Sun.com Customer Experience and Stuff: Notes from the Sun.com customer experience team.

In my posting the other day I almost forgot about the Duke comic.  Yep, a real printed comic book featuring Duke, that was given away at a couple of early Sun Java events.

It was "The Amazing Adventures of Duke... the net's smoothest code man" -- and though the storyline left a little to be desired, the artwork was absolutely astounding. Well, no wonder, since it was produced by legendary comic book artist Neal Adams, famous at DC and Marvel for Batman and Superman and such in the 1970s, then on to found Continuity Studios.

During a JavaOne conference a few years ago we were inspired to transfer prints from original color press negatives onto the web site, and you can still page through the whole comic online today.

BTW, in the cartoon and animation biz, artists usually create 'model sheets' for characters to show the various poses, expressions, and interactions that the character can have.  (For instance, I own some interesting model sheets for Tigger, Snow White's evil queen, and Clarabelle Cow.)  We never created a model sheet for Duke per se, but we used the Neal Adams comic as a reference for side shots and surprised expressions, and it served us in good stead.  Check out the many ways that Adams uses various angles of Duke's nose to show expression.

P.S. A short interview with James Gosling is also an interesting Duke-related read.