are looking into it. Meanwhile, the now-Commissioner (not “commishoner”) Barkus drops by to seemingly criticize Stephen for… not being a better hero, whatever that means. In fact, the whole scene probably played out so much better in my head but falls apart on paper. Without defining specifically what happened, I wanted to give a sense of what could have occurred that would have led to Stephen walking away from the Destructors and becoming a police officer. The scene also drops in the interesting detail about a former enemy, Mirror, being a friend. Mirror was an evil doppelganger created by Rags in The Battles at Fort Destruction. So, what would have led to them becoming allies? Whatever it was, Stephen claims he had to do it, whatever IT was. But one of them will return one day. I think this was a poor attempt at foreshadowing.
Junior finds the Tasdevils’ secret lair, a trope that I didn’t realize I used very frequently. Junior gets inside and rescues Stephen with no issues. He give Stephen all of his weapons, and they continue killing Tasdevils. But then from out of nowhere, Dishrags uses the wand to shoot at Junior. Junior was smart enough to grab a mirror and deflect the energy blast back. But little did Junior know that using a mirror to deflect magic causes Mirror to appear. And Dishrags was so upset at Junior that he takes another shot, only to hit Stephen’s shadow. But little did Dishrags know that using the wand on Stephen’s shadow would cause Shadow to appear. Their appearances feel as shoe-horned in as Lance.
Having not read over this story for some time, I started to think I had completely forgotten to reference Junior’s mother. But I apparently saved her existence for the sake of a joke. One could make the assumption up to that point that Stephen was either divorced or a widower. I would have gone with the latter since that feels more in line with a reason he would have walked away from the Destructors.
This story feels like an odd one-off, yet its status of being my first “movie” comic is fittingly ironic since the narrative comes from my first series. I’m not sure if this concept works without the history behind it, but it could be the foundation for a wild creature feature.
TASDEVILS II
At some point, I had an idea for a sequel for Tasdevils 2020 that would have expanded what little lore I had created for these creatures. Before finding the one-sheet, I wasn’t particularly sure what my plans were for this story. According to the synopsis I wrote, Spike, Mouth, and Hunger were still alive, attempting to go back to their world. But upon returning home, their entire world had flipped upside-down with Tasdevils now living like humans. So, now the trio must return their world back to what it used to be. Sounds like a fresh approach, but it never went beyond a concept. I also recall an idea that Darkness had enslaved the Tasdevils to be his servants. But again, never really explored that idea.
Clearly, I was excited to get started on it since I drew two pages. However, Junior’s design is drastically different that in the original story. This leads me to believe that this idea struck me as I was working on overhauling the original story.
TASDEVILS: THE CLASSIC MOVIES
At a particular point in my life, I began a series of remakes for several of my comics. I wanted to not only improve the art style since mine was improving, but also enhance the stories to give them more substance. While I started this idea with several of my comic series’, I eventually moved to remake my film comics. I had forgotten that I had planned this remake until I located these drawings, showing that it was in the works at some point. In fact, I started working on it on at least three separate occasions, based on the drawings I found.
Looking over the cast list, I believe that I took a different approach to the material. Remember that in the original version, I never mentioned nor showed Junior’s mother. Here, she is not only in the opening scene when Junior gets home, but her name is prominently featured in the cast. The character “Ashley Hill” was not Stephen’s eventual love interest in later comic stories featuring the character. So that tells me that I was writing this particular remake as a spin-off sequel to another film project I had written previously.
STEPHEN’S WACKY MAZE: THE MOVIE (1995)
Film adaptations made in the 80s and 90s took quite a few creative liberties with the source material they were adapting. Not knowing WHY certain aspects couldn’t be translated over properly made me believe that all film adaptations had to boil down the essence of what the original thing was and then streamline it into a film. Nothing was a direct adaptation, but you could see the influences. Movies like this always made me feel like it was impossible to see the likes of Spider-Man on the big screen. The reason they had him fight two-bit criminals on a live-action TV show was because you couldn’t do Doc Ock or the Green Goblin in live-action, right? Money was not a factor in my mind. It was simply the fact that it could not be done. This could explain my reasoning for certain creative choices I made for this adaptation.
