Blue Milk Special is non-profit and made by fans for fans. Star Wars characters are used under fair-use laws in parody.
But what is Blue Milk Special? Don’t know yet? Click here.
Blue Milk Special is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. EDIT–From April 12-30 we will be updating new strips Mon-Fri plus bonus strips on our normal update day. That’s 8 strips a week– The strip follows the events of the Original Star Wars Trilogy in chronological order… meaning you won’t see much of certain characters until we reach that point in the story (although some might make guest appearances in our own original linking material). That being said, we are basically a gag strip, so we’re pretty liberal with our take on events. You’ll also find unique story elements and characterization which evolves as the strip progresses –Biggs Darklighter being one of our key examples.
We are Rod Hannah and Leanne Hannah. Leanne handles the character designs and Rod handles the composition and additional tricks. Geoffrey Padilla provides additional 3D spaceship models which are cel-shaded to have simpler cartoony feel (see 3D modeling credits below).
The intent of Blue Milk Special is to parody the Original Trilogy scene-by-scene and develop and explore original tangent story lines that make our comic different than most “gag” only Star Wars strips out there. We do this to have a bit of fun and provide commentary on classic Star Wars trilogy and its immediate spin-offs.
As a non-profit “fan project” it eats up a lot of time that could probably be better devoted to our more original creative endeavors, but we do it anyway because we had a vision and it was epic! The first few strips were so much fun we wanted to go all the way! In the space of two weeks, Rod (currently writing in 3rd person) wrote over 300 strips covering A New Hope, The Holiday Special, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. The total of planned strips now stands close to 400 with 160 completed at this time of writing.
In the case of the trilogy it is easy to spoof each scene and sometimes mere lines of dialogue thanks to the over familiarity of fans toward George Lucas’ three classic sci-fi adventure films. However, we have and will continue to deviate from the canonical plot now and then, even if it occasionally means original mini-adventures. Some of these occur between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, either as spoofs of the Holiday Special or the Star Wars original novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.
While it definitely helps to be familiar with original material being spoofed, we hope that the jokes and developing continuity will prove popular enough in their own right. Exploring the background characters with short one-off strips is too great an opportunity to miss. We also have, as previously mentioned, several original mini-adventures of our own, either exploring ideas and events that went untouched in the films and spin-offs, or following ideas spawned by Blue Milk Special itself. These original mini-adventures serve primarily as linking material and will not last more than a month or two max.
On the other hand, the spin-offs: the Boba Fett animated adventure, The Holiday Special and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye will take between 20-30 strips each to conclude. This will fill most of 2010. We expect to start The Empire Strikes Back before the end of the year. I know most people will be aching to see TESB as soon as possible, but producing BMS takes considerable time and effort and proceeding chronologically makes sense.
First and foremost we have to thank Geoffrey Padilla for his invaluable contribution as our resident 3D Modeler. Geoffrey has provided us with a broad library of 3D model shots of the various spacecraft from the Star Wars universe. Geoffrey not only rounded up suitable material made available on the web by fans, but reworked them to suit our specific needs as a cartoon-style webcomic. Cell-shading and posing the models and pouring in many hours of his personal time to answer our call for help and give us exactly what we were wanting. Geoffrey has been a pleasure to work with!
Below is a list of the various 3D models and credit to the talents behind their creation. Thank you to those that have made their hard work available and allowed us the raw material to rework into the BMS style!
Millennium Falcon (YT-1300)
1. George Mezori (ZOO) (Conversion)
2. Al Meerow (Mesh)
3. Don Showalter (Maps/Optimization)
Millennium Falcon (YT-1300) version 2
1. Iven Connery (Original Model)
2. Sebastian Hirsch (Mojo) (Textures)
Y-Wing
1. Al Meerow (Original Model)
2. Don Showalter (LW conversion)
3. Tom Grays (TomG) (LW 5.6 conversions)
X-wing (snub fighter)
1. Dr. Harry Chang (Model)
2. Don Showalter (LW Model)
3. Matt Walton (Pilot)
4. Jose Gonzalez Pareja (Textures)
5. Matt Allen (Extra Detail)
X-wing (Snub Fighter) 4
1. Mister X (Original Model)
Tie Fighter
Authors:
1. Al Meerow (Original Model)
TIE Advanced x1 Prototype (Vader’s Tie)
Authors:
1. Staffan Norling (Squapper_Stuffe)(Original Model)
2. James Bassett (Some Details)
Slave 1
1. A Wiro (Original Model)
2. Preben Hermann (Rough Rider)(Lightwave Conversion)
3. Hartmut Redlefs (C4D r8 Conversion)
Hosted on: Scifi3d.com
Hi,
I met you guys at last years BMore Comic Con. I’ve enjoyed your strip since, can’t get enough of it.
I only have one question. How do you find time to do the strip? I’ve been trying to catch up with two strips that I have a little bit before thanksgiving. Lets just say that I work too much during the day and I am spent for the rest of the time.
I’m just curious on how you do your time management.
Sincerely
Leo Crespo
http://www.alacrancomics.com
http://www.alacrancomics.com/inthestix/
Hi Leo.
