Mike’s style is one of deceptive simplicity. A few quick strokes are all that make up his character Swoop. Yet Mike is able to bend those simple lines in ways that can deliver a range of emotion that I am still trying to dissect and steal for my own work.

His writing is beautiful as well. One Swoop Fell is essentially an adventure story with plenty of action in exotic locals and yet the characters never suffer for it. Each character feels deep and well thought out with an air of mystery about them that, as the story unfolds, reveals itself in entertaining and unexpected ways.

It is no wonder why after only seven updates, Mike Dutton was asked to contribute to the next Flight book. His work stands as some of the best that the comics community has to offer.

UPDATE: I embedded a video of Mike creating a comic. Truly a master at his craft. I’ve learned so much just by watching him work!

One Swoop Fell – Never the Task at Hand from David Dutton on Vimeo.

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Many of us “creative types” have that epic tale that we would love to one day tell. Perhaps if we find the time we will get around to finally writing that novel. Or if we can take a half hour every evening to read a little further into that book about screenwriting, we will be that much closer to starting that screenplay we’ve been talking about for years. We have all had our excuses. We love the IDEA of creating an epic, but the time and energy it takes to actually produce it is enough to keep us in the realm of “armchair storytelling.” Tom said “to hell with all that”, picked up a pencil, and started drawing.

When I found his work and started reading through his archives, I found it fascinating to be able to quite literally watch him develop as an artist and a story teller. His early strips were perhaps a bit rough. (Tom admits as much.) But they were funny and engaging and the seeds of that grand space opera that it would soon become were there in those early strips.

In many ways, Marooned was what convinced me to get up off the couch and start working. I saw that it was ok if my early work was a bit rough. I could always go back and fix it later. (as Tom did.) We all have to start somewhere, right? Artists are often very insecure about things we hold dear. Our work means very much to us and the thought that someone may stumble onto our site and not like what they see can be crippling.

Marooned also served as proof that my idea of telling an epic story, wrapped in a gag-a-day comic style was not only feasible, it actually works very well as a story telling device. Since discovering Marooned I have found other strips that do similar things, but this strip remains special to me. I hope you find it as fun and compelling as I do.

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