The talented James Stowe, esteemed members of CLAW and I (with the gracious hosting by Comic Book Ink) embarked on a journey of creating a 24-page comic in 24 hours. Straight. Stowe and I decided to team up and created an adventure strip called Wango the Wallaby: Trouble in Consoletown. Along the way we broadcast our activity via live streaming on the web and accepted donations to the CLAW student scholarship fund in exchange for being able to suggest a video game we work into our comic.

We had an absolute blast and, though I didn't make it the full 24 hours, I finished up our script by 6 or so this morning and the rest of the remaining cartoonists sound like they finished up a couple hours before the 10am deadline. Here's a PDF (4.5 mb) of Wango's adventures or you can see the transcript followed by some photos of the occasion and our fully inked final pages below.

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Wango the Wallaby is the sole protector of Consoletown. His nemesis, Ahubespha the giant sloth, was previously a mortal banished from the the realm of the Controllers (aka the real world, Earth). He's spend his days in Consoletown as a master criminal seemingly stealing all the gems, coins, and rings to amass a fortune.

Page 1

Wango the Wallaby bursts through chained up door of boss Ahubespha Sloth and shouting "AHUBESPHA!!!"

Page 2

• Wango lands before the throne of Ahubespha with a puff of dust and debris
• Aims his plasma blaster and sees... no one there! At all. "I don't get it."
• All around the room and lair were signs henchmen recently there. Still warm coffee steaming in a cup, "We were scheduled to tussle at 10:30 sharp!" TV left on. "I don't understand, he may be slow but he's never late."

Page 3

• Just behind Ahubespha's throne a large, cylindrical machine holds the stash of all the gems, coins, and rings he's gathered over his time in Consoletown. "That's where he's been stashing all that ill-gotten loot."
• In the front middle of the machine is a gem-shaped slot next to what looks like a power meter. On the floor nearby is a gem that looks like it'll fit in that slot -- but it's cracked. "Maybe this will unlock it so I can return these riches to their rightful owner."
• Wango inserts the gem, the power meter lights up...

Page 4

• The device glows with a blinding light as Wango vaporizes before it.

Page 5

• Wango appears in Legend of the Dragoon "Where am I?"...
• ...and quickly disappears
• Next, Wango appears in the caverns of H.E.R.O. who's main character, Roderick Hero, puts him right to work. Roderick: "You must be here to help. Good! Know how to swing that tail of yours?"
• "What? Oh, sure, I'm on it!" enthusiastically shouts Wango as he takes out a glowing walls with a swing of his tail.

Page 6

• In front of a passage hanging with dozens of pixelated spiders, R. Hero inquires, "How do you feel about spiders?"
• Fortunately for a suddenly nervous looking Wango, he disappears. "Uh, gotta go!"

Page 7

• Wango, drifting amid the glowing void between hops to different worlds, thinks, (in three separate thought bubbles) "This must be what's happening to Ahubespha!" "But where's he trying to go?" "And why?"

Page 8

• Wango appears next to Dig Dug who is standing over a whole in the sand. DD: "You know, Pookas stare right into your soul before they pop."
• DD, clearly fatigued from years of popping Pookas: "I pump and I pump but they just keep coming."
• Wango knowingly smirks and informs DD: "You should get one of these." referring to the shiny cannon at the end of one of his arms.

Page 9

• [Shown from the normal game map view] Just then he shoots a beam out that destroys every enemy shown on the map.

Page 10

• Wango, bragging: "And that's how you do th--" Just before zapping into the world of Portal 2.
• Close up of Wango in a small panel. "OK, so now where the heck am I?!"
• [wide shot] A booming, yet somehow soothing, female voice startles Wango from behind. GLADOS: "Oh, hello there. You're new. Not quite the "stature" I'm looking for but you should fit through most of the test chamber doors."

Page 11

• Wango, appearing miffed, turns, points his cannon, and shouts at GLADOS, "I don't know who you are and I don't care. I just want to go home!"
• GLADOS immediately realizes the threat Wango poses, deploys various deadly looking probes/arms/devices surrounding Wango, opens a door clearly to a firey, glowing pit of death, and says: "I see. You're a feisty one. Please proceed to the Sub-Optimal Test Subject Processing Annex."

