Not much of a punchline, but this is where my mind went when I tried to think of a way to use that particular pair o’ ducks. They can’t all be bad puns and pop-culture references, kids.

…

Those two “shoulder” ducks actually came in a package marked as a pair of “love ducks.” Which is silly, because I’ve never really believed in that whole “opposites attract” nonsense.

Of course, there’s always the question of how the Commandos’ particular camo style is supposed to hide them anywhere in this house, but hey.

…

I wonder if there are any more designs of those pencil-topper devil duckies. I should be able to eke out another comic or two with those guys, right…?

Aren’t they just the cutest little evil ducklings plotting a violent overthrow of the established order that you’ve ever seen? Aren’t they?

Every now and then I must challenge myself. This one involved finding a way to prop up the purple duck in such a way that he didn’t look too much like he was leaning against the desk edge (he wasn’t) but without giving away the propping materials themselves. After some experimentation, I balanced him on a book (to give him the necessary height off of the keyboard shelf) and a small flashlight (to get the correct angle so we could see his face in the shot as he “fell.”)

And yes, that means he actually fell an even shorter distance than Roger claims. See what happens when we peel away the curtain and reveal how the movie magic works?

Also: I know. I changed the dialog from the movie, just a bit. I couldn’t find a way to introduce Roger and Neil and work some proper blasphemy into mix, other than maybe having the ducks argue the relative merits of David Lee Roth versus Sammy Hagar in Van Halen. Something like that would’ve entailed a wall of text, and I’d have lost my closing panel. (I adore that closing panel, I don’t care what anybody else thinks. So there.)

Also also: When you’re done here, maybe you should check out 300 in Fifteen Minutes. I do believe you’ll find yourself some funny in there, if you like poking well-meaning fun at movies.

…

I could’ve gone for tax-related humor for April 15th, but coming up with something funny about the federal revenue system would’ve been too taxing for my feeble mind. So you get my take on an overused movie meme, instead. Lucky you, eh?

(Taxing. Hah.)

Mostly this just was an excuse to use one of the new ducks I’ve picked up lately.

Oh, who am I kidding? This was an excuse to use Bob again. I just love a character that I don’t have to write actual dialog elements for…

I’d like to thank Wonderduck for giving me the first grunted syllable in today’s comic, back in the comments for Monday’s comic… *wry grin*

…

You know, if I keep using Bob then I’m going to have to give him a tag and a slot in the cast page, aren’t I?

It’s funny, I always start out with vague notions for what I’ll do with this duck or that set of ducks, but when production time arrives I find myself going in different directions. Bob was going to be a one-time character over those few comics a while back, but when I came up for this DST-zombie joke I realized that I needed him to give Score someone to play off of. It’s not like anybody else around here has the zed-head perspective required, right?

The best laid plans of ducks and men, or some such.

Yes, that’s Bob.

From the office down the hall.

…

Does this mean that Score is the result a Mark I zed-head research project? Oh, if only it was that simple!

No real punchline here, I just decided to come up with a way to showcase one of the more extravagant ducks who arrived in my home during the Yule season.

…

Don’t worry: She won’t become a full cast member. Primarily this is because she has to stay safe and snug in her box, otherwise all of those itty bitty feathers would be gone in no time. It’s quite the striking effect, though, isn’t it?

(I should update the year on that copyright text, shouldn’t I…?)

This is a prime example of two things:

1. Why I Don’t Participate In “Talk Like A Pirate Day”. Ye gods, people, that’s a lot of work just to sound even less intelligible than I already am.
2. Sometimes it’s a complete nightmare when you have the punch line but don’t have a good way to construct the joke which leads up to it.

Hell, I didn’t even come up with nearly as clever of a title as I’d hoped for… and you don’t want to see the rejected titles. Trust me.

The pre-adolescent ducklings come from miles around to hear Roger’s Halloween jokes. One presumes they all grow out of that phase eventually…

…

I spent hours wracking my brain trying to figure out how to make this comic work with Score somehow, having him scare off the kids who’re trying to trick-or-treat him. It finally dawned on me that I was using the wrong black duck.

Ah, well. I’m not always a genius, I’m afraid.