Behind the scenes

“I’m just running back my favorite cartoon.”

This may just be a single comic strip because the storyboarding, doodling, and writing copy was way more time invested than one of my normal posts.

Maybe I will make it a quarterly.

We were at Brick Store a few weeks back, and Natalie tried to convince me I should write a kid’s book where Fancy and I go on adventures.

I’m not at the point where I think I’m capable of being a full-blown author or illustrator.

But this is my attempt at dipping my toes into world building.

I mean I will admit it is a straight rip of Ash and Pikachu’s Adventures, so I get no credit for creating a new “aesthetic.”

I’m just running back my favorite cartoon.

I was a child in the peak of Pokémon fever in the US. From the game to the cards to the tv show, I couldn’t consume enough.

My dad even drove us to every McDonald’s and Burger King close to Barnwell (not an easy task) to collect the toys.

I imagined the world of DOGlanta on a walk around Kirkwood.

My best thinking comes when walking, and then I stop somewhere to do a stream of consciousness into my Notes app.

I then show it to Natalie later that day.

She is the best - because she humors me and definitely doesn’t think I’m crazy.

Anyways, the dogs in DOGlanta don’t fight like Pokémon, instead it is all about how big you can grow to demand respect to protect your guy or gal.

Or at least that is what I have wrote down.

Also, I wrote down that the bosses of DOGlanta’s gyms are Atlanta rappers and their gyms are Atlanta’s strip clubs, so we will see where that goes.

Follow along: @dog.lanta

“Casino is a Kirkwood legend.”

When I started outlining the possible storylines for DOGlanta, I quickly penciled in Casino being the Brock figure in my Pokémon story.

It made me chuckle thinking about writing a buddy cop story with me and Casino.

It also just lines up well with the Atlanta rapper themes that I’m trying to weave through the story.

Casino is a Kirkwood legend. He’s Freebandz’s CEO, an Urban Pie regular, Future’s actual brother and my in-real life friend. Or more realistic, we just dap each other up when we pass each other in Kirkwood.

That makes him the perfect choice as the mentor for this comic. Cash and Casino tackle DOGlanta.

I even styled Casino’s fit to match the color scheme of Brock’s in the original cartoon.

The other details I enjoyed adding was Dart’s daggling cigarette. I came across a NextDoor post years ago and posted to Instagram because it had me cackling.

Also, the vibrant pink color on Dart’s eyes and mouth is a nod to Future’s insistent use of the color in album covers.

The most common conclusion on why Future continues to reference the color is his known use of the recreational drug, lean.

My rebuttal is that the real reason he uses the color is a nod to where Future’s career took off - Magic City.

It was said that if your music was not well received at Magic City, it was not good. You need to go back to the drawing board.

In the early 2010’s, Future’s iconic mumble rap supposedly stole the scene in Magic City.

I was humbly not in the Magic City scene at that time, but Future’s music definitely entered our college locker room.

It has been the music I go back to time and time again, and it has created in its wake the pipeline of Atlanta rap that has dominated the genre for the past decade.

So, I introduce to you, Casino and Dart.