We’re really glad you liked the strip enough to stick with us!
In regards to time management… Leanne and I both have full time day jobs and a long commute. When we get home we are both busy with various writing and art projects. I write for Cereal:Geek magazine and for the Harvey Award winning Mice Templar, as well as my own soon to be launched indie comic along with various scripts and novels. Leanne is working on comic book projects that have taken up the majority of her spare time since the beginning of last year. Only a couple of those projects were paying ones, but still, fitting BMS into that would have been impossible if we hadn’t come up with the idea to do a lot of the ground work in advance.
Our solution was to treat BMS like FIlmation treated animation, producing all the key characters and poses in advance and then dropping them into the scenes using layers in Photoshop. so in a way, we are using a paper doll method. We would love to have greater variety, but we can only produce new poses on a limited basis due to our schedules. Somehow we manage to turn out the strips pretty consistently each week. Each strip takes on average 2.5 hours (if most of the art is already done) and about 4-6 hours if substantial new art is required. That’s a lot of time.
When we first started, we were 6 strips ahead, but for the majority of our first year we’ve been about one strip ahead (our first BMS anniversary just just hit in mid-February). For the first 6 months or so we were producing 3 strips a week. We dropped down to 2 later in the year. After our vacation in New Zealand over Xmas we suffered post vacation depression and January was our first real hiatus. We are nearing the end of the A New Hope storyarc which should wrap up by the middle of March. We will be taking another break over April. In part to focus on other things and also to build up stock for new art necessary for the new costumes and characters of the period in-between ANH and TESB.
Back to management, it really comes down to avoiding video games, television, and online fandoms. We have to make the time to be creative. It’s easy to be a consumer, but you can’t get too far as a creator if you don’t ruthlessly avoid time sapping activities. Part of what helps motivate a project like BMS is that we get great feedback from readers. Since our site got hacked, we’ve actually had more feedback and support than ever and we’ve hit a brand new high.
Oh, by the way, I don’t watch TV and I seldom watch movies. The only time I do, it’s pre-recorded or downloaded video and I watch it in broken up installments with Leanne during lunch and dinner. Yes, we really are THAT busy. Few of our friends seem to understand how serious we are when it comes to focusing on our creative endeavors!
This answered all the questions I never thought to ask and more. Thanks
Rod and Leanne, that’s inspirational. What you’re doing is actually very typical of all the stories I’ve heard of creative people who have succeeded.
I think what you’re doing will eventually reap greater, much deserved rewards.
John
Thanks, John. I think that’s great you have faith, but I can’t see Blue Milk Special going anywhere beyond being a fan project. I do see it as a potential launching pad for original creative projects however. Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of doing our own Space Opera using the same art style and production method. But, there no way I can handle more than one project on this scale at a time. I still have a lot of George Lucas style tweaks to make to some of the more rushed early strips. Fixing poor lettering and balloons etc. Some of the older strips are embarrassing. Anyway, trust me, we started BMS with no delusions of this really going anywhere. The most we hope for is to be well known and well liked by SW fans and webcomics readers. Heck, that might even be a delusion!
I laughed SO HARD I almost wet myself (yeah I know WTMI)! Keep it up! Long Live Biggs, my new favorite character (sorry Luke). I am recarding my vintage Kenner figures and have an extra set of the original 21 with Boba Fett so, as I like your comic a great deal, I will be putting them on Custom Blue Milk Special Cards backs. I will send copies of the cards to your Face Book wall. Also I made a Biggs card for a Biggs Fan Club Exclusive. I hope you like them. Can we see a Death Star Droid soon, so I can make a card ? You had good pictures of the other 20 in your strip, which required minimal clean up.
I will also make a cut away, over the card, template, so anyone with a carded figure can just cut around the bubble and mock up a previously carded figure.
Please Post any shows you are planning on going to.
Keep it coming!
Tom G.
P.S. Good work on MIce Templar also.
Thanks for the enthusiasm and kind words (plus a Templar comment! Woohoo!). We’d love to see the BMS carded figures when you get a chance to share them! I’ll have to give the Death Star Droid some thought. Are you talking about the C3PO type droid or the mouse droid? Also, very glad to hear we are winning readers over to Biggs. His cape pretty much dictated his characterization in our webcomic. He’s going to be hard to phase out of BMS. I’m torn. I don’t want Lando to cramp his style.
Hey there! You guys rock!!! The strips are too funny and like Tom, Biggs is now my new favorite character
I think it’d be great if Biggs kept popping up in the future, though he doesn’t have anything to do with the plots of the other two films and what happens between them.
Nonetheless, I’m really looking forward to the future strips! Keep up the awesome work!!
-Becky
P.S. I’m thrilled that you guys will be doing the Holiday Special and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye in addition to the original trilogy! Can’t wait!
Wow! Thanks so much Becky! Messages like this really get us fired up in a good way. It’s great to know that there are some readers out there who are actually looking forward to our forthcoming Holiday Special and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye parodies with anticipation. That’s a big thrill for us. And yeah, in response to the reader support for Biggs, he will definitely continue to appear though to what extent during Empire Strikers Back and ROTJ I’m currently uncertain. Most of the remaining material written for him is set within our Interquel (pre-Holiday Special period).
