FINAL COMMENTS:
All exclamations of achievement aside, this episode of PIP isn't quite as "transmillenial" as most of the others. Sure, it's got a bunch of references to all sorts of present-day issues - the World Trade Center, Pop-up video, The Matrix, etc. - but there was nothing in particular about the ending that just screams "The year 2002!" as opposed to any other year from recent decades. Never mind, it was still a great story, and producing a "colour episode" (as it were) is something that I've been meaing to do with PIP for a while. And the animation was an extravagant bonus. A good way to put the first series of Post-Ironic Pig to sleep.
Yes folks, it's obvious that I've exhausted most of the good material surrounding the turn of The Millennium. As such, Post-Ironic Pig is going into cryogenic storage for a while. I'll thaw him out again maybe next decade, when there will no doubt be a whole new swag of values, people, historical events, and pop-culture items to take the mickey out of.

Anyway, here's a list of cool stuff in PIP:IX that you might have missed the first time!

Page One:
* "Porn Star Pig" is the name that I've given to the Betty Boop rip-off character who first featured all the way back in the debut episode (PIP Buys A Computer) as an internet porn-star.

* In the first frame of the bottom line, there is a subliminal reference to Warner Bros' skunk love-god, Pepe le Pew. Look at what's behind Post-Ironic Pig. But is it really behind him? Or part of him? If you're observant you may have spotted this already! [I'm quite proud of this clever little hommage. (-: ]

Page Two:
* That box of "???? Mix" on the bed in the Morning After frame sez "Porridge Mix" (or at least it did before I scanned my messy handwriting). Just in case you were wondering. Part of your complete breakfast.

* The writing on the missile in the R-16 "dodgy symbolism" frame is "Made in China, Q pi D". "Q pi D", also written on the Military Cupid Hornytoad on page one, can be said "Q-PI-D" or "CUPID". Wah-wah-wahhh.

Page Three:
* The permanently animated frame (the first one) contains pretty much EVERY character EVER that has featured at some point in the entire Post-Ironic Pig series. Most of the "background" characters are also present, and even the main characters that got killed. Click here for an image of the background loop that I used. (A tip of the hat to The Flintstones, the masters of gratuitously repeating backgrounds!)

* "Son Of Plan Nine"? It's my mickey-take on the US's orbiting missile defense whatsit, which they call "Son of Star Wars." I don't need to patronise you any further by telling you that Plan Nine From Outerspace is the official Worst Film Ever Made. (Although it has had some stiff competition recently, what with Attack of the Clones and so forth...)

Page Four (this one):
* Satellite Defense of The World Trade Center = Lightbulb?! Yes, I am running low on ideas of how to represent "ideas" as "something that lights up."

* "Gratuitous vomit," I hear you mutter? Oh c'mon, like you wouldn't hurl if you ate raw spinach right out of the can. And besides, what kind of cynical love story would it be without a good chunder at the end? (Now seriously, admit it: You had to struggle to keep your digested popcorn down when you sat through the "Anakin luvs Amidala" scenes in AotC.)

Blah-blah:
This (final) episode of PIP represents the latest wave of influences that my cartooning style has taken on recently:
(1) Popeye -- Last year I saw a lot of ye olde Popeye cartoons (and a bit of one Betty Boop cartoon) for the first time ever and I was impressed. The Popeye shorts showed a degree of cartoon physics that was a lot crazier than the stuff that Warner Bros subsequently tuned to a fine art in their Roadrunner adventures, mainly because Popeye's United Artists mostly applied these crazy laws to the cartoon characters, as opposed to any contraptions involved. (Now that's MY kind of cartooning!) Not only this, but some of the themes and jokes that Popeye used back in the day would get United Artists' asses sued in the Supreme Court of Political Correctness, in this day and age. Great stuff.
Obviously, this particular episode of PIP is a parody of Popeye. Burly Boar is a combination of Popeye and Bluto; Porn-Star Pig is "Betty Boop meets Olive Oyle". The plot is based around the formulaic Popeye adventures, which often seemed to be in the form of Popeye and Bluto duel for the Olive's love; Bluto kidnapps Olive; Popeye eats spinach; Bluto gets his ass kicked; "I'm strong to finish 'cause I eats me spinach" etc. Well, I couldn't make the ending THAT predictable, could I? Heh heh.
(2) Animation -- Hey, I'm starting to get the hang of this thing!
(3) That's All, Folks! -- It's time for me to do some "Spring Cleaning"; to bid farewell to a few of the old comics that I've been drawing since forever ago, so that I can branch out into new stuff. (So who's next on the chopping block? Wait and see!)

Boring Stats for PIP IX:
Number of A4 pages used to make this episode: 10
Number of A4 pages for storyboard/scribblings: 1
Started formulating the storyline: February/March 2002
First character scribblings (Burly & Porn Star) made: April
First official drawings made: May
Next wave of drawings: July
Final sprint of production: August
Total number of production hours elapsed: I don't want to know
Self rating:

Storyline: 5/10
Graphics: 10/10
Humour: 8/10
Ending: 6/10
Overall CheeseTM Factor: 8/10
Post-Ironic Pig must be just over two years old now, and the cartoons themselves can be used to see how my style of cartooning has improved (I hope!) over this time. If I do any more PIP cartoons in the near future, you won't see them online - the next step is film. *Sinister laugh*

-AK.

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