When I scanned these pages, I realized how much of this story I had forgotten. Reading over it, I have quite a bit to say about it. And seeing how this is a full comic at 24 pages, my commentary will be covering three pages at a time with some side notes in-between. So, without further adieu, let’s dive in.
From there, we are introduced to Stephen and Ashley. Who is Ashley? She was the contrived love interest I created just for the movie. At this point, I hadn’t created a proper love interest for the character of Stephen in The Destructors, so I had nothing to pull from directly. I’m also not sure why I chose that name specifically. There was no Ashley in my life that I remember having a crush on at that time, so this one just might be random. I really tried to build a foundation for the story, allowing you to get to know our protagonist. We learn that Stephen is a psychiatrist, another random choice that I can’t quite explain. I think I wanted him to seem boring and unthreatening, so when then the Wackos attempt to kidnap him, it’s unexpected for everyone when he fights back. But why does he suddenly fight back? What was this mysterious twinkle in his eye?
Being more aware of production companies at this point, I began branding my stories under certain banners. Those banners were genre dependent. Horror films would be a “Horror Inc.” production. Action-adventure films would be an “Action-Packed” production. Comedies would be a “Comedy Club” production. You get the gist. And since this story dabbled in a mix of both action and horror, it felt fun to make it a collaborative production. This had no bearing on anything, other than me attempting to make this stuff professional.
Considering how I had designed him originally, I was looking to redesign him in a new way. Stephen’s more adult look had led me to a design with long hair, as opposed to the flat top look he originated with. I followed similar logic with Sponaugle and worked to give him a look that set it apart, but didn’t feel like it would be foreign to the character. I also made sure to make him important to the story and make his appearance nothing more than a cameo. His character was just as important in the original story. So when the Wackos decide to come for Stephen again in the club, Sponaugle wastes no time in helping. His character comes off more like a wild card in the version, having zero qualms about jumping into a crowd. Stephen give chase to the Wackos who grabbed Ashley. He spots them heading down an alley and follows them only to find…
Almost immediately upon his arrival, Stephen is attacked by… let’s call them Hell Troopers for now, since I never properly named them. Stephen’s survival instincts kick in again, leading him to attack the Hell Troopers with rocks and nab himself a sweet “flying rocket board” because I couldn’t say “hover board.” I guess I could have, but I knew it couldn’t be used in the REAL movie so… here we are. Anyway, Stephen sees a castle in the distance and figures that’s where he needs to go. Before long, Stephen infiltrates the castle and acquires his jacket and a blaster. These are minor details that are quite pointless in many prequels. But since I had seen their inclusions time and time again, I followed suit and included these very important moments. Stephen enters the castle to be greeted by the voice of Darkness. He makes a point to refer to the labyrinth before him as his own personal Hell, something that was probably meant to explain what the mazes were supposed to be.
We then cut to see Ashely being surprising calm about the whole situation, asking for a bit of exposition so we understand Darkness’s motives. Darkness describes a very convoluted plot involving kidnapping, setting a trap, etc. However, after monologuing about his plan, Darkness is informed that there is an intruder and it’s not Stephen…
I wanted to interrupt here for a moment since the plan has now been revealed. When I was younger, I loved “chosen one” type stories. It was a simple explanation that covered all the bases. Why was the character so strong or so capable of extraordinary feats? He was the chosen one. What other reason did you need? For this story, it seemed like a good enough explanation since there were demons involved. Why else would they want to kill him? Over time, I’ve come to dislike that trope since I don’t find it as compelling. And I feel like this story is a revision or two away from being a halfway decent script. I just need to figure out the “why” of it all.
At this point of my life, I identified myself as a Christian and attended sermons and Sunday school weekly at a nearby Methodist church that my uncle preached at. When I wrote this story, the inclusion of a correspondence with God didn’t feel… I guess “wrong” would be the correct word. And I know some may take that comment the wrong way, but I was not writing a faith-based screenplay where everyone understands the importance of God’s grace. This was an action film about the chosen one fighting demons. That’s it. So, the idea of Stephen essentially getting wishes from God to win the day feels like the worst example of a cop-out to deal with that and upcoming problems. It’s not the prayer part, as many with or without faith will start praying when death is calling. It’s the wish part that I dislike here.
In an attempt to condense seventeen chapters of a series into a movie idea, I had to make some creative choices to make certain story beats happen. In this adaptation, I chose to inflict amnesia onto Big Boss, as opposed to him just defecting. It’s a choice that I do not care for as it feels shoe-horned in. In saying that, I also acknowledge that I never gave him a proper reason to defect in the first place. So… I’m not sure what the correct approach is.
Even though I’m criticizing it now, at the time I completed it, I was extremely proud of this story. When you compare how I was writing only five years prior, you can see the evolution of my writing skills. I was actually taking the time to pace the story beats, as opposed to rushing to the next panel for action. But as I say that, I must acknowledge that I completely abandoned the character of Big Boss in the final act. Once he gets amnesia, he is sent off and never seen again. He should have at least appeared during the final showdown. Not sure why that was never addressed.
I’m also not sure that I would take this approach to the material today, but it’s not a bad foundation to start from. Who knows? I may give this the remake treatment if the right approach comes to me. Also, as I was sifting through more drawings, I came across an older version of the first page. I’m not quite sure why I stopped on the first page with this version, but I’m happy that I did. I can tell that I had just transitioned to the newer style, so the finished version would have looked sub-par.
STEPHEN’S WACKY MAZE II: TROUBLE IN WACKYLAND
I was really excited when I found my notebook that held the sequel to Stephen’s Wacky Maze: The Movie. For a time, I thought it had been lost. Upon finding it and skimming over it, I was surprised by how much I had forgotten. I was even more surprised to discover that this particular story was the longest one that I ever committed to paper. Most of the ones I have uploaded up to this point were, at most, an average of about 16 pages. This story is double that.
My memories as to why I wrote a sequel are hazy. At some point before I wrote the movie idea, I had an idea to do a sequel series to Stephen’s Wacky Maze. I drew some new characters and began developing basic plot elements. I’ll go into more detail about it later. When the idea of writing a sequel to Stephen’s Wacky Maze: The Movie came about, I first considered the location. Since I abandoned the idea of “Wackyland” in the first film, I thought it could be fun to explore in this story. And because I had already designed some new villains for the sequel series idea, I decided to just use them in this film instead. I knew I could still use them in that series since they aren’t connected.
Over time, I believe this story was coming together faster than the sequel series, so I continued to cannibalize from that concept until I had nothing wholly original for it. This might also explain why this particular story became so long, as it was a melding of two story ideas. As I mentioned before, I haven’t read this story in quite some time. I have already misremembered certain details regarding the story, so my thoughts and feelings will be seen in real time as you read though this one. Let’s get this epic started.
The next morning, Ashley is out of bed trying to wake up Stephen. Stephen struggles but Ashley insists they have about twenty minutes left before they need to leave for his parent’s house. Stephen acknowledges that she is his rock and soon leave the house. Meanwhile, in the city behind the club Inferno, two criminals have a disagreement and shoot each other. Their deaths activate Death’s scythe in Darkness’s former realm. The scythe opens the portal through the nearby wall and extracts the soul of the criminals.
Immediately, I’m already wincing at the structure of this story. Death inexplicably comes back because two people killed themselves near the wall?? That’s some shaky logic. Then his plan to use pure good to transform into pure evil sounds like the most basic plot idea that needs to be additional development to refine it into something better. I think that approach was my way of giving this world some significance. If they weren’t in Hell, then why would they terrorize this other realm? And while we’re on the subject, I should vent about the name “Wackyland.” The unfortunate name of this world could have been anything else, but I stuck with “Wackyland” because of the title of my comic. Contextually, it works but I’ve never cared for the name.
A few more pages in and I continue to wince. So, in my head, I believe Wackyland was meant to be a pet project for God. Like he created one world in secret with humans to see if they are incorruptible. It seems like they are to a point, and this experiment would have failed if they were allowed out. But God isn’t going to admit failure… See? These are the story beats I should have explored, but those are vastly different approaches to the material. I think if I had treated the Christian “God” like other deities, the stories might feel more nuanced. Right now, it feels like they are structured to ensure to no blasphemy or something equivalent. This can easily be improved.
Stephen asks Sam if he can help him find Death’s chamber. Sam says sure and guides him to a room full of different paths. As Stephen steps in, a door closes behind him, sealing Sam out of the room. Soon a voice begins speaking to Stephen, telling him he was the last resort should Body Parts and Poison fail to stop him. This last resort turns out to be a clone of Stephen. The clone starts beating the hell out of Stephen as Sam tries to get inside, eventually breaking through a wall.
In the center of town sits a shrine, housing a sword. Stephen grabs the hilt and removes the sword. Now, he’s ready. Back at Death’s fortress, Death praises the clone, whose name is apparently Evil, for a job well done. Unfortunately for them, their celebration was premature. Stephen rides Sam into the fortress, headed straight for Death’s chamber. However, they are intercepted by Evil, who bursts through a wall to find them. Sam uses his momentum and rams into Evil, using his fists to knock Evil back through several walls.
As excited as I was to review this story, I came out the other side very disappointed. I am constantly reminded by my wife that I wrote these stories when I was a child, even though I wouldn’t consider fifteen or sixteen as a child. But I was still young, still learning how to properly write stories. Furthermore, the amount of stories and characters I created and maintained is quite impressive at that age. So, even though I feel disappointed about it, that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved upon. There’s a solid foundation here. The story just needs a hefty revision.
It does feel like that was the sentiment I felt at another point in time, as referenced by this updated one-sheet poster I drew. In this drawing, Stephen is getting married, not going to his parent’s house for Christmas. The text also renames Wackyland as Peace, and even introduces a new character named Kulani. So, clearly I came up with a different approach, but I’m not sure I would even sign off on that idea just yet.
While I did have story ideas for Stephen’s Wacky Maze III, this one was unfortunately never written. The initial concept was about an ancient demon that had been imprisoned by other high-level demons in an attempt to usurp his power. Once this demon is set free, he goes on a rampage, destroying everything and everyone he blames for this slight. I felt as though I needed to escalate everything to the brink of apocalypse, but I couldn’t crack the narrative. Maybe I’ll come back around to it at some point.
STEPHEN’S WACKY MAZE VOL. 2
As I was expanding my comic book universe, I previously travelled to the future to introduce Stephen’s son, Junior, who became a member of the Destructors for a time due to a time-travel incident. Additionally, I had also taken Robo-Rabbit to the year 2093, which led me to consider the lives of the ancestors of the Destructors. This led to the creation of Stephen White IV and the Destructors of 2095. For the record, if I were writing this today, I wouldn’t make each subsequent generation a namesake for Stephen. For some reason, it sounded cool at the time.
As I was developing these ideas, it occurred to me that I completely jumped over Stephen’s grandson. Who was he? What was his story? Considering his son and great-grandson were already established as Destructors, I thought it could be fun to do a sequel series to Stephen’s Wacky Maze featuring his grandson as the protagonist instead. This is an instance where having the grandson named “Stephen” would actually work in the character’s favor.
The story begins in 2047 in Wacky World. I guess the realm evolved from a “land” into a “world”. Anyway, we see some people, a bolt of lightning strikes the ground and the Reaper appears. The residents of Wacky World fight back, but unfortunately cannot win the battle. Meanwhile on Earth, Junior is tending to his aging father. Stephen begins muttering something about mazes. Back in Wacky World, the Reaper peers into a crystal ball, seeing Stephen in his current state. He chooses not to pursue him, but his grandson instead. The Reaper then cobbles together a general and an army using whatever is lying around. He then puts the army to work constructing something. He then creates another general but he’ll get around to naming him later. Right now, the army has completed whatever the task was, and the Reaper is ready to drag Stephen III into Wacky World. So, they turn on some machine that acts as a tracking device and pulls Stephen III into Wacky World. Stephen III looks around puzzled and eventually finds a map…
For some reason, building to the event is easy for me. But once we get to the big show, it becomes a matter of “what next?” I would assume the next panel would have been of the actual maze. That could have been the reason I stopped, because I had no plan for a maze. But even that feels like a flimsy excuse since the story feels shallow. No reasons given for why the Reaper reappeared or why he just decided to forego his aged nemesis in favor of the younger version. I’m sure all of this made since to the 12-year-old who came up with the idea. Regardless, it didn’t hinder me from taking another crack at the material.
The year is 2047 and the place is Wackyland, not that Wacky World shit. So, these citizens are minding their own business when a bolt of lighting strikes and reforms the Reaper. These citizens seem to be more of a security detail and immediately attack the Reaper. Nothing works and the Reaper kills them all in his castle which is where we were the whole time. On Earth, Stephen III is visiting his grandfather as the Reaper watches from his crystal ball. He chooses to pursue Stephen III and begins building his new army…
You would think that on a second attempt that I would have gotten farther than I did initially. But I’m going to guess that the idea was still in development, so I wasn’t completely sure what my approach was going to be. So, once again, I shelved the project until I had a more solid idea to work with.
The year is now 2050 in Wackyland. Three soldiers hideout in Darkness’s old castle. One is injured and bleeding, with blood dripping all over the floor. The blood is absorbed by something in the floor, which then forms into the Reaper. The Reaper wastes no time in killing each of the soldiers in a gruesome fashion. On Earth, Stephen, now an old man, feels that something is off. His grandson, Stephen III, drops by for a visit but is asked to come back later since Stephen isn’t feeling well. The Reaper begins rebuilding his army, cobbling together bits and pieces from things lying around. He then sends them out into Wackyland to conquer. Back on Earth, Stephen III is walking down the sidewalk, thinking about his grandfather when his attention is grabbed by a glow emanating from a brick wall down an alleyway. He reaches his hand out to touch it and is immediately sucked in. He lands on the other side of the portal in Wackyland, wearing new clothes somehow. He stares a giant shiny block sitting in an empty field before being shot at by one of the Reaper’s new Hell Troopers.
It seems that I had changed my approach to the material somewhat, which got me a bit farther into the narrative. But not by much. I really wonder why I struggled so hard to make this into a series. Perhaps, I was trying so hard not to rehash the same old story that I kept running into familiar tropes I couldn’t get away from. I also find it fascinating that if you look at the concept art below, the character of Body Parts seems to have been a late addition.
While I never wrote this story to completion, I thought about it quite a bit. As I mentioned earlier, so much of this concept was used in Stephen Wacky Maze II: Trouble in Wackyland that I’m guessing that’s why the whole thing fell apart. Since I couldn’t crack the narrative for another series, I began thinking about the concept as a graphic novel. With that shift in approach, I changed the working title to Stephen’s Wacky Maze: Damnation. The narrative would have seen Stephen’s grandson led to Wackyland to save the day, all while Death is destroying Earth. But that too was an idea that I was considering for a third movie idea. So, I need to pick a lane and stay with it.
