The Adventures of Superchum and the Mighty Befrienders

Author notes

Chapter 4, Page 1

SteveMyers22

on Nov. 29, 2007

Time to kick this thing up a notch! This is page 1 of the new chapter I've been promising for weeks now. And I'm pretty excited about it. The very first panel is a huge reveal for long-time 'Chum fans … the Anti-Chum's secret identity. (The name is chosen on purpose, just like Superchum's name, Shmitty Atkinson is chosen on purpose, but we're nowhere close to having that little connection revealed, heh). More will be revealed about the strange woman inhabiting this page next week, and really all throughout this chapter.

In fact, a little backstory for those of you not steeped in 'Chum Lore … there's long been a running gag (which will eventually return to these pages as well) involving talking cows. They always allude to some larger plot that hasn't happened yet. The joke started out as a nod to Stan Lee who liked to pull little gags like that with Marvel back when he was pioneering the Silver Age. But it did actually later evolve into a story. The cows have a purpose. This woman has a purpose. And I'm FINALLY beginning to write about this stuff. This chapter, and the next couple of chapters will start to introduce elements to Superchum that have been in my sketchbook for years, but haven't yet seen the light of day. And I'm very ecstatic as it's all finally starting to fall into place and becoming a reality for me.

Oh and in case it isn't like super obvious (it will be next week) … this is Anti-Chum's subconscious being revealed here.

Some Editor's Notes about this Page:

- The omniscient quotes in panel 2 are from Robert Graves, Jim Morrison and Alfred Hitchcock. The omniscient quote in the final panel is unattributed (if anyone knows who said, I'd love to know), but I had to use it because it fit the image and the story perfectly. The quotes may seem like non-sequitrs, but they do have meaning to Anti-Chum considering his perception at this point.

- The images in the landscape of his "forever" are borrowed from Salvador Dali. They are a combination of Persistence of Memory, Flight of the Bumblebee and Shirley Temple, with some Sueprchum imagery added on purpose.

That's pretty much it. I realized that I started off Chapter 2 with a rather obscure film reference, and now I'm diving feet first into some highbrow artsy references. But bear with me, this story is devilishly silly as it builds to a bit of an important reveal about the nature of both Superchum and the Anti-Chum.

Hope you all enjoy this!