#wally manmoth

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TyrannoMax and the Warriors of the Core, 1986, Buzby-Spurlock Animation

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The Secret Origin of Wally ManMoth

Scans from TyrannoMax #26

Cocytus was one of the better-performing comic companies outside the big 2 in the 1970s before the whole company was bought out by Buzby-Spurlock Animation in the early 80s.

TyrannoMax was its biggest title, so almost everyone in the character stable teamed up with the Dinoids eventually.

Process under the fold.

TyrannMax is created via use of Dall-E 3 and Midjourney as pencilers, and me doing essentially everything else (writing, editing, inking, lettering, layout, etc.) DE is on most of the character art, MJ on backgrounds and select characters.

Each panel utilizes anywhere from one gen/prompt (for a handful of very simple head-shots) to around 20 for stuff like the DinoHydra action shot or the hero/villain showcase panels.

Once I know what I want for a page I lay out the rough dialog and panels, then start generating pics. Basic prompt format and a few examples:

, , , , comic panel by 1968, in the style of 1968

A portly 50 year old man, resembles Alan Hale Jr, jolly smile, wearing a tweed jacket, slacks, sandals, a fedora, sweatervest and a loosened ascot, full body character design, comic panel by Jack Kirby and Alex Toth 1968, in the style of 1968 Marvel comics

a mad scientist mid-transformation into a green anthro-tyrannosaurus, asymmetrical transformation, boils and growths, screaming/roaring, bald, portly, with round glasses. wearing a tattered lab coat, vest, slacks, tie. Comic panel by jack kirby and alex toth, 1968, in the style of vintage horror comics

Then I take the pics into PS, arrange and composite them, and then remove all the color. I don't tend to prompt for my final colors on characters and instead choose light tones I can easily extract. Why not just do B&W prompts? Style impact.

Then I start to re-ink over errors and details that don't match the mood I want, match line thicknesses over various elements, etc. Through this process I adjust dialog placement and panel arrangements, and do generally the things and editor and letterer would be up to.

Once I have the inks, flat colors, and the text on various layers, I do the weathering and compositing to simulate scans of a 1970s comic book. This is also where the deliberate flaws in coloring and print alignment are added for authenticity.

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Template Prompting

This post is mostly to show off gifs but will get wordy, enjoy this tune while you read.

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Did the Academy award me this... award? No. Did the henchmen who have you at disintegrator-point? Yes. And isn't that what really matters?" - Dr. Underfang

One of the ongoing hurdles for any generative AI service is that prompting up something cool tends to take practice yet most people will get frustrated if their first few attempts don't bear at least promising fruit.

The answer: Several Sizes Fit Most

A lot of services, Vidu included, Do this via templates where most of the prompting is already done for you and you just add a few words or an image reference. A menu of these builds up over time as an easy "try out" feature.

I normally don't use those, but as part of Vidu's Creative Partner Program, they gave me about a music video's worth of credits to show their Oscar templates off (full disclosure) and so I'm here to opine.

Wally looks how I feel, like, all the time.

For this one, you just dropped in a pic and whatever it was either walked down the red carpet or accepted a reward in fancy duds. This is all straight-to-the-meme type stuff, but we can still learn some tricks from it.

On the left is the result of using the painted Pizazz Jem & the Holograms character art, and on the right is the result of using the Transformer Steeljaw's animation model sheet.

The more painted and shaded look of Pizazz gives the AI enough to interpret it as a real, albeit very vibrant, person and fills in the blanks accordingly.

Steeljaw, by comparison, is interpreted with all his animation-lines in place, and with the flat coloration, gets reinterpreted as a sort of half-toon or living pepekura creature. Which is an effect you can use by using obviously-illustrated reference with live action backgrounds or prompting.

To produce a particularly unique, dreamlike effect.

But it's not super-consistent across different types of designs. Both the Baroness and Full-Boar here were flat, animation model sheets with no shading. Baroness, however, is more of a person with makeup and costuming trying to make her look like a toon while Full-Boar is a fully cel-shaded toon composited into the scene.

You can control that process more if you're controlling all the prompting, but templates don't really let you do that. On the other hand, all my red carpet pics are first attempts, while the in-scene ones took multiple attempts and tweaks to the process.

And it is surprisingly robust in what it can adapt to, even if Deadeye's doing the 'trying not to shit myself' walk because that toy's legs were purely decrative coverings for wheels, that's impressive.

Sense of scale is way off in hilarious ways, even if one assumes they're people in costumes they're like 2 feet tall.

Pop on over to Vidu if you want to, tell 'em DeepDreamNights sent you.

[deepdreamnights]

Wally Manmoth

Once Walbert W. Manheim, human friend of TyrannoMax, Wally sacrificed himself saving the lives of both TyrannoMax and Dr. Underfang. Unwilling to countenance owing a debt to the youth, Dr. Underfang used the geneincarnation process to tether the boy's spirit back to a cloned body, though one very unlike his original.

As a "Manmoth" Wally possesses superhuman strength, endurance and resistance to damage, as well almost complete immunity to cold temperatures and enhanced mammoth-senses.

Wally and DeinoSteve in the 1994 live action film.

Prompt and process under the fold.

Wally's lines were generated in Dall-E 3, with edits, digital inks, colors, and aging effects added in post.

A young man who resembles Seth Green, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, bell bottoms, and tennis shoes, with a feathered 70s haircut, standing in a sarcastic posture. The image is a full body shot on a white background, drawn in the style of a comic panel by Jack Kirby and John Buscema from 1968, as seen in the official handbook of the Marvel Universe.

A wooly mammoth-anthro, wearing a hawaiian shirt and bermuda shorts, standing on a city street, full body, straight to camera, comic panel by jack kirby and alex toth 1968, in the style of 1968 marvel comics