This is the best comic there is. I had a longer post ready but i felt like that summed it up nicely.
Thanks Sam! That’s really flattering. I can’t possibly agree with you although I’m glad you and one or two others love what we’re doing. The thing is, BMS may have original ideas and perspectives on certain aspects of the Star Wars universe, but we are not wholly original like many great webcomics out there. The work of our fellow creators, particularly with their own unique worlds and the characters and tales that stem from them, along with their courage to do their own thing is what really deserves admiration and acknowledgment. In many ways its hard not to worry that we’re just riding the coat-tails of Star Wars, because to a large extent that’s exactly true. But I do believe in our “fan” webcomic and that what we are doing still has some worth of its own because Leanne’s visual style and our sense of humor and unique elements like Biggs, Jabba, George Lucas himself, and so on make it stand on its own. We hope some day that readers will appreciate what we’re doing with BMS enough to follow us on future creative journeys beyond the universe of Star Wars and into worlds entirely our own.
You guys are by far the best web comic out there right now!!!! I got turned on to this strip at work and loved it so much that I made it my mission to make sure that all my Star Wars loving friends read this comic. As of right now I have not found a person that has not loved it! I can’t wait to see the train wreak that is known as Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Keep up all the great work we love it!!!!!
P.S. I know its been said before but BIGGS KICKS ASS!!!
If Trent above is who I think he is, he’s been pretty successful at sharing the joy. I’m hooked, along with a bunch of my buddies from starwarsaddiction.com & the 501st Legion.
I utterly adore the Wedge/Biggs storyline. Can’t wait for more!
We can’t thank Trent enough, and anyone who has helped spread the word. You guys rock!
Over at SWAC many a discussion on BMS…..Jawas Rule!
Hello!
I started reading this comic… Hm. Yesterday?
Heh, I got so hooked up I already read it all! Now starts the waiting game… But I think that waiting for every new comic will simply be awesome, you know, one of those “I can’t stand it! When does it come out already!” feelings… And when it comes, it fills you with endless joy.
The Original Trilogy movies are simply the only ones I call “The Classics”. There are many old movie I like and respect, hm, Godfather for example… But nothing comes compared to Star Wars, with which I have many memories, memories that I will always cherish. I haven’t done, read or even watched anything related to Star Wars in quite a long time, so I have your comic to thank for reminding me…
Except for the humor and general appeal of it, I can’t tell you how much I am amazed at your effort, at the scene by scene story telling… Introduction to some minor characters that you portray so interestingly, and of course, a lot of fun facts and info. Biggs!
And here comes the awkward part… The New Trilogy. I guess people have asked before, so I am sorry… But… Will you do the new trilogy?
I get that most true fans hate the new series, because of the plot, the succumbing to the CGI, the loss of importance of some characters… Still, I seem to be one of the few people who like the whole series… I see everything great that there is about the legendary old ones, but I can also live with the new ones, since they have some good side and potential.
Also, there are some very interesting comic books, novels and series (even both off the Clone Wars series) which you could do.
If you were to do the new trilogy, I would mostly want to see your take on Grievous (since he is my favorite character and quite interesting), younger Yoda, the clones, young Obi Wan, Anakin of course, Mace Windu…
Whether you do it or not, you have done a great job so far and I am sure you will continue to do so.
Best wishes!
Sorry it took me so long to respond to this. One reason is that it’s a difficult question because I don’t want to offend Prequel Trilogy fans with my response.
Will we do the New Trilogy… ie the Prequels? We won’t rule out doing one or two random strips parodying specific moments in the Prequels… but will we cover each film in a thorough chronological style as we’ve done with the Original Trilogy? No. The reason for that is that we aren’t fans of the newer films or even Clone Wars. While we could certainly do a lot of strips featuring very sarcastic and critical humor, it would most likely be too negative and not as much fun. Grievous is an interesting idea and design. Likewise, so was Count Dooku… but little else particularly compels me as a fan to do anything about it. As a long time fan of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, it was easy to warm to Dooku, but they did so little with him because so much else was going on all at once in those films. Grievous also suffered from feeling more like a special effect than an actual villain. Both certainly deserved more development than they got. Whether CW develops them further and more satisfactorily, I don’t know, but our frustration with the PT is still a factor against any desire to invest the sort of time we have for the OT.
Thank you for the reply! Unimportant if it took you a long time, you formulated it quite nicely.
First of all, I can’t believe I forgot to mention Dooku in my question… I can only agree with you, Dooku and Grievous ( <3 lol) are like… Something unused that should be used (sorry, no metaphor). CW does partially help their characters, but only to a degree. Again, of these 2 animated series, like with the movies, the one that came first is far better than the second one, in all aspects. (Gendy Tartakovsky is unsurpassed at cartoons)
Hm, anyways, it saddens me that you wont do the whole films, but you explained why quite nicely, and I respect that. I will look forward to those possible random strips, as I will to every new chapter you make.
It seems that these characters will only reach their full potential in my fan fiction, hehe. ;D
Again, best of wishes!