HEAVEN, HELL, AND THE PLANET EARTH
Over time, all the plans I had for these characters and this universe I built fell by the wayside. I had no time to do the things I wanted to do with them. Some years back, I began looking at these characters and the stories I wrote for them. These were stories written by a kid who didn’t quite have the proper skills to do right by these creations. So, I began thinking about a reboot. Based on the ideas I had, how could I tell the best possible version of that story now? I drew several sketches trying to redesign the characters into something more interesting. I even wrote a 12-episode outline that fleshed out the villains, added some new characters and even some twists into the mix. Unfortunately, the outline is as far as I’ve gotten.
THE CLASSIC ISSUES
At some point in 1993, I had an idea to redraw some of my comics. My art style had improved somewhat, and the writing wasn’t very good to begin with. So, I figured I could improve upon what I had already created. I’m not sure what truly inspired this idea. And I wish I had waited a few more years before attempting this. I think everything would have been improved significantly. Looking over these, I’m almost inspired to do it again. Almost…
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it as they say. I kind of wish I had added in some additional story beats at the beginning. Just to actually flesh out the story.
Same goes for this one as well. So much so that I even misspelled “treasure” again.
Just like in the original series, issue #3 is when things get interesting. Instead of treating this like a game, I added actions to help explain what is going on. Here, we see Stephen use a trampoline to jump over Big Boss’s head and strap a bomb to him. The bomb goes off and suddenly, Stephen is back home. The house I drew is about as close to accurate as I could make it. But that window was where my room was. Also, unlike the original series, the stories run together. After returning home, Stephen spots a portal outside of his house, so he goes to investigate.
This is where some additional story beats would have been nice. So after discovering the portal outside of his house, Stephen enters without hesitation. We learn that a friend of his has been kidnapped, once we reach the boss. In the original series, the kidnapped individual was never identified. Here, the friend looks to be Jamin Sponaugle. This may have been to maintain consistency. In any case, Stephen thinks he’s on his way out, but soon realizes he’s in another maze.
Additions here include seeing how the sludge monster gets defeated, a few extra panels showing Stephen being captured, and Jamin finding his way to the portal. I’d like to point out how I had given Jamin a makeover in this remake. As I mentioned above, at the time I was drawing these, Jamin DID wear glasses. Since my artistic skills weren’t that great at 10, I never felt like I drew him in a flattering light. Here, I had a chance to rectify that. So, I removed the glasses and instead focused on his hair.
My first attempt at drawing the chainsaw creature was not as good as Jamin’s, in my opinion. You’ll also note that I didn’t censor myself. I said “ass” this time! That could have been another reason I did this. Uncut and uncensored!
More detail was put into this story, but not enough to clarify things. After rescuing his parents and brother, Stephen sets a bomb and leads them out. Once he’s home he takes a nap, as opposed to the original ending where he comments about sticking to video games. This change was meant to help explain the confusing narrative of #9, but I don’t think it clarified much.
So, immediately, I removed the “no more Mr. Nice Butt” subtitle. I had issues with swearing as a kid. It was that thing I was not allowed to use, but I really wanted to. So, things like that were my way “pushing” boundaries. The narrative is still confusing, outside of learning that this entire issue was a dream which is why Stephen took a nap in the previous issue. See? Connective tissue. After waking up, Stephen heads outside, only to be kidnapped on the way out. Now, it’s up to Jamin to save the day. How he knew there was a problem is beyond. One panel of Stephen calling him would have explained enough.
As the stories became more narrative, it became a bit easier to structure scenes. This issue is very much replicated perfectly with several additional scenes that help clarify the action. Not sure why this one felt as though I had stepped up my game a bit.
Not much to comment on here outside of my bad spelling. “You’re” not “your”. However, there is one detail worth noting. This issue was originally where we first saw Stephen’s sword. Here, the sword is not pictured, but instead a knife.
In the original story, it was never explicitly stated that Stephen’s classmates were kidnapped. So I worked to clarify that detail. I also added some extra dialogue between Big Boss and the Tasdevil, in hopes of fleshing out the character of Big Boss. I do not feel as though I fleshed out much. I may notice one little detail that was added that implies the Big Boss has been EVERY boss up to this point.
