🐺The One You Feed
Follow the Werewolf
Episodes of Storymaze feature: writing tips or a work-in-progress; something creative I’m digging; + a quote that’s got me thinking.
I was catching up with the insanely talented Mark Nelson, and talk turned to werewolves — as it does. Mark was deep into bringing to life his own pages of lupine transformation, but a story point we’d had a laugh over stuck in my head. Before it ran off to another’s brainspace, I followed its path through the Storymaze and cooked up an 8-pager that rated a “Good story!” from Mr. Nelson — all the affirmation a writer needs to share it out with you folks over the next few episodes. I called this, “The One You Feed.”
*PAGE 1*
*PANEL 1
EXTERIOR FOREST — NIGHT.
Full moon in the sky, shining down on FOSTER TRILLIAN, a brawny elite in high-end hunting gear: character-wise think the actor Clancy Brown. Foster’s weapons of a choice (a bad-ass hunting knife, a customized assault rifle) are scattered on the ground around him —
— because the SCREAMING FOSTER is being horribly mauled by the horrific WEREWOLF that’s ripping/biting/tearing at his chest and shoulder.
FOSTER/CAPTION
“You can see, doc…I had some trouble on my last hunting trip!”
*PANEL 2
INT. DOCTOR’s OFFICE — DAY.
A particularly hi-tech center, more of a research center than a typical doctor’s office, with expensive monitors and scanners against the wall. Foster can afford the best-of-the-best, and his choice in health care provider shows.
A concerned, shirtless Foster lies partly back on an inclined exam table, lightly running his fingers across his chest: there’s only the lightest trace of injury across his skin, like a scratch that’s well on its way to healed. There are some electrodes attached to his chest as well, with wires that run to a beeping monitor.
DR. GELLARD — a top-notch, upper-crusty practitioner with a “House”-like know-it-all demeanor — studies the monitor. Gellard appears confused at the disconnect between what he sees and what Foster is telling him.
DOCTOR: Honestly, Foster — I don’t see anything that matches the “attack” you describe!
DOCTOR: What I hear is you indulged in another exotic excursion — which means bottles and pills and an overactive imagination.
DOCTOR: From the looks of you, the worst that happened is a run-in with a thorn bush!
FOSTER: Maybe.
FOSTER: And maybe I need…a second opinion…
*PANEL 3
INT. GYPSY PARLOR — NIGHT.
An exotic setting, with occult tapestries hanging from the walls, and glittering crystals hanging from the ceiling. A central table holds a crystal ball and small jars holding preserved bones and animal parts. Thick candles of various sizes are on smaller tables around the periphery, adding an eerie haze over everything.
Like the doctor’s office, this is an occult place on the high-end of things: Foster can afford the best-of-the-best. For his part, he’s leaning down to look into the crystal ball, the orb magnifying and distending his worried face.
Observing him is MADAME KEZIA, the gypsy proprietor. Straight out of Universal central casting, this witchy seer puffs on a homemade pipe shoved into the corner of her mouth, the thick smoke clouding her bloodshot eyes. She deals oversized tarot cards onto the table, revealing disturbing images as she prophesies Foster’s future.
KEZIA: It takes resources to find me, Mr. Trillian.
KEZIA: But you may not like what there is to discover about yourself!
FOSTER: I’m not paying you for cryptic, Madame Kezia — I need answers!
More next episode!
There’s no escaping the fact that the online world has lost its “promised future” sheen, and taken a hard turn to dystopia — ensuring William Gibson as a prophet and giving rise to glorious new words like “enshittification.” (Courtesy of Cory Doctorow.) But as Sam Gