Click on the image to see a larger version of it. This particular scan is from a photocopy of the original. I am collecting all of the originals, some are packed away, some hidden, some misfiled and some framed. My hope is to provide the highest image quality possible and post all scans from the originals.
Artist Commentary:
Welcome to the very first Captain Bucknell comic strip that I drew for the Bucknellian, the Bucknell University student newspaper, when I was a Sophomore in college... oh so long ago.
The first Captain Bucknell in the Bucknellian was a big milestone in my life. For one thing, the Bucknellian newspaper had a circulation all over campus of about 4000-5000 copies (I think...) and was widely read. It was a good paper. But with the addition of Captain Bucknell now there was a very entertaining reason to read the paper each week and see how he saved Bucknell from alien invasions and whatnot.
If memory serves me a mini-series of Captain Bucknell had previously run in an "independent" newspaper on campus in '95. But moving to the Bucknellian was a pretty big deal that guaranteed readership.
I don't believe that anyone on campus had ever seen a comic strip like Captain Bucknell before and boy did it get noticed! My goal was to make a super hero comic strip about a super hero on campus that saved the universe while supporting beer guzzling and all around debauchery. It was my attempt to be completely and utterly abnoxious while focusing on storytelling and comic book style artwork.
The first comic is actually quite tame compared to the later ones. This is the first time we see Captain Bucknell in his early outfit (more on that later). You'll note it says "welcome to the Bucknellian... you'll have to change your ways a bit" which is a reference to the original strip which was much more violent. I thought I was going to make Captain Bucknell more "tame" compared to the original mini series... but that didn't last long as you'll see in the upcoming strips.
Captain Bucknell ran for a year and a half. 38 full length strips were drawn for the Bucknellian newspaper. A mini-series was drawn for the indie paper. A "Captain Bucknell 2" comic book was drawn and never published anywhere. I still have all the originals so you'll be reading all this. I also drew several Captain Bucknell shorts my senior year when I was drawing a different strip called Mass Media.
I learned HTML in 1996 and had a Captain Bucknell website online in 1997. Then it went away when I graduated and lost my free hosting. Now 10 years later HE'S BACK and the world can enjoy his adventures.
Click to read the next comic, CAPTAIN BUCKNELL #2.
Mark Bussler Comics Blog Mission
As I've had success with my major blog dedicated to my filmmaking, the Mark Bussler Blog, I decided it would be fun to publish all of my comics online. Although I never ended up being a "professional" cartoonist it was my dream for years and all through college. Now I make a living producing, directing and editing documentary films. Which is basically an extention of cartooning in my opinion.
All of my films are distributed by Inecom Entertainment Company and are available for sale nationally at retailers and online websites like Amazon.com and DeepdiscountDVD.
At this time I am not drawing any new comics, that could change but I want to post all of my existing work first. This blog will feature all of my past work including Captain Bucknell, Agent 0040oz, Bolfar: Hero of the 9th Moon, Mass Media and other drawings and comics.
My art influences for drawing were Shirow Masamune (best known for Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed), Berkely Breathed (Bloom County) and Geof Darrow (Hard Boild, The Matrix).
Bookmark this page, get the RSS feed and prepare to read the entire series of Captain Bucknell!
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