Here is a sneak peak behind the scenes of one of our more popular digital comics, CAT GOAT DOG.
But first... what is CAT GOAT DOG?
The following is an excerpt of an interview with GlobalComics. The full interview can be found here -> https://globalcomix.com/news/details/797/interview-with-dc-horn-of-xancon-entertainment
GlobalComix: One of the staff favorites is CAT GOAT DOG. Can you tell us what the inspiration behind that specific title was?
DC: I’ve never told this story in fear that I would come across as completely insane… but here we go lol. I was in my truck waiting for something or someone. In my boredom, I was pretending to be teaching a class about writing comic books. I asked my fictional class for a mundane prompt. Someone (who doesn’t exist and isn’t real) suggested “a cartoon cat goes to the market.” “Excellent” I answer, commending no one. I instruct the class that while you can write about anything, it must be interesting. This was a key point I had learned in a real writing class I had taken. I continue my lesson of insanity and suggest that one method of making something interesting is to introduce conflict. So, I ask the fake class, “what could go wrong with the cat going to the market?” Another student comments, “The cat doesn’t have any money.” “Perfect!” I exclaim, trying to inspire this fabricated classroom before asking, “How can the cat solve this problem?” “She can get a job at the market,” someone calls from the back. At this time, I am reviewing the basic outline of a cat going to a market but doesn’t have any money and has to get a job to buy food. At a fundamental level this has all the core ingredients of a story. We can successfully have a beginning, middle, & end. We can tell this story… but… how do we make this REALLY interesting? I think then that the more wicked part of my subconscious entered the conversation and yells above the class, “the cat can’t get a job and has to kill someone for the money!” And then I smiled… both in the imagined world and the real world. Somewhere along the way I thought it would be ambitious to tell this story with an emoji type language. The story itself was so simple that I felt like I could get away with it. Later that evening I wrote the script in like… 30 minutes and was already looking for an artist.
CAT GOAT DOG was written by DC HORN and illustrated by DaC Studios
PAGE 1:
PANEL 1: Setting the scene. From outside we see a nice quaint little cottage. Tiny hint towards the future, maybe a dead bird or mouse’s ribcage in the yard, hidden a little.
PANEL 2: Inside the cottage now. The cat is curled up and sleeping on a bed. It’s stomach rumbles.
PANEL 3: The cat sits up and stretches (an over exaggeration.) We are looking from behind the cat. The cat is in the foreground. In the background is an open room of the cottage, a small dinner table, a kitchen behind it with cabinets and kitchen décor.
Cat: A word bubble with a fish on a plate.
PANEL 4: The cat is searching the cabinets for something to eat. Show by having multiple images of the cat searching different cabinets, maybe a refrigerator.
Cat: A word bubble with a picture of an empty plate, then a question mark.
PAGE 2:
PANEL 1: The cat has a thought.
Cat: A word bubble with a picture of a fish on ice.
PANEL 2: Zoomed out to give more room for the word balloon. The continues the thought.
Cat: A word bubble with a picture of the market she is about to go to.
PANEL 3: The cat exits her house. She has just walked out the door and the house is behind her. She has a satisfied smile as she walks away from her house.
PANEL 4: Zoomed out for room. The cat is walking up a dirt path. A fence is beside the road. A raven is perched on a fence post. The cat happily waves at the raven.
PANEL 5: A close up of the raven. The raven returns a blank stare.
PANEL 6: The raven watches the cat as she happily continues up the road. (The raven knows what the audience does not.)
PAGE 3:
PANEL 1: Half splash. The cat enters the animal village. Various animals are doing business in the background and/or walking about. A squirrel is struggling to carry pumpkins in the background. A mouse is sweeping the street.
Cat: A word balloon of a fish on ice, like before.
PANEL 2: The cat stands before a beaver street vendor.
Cat: A word balloon with a picture of a fish.
Beaver: A word balloon of a few coins.
PANEL 3: The cat searches her body.
PANEL 4: The cat tells the beaver that she has no money. The beaver is responding with no.
Cat: A word balloon with a picture of the coins but with a circle and cross over it, indicating she has no money.
Beaver: A word balloon with a picture of the fish with a circle and cross over it, indicating no fish then.
PAGE 4:
PANEL 1: The cat rubs her chin, thinking hard.
PANEL 2: She has an idea!
Cat: Thought Balloon- A light bulb.
PANEL 3: The cat approaches the squirrel from page 3 with the pumpkins. There is a shovel leaned against a cart full of pumpkins. The cat speaks to the squirrel.
Cat: A word balloon with a picture of the cat carrying a pumpkin, an equal sign, then coins.
PANEL 4: The squirrel denies her request.
