Category: News

A while back, I spoke with Anders Loves Maria creator Rene Engström about her webcomic and where she finds inspiration for the popular series. Yesterday, Engström provided a little more insight regarding her creative inpirations by posting a video tour of the Gamla Stan neighborhood in Stockholm, Sweden, where many of the stories in ALM are set.

Regular readers of the series will recognize many of the buildings, statues and other landmarks Engström has used as a backdrop for stories, including the monument where Anders and Bjorn recently had a heart-to-heart of sorts. For anyone not familiar with the strip, well… you’ll probably find it interesting, too — and for more than just the beautiful Stockholm scenery. After all, one of the most popular questions posed to comic creators tends to be “Where do you get your inspiration?”

Thanks to Engström, fans of ALM now have an answer.

Also of note: Engström has posted a recap of the Small Press Expo held this past weekend in Stockholm, as well as a few photos from the show. Apparently, confusion among event organizers when it comes to the webcomic side of the industry is a common occurrence, no matter where your show is held.

Mind you they did seem very unorganised when it came to booking a table (you couldn’t), and they really had no clue what to do with webcartoonists. At one point they were trying to push me into this locked, out of the way, media room, but I refused that idea and stole a spare table and set myself up right near the entrance to the con. Which was good and bad. Good because of the traffic, but bad because everyone thought I was the information desk. “No I don’t know where the toilets are, thank you very much, please read my webcomic.”

We were getting ready to put up today’s installment of Demons of Sherwood, but this is what we found on the server…

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Sure, everyone knows that Billy Batson, Mary Batson, and Freddy Freeman could say their magic words and transform into Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel, Jr., three of the World’s Mightiest Mortals, also known as the Shazam family.

Yet in their regular lives, they were mere children, and often needed a protector and mentor. They found him in the guise of their uncle Dudley, who was actually not related to any of them. Very little is known about Dudley before he joined the Shazam family. He may have been a failed stage magician and a confidence artist at some point, and he had been married but was since divorced.

Dudley discovered the Marvels’ secret by happening across Mary’s Good Deed Ledger and returned it to her, claiming to be her long lost uncle. He also claimed to have magic powers of his own and wore a Marvel costume he had made himself—when Mary transformed Dudley stripped off his regular clothes to reveal the costume and become Uncle Marvel. He established a business, Shazam Incorporated, to channel money from the Marvels’ deeds into charitable organizations, though he did pocket a little of the money for himself.

The Marvels quickly found out about his scheme, and that he was not related to them and didn’t actually have any powers. But they liked Dudley, who was otherwise a good person, and so they allowed him to maintain the charade. Dudley explained his lack of powers after that by saying he had lost them due to a bad case of “shazambago.”

Despite having no powers Dudley could often trick opponents into defeating themselves, and he did provide a caring paternal figure for the three young orphans.