Monkey Explained: Jake

I know, I know! It's been like one and a half month since last update. I really should put more energy into this right? Ah well, perhaps this post will get me back on track again! Can't say I have much to post though, but hey, some more info about a Monkey that'll rock the next few pages might be enough for now?

Where the hell do I start with this one? Jake was one of the earlier Monkeys to be desgined. But in difference from Hirsch he shows much more of the Lunar Monkey Concept. He looks more human than the others, and acts more so as well. Sort of an opposite to Hirsch while the others are put together in the middle. Jake is the only Lunar Monkey that does not suffer from periods of bestial rage and uncontrollable behaviour. He remains rational and sane in any situation. This is why he makes an obvious choice as a leader for the group. Despite this he is still regarded the most fierce one in combat. He is known to have taken down the rest of the group alone in hand-to-hand combat as well as scoring the best results at target practise.

Jake is based on my good friend Joakim (Jocke). The name Jake was chosen because it sort of sounds like Jocke (Like, with an extreeme American accent).
Jocke likes to make decisions and often come with rational ideas, usefull know-how or can provide answers when the rest of us don't know what the hell is going on. This, together with a little of hybris, is reflections of Jocke seen in Jake. Also Jocke is the one I most often get into debates with, and we're sorta always rivals in video games. That is the reason for Jakes fierce combat skills and short temper.





"I think it's great that I'm the best monkey. Jake is by far the most human one! Or well... Down to Earth at least?"

- Joakim Nordström

Communication setup

The new chapter Communication Setup is now published. Here we get to see what the other Lunar Monkeys are up to at the base while Jake, Nick and Will went down the tunnel in search for answers...
Be sure to check it out in the Comic section of this site.

I had quite a hard time making this, I had no proper pens or paper (for some reason I draw this comic on paper with strange dimensions and not on A4 which was the only thing I had right now). Anyway, I hope you guys like these pages anyway, because I do! :)

Monkey Explained: Hirsch

I was suprised to hear from several people that they're eagerly waiting for more Lunar Monkeys! And that whitout me pretty much forcing them to that is... (Yes I do that). This made me very happy of course! But there's a risk that it'll take a while before next chapter is published (due to the lack of a scanner). But I promise, I'm working on it, and it should be around well within a week from now.

But hey, even without a scanner I can give you some stuff to read. Below there's information about how I came up with the main monkey of the coming chapter; Hirsch.

Hirsch was the first of the Lunar Monkey characters to be designed. However he was the last to have his story and background written. He is unlike the other Lunar Monkeys because he was neither trained or brought up together with them. He is a Monkey of the same breed but trained in Germany. He was trained to build and repair aircraft and military equipment, and was therefore transferred to the Lunar Monkey program to fill spot as mechanic. However, Hirsch is not the monkey inteded for this mission. He and the real Hirsch got mixed up just before transfer. It would also show that Hirsch is nowhere near as good a mechanic as the real Hirsch, a bit to late perhaps, but hey, let's not spoil anything, shall we?

This character was based on my good friend Christoffer. Christoffers last name is Hjort, which translates into Hirsch in german (Or Deer in English for that matter).
Hjort works as a mechanic in the town where we grew up, and therefore basing the mechanic-monkey on him was an obvious choice.

Now, I know Hirsch as a character could give the impression that Hjort is not a very good mechanic. That is not the case however (Or well, heck if I know to be honest. I've never had him fix anything for me). Anyway, Hirsch merley reflects Hjort's great humoristic side. Also Hjort is a down-to-earth practical person, the kinda person that knows exactly where to slam an old TV to get the picture tuned, kinda like how Hirsch would fix things!

"I think it'll be awesome with a non-speaking, mechanic-monkey, fixing things by breaking them!"

- Christoffer Hjort

Also, I was very happily suprised to find this picture, kind of a Real-Life Hirsch!

Lunar Monkey DNA

Probably you didn't notice, or maybe you have a keen eye able to spot it... I am talking about the notes on the lined peice of paper that is the background in one of the pictures of page 06 (Last page, The Origin). It is hard to see, because there are so many pictures in the way. It's meant to be a lead for the reader, explaining how the Lunar Monkeys' DNA looks like, in short. But as I said, it is very hard (If not impossible) to make any sense of it. But since I actually did put a little bit of mind into this, I figure I should explain it instead of leaving it hanging.

By the way, now's  a good time to start listening to some fitting mysterious music (Pokémon dude! Yeah!).

So as you can probably see, there are three main types of monkey DNA put into the Lunar Monkey.

About half of Lunar Monkey DNA is Macaque, resulting in the outward appearance to much resemble the Macaque. Macaques being thought of as something of generic monkeys, of perferable size, and thus a good platform to work from to combine DNA from very different speices without major negative side effects on it's stability. It showed that this DNA would also add to the prefered social patterns and diet.

Roughly a quarter of the Lunar Monkey DNA is made up of that from the Chimpanzee. The mind and human-like characteristics of the Great Apes are needed in order to enhance the monkeys performance to the standard needed for space operations. Also it was well needed to successfully implant human vocal cords.

Lastly there's the Spider Monkey. Which DNA doesn't quite show much on the outside other than the long tail. The DNA of this monkey creates imbalance in the Lunar Monkey behaviour, adding primitive, aggressive characteristics. This is often shown as sudden bursts of screaming and climbing, going banans if you will (You can see this in Arrival on moon). Despite this, it was deemed a valuable addition due to the added control and use of the tail, as well as enhanced jumping and climbing abilities.

What Happened in 1999...

The latest chapter is published! Make sure to check it out in the Comic section! This part reveals to Jake, Nick and Will what caused their predecessors to just disappear in 1999... Finally some closure with the Prologue, phew.

I'm sorry for running late with this... I guess I'll have to give you something extra funny for this delay, so here you go:

Me dressed up as Ed (one of the original Lunar Monkeys in The Prologue) for Halloween.

Arrival on Moon

Chapter 3 is now published in the Comic section! It's where the story really begins as the Lunar Monkeys set foot on Moon for the first time!

Next chapter, What happened in 1999... , due 29/7-2012.

Comic section link broken?

Earlier today the link to the comic section was broken, I am sorry for any inconvience this has caused for anyone. Hopefully it's now fixed and working properly again :)

To make up for this I'll show you this picture of a very early sketch of a Lunar Monkey. This puts light on how the astronaut-suits have varied during the early stages. This one was looking more like a real life suit than the design I use in the comic.

Refining, yes or no?

Can you use that term for this? Refining... Anyway, look below and you'll see that I compare two similar images. The first one is the original style of Lunar Monkey and the other is refined using my tablet in photoshop. I am not sure if I really like to enhance the picture this way, it sort of takes away from the feeling. But then again, it is kind of nice to see more details, isn't it? Any suggestions would be welcome, and help me make up my mind!

By the way, this image is taken from one of the pages in the next chapter! Which is due tomorrow!
So make sure to keep an eye out!

The Origin

The lastest chapter is now published! The Origin chapter is where we get to know where the Lunar Monkeys first came from, how their upbringing was and in which ways they were trained. This is sort of also a prologue of sorts. Hope you enjoy it!

Next chapter, Arrival on Moon, due 27/7-2012

The drawing that started it all!

This is the first Lunar Monkey drawing. I happened to draw it while listening to Space Oddity by David Bowie a little more than a year back. The idea of Lunar Monkeys is a bit older than that of course, but this is what kick started the making of the comic. It's not very well made, yet it's one of my favourite drawings.

This also brings me to speak of how the Lunar Monkeys-idea was born. I started drawing this comic around the same time as The Planet of the Apes reboot was released. This made alot of people assume I have that as my source of inspiration. Which could be true, since I am a fan of The Planet of the Apes and even went to the premiere of the new movie. However, that series has only little (if any) inflence on this comic believe it or not. Hit-Monkey, Starfox, Mass Effect and my friends are what's really behind this.

The Prologue

Check out The Comic section of the site to read the very first pages that is The Prologue! It's a part where the three original Lunar Monkeys are introduced. We follow Ed, Bandit and Jonah down a mysterious tunnel under the moon's surface.


I remember listening to this peice of music while drawing these pages, perhaps it will enhance the experience and add to the mood and atmosphere if you listen to it while reading? Give it a try!


Next chapter, The Origin, due 25/07-2012.

Three... Two... One...

BLAST OFF!

And by that I declare this blog and web comic started! It's been quite a while since I started my project with space monkeys, and I never really concidered making an actual site for it. But since I (for some reason) started drawing for this comic again and since making a blog is so easy now days, I decided to take an hour and fix one. This - is the result!