The Cartoon Chronicles of Vince and Nikos

It is finally finished...

2010-12-19T14:59:00.001-08:00

The first actual Vince and Nikos! adventure in full comic book format is finally done and available to the public. It took a few years since the few pointless story fragment postings to this blog, but I finally have a full story, called Sunbaked Down Mexico Way. I will try to upload occasional one to two page pieces from the story onto this blog, as a sort of "teaser".

First some background information is needed. The usual format of the Vince and Nikos! Chronicles, as introduced by this first story, is actually like two stories in one. One continuing storyline is basically in a 'college comedy' format, where the various story-lets follow Vince, Nikos! and all their friends' comical adventures and hijinks in and around the campus of Rolling Hills University, their school. The other story, or stories have to do with Vince's dreams and fantasies in between the waking hours, where he with his friends again, but under the guise as representatives of a futuristic organization called Sky Force, who go on various adventures between different dimensions to fight cartoonish bad-guys as well as explore and find interesting objects and places. With Sunbaked Down Mexico Way, which is not the first in the actual chronology of the series, I wanted the audience to get a feel for what an average V and N! story would be like, for this reason I completed and published it first, out of sequence with the actual chronology of the series. The next work will be the actual pilot story in the series, which I am currently working on. The pilot will explain a lot more about the backgrounds and initial relationships of the main characters as well as the basis of Vince's fantasy world, this futuristic utopia which is looked after by Sky Force. The category of the series could be said to range anywhere from action to fantasy to science fiction, as well as comedy thrown in.

Oh, and just be aware, the V and N! Chronicles is intended for a mature audience, as there is some drug and alcohol references, brief nudity, swearing and generally college age oriented material entailing such behavior...I'll let Vince explain more about 'Sunbaked', directly from the back cover:

Yo dudes 'n' chicks, who may be fortunate enough to get a hold of this hot item, in case you haven't flipped through the book yet, much as I would have done already, I'm Vince and that other dude you see everywhere is my homey, Nikos!, yes, with an exclamation mark. So who are we? Me and Nikos! are two cool college dudes who like to hang out, hit the herb, skip class and as squares would say, just be bums. But by night I'm a masked superhero in spandex trying to save the world from cartoonish bad guys. Ha ha, just kidding, the superhero stuff is so passé, but we still fight cartoonish super-villains, such as in this story.

We also go on comical and epic adventures, as ourselves, not just around campus, but in my case, even my dreams and fantasies. Both by night and day, usually in a boring-ass class, I dream about all kinds of whacky adventures with Nikos! and the rest of my crew, all fellow students at Rolling Hills University, our alma mater! In this whacky adventure, I fall asleep in a boring lecture, only to wake up in another one, where they tell us the story of this Mara Al-Úþa dude, the cartoonish bad guy who possesses an ancient artifact with which he travels through an interdimensional portal to an alternate version of ancient Mexico and terrorizes the inhabitants there, until of course we show up and clean house! As you can tell by the select pictures here, this Mara Al-Úþa is not a nice fellow, and we have quite a mess to go through before we can catch up to him there in wonderland.

So if you want to see us defeat a coven of Nazi vampires, trek across the Mexican countryside, see giant snakes jumping out of ponds, razor sharp live rocks flying at us, huge bats taking a swing at my head, fierce jaguars or mystical, magical spheres with the ability to transport the badguy between dimensions and stuff, don't hesitate to get my book, or like else! Oh, and like see you all at the publication of the next great V and N! adventure too!!

copies of the actual book may be obtained at the following address:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-vince-and-nikos-chronicles-presents-sunbaked-down-mexico-way/14313694?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

The Magic Garden

2008-05-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

V: haha! missed!

And so the insulator fight continues between our duo for some time running to avoid each other down the tracks, until.......

V: Whoa!!!!
N!: Yeah!!!!
They found the perfect place to grow a magic garden, plenty of sunlight, out of sight, only our duo knows about it...

The Magic Garden

2008-05-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

(Vince is thinking of starting an insulator fight)
V: this one is cracked anyway, so here goes nuthin'!

It lands and shatters on the rail right by Nikos! and nicks his arm

N!: (putting on his paramilitary beret, prepares for war) That's it, motherf***er, it's on now!