Page 12

• Wango opens fire and a surprised GLADOS realizes, "That's no Aperture Science brand Handheld Portal Device (TM). This could be a problem..."
• As Wango again hops he and GLADOS let out a simultaneous, "Oh good!"

Page 13 & 14

(Wango hops nearly continuously through the following game worlds...)

• Oddworld: Abe's Exodus
• WoW (sad player character holding sign that reads "will raid for human contact")
• Super Mario (Mario with Princess Peach dipped as though he's about to kiss her but instead looks up, sees Wango pass by, and says, "Nice hat!")
• Borderland
• Chronotrigger ("WTF[time flow gibberish]BBQ?")

Page 15

• Wango, somewhat fatigued but relieved, exhales, "I never thought I'd make it back."
• He looks up and, to his surprise sees Ahubespha, with the now even more fractured green gem [in extreme close-up?] clutched in his lengthy-clawed, three-toed, paw. "Hold it right there, Ahubespha! I knew you were up to no good!"
• [close in on menacingly squinting eyes, face] A: "Wango!"

Page 16

• [reveal shot of Ahubespha] W: "Put down that gemstone!"
• [in 3 small panels, one for each word] A: "Enjoy... your... trip?"

Page 17

• [one panel per word] A: "Back... off... Wango... One... more... hop... I'll... be... home... and... human... again."

Page 18

• Wango stands ready to pounce and shouts, "What are you talking about? Wait, wait, nevermind. That'll take too many panels."
• Instead, Wango shoots at the gemstone in Ahubespha's paw knocking it to the ground.
• Wango leaps at Ahubespha. Both: "NOOOOOOO!"

Page 19 & 20

[full page, single panel] Both W and A locked in a grapple

• W: "You don't understand. It's cracked! The gemstone is..."
• A: "My... ticket... outta... here!"

Page 21

(2 small panels, 1 large)

• Ahubespha, some of his chest fur torn away to reveal a glimpse of a Superman logo on a blue background, tosses Wango away...
• ...smashing him against the back of the throne.
• Ahubespha picks up the already severely fractured gemstone...
• ...slams it into the machine. More pieces of the gem fleck off as it lights up.

Note the section below was typed somewhere around 2am by visiting friend Michaela as a joke to see how closely I was paying attention :)

[half page, triple panels] Wide angle penis shot.
W: "Um, what's going on?"
A: "Muhahaha!!!"

Page 22

• The machine again flares up but this time with a menacing red glow that engulfs Ahubespha who's zapped from the scene shouting "YEEEAAA--"
• [close-up of the gemstone slot] The gem shatters in a red explosion. "--AAOOOOW!"

Page 23

• The explosion engulfs the entire lair.
• Wango is protected from the blast by Ahubespha's throne.
• Emerging from behind the throne Wango sees the wreckage of the machine. "I tried to warn him."

Page 24

• [3 panel zoom towards the shards of the gemstone] "I guess that's the last we'll see of Ahubespha."
• Cut to Ahubespha, now an everyday sloth hanging from a tree. Behind bars. In a zoo. Being flash photographed and taunted (via trash thrown that bounce of A's noggin) by the visiting rabble. "This is not what I had in mind."

Overall

• other lands
• Super Mario: "Nice hat"
• Dig Dug guy pumps up bad guys in front of Wango. (small 3 panel sequence), Wango, with a dismissive look on his face expertly shoots his plasma canon taking out a series of 3 baddies, while not even looking
• encounter with Ahubespha first has entire page (or two?) taken up by his slow exposition
• Wango appears back in Ahubespha's lair where they meet, exposition (slowly), fight, then Ahubespha tries one more hop, Wango notices more cracks in the crystal, tries to warn Ahubespha, who hops anyway, the crystal breaks, and Ahubespha is banished to the world of the Controllers as a normal, everyday sloth

Nichole Robinson - Legend of the Dragoon (PS1)
Kevin Freitas - H.E.R.O. (Atari 2600)
Joel Larson - Dig Dug
Barrett Stowe - Portal 2
Corina - Oddworld: Abe's Exodus
Jason Pickup - WoW joke
Andrew Sorenson - Super Mario
Michael Daley - Borderland
Anna & Joe - Chronotrigger