GOIN' GREEN // A SHORT HISTORY OF EPIC ETHEL

Habgoblins! March has been pretty dope so far for Habtoons and I have no other group to thank but YOU. Your support within the last few weeks has been nothing short of amazing! I’d like to also give a shoutout to “Notion” as that’s significantly improved my productivity too.

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let’s chat about our mean green flaming machine: EPIC Ethel. This week sees the release of a brand-new timelapse video featuring the aforementioned Ethel, alongside her squad. The same artwork featured in this video is also being released around the same time this post goes up too.

2023 IS THE YEAR OF ETHEL

EPIC Ethel, just like Habtoons, is making a major comeback. She’s a character very near and dear to me, as she’s grown alongside me throughout the years. I’ll be rolling out new illustrations every week featuring out heavy-hitting heroine leading up to the release of an all-new series of adventures.

EPIC Ethel: The Core Four, 2023. From Left to Right: Negative Nanette, EPIC Ethel, Devante Jackson & Boogie, Awesome Anika

The all-new adventures of our green-glad gal, EPIC Ethel will happen this year throughout different mediums and formats. The first (and default) will be graphic novels, that’s basically home for us. You’ll also see Ethel & Co through animated shorts, (potential) live action segments, and much more I can’t talk about right now. Rest assured, it’s gonna be a great, green, year.

Make sure you follow EPIC Ethel on Twitter too. Starting today that account will be active and she’ll absolutely be tweetin’.

BUT WHO IS EPIC ETHEL?

EPIC Ethel, full name Ethelrida Delores Munroe, is a character I created out of necessity back in 2011. I’d been publishing webcomics for a few years at this point, but all of my stories featured male protagonists. I wanted something different, i needed something different.

Enter: Tank Girl.

Tank Girl was a series originally created by the, now artist for Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett. It featured the titular Tank Girl as she caused mayhem across the Australian Outback with her insane crew of misfits. Here was this badass female protagonist just beating the crap out of people, blowin’ shit up with her tank, and simply being an icon. That’s when it hit me, I needed to make a character that had the same badass vibe as TG but…in Black.

So, in 2011, EPIC Ethel was born. At the time, my drawing skills were still developing (hell, they still are) but I tried my best to create a character that I felt people would instantly gravitate too. As you can see in the illustrations above, Ethel had a…. distinct characteristic (don’t worry, over time, her breasts did shrink).

THE AWKWARD PHASE, 2011-2012

Now that I had this character, I needed to make a comic and it would be my first foray into creating a daily comedy-based comic strip. Initially…I wasn’t good at it. There was this strange obsession with her breasts, which I believe at the time I had finally learned how to draw decently. A lot of jokes or gags ended up centering around that, I’m not too proud of that but here we are!

I also had a hard time writing comedy in general, specifically for 3-panel comic strips. Initiating the joke in the first panel and then getting the punchline out by the third just wasn’t hitting for me. By the third comic strip, I gave up entirely and went back to creating a graphic novel version of Ethel.

EE - Issue 2 - DimSumSucka - Page 1 Edit.png

Four new, short, graphic novels were created “The Rioting” (which was Turning Red before Turning Red existed), “The Story of Stella Muerte”, “Dim Sum Sucka”, and “Shanghai Sky Pie”. As I mentioned, these stories were incredibly short; wrapping about usually within 10-12 pages. Though, a lot of the humor would absolutely not sit well with a 2023 audience. Regardless, all 4 of these were received relatively well at the time over on DrunkDuck and ComicFury BUT I wanted more. I was insatiable…..

THE MIND-BENT PHASE, 2012-2014

I wanted to try my hand at creating comic strips again. I wanted Ethel to put ever-present and the best way to do that, at the time, was in comic strip form. 2012 saw a shift in art direction and writing. While the writing was still a bit off, it seemed to still click with the audience I cultivated at the time. I dipped my toes into a more surrealistic aesthetic with a handful of gags that you had to probably reread a few times to comprehend.

This phase of EPIC Ethel saw the introduction of a new cast of characters: Awesome Anika (Ethel’s Cousin), Negative Nanette, Toilet Paper the Cat, The Ethereals, Rodney. Along with this new group of weirdos, Ethel also saw the introduction of her new supernatural powers: the ability to control, manipulate, and generate fire. Not much was done with it at the time but I felt it set her apart from other series out around then.

THE OVEN-MITT PHASE, 2015-2016

Not much was going on during this phase outside of a small handful of comic strips and a bump in art direction. Ethel’s “Ignition” Form now looked like if Super Saiyan 3 from Dragon Ball Z was green. And, for some reason I thought this concept for her flaming hands being oven mitts was clever, ha! This short lived phase also saw the birth of a recurring character named Brocliqua.

This is personally one of my favorite phases of Ethel.

THE HEAVY TEXTURE PHASE, 2017-2019

I was constantly on the hunt for how to improve the EPIC Ethel’s art direction and then I came across a new set of Photoshop brushes. Grut Brushes were my go-to around this time and I was obsessed with adding texture to everything. I wanted the comic to have more “depth” and truly stand-out visually from my contemporaries, at the time. As you can see, it was….a bit much.

While it’s not my favorite phase of EPIC Ethel, we did get to see new characters like Enigmatic Esther. Who happened to be Ethel’s rival AND biggest fan. We also got to see the return of everyone’s favorite annoying house guest, Brocliqua, who had a major glow up!

THE DO OR DIE PHASE, 2019-2021

As the theme goes, I wanted to take EPIC Ethel to the next level. This is where I tapped into a bit of my political commentary bag, with a heavy focus in the subject of: gentrification, anti-Blackness, pro-Blackness, self-introspection, cultural appropriation, and more. Additionally, we saw the arrival of brand new characters: Mariya Munroe (Ethel’s younger sister), The Mayosapiens, Zaquavia Beacon, and new NCs (neighborhood characters). This was the most unapologetic phase of EPIC Ethel and it did make some folks (the white side of the audience) a bit of uncomfortable; and I was absolutely okay with that.

This was also a phase that had several iterations within in, pertaining to art direction. I was finally feeling comfortable with the visual style and aesthetic of the comic. An ah-ha moment where I said to myself: THIS IS IT!

That would carry over to what would have been a major storyline within the Habtoons universe, To Do or Die in Bedstuy. A graphic novel that I attempted to create during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the story centered around it. The book was never finished but I do have plans to revisit it one day.

The ultimate phase of EPIC Ethel. Where I truly felt her and I were finally in sync. Many people never got to see TDODIB because I took it all down and Ethel just faded away. With everything going on in the world, I just didn’t have the energy and mindset to devote my time not only into this particular story but all of my comics as a whole.

New characters for this second half of the TO DO OR DIE Phase included: Mandip Spindlillie, Panama Kemi, Eddy Jensen, Hotep Hank, The COVID Twins: Covidicus & Coronasia, Dae-Dae, and Moniqua; in addition to redesigns for Ethel, Nanette, Anika, and Mariya.

THE FUTURE IS ETHEL

That brings us to present day 2023. Ethel’s and I are in our best form yet! This year we will see a culmination of everything that came before, as there is deep history here with Ethel; beyond what I showed you here today. I’m excited to bring her back and introduce her to newer audiences too.

Thank YOU so much for reading this long ass blog, and for your unabashed support. If you did make it this far down, let me know what you think in the comments below OR tweet at me on Twitter! I’d love to hear from you, for real.

Until then — stay gold

- Hab