Baujahr!

The storyline with Jeff’s dad isn’t the first “crossover” we’ve had with the original (if still completely unobtainable… for now!) “Levi’s World” comic.  But it is the first one that I got to write.  And, like many things that have happened (with Levi’s help) over the last couple years, it’s a long time payoff for me, if a bit of a cheat.

See, I was supposed to write a story for Levi’s World once.  Now, I would normally write this off as someone humoring a poor wanna-be comic-maker (in the nicest of ways) by saying, “Oh sure, kid.  You write your story and I’ll look it over and see if we might be able to use it in the comic one day.” *pats head encouragingly*

But, since
1)  That guy was Levi
2)  There’s no way in heck he can get away with calling me “kid”
3)  I actually have written with him, now, a few times over
it’s possible, and even probable, that it was a real offer.   But since he was on issue one, and had quite a ways to go before he could let “weird comic shop guy” come in and muck about, and then, by the time he closed out the first book, my story didn’t exactly fit…  It just didn’t happen.

Now, to be fair, it was a very partial idea, at best.  And the antagonist(s) I planned to use for that story has moved onto another story (still with Levi), that will hopefully happen in the almost-near future.  And, more than anything, the whole collected story of Levi’s World as it stands is so blasted good…  I can’t want for much, can I?  (Save for wanting it to be available for everyone to get to read.  Believe me, I’m pushing for that to happen.  And I am not alone.)

So, this brings us to Jeff’s dad.  The Space Fleas are prevalent  in Levi’s World and on the pages almost as much or more than the starts of the book (Xavier, Glen, and Mikie Beople).  Add to that equation my sneaking in of some Doats (who had already appeared in the strip way back in Number 12), and I’m about halfway there to sneaking my way into that zippered entryway to Levi’s World proper.

The funniest part is, though, if there wasn’t a Baujahr to play with in that world to begin with, I probably would’ve had to make him up myself, because I can’t imagine a voice I enjoy writing more than this little runt.   Considering how Levi has proven to be a great manipulator of all things, I wouldn’t put it past him to have conned me into thinking me helping on the strip just to give me my free pass into LW (an Entry Token, if you will).

Actually, that’s bunk.  I practically begged to do this.  Or at least I would have.  I’m having a blast!