But Stephen does identify him as the ringleader. Everything plays out about the same, except for the middle finger on the bomb. I swear, Stephen must have had some serious technical skills, or he had a Looney Tunes-style bag that he just pulls shit from. We also get to see the little female Tasdevil escape their realm and enter our world.
I’ve always believed this story marked a turning point for me. I didn’t mention it above, but this story felt like I was finally thinking outside the box for a threat. Every boss up to the point was unique in their own way, even though I retconned that they were all Big Boss. But here I turned a henchman into a big bad. It feels significant, even though it probably isn’t.
Everything going forward from here becomes more intertwined, so it’s a bit harder to parse them out properly. But I’ll try. While the narrative for this story was never cleared up completely, the events are somewhat clarified. The boss looks to be a mutated Tasdevil, which would lead me to believe there was some kind of experimentation done to create this monstrous hybrid. That would also explain the giant cyclops at the end. Now, I’m not sure if I was aware of it WHEN I drew the comic originally, but the cyclops turns out to be Big Boss yet again. Not sure why he became a one-eyed rage monster, but it happened. There was no logic to my writing. I blame the TV I was watching at the time.
Since the stories started to get more intricate as the series progressed, so too did the remake. Since the original started with a recap, we just continue on in the story. This meant I had to remove the oddly placed scene of Stephen playing chess with a friend. I never played chess, let alone played it with a friend. So I’m not sure what that was about anyway. This time, after the Tasdevil secretly hiding in a cloud breathes his magic breath onto the skeletal remains of the cyclops, it is revealed to be the Grim Reaper. Death was always terrifying to me as a kid. I remember when I had suddenly understood the concept of death and broke down crying in fear of it. So, making the personification of death into a villain felt right to me at the time. I’ve worked to rethink the concept of the villain to explain the reasons for any nefarious intentions. Haven’t quite cracked it yet. In any case, I feel the extra dialogue and action panels helped to service the story a bit more here. Although I will say that I am a little disappointed that I Stephen’s sword now first appears here, but no explanation was given on how he acquired it. Maybe it’s not important. Not everything needs an origin.
Since I had started to expand my little universe, this remake project allowed me to add newly established characters into the original series. So, when this story begins with the discovery of a corpse, I decided to flesh the scene out more. Now, Stephen and Jamin BOTH find a body separately and report it to Officer Barkus. The character of Officer Barkus was created because I wanted a recurring cop character that knew our heroes. His name was lifted directly from the campus security guard in the film Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College played by Stephen Lee. I did spell it with a slight variation though. Anyway, assumptions are made leading Stephen and Jamin to… the wall. I’m not sure if I have explained the wall yet, and it’s another regret I have about this remake. The wall was this very particular spot where this portal to hell would open. And whenever it would open, Stephen would have to go back to a maze. My kid brain probably understood the logistics of this better than I do now. Needless to say, it needs to be fleshed out more. Why that spot? Why can it be sealed temporarily? Why does open back up? Plenty of good questions. I also reworked some of the dialogue here as well. Still not great but it’s an improvement.
