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, Zelda 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 strating 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 work 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.
One year has supposedly passed even though it’s not stated. However, 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 hadn’t gotten 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 casuing 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.
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. I could be wrong but I believe this was the first appearance of Stephen’s jacket look. 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, Stephen’s story followed up with the Battles at Fort Destruction which was more wish fulfillment. There was a spot near my home in a creek that I dubbed Fort Destruction. It was my hideaway. The idea of bad guys trying to infiltrate the area for a nefarious purpose was the basis. That reason was buried treasure. Not the most original idea but effective enough.
The series was written like a diary mixed with a comic book which was an idea I found to be an interesting narrative device. I only wrote six episodes of it since there wasn’t much I could do with the concept. That said, it did introduce several characters and ideas that would be utilized later. In fact, it was here that I first considered the idea of a crossover. Another character I had been developing at the time was called Robo Rabbit. He and Stephen did not exist in the same world, but what if they could meet? It blew my mind at the time and I made it happen.
That crossover eventually opened the door to Stephen’s next series, the Destructors. However, a year after that 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. Although I 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, the focus remained on him operating a team of heroes in Los Angeles. Why L.A.? Because no other heroes seemed to be out that way. Some time after that story, I had thought about the story through another lens and envisioned it as a film. I wrote and drew two “films” based on the original ideas and even incorporated new ones. The idea for a third existed but I never completed it.
After introducing Stephen’s son and great-grandson, I began wondering about his grandson. Somehow, he got lost in the shuffle, so I began thinking about what adventures he could have. Seeing how the other two were adjacent to the Destructors, I thought it could be fun to develop a story where Stephen’s grandson gets caught up in a new adventure in Wackyland. New enemies, new allies, new hero. While I drew numerous designs and promo pieces for Stephen’s Wacky Maze series II, I never developed it fully. At some point, I even reconsidering writing it as a graphic novel. I still think the idea would have been fun.
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 back on these characters and the stories I wrote for them. These were stories written by a kid who didn’t quite have the right 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 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.
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.
RELATED SKETCHES
THE CLASSIC ISSUES
The “Classic Issues” series was a selection of stories that I chose to recreate after some time had passed. My art style had improved somewhat so I thought it would not only be fun to redraw some of my older work, but also to add to or even rewrite some of the stories to their benefit.
Stephen’s Wacky Maze is probably the one series that benefitted from this idea the most because it was the oldest series I had and it didn’t have a narrative initially. Presented below are the “Classic Issues” of the complete Stephen’s Wacky Maze saga with newer art and some added material. Any commentary provided will be on the newer aspects, not anything I’ve previously covered.
Pencil & Paper Productions 