Casey Bye

Writer, Musician, Consumer of Nerd Culture.

The Vulgar Cycle Illustration & Bob the Whale

I recently reread my screenplay, The Vulgar Cycle, as I start planning to convert it to a graphic novel script (any talented and committed illustrators out there, drop me a line!). So I thought I'd post this pen and ink illustration I'd made for the cover back when I first finished it. The story is a modern retelling of the Arthurian Legend (nods to secondary stories, analogous characters, a Lancelot-like love triangle) done with precocious teens, tons of swearing, dick jokes, and a proportionate amount of recreational drug use.

My art-school pals, David Jensen and Jennifer Dzik, now both fancy-pants, big-time graphic designers, posed for the figures. David and I have also played in bands together like The Literacy Program. Neither of them posed for the guy in the whale suit hugging the sword. That's Bob the Whale, who appears to the protagonist in a drug hallucination (where else?) to give sagely advice while eating copious amounts of food he seems to pull from thin air (both the advice and the food) and is inspired by a song written by the main characters' band inspired by a song played by my real-life high school band (art mirroring life!). If you really wanna torture yourself, scroll past the illustration for lyrics. 

Sample Image 3 17-38-19.JPG

 BOB THE WHALE 

Bob/He is a whale/He has a tale/But it's really a fin. 

Once/I took him to school/But he didn't fit in/Not that nobody liked him/But the door was too small.

When/I found him on the beach/I started to feed him/He ate like a pig/But Bob is a whale/Now the door is too small. 

Bob/When he dies/He wants to go to Heaven/But he won't get in/'Cause the gates are too small.

Bob/He loves his god/And when he dies/He wants to play with him. 

(lyrics by 5th graders, Casey and his buddy Joey, final 2 verses by Junior, Punk Eddie)