The Adventures
of Simone & Ajax is the story of
Simone, a fun-loving 20-year-old girl, and Ajax, her friend who
happens to be a small, green dinosaur. Together they find
themselves in a series
of strange and wacky adventures, taking them to many different
lands, times, and places. The series is designed to be enjoyed
by readers of all ages. While the adventure and humor will
hopefully bring in new and younger
readers, the older readers will hopefully catch some of the
more subtle jokes and see the people/events/situations being
parodied
in the stories. And while women and children seem to like Ajax
better, Simone is preferred by male readers. Together, their
adventures are "a
bit like the best issues of Cerebus, and (with) a mood that
harkens Bone" (Toph, Overstreet's
Fan #21).
Simone is not so much the leader of the duo, but is more
the instigator, looking to have fun and often acting before
she thinks, getting herself and Ajax into trouble and so
into their adventures. She's not dumb, just over-zealous.
She's actually quite smart and particularly well-versed in
a variety of subjects of her own choosing. While she is feisty
and aggressive (she has no problem punching someone in the
nose) and sometimes thoughtless, particularly in regard to
Ajax's feelings, she's a good person who stands by her beliefs
and her friends and doesn't put up with mean or malicious
people. Visually she's drawn more like Betty & Veronica, to
keep things all-ages. But this doesn't mean there's no romance
in the series; there can be a romantic side, such as with another
actor in their Hollywood adventure. This, however, never goes
beyond a kiss.
Ajax is the more sensible of the two. While deep down he loves adventure, too, he'd rather ponder and worry before leaping into the fray. Simone is his best friend, and he follows her not only for the adventure but also to keep her out of too much danger. Ajax puts an element of stability and common sense into Simone's life, much as Simone lends an air of fun and excitement to Ajax's otherwise uneventful life. Perhaps some of his timidity stems from being a small, green dinosaur in a predominantly human world, a fact which is never explained. And while Ajax looks up to Simone for her spontaneity (even though Simone rarely acknowledges Ajax's qualities and contributions), they are just good pals hanging out together.
Simone and Ajax live together in the ruins of Rene de Chartre Cathedral, a combination of renovated, modern rooms and crumbling stonework, statues, and stained glass. Surrounding the cathedral are extensive, grassy ruin-cluttered grounds littered with toppled pillars and half-overgrown walls, a pond, and a stream. Around all of this is the woods, which by walking through Simone & Ajax can exit to any time or place, be it Atlantis, Pompeii, 16th-century England or the grocery store. And walking into the woods wherever they are will usually bring them back home. Yet even while living quietly at home, listening to New Wave and Swing, reading pulps and comics, somehow adventure comes calling.
Simone & Ajax's adventures take them around the world, and off it, as well as through time. Over the course of their travels Ajax, who was the first to live in the abandoned cathedral, and Simone are joined by a number of supporting characters who come to live with them around the grounds. The most prominent of these is the Lemming Squad, who play the part of the chorus, making observations and occasionally taking part in an adventure. There's also Herriman Sprigg, the Duke of Ducks and Mallard of Malta, the last of an ancient line of Maltese ducks, who suffers from a sleeping disorder and will suddenly snooze when most needed. Bela and Boris, the twin bats, lurk about the grounds trying to be creepy but are actually harmless. And Santa makes an annual appearance, having a run-in with Simone, who repeatedly tries to get more presents. And still other characters will come and go.
Simone & Ajax first appeared in a series of short stories in the '90's. Some of these stories can be expanded upon and turned into new novels, while there are many new and previously untold adventures. Some of the predicaments Simone & Ajax find themselves in:
-
Their first adventure in which they meet in in art museum ravaged by the battle between pudgy, winged babies (PWB's) seeking royalties for all the reproductions of paintings they're in and the para-military women museum guards led by a mad scientist. This scientist is conducting bizarre experiments on the PWB's to make them useful models in modern art. Simone and Ajax help the PWB's defeat the evil forces and get their due. At the end, Ajax invites Simone to come live with him in the cathedral.
-
They get sucked into the quest to find The Big Sleeping Maltese Duck. The
last of the ancient line of Maltese Ducks has been stolen, but who has the
bird? And why is he always sleeping? Traveling to exotic locales and meeting
up with colorful characters as only 1940's Hollywood could inspire, Simone
and Ajax run up against a Sydney Greenstreet-type, a Fu Manchu-type, a monocled
German Count, a desert bandit chief, and a French nut who claims he's the
Pope. They eventually save the duck, Herriman Sprigg, who comes to live with
them (the 2 pages following this proposal are taken from this tale).
-
Each year Simone attempts to outwit Santa Claus and get more presents. The first of these stories introduces a group of lemmings who become their frequent companions.
-
The Hollywood Adventure, in which Simone is lured away from Ajax by the bright lights of Tinseltown, while Ajax follows her, supporting himself by playing monsters in low-budget movies. They get involved with a fued between 2 powerful directors, Cecil B. DeMonkey and Erik von Strohsbusch, the perils re-uniting the two friends.
-
They travel the high seas with pirates who swash when they should have buckled and end up feeding Simone and Ajax to a whale.
-
Simone and Ajax zip off into outer space for other-worldly thrills that look more like classic Buck Rogers than Star Wars. In their quest to corner the market on the soon-to-be next-big-thing, the return of moonboots, they face D'bjah, the evil moon emperor.
-
The Gothic Adventure, in which Simone and Ajax go to a haunted castle in Transylvania to confront Dracula and the Wolfman, and where they meet Bela and Boris, bickering twin bats, who follow them home.
-
The Gaslight Adventure, in which they team with a Sherlock Holmes-type sleuth to solve a series of baffling crimes, all while the detective refuses to acknowledge Ajax's presence because, in fact, dinosaurs are extinct, and it is not possible nor logical that Ajax could exist.
-
They find out about and contribute to the sinking of Atlantis, where Ajax finds himself hailed as a god, which brings down the wrath of Thebadara, the sorceress queen.
-
After Ajax urges Simone to make something more of herself, Simone attends Valkyrie school and takes them into the Ring of the Nibbledsmurphen adventure dealing with peckish dragons and little blue creatures who all seem to be missing an arm or a leg.
-
Ajax pretends he's a tough-as-nails private eye, taking them into not-so-hardboiled cases involving masked penguins and an on-the-lam lamb.
-
They also face trouble in the Barbarian era and duck hot lead in the Old West.
All in all, The Adventures of Simone & Ajax is
a fun and exciting comics series that will attract readers of all ages
looking for exciting adventure
stories. Successful comics like Bone and Leave It To Chance show
that there's a market for this kind of material and its licensing potential.
For more information on Simone & Ajax and their library of adventures,
please visit www.simoneandajax.com or email mail@simoneandajax.com or pepoycomics@comcast.net.
While the sample pages are designed for standard American comic book
size, the series can be formatted for digest or European album.