Squirrel: A word balloon with a “no” symbol. Maybe an “x”
PANEL 5: The cat’s shoulders slump down as she is discouraged.
PAGE 5:
PANEL 1: The cat rubs her chin again, perplexed. An off-panel voice call to her.
Goat: A word balloon with an image of the cat in it.
PANEL 2: The cat turns to find a goat in a darkened alley.
PANEL 3: The cat approaches the goat.
Goat: A word balloon with an image of coins, followed by a question mark.
PANEL 4: The cat nods with excitement.
PANEL 5: The goat replies.
Goat: A word balloon with an image of a dead dog’s head.
PANEL 6: The cat gives a creepy smile.
PAGE 6:
PANEL 1: Scene chance. A family of dogs are next to a fireplace. Two adult dogs are sitting, watching two puppies wrestle each other playfully.
Caption: A image of a clock.
PANEL 2: A view of the door from inside the house. “Worm’s eye” view, look upward at the door to make it look more ominous. Someone is knocking on the door.
Cat (from outside): A word balloon of a music note, the dog’s face, another music note.
PANEL 3: The dog walks to the door.
PANEL 4: The dog pauses and looks back at his family. The dog is smiling.
PANEL 5: A close view of the dog’s hand touches the doorknob to the door.
PAGE 7:
Single panel. The door is open. It’s a beautiful day outside. A cheery cat is at the door with a warm smile. Birds are singing in the background. Flowers are growing in the dog’s yard. The cat’s hands are behind her. The tip of a shovel in peaking above her shoulders. Be disarmingly cute.
PAGE 8:
PANEL 1: The cat hits the dog with a shovel (like a baseball bat swing.) The dog is falling, the scene is post swing. Start using “crazy face.”
PANEL 2: The cat has the shovel above her head preparing to strike again. Perspective/view is from low to the ground looking up at the cat. Either from the dog’s perspective or near the floor.
PANEL 3: The cat has swung the shovel down to hit the dog again. We don’t need to show the impact or the dog… that can be left off-panel, and for the imagination.
PANEL 4: The cat has raised the shovel back above her head again. The shovel is now bloody. Still, we don’t show the dog.
PANEL 5: Perspective change. The dog’s family are stunned in horror, crowed together in terror. Cast over them is the shadow of the cat swinging the shovel.
PAGE 9:
PANEL 1: Similar to page 3 Which is… ”Half splash. The cat enters the animal village. Various animals are doing business in the background and/or walking about. A squirrel is struggling to carry pumpkins in the background. A mouse is sweeping the street.” This time… Half splash. The cat enters the animal village, covered in blood and holding the dog’s severed head. The various animals that were previously doing business in the background are all now frozen in place, horrified.
PANEL 2: The cat approaches the squirrel’s cart. (Same as from page 4. The cart is missing a shovel.) The squirrel is running away.
PANEL 3: The cat has stopped at the squirrels cart, putting the shovel back.
PANEL 4: A still view of the bloody shovel at the cart.
PAGE 10:
PANEL 1: The cat approaches the dark alley where the goat was.
PANEL 2: The is in front of the goat with her arms reached out holding the dog’s head.
PANEL 3: The drops the head, indicated by her now open hands and the dog’s head no longer in frame.
PANEL 4: A view of the dog’s severed had on the ground.
PANEL 5: Same as panel 4, but now with an open bag of gold coins beside the dog’s head.
PANEL 6: View of the cat’s “Crazy face.” The cat smiles widely.
PAGE 11:
PANEL 1: The cat returns to the beaver’s fish stand.
PANEL 2: The cat reaches the coin bag out to the beaver with an innocent smile.
Cat: Word balloon with an image of a fish.
PANEL 3: The beaver is shocked, frozen with fear at the bloody cat. The beaver is wavering her hands like “no.. no.. I don’t want to be part of this.”
PANEL 4: A view of the cat’s face with a serious and evil look. Fire in her eyes.
PANEL 5: The beaver is handing the cat a fish.
PANEL 6: The cat cheerfully walks away with her fish. The beaver is looking down at the bag of coins.
PAGE 12:
PANEL 1: Scene change. A panel showing the cat’s house. The raven from page 2 is perched outside a window.
PANEL 2: The cat is sitting at her table, covered in blood, in front of a plate of freshly prepared fish.
PANEL 3: The cat brings a piece of fish to her mouth with a fork and knife.
PANEL 4: The has a creepy smile on face.
PANEL 5: Behind the cat, there is a window. Outside the window is the raven looking in.
PANEL 6: A close up of the raven and is blank empty stare as it watches the cat.
You can read the final version on GlobalComix!
or you can watch a video comic on YouTube!
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