The Magic Garden

2008-05-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

In this particular episode Vince and Nikos! recount to their friends how they grew a secret garden one year on a hillside not far from campus, and a "magic garden" at a nearby abandoned concrete building foundation and how they stubled onto the site in the first place. It all started with V and N! walking along some old railroad tracks for miles not far from campus, but a place that no-one else knows about because it's hard to get to this section of the railline, as it has not been used in decades, they were into collecting antique rail insulators and trying to sell them online....
V: whoa, there are some good ones dude, looks like we'll have to shake them down, however. they are all intact too, one of us will have to climb up there and throw them down.
N!: there's one way to solve this dilemna, dude, in the age old duel of....PAPER SCISSORS AND ROCKS!!!
N!: (after Nikos! gets rock and Vince ends up with scissors) nothing beats rock, dude!!!!
V: Damn scissors! Of course, paper would have beat your rock, dude!

N!: This is a man's job anyway, not for boys! ...Polish boys, anyway!

N!: whoa, dude! They're actually fairly loose, I can shake them all down at once.
V: Wait, I'm not ready! (as Nikos shakes the pole from the top and all the insulators begin to fall and break, Vince barely manages to catch just one as the others shatter over the rocks and gravel below) Way to go, dude!

Sam Vs Nikos

2008-05-21T07:37:00.001-07:00

Sam spills Nikos!' beer all over his shirt as a joke
Nikos!: aw, dude, you're dead!!!

but Nikos! is strapped.......

....with a water pistol

The V Man Prophecies - after the giftshop

2008-04-28T21:33:00.001-07:00

Vince: Battle of the Mothmen, dude!

Nikos!: My Mothman can kick your Mothman's ass!!!

Vince: Don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, size! This little guy packs a punch, watch...

Vince: Mothman attack!!! Coming your way, chopstickhead!

Karen: Hey!

Bobbie: Always acting like jackasses

Nikos!: Dude, we should go back and buy the whole costume! We can test it out around campus and start our own Mothman legends!

Vince: Way to make your freak flag fly, dude! Great idea!

Karen: Oh, darn it, they messed up my hair completely.

V man Prophecies - at the statue

2008-04-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Marji (doing a Charlie's Angels pose in front of the Mothman statue) : Quick, boys and gals, take a picture if you want, Farah Fawcett ain't got shit on me!

Vince (in his Beavis or BeaVince mode again): Check out its butt, heh heh...

Matt: Why would you be looking, dude?

Nikos! (takes aim for the Mothman with a upper cut): Now it's my turn!

V Man Prophecies -At Marji and Matt's

2008-04-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Matt: What the? They're not stoned again, are they?
Marji: I think we'd better drive, just in case..
Matt: Just in case of what? I'm fairly convinced they're trippin' out, so you're right, we'll drive.

(Matt and Marji walk up, Nikos! and Vince have raibow colored swirls in their eyes, as they are coming off their buzz)

Matt: Vince, dude?.....

Marji: Nikos?

Vince (in his Beavis mode, or Cornholio.. whichever): WHOA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ASSWHIPE? YOU'RE KILLING MY BUZZ, DAMN IT, heh heh..
Matt: Relax, dude! It's time to wake up
Nikos! (in his Butthead voice): Yeah, settle down BeaVince!

V Man Prophecies - "any color you like"

2008-04-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

"Any Color You Like" continued ... there are missing scenes in this, when they drive around town to get to downtown, and afterwards as they make it up to Marji and Matt's place

(to be added later) (note: there are to be rainbow colors all over these scenes, including when they are biting into the bagels.. in that scene both Vince and Nikos! turn all kinds of colors, hence nikos! is shown without brown eyes or black hair)

The V-Man Prophecies - Any Color You Like

2008-04-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

But they decide to get buzzed anyway... these next sequences are to be set to the tune "Any Color You Like" by Pink Floyd (off the Dark Side of The Moon album) {I'm hoping to be able to put this together as a slide show eventually to the actual song}

[time to pour some refreshments for the trip]

Nikos!: Whoa!

Vince: Yeah dude, Love that feeling when the skull smiles back at us!

Black and White version

2008-04-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

For now I'm putting the cartoons on in black and white. After all I do have a day job, and only after I can get enough recognition can I quit my day job, once I can start generating an income with these comics and some of my other plans, if I had that kind of time on my hands, then I would start putting fully colored versions on the blog also, but until then, they have to be in black and white, after all, even drawing them is time consuming by itself.

2008-04-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Marji and Matt have already made the most of their day, having gone shopping and taken care of other things, while our duo were fast asleep (a running gag of this series is that Vince and Nikos are hardly ever awake before noon on a weekend, whether over the summer session or the regular school year)

V: Yo, babe, do we have a roadtrip in store for you!

Marji: Oh great, what is it?

V: There's this legend you see, about this mothman dude....

Marji: You guys want to see that goofy statue down in West Virginia, don't you?

V: whoa, its like you're reading our minds, man!

Marji (to Matt): It's Vince, he's wondering if we feel like taking a road trip this afternoon.

