A Long Cool Woman...

So, as you can imagine, stocking groceries all night, every night can get a tad repetitive. It also doesn't help that they play the same music every single night either--music my co-worker describes as "crappy B-music from the 70's." That's a pretty accurate assessment. As such, one of our favorite pastimes is to complain bitterly about every single song that comes on. This usually goes on for 8 straight hours.

However--every once in a while, a song will come on that doesn't make us want to stick our heads into the baler. One such song is this:



Possibly my favorite song of all time--The Hollies' Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.

It's the story of an FBI agent infiltrating a speakeasy back in the days of prohibition. Just when he's about to call in the "DA man" (District Attorney) to bust the place, a long, cool woman in a black dress takes the stage...

The magic of this song is that no one is exactly sure what the true lyrics are, which leaves room for a bit of artistic interpretation.
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My idea is a film noir style short film, with the main character using the adapted lyrics in a classic dramatic voice-over.

It's got all the elements of a great noir crime drama--

Guns...G-men...beautiful, dangerous women...

What more do you want?

But don't worry...I'm leaving plenty of room for some great gags only the medium of animation can pull off.
*Think Tex Avery's immortal wolf in Red Hot Riding Hood.

Below are some early designs for the three characters mentioned in the song specifically--the woman, the narrator, and Charlie:

...and here are some sketches exploring character and inking styles:

<--This is the original sketch I did in November of last year.

I think he adapted well to this story.

Right now all I have is the character designs and some really rough storyboards. I'll be working all night to nail down the final designs and storyline, as well as doing plenty of homework. For example this Samurai Jack episode
(I suggest muting beforehand...it was the best video I could find).





...and these books: