The Front, Part 01

SKETCHES AND NOTES ON THE FRONT, PART ONE

BY JERZY DROZD The Front started as a comic that I self-published in the mid90s. Back then it was pretty much a mainstream super-hero book; a group of people with special powers (and costumes) fighting evil menaces and all that. I stopped working on the comic after seven issues to do some freelance work for Antarctic Press. I did that for a few years, but The Front was always present in the back of my mind, waiting for me to work on it again.

Some expression studies of Thirsty.

One of the many, many doodles of Jared that fill my sketchbooks.

When I decided to publish The Front again as an online comic, I re-worked the story a bit. I’ve always liked the simplicity of the actionadventure cartoons of my youth; a good team vs. a bad team, week after week.

The structure of fairy tales was also a contributing influence on the new story.

So, while the cast has essentially remained the same, I ditched the cape and cowl concept and opted for the idea that you see more in fantasy stories; an ancient “wizard” wants to rule the world, and this small band of warriors have to bring a prophecy to fruition to stop him.

Instead of wizards and elves, we have super-powered kids and flying missile-men.

This isn’t an earth-shatteringly original idea, and partially because of that I didn’t want to take the writing all that seriously. As I’ve said, I enjoy action adventure-cartoons a lot, so I’ve borrowed ideas from them, too. The Front is paced in a style that is meant to get heavy at times, but never so heavy that we forget that it’s supposed to be a fun ride. Nothing breaks the tension of the imminent destruction of the human race like a pie in the kisser.

A cover concept sketch. The adorable yet terrifying Jared again...

Two characters who didn’t exist in the old comic are Jared and Orange Guy. A good villain needs lovable cronies, and I thought a big furry monster whose best friend was a muscle-bound monosyllabic hulk would be funny.

Jared also has roots in the concept of the monster who’s harmless when he’s in the proper environment.

However, once you take him out of his own realm he becomes deadly.

I don’t want to paint him as more than he is, though--the main idea was to have a cute and funny villain.

One of the first sketches of Sam.

Sam is the obligatory love interest. We really don’t know much about her, and that’s intentional. Since Thirsty is narrating most of the series, I wanted to approach what we know about her from his point of view.

There are few things more mysterious and perplexing to a teenaged boy than a girl, so the reactions between them were a virtual no-brainer.

I wrote The Front as a six-part series. What you hold in your hands is the first part of a story with a definite ending. The following chapters are, as of this writing, updating online at hftcomics.com.

Part Six is not the end for the characters, though.

I’m currently writing the second story arc, which will go further into the origins of Rex and Thirsty.

With any luck I’ll be writing these characters for a long, long time. The Front is exactly the kind of story I like to read, and I hope you get a kick out of it too.

-JERZY

DROZD

A thumbnail sketch of page 15. I wrote the entire six-issue series out this way before drawing a single page.

An excerpt from the old series. Dick really hasn’t changed much, while Thirsty’s arms got less hairy.