Matt: Yeah, why not, I was only going to watch the game, but who would want to do that? (sarcastic)

V: Plus, I heard there is riverboat gambling down there too, dudes!

Marji: Don't worry, you've already sold us, it's not like Matt was going to watch the game this afternoon or anyhting. Meet us at our place in 20 minutes, and try not to get high this time!

V: all right! groovy! We're there dude! (hangs up and turns to Nikos, who is still trying to call the others): Well dude, looks like we sold the trip to our first customer.. put it here Buddeee! (A'la Pauly Shore) (as Nikos "hits the rock" (no not crack you dolts!)

Notice

2008-04-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Public service announcement!: I'm still new at this, some of the strips are slightly out of order, which I have no control over, that is why I wrote the dialogue in order along with each post, which should clue the reader in on what sequence each comic block goes in.

The V-Man Prophecies

2008-04-24T19:43:00.001-07:00

In this episode, Vince and Nikos are bored out of their minds one summer weekend afternoon, and feel like taking a road trip. They have a bulletin board titled "who's around this weekend" which tells them exactly which friends are around, well you guessed it, that particular weekend. How two lazy slackers find out these things in advance, especially as they have so many friends to keep track of, is beyond me, so don't ask me, they just do! Anyway, they call the 4 friends that are around this particular weekend, which happens to be around the 4th of July (so you can imagine that campus is dead for the most part, even during the summer session), to take this road trip with them, after watching a TV program about the infamous "Mothman" of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, which just happens to be a hour's drive from their university campus....

Vince: Whoa, dude, I'm bored! We need a day road trip!

(on TV: a documentary about the Mothman Prophecies and the real story behind it; the narration goes on to talk about Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where this legend took place, and also mentions the fact that there is a statue dedicated to this mythological creature in the town.)

Vince (turning up the volume): Whoa!!! Dude! That's totally doable! We need to get a group together, like right now!

Nikos: Yeah! We need to call around to see who wants to come!

Vince: Well, I know Mandy and Bernie are out of town this weekend...

Nikos: Let's check out who's available this weekend.

(they both get up and go to the dining room)

Vince: Cool, we can start with Marji and Matt.

Nikos: Dude, the only other two are Bobbie and Brabs.

Vince: Well, at least it won't be a sausage fest this time! You call them and I will drop a line to M & M.

THE GANGS OF ROLLING HILLS U- 2

2008-04-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

Vince and Nikos made it down to south campus after several "green lights". here they see Else, who is a Dutch college student (actually a ringer for the Rolling Hills University field hockey team, the Dutch are good at this sport), and their friend (who isn't around here?) whom they decide needs to cool down after jogging in 90 degree heat.

Vince: Look, dude! there's what appears to be Else!

Nikos: Cool, even if its not her, it will be worth it!!

(they carry out the "green light")

Nikos: Dude! She just flipped us the bird!

Vince: That's allright! It was worth it, plus we'll probably get her again, on the other side of town...

THE GANGS OF ROLLING HILLS U - 1

2008-04-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

Vince and Nikos are bored in their apartment one afternoon, on a weekend, and of course it is in the afternoon on a weekend, because these two rarely get up before noon on weekends.. too much partying down at the campus bars the night before? On this particular afternoon they were watching certain shows, on probably the history channel, on gangs.. Vince comes up with a (not so bright) idea, to 'roll' around campus dressed as gang members, strapped with water guns and do drive by splashings to anyone they want, but mostly people they know. They also carry out "green lights" to certain friends at certain locations around campus... poor Keith is one of them, and all the kid wanted to do was study!

Nikos (to Tony): Greek Mafia official business! We're carrying out a green light, esse'!

Tony: All right Nikos! Smoke 'em Mo'Fos!!!

Emmy in the moonlight

2008-04-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

in this particular episode, Vince and Nikos meet up with some of their friends and go on a midnight hike around and south of campus, here Emmy runs ahead of the gang, to be followed by Vince soon after.. she is enchanted by the full moonlight sparkling on the water as she stands at the far end of a tunnel. Not sure where I'm going with this whole story yet..

Cartoons will be coming soon

2008-04-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

The cartoons will be added shortly. They will be whole "episodes", but will be put on in pieces and parts, as I can come up with the ideas and draw them so quickly. The cartoon pieces can also function independently, almost in a sunday comics 'style', however, eventually I will put each episode together in their entirety. I may include other drawings independent of the vince and nikos series also, as part of a "miscellaneous" section to this blog.

The Cartoon Chronicles of Vince and Nikos!

2008-04-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the online cartoon misadventures of Vince and Nikos, two college kids looking to have fun and go on all kinds of adventures, both real and imaginary.