A Guide to the Complete (so far) Adventures of QUIRK
The Quirk Chronology
In print, on the internet, in eComics and back in print, Quirk and his pals have experienced many adventures in their quest to be left the hell alone! Here's a complete guide to The Saga So Far!
Adventure #1:
Island In The Sky
The crew of the Frigid discover a peculiar island in space. Only after landing on it (and unwisely lighting a campfire) do they realize that they have accidentally wakened one of the last remaining Starwals: the huge and deadly whales of space! You don't want to get one of these things angry... and you especially don't want to light a fire on its back! A deadly space encounter turns personal and strange when the creature's origins are revealed during a kind of accidental mind-meld...
Originally published in 1980, as Quirk #1
a slightly revised and rescripted version
was issued in electronic form in 1998.
Adventure #2:
The Humor Agency
Brainwashed by agents of the notorious Sombra Cult, Quirk and his pals are forced to infiltrate a bizarre Secret Society bent on cracking the restrictive stranglehold of the Sombras. But when Smith is apparently murdered by his captors, Quirk joins the other side in an all-out war between the laughs and laughs-not!
Originally published in 1981, as Quirk #2
"The Humor Agency" introduced ongoing Guest Villains
Polly, Max-Or and Pox.
Adventure #3:
The Day of The Dreamer
With the help of a formless, telepathic life form from deep space, Max-Or and Pox team up for a misguided revenge against Quirk. Their plan calls for a double-pronged attack with Pox turning Quirk's own dreams against him while Max-Or launches a one-man assault against the Frigid in the vastness of space!
Written and drawn in 1982 for the original
printed-on-paper run of QUIRK, this story was not
published until 1996, when it was serialized in MILLENNIUM,
a small literary eZine. The story purported to tell,
in dream form, Quirk's origin and is no longer
considered canon by the author.
Adventure #4:
Knight's Gambit
Much against Quirk's wishes, the crew of the Frigid visits the notorious game-station, Rysk, The Station has an awful secret, but that's the least our heroes' troubles, as Quirk is forced into a grudge-match to the death with the relentless Max-Or in order to save Smith from the incinerators...
Begun in 1983 and unfinished until 1998,
the first half of this story appeared in the online
version of MILLENNIUM. The second half, made up of entirely
new story and art, began the weekly online internet serial
at the original Duck Soup Productions website. With the first
third of the story completely redrawn and rewritten in 2013, it
appears in print for the first time in Quirk Vol. 1: Pulp Friction.
Adventure #5:
A-Muck Time
What's the matter with Sludge? He's been acting awfully strange. The answer has to do with the origin of his species and the circumstances of his birth... and it may spell the end of Quirk and Smith...
Conceived and partially drawn in the early '80s,
all original artwork for this story was scrapped and a new version
was started from scratch, making it the first entirely new
Quirk story in a decade and a half. It debuted on the Duck Soup website
on April 8, 2000, and ran through August 6 of that year. It was first collected
in Quirk PDF comic #4, and appears in print for the first time
in the new paperback, Quirk Vol. 1: Pulp Friction.
Adventure #6:
Baby Boom!
Sludge's explosive Big Event really packs in the crowds on board the Frigid!
Originally running from August 13, 2000 and continuing
through Sunday Comic #74 on December 25, this story
was collected in issue 5 of the PDF comic and appears in
print for the first time in Quirk Vol. 1: Pulp Friction.
Adventure #7:
Termination Alley
Lockhead Dynamics, the evil corporation which is the original owner of both Carpy and the Frigid, repossesses both of them and sets Quirk, Smith andSludge adrift in a space-slime bubble using pilfered Grundgite technology. The beginning of an epic new story arc.
Debuting in the Sunday Internet Comic on December 30, 2000,
this story ran until June 3, 2001, and introduced several new
characters and concepts for the series. It was collected in the
PDF comic #6, and is the lead story
in Volume 2 of the new Quirk paperback series.
Adventure #8:
Limbo!
Carpy fights alone deep inside Lockhead Dynamics, while Quirk, Smith and Sludge drift helplessly in a space-slime bubble. Their journey towards an unknown destination is interrupted by a very strange being who calls himself The Dalai Dada, Artmeister of the Spaceways...
The first webisode of this story appeared as Duck Soup's
Sunday Comics Serial on June 10, 2001. It ran until episode #116
on October 14 of that year. It was collected in the PDF comic #7,
and made its print debut in the new paperback,
Quirk, Vol. 2: Termination Alley.
Adventure #9:
Down To Earth
Quirk, Smith and Sludge are trapped inside the paintings of a cosmic Art Museum by the mysterious Dalai Dada, who spares the boys only when he learns that he shares a mutual enemy with them: Lockhead Dynamics. Freed to continue on its unerring journey, the slime bubble containing Quirk heads towards its ultimate destination: Earth.
Alternate Title: "Cry Dada!"
This story ran from October 21, 2001 through February 17, 2002,
installment #134 of the weekly web comic at Duck Soup Productions.
It was collected in the PDF comic #8, and in early 2013 made
its print debut in the new paperback, Quirk, Vol. 2: Termination Alley.
The first several pages were created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11
attack on New York City's twin towers, and are shaped by my
emotional response to that event.
Adventure #10:
Planet of The Amazon Cowboys
Quirk, Smith and Sludge are marooned on an eerily altered Planet Earth. With the whole world sold out to Lockhead Dynamics, and the landscape divided into time-themed Adventure Lands, the boys quickly find themselves prisoners of a pack of angry women...
This Deeply Misogynistic story ran on the internet from
February 4, 2002 through episode #157, July 28, 2002,
and didn't create nearly the uproar that I'd hoped for. It appeared in print for the first time in Quirk, Vol. 2: Termination Alley.
Adventure #10:
Quat Scratch Fever
The origin of Smith is revealed as Kittana, the first of The Figurehead's Secret Agents here on Earth, takes a swipe at the boys...
This story ran from August 11, 2002 through episode #178,
mid-April 2003 of the weekly web comic at the old Duck Soup
Productions website. It has never been collected into any stand-alone publication.
It is slated to make its first print appearance in a projected third volume of theQUIRK paperback series.
Adventure #11
Loose Ends
Smith is out of the loop, Quirk's nose has been severed, and in eight pages or less I had to bridge the gap between the previous adventure and...
Adventure #12
The Prunes of Ire
Quirk and his pals must literally sing for their supper if they are ever to find their way back to the legendary Route 66...
The story debuted on August 30, 2003, episode #189, and was never completed.
The first Duck Soup Productions website was falling apart.
With personal issues and the strain of producing two weekly
comic strips beginning to take their toll, I asked my friend, Comics Great
BRUCE CANWELL (author of BATMAN CHRONICLES:
THE GAUNTLET, several other stories for both DC and
Marvel, and now co-editor of The Library of American Comics)
to guest-write a special one-off story for Quirk.
Unfortunately, halfway into Prunes's online run,
the original website essentially came to a screeching halt, and
would not be resurrected until well into 2012. However -- all artwork
has been completed for this story, and it's now going to happen at LONG last!"The Prunes of Ire" will debut on this website starting July 2, 2023!
The Future
???
When Quirk ended its internet run I had about two to three year's worth of material already plotted ahead. It's still an ambition to get those stories created and into print, including:
The last unfinished QUIRK story from the early '80s, finally completed in a new collage style.
