The Landscaper Comic – Released Weekly On Thursdays

So it was on these walks that some of the main ideas for the story started to come together. Now that we’ve decided that the Landscaper was going to be an engineer, I started coming up with what weapons or modified devices he would create for his arsenal. It was here that the fore arm cuffs were born. Dan would create these In order to avoid having to reload the nail clips into the guns during a fight. They would house 8 nail clips which would rotate and load into the gun when he cocked his wrists. This is also where the idea of Cage Engineering specialized in jet engine rotation came from.

This knowledge would definitely come in handy when designing these cuffs – or as Iskandar calls them “the gauntlets.” I also thought these could be a cool weapon themselves. If Dan was pinned down and couldn’t get to his guns, he could cock his wrist and fire out one of these clips. Because it would need some high power spring action behind them to load them into the gun, they would make a pretty powerful projectile if shot at an attacker from close range – or – point blank into Caleb’s face. haha..Ouch!!

The O2 tanks were another matter all together. I went back and forth deciding on what to do with these beasts. In the first sketch of the Scaper, they were two large canisters strapped to his back with hoses running from the top shoulders into the handles of guns. I debated whether this was too clunky, and if it hindered Daniel’s mobility in a fight. I tired smaller canisters on the sides of his belt, and even one running horizontal across the small of his back with shorter hoses. There was just something missing. I really liked the hoses coming off the shoulders in an almost angel wing like fashion – which of course Daniel is no angel – but it created a cool visual when he was standing over Caleb at the end of comic. I also thought the hoses could come in handy as an offensive aid themselves – or – for the panel when he drags Caleb back to the house like a dog at the end of the issue. Issue 2 got some great action out of the hoses as well, when Dan used them to zip line one of his attackers into a close range shot. I’m still debating modifying them slightly for issue 3, but we’ll see where that goes during the brainstorming session.

I still didn’t have any names at this point, so I remember referring to the characters as -”this guy – or that guy” when talking about the illustrated panels. Their names didn’t come into play until the all the pages were illustrated and I sat down with Greg to talk about the different character profiles. Most of the names were developed on our morning ride to work.

Again, I just illustrated panels as I saw them in my head. The image of the LS standing over one of the gang members always played a big part. I thought of different things we could do with the fact that the LS didn’t use hand guns, but nail guns. I imagined one the gang member would be playing on the idea that the LS couldn’t do anything to them, as they were untouchable by the law. I also liked the idea that Dan didn’t care about the law, so their threats and delusional ideas of legal protection didn’t apply to the LS. I thought it would be great if one of the gang members said “You can’t do this man, they won’t lock us up – we’re untouchable. Were the LS would respond. “You might be untouchable…but now you’re nailed to porch.” I always saw the LS standing over one of the gang members and crushing their wrist into the floor, as he pinned their hands to the wooden surface of the porch. A little violent I know, but this isn’t a happy time – sunny comic by no means.

Around the same time was the idea to use the nail cuffs as a weapon. I saw the image of the main gang member fighting with the LS on the ground, guns out of reach and the LS is struggling to not have the knife plunged into his chest. He would be holding off the knife in one hand, which would leave his other hand free for the gauntlet attack. I figured this would be a great way to end the main fight, by not using his weapons, but improvising with what he had available – which is really what Daniel/LS is all about.