Here I am inking and ruling panels for Ralph Snart Adventures #21 releasing Fall 2025. Looks best at 720p/48fps setting.

RSA #20 released this week. While I was preparing that for release, I managed to write, letter and pencil issue #21 entitled Snart Derangement Syndrome. I'll slowly ink that over the next few months for a release in either October or November.

Number 21 should also be the proper 40th anniversary of RSA, so I'll probably do something in that issue dedicated to this milestone. Something. I don't know what. I'm starting to fester some ideas for issue #22 and will let those percolate through my gray matter over my very busy Summer.

If you dorks have any questions, email them and maybe I'll answer them in the next letters column of RSA.

Here I am inking and ruling panels for Ralph Snart Adventures #20 releasing Spring 2025.

Below is an RSA script by AI. No threat here.

ChatGPT: Write an issue of Ralph Snart Adventures featuring his nemesis Doctor Goot who has a comical German accent

Ralph Snart Adventures: Issue #X - "Guten Tag, Snart!"

Cover Art: Ralph Snart, wearing a Viking helmet and wielding a giant bratwurst as a weapon, battles Doctor Goot in a surreal dreamland that looks like a mashup of Oktoberfest and a mad scientist's lab. Doctor Goot, with exaggerated goggles and a comical German accent, laughs maniacally from a giant pretzel-shaped flying machine. The tagline reads: "Willkommen to Your Worst Nightmare, Snart!"

Page 1-3: Doctor Goot's Ridiculous Plan

Doctor Goot is in his lab, a chaotic mix of beer steins, cuckoo clocks, and bubbling test tubes.

• Panel 1: Goot stands before a giant blackboard covered in nonsense equations like "Bratwurst x Dreams = Total Kontrolle!"
  • Goot (dialogue): "Ja, dis time, I vill not only invade Ralph Snart's subconscious - I vill improve it! Soon, ze whole vorld vill know ze genius of DOCTOR GOOT!"
• Panel 2: Igortron (his cyborg assistant with a lederhosen upgrade) nervously asks, "Uh, Herr Doktor, are you sure zis is a gut idea?"
• Panel 3: Goot smacks Igortron with a giant sausage.
  • Goot: "Silence, you bratwurst-brained buffoon! Ve begin ze operation now!"
  • Goot activates his latest invention, the Schnitzeltrance 9000, a massive machine shaped like a cuckoo clock with electrodes and spinning gears.

Page 4-6: Ralph's Dream Begins

Ralph is passed out on his couch, surrounded by empty beer cans and pizza boxes. His dream starts normally - by his standards.

• Panel 1: Ralph is in a land of endless beer rivers and singing, tap-dancing pretzels.
  • Ralph (to himself): "Ah, the ol' subconscious never disappoints. Time to float down Beer Creek without a paddle!"
• Panel 2-3: The dream begins to shift as Goot's machine kicks in. The beer river turns to sauerkraut, the pretzels grow fangs, and lederhosen-wearing robots march in.
• Panel 4: Doctor Goot bursts onto the scene in a giant bratwurst-shaped tank.
  • Goot "GUTEN TAG, SNART! Your dreams belong to ME now!"
  • Ralph: "Oh great, it's you. Couldn't you invade someone else's head for once? Maybe someone who isn't allergic to sauerkraut?"

Page 7-10: The Dream Gets Weirder

Doctor Goot transforms Ralph's dreamland into a bizarre Bavarian nightmare.

• Panel 1: Ralph is chased by yodeling mountains and sentient beer mugs that scream, "DAS IST MEIN BIER!"
• Panel 2: Goot rides a giant mechanical schnitzel, laughing maniacally.
  • Goot: "You see, Snart, zis dream is now 100% more efficient! Und you vill thank me ven you are COMPLETELY UNDER MY KONTROL!"
• Panel 3-5: Ralph, riding a flying bratwurst, tries to escape but ends up face-to-face with Goot's ultimate creation: a 30-foot tall robot chicken wearing lederhosen.
  • Ralph: "A chicken in pants? That's where I draw the line!"

Page 11-15: Ralph Fights Back

Ralph devises a plan to out-crazy Goot and take back control of his dream.

• Panel 1-2: Ralph sneaks into Goot's dream fortress - a massive beer stein castle guarded by pickled cucumber soldiers. He steals Goot's Schnitzeltrance control remote.
  • Ralph: "Let's see how Herr Goot likes it when I'm driving this wacky train!"
• Panel 3-5: Ralph uses the remote to turn the tables:
  • The robot chicken turns into a breakdancing goose.
  • Goot's bratwurst tank becomes a hot dog stand that explodes mustard everywhere.
  • The sauerkraut river transforms back into beer, washing away Goot's lederhosen army.
• Panel 6: Goot, covered in mustard and fuming, screams, "SNART! You are ruining mein perfect nightmare!"
  • Ralph: "Ruining it? I'm improving it!"

Page 16-19: The Final Showdown

Ralph and Goot face off in an epic, absurd battle.

• Panel 1: Goot activates his ultimate weapon: a giant cuckoo clock mech that fires exploding bratwurst.
  • Goot: "Prepare to face ze full power of German engineering!"
  • "That's a lot of schnitzel for one man."
• Panel 2-4: Ralph uses his dream logic to counter:
  • He summons an army of tap-dancing tacos.
  • He creates a giant marshmallow hammer to smash Goot's mech.
• Panel 5: As Goot's machine collapses, Ralph tosses a giant beer mug at the Schnitzeltrance 9000, destroying it and ejecting Goot from his dream.
  • Ralph: "Prost, sucker!"

Page 20: Back to Reality

• Panel 1: Ralph wakes up, groggy but victorious, and mutters, "Weirdest dream ever... and that's saying something."
• Panel 2: Meanwhile, in Goot's lab, a charred and mustard-covered Goot vows revenge.
  • Goot: "Next time, Snart... next time, I vill be UNSTOPPABLE!"
  • Igortron: "Uh... maybe ve skip ze bratwurst angle?"

The End

Here's an old NOW News from 1987, which has an interview with yours truly. I'm pretty harsh on independents at the time. Everything was TMNT crap mania.

Here I am inking and ruling panels for Ralph Snart Adventures #19 releasing this Fall.

Here's a comparison of seven brushes I've used for inking. Five are synthetic, one is a combination of synthetic and sable and the last is all sable. Note that the number or size designation isn't as important as the actually dimensions of the brush. What works best for me is a brush approximately 3mm x 15mm (width x length).

The most important attributes are fineness of the tip, flex, how much ink it carries and how it holds up after cleaning. The synthetics are relatively cheap at about $4-7, while the synthetic/sable cost about $10 and the all sable is $40.

Here are the brushes I tested:

• Princeton Heritage 4050-3, Synthetic, #3, 2.34mm x 14mm
• Princeton Select P3750R-3, Synthetic, #3, 3mm x 15mm
• Grumbacher Goldenedge 4620-4, Synthetic, #4, 3mm x 15mm
• Winsor & Newton University Series 233-4, Synthetic, #4, 3.4mm x 15mm
• Winsor & Newton Cotman 101, Synthetic, #4, 2.6mm x 15mm
• Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II 101, Sable/synthetic, #4, 3.2mm x 14mm
• Winsor & Newton Series 7, Kolinsky sable, #3, 2.8mm x 15mm
• Good brush but no longer made: Winsor & Newton Regency Gold 520, Synthetic, #4

The best was the Grumbacher, the W&N Sceptre Gold and the W&N Series 7. For me what makes a good brush first and foremost is the tip; without a nice, fine tip, it's useless. The three I just mentioned, more often than not, will have decent tips. The other brushes either had fat, rounded tips or tips with split hairs. Maybe one out of every ten will have all of the desired attributes. If you buy online, buy several in the hopes of getting a great one.

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid by any of these companies.