Since this story was probably my favorite out of the run, I tried to make sure I put in some extra effort. If you look back at the original, this entry was the first that was the most story heavy. I had actually taken some time to plot out story beats. They may not have been perfect, but it was a step on improving my narrative skills. Here, I was able to take it a step further and truly flesh out what I had done originally. I wanted to ensure the audience knew how serious of a threat Shadow was. Never once had I shown Stephen defeated. So, when I had to show him beaten, I didn’t hold back. I wish I had adjusted the narrative a bit. For example, I wish I had explained (and renamed) Shadow’s “heal ball”. What was this mysterious artifact and how did Shadow acquire it? It feels like a MacGuffin. One bit I was super proud of was making Shadow invisible when Stephen knocks out the convenient light bulb in the room. Who knew Wackyland was wired for electricity? It’s wild revisiting these after some time away. I’m really starting to have some ideas…
I stand by my original sentiment that I wish I had ended the series at 16. Especially after the way I end it here, it could have lead to a nice epilogue that capped of the series. But I didn’t. And while I never stated how much time had passed, here it is explicitly stated to be three years after the events of Stephen’s Wacky Maze 16. I’m not sure why that feels wrong to me. But in my head, it tracks. I’m also not sure why the sword revives everyone. I do recall I had this idea in my head that lead to creating this scene. It’s still ridiculous. In any case, these enemies were the last remnants of the dark cloud Hell brought with it. It’s funny to reflect on how demons and Hell were the enemy threat, yet none of the narrative leans on any Christian ideology. Just shows how simple my thinking was as a child. I also acknowledged some bits in this entry that I didn’t like, so I changed or removed them altogether. It really feels like tying up loose ends.
I truly get what I was trying to do with this story. Stephen’s Wacky Maze had been a game that slowly built a narrative. Now, I wanted to tell a story but forego the whole “game” element. Comparing the original to this remake, I can tell I wasn’t completely happy with the original version. Firstly, I removed one of Stephen’s friends from the story entirely. I had originally added him as a comic relief character, but the jokes weren’t funny so he was out. The character of Ryan was added to expand the cast a bit. I did have a friend in grade school named Ryan, and this was meant to be him. Funny enough, when I was creating a new character about a guy wearing a government funded suit of armor, I chose Ryan to be that guy. I thought it was only fitting since one of my friends came into his own as a hero, so too could the other. Funny that they both wound up in suits of armor. Anyway, I streamlined the narrative a bit more in this version. I even fixed the scene where Stephen asks for his heart and the doctor is like, “here you go.” Now, the doctor calls Stephen insane, which gets him punched in the face. I also tried to better explain the heart situation. I vaguely remember having the idea for this story. I recall the idea of someone’s life being tied to someone else’s rolling through my head. It’s very likely I saw this in a movie or TV show, but I couldn’t point to a single reference if I tried.
While I understand the that I wrote this one just for fun, I also wish I had done more with it. There is no reason any of the villains should be back. I think I was trying to expand this fictional world of Wackyland, but had no clear vision of it. Even in the remake, I didn’t attempt to expand upon it. Just that some kid Stephen saved some time ago was now king and needed his help to save their land. The kid in question I believe was meant to be the kid saved in Stephen’s Wacky Maze IV. But I changed the kid to Jamin in this version, so even that doesn’t track. I also noticed the introduction of Spike, who you will recall was actually introduced in Tasdevils 2020. But I bring it up to mention that he could be one of the reasons I did rewrite this was to give the character a proper introduction to Stephen in the past. Absolutely unnecessary, but my brain needed these dots connected sometimes.
At some point, either in the late 90s or early 2000s, I decided to take another pass at remaking my comics. My art had improved significantly from the last time I attempted it, so I figured now was a good time as any to try. Unfortunately, I didn’t give it much thought beyond adding some extra bits here and there, which led to me never finishing it. I am intrigued by my approach though.
Once again, the lack of a script stopped me in my tracks. That said, I did like the little banter between Stephen and Jamin at the beginning. That added some depth to them. I’m also now convinced that I may have started this while I was in high school. If you look at the panel where Stephen enters the portal, the background art was drawn by Jamin Sponaugle. So, I had to have started this no later than 1997. I only wish I had finished it. I would have loved to see where I would have taken the narrative at that point in time.
RELATED SKETCHES
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to produce a proper adaptation of these ideas the way I’d like to. A movie would be cool, but a series would be ideal, live-action or animated. Hell, I’d take a comic book series at this point. I am at least happy that I was able to utilize Stephen’s original design as the basis for my Super Mega Crash avatar. It’s a fun little Easter egg. Until then, the remnants of this concept will be here in this museum of sorts to be alive in some form.
Pencil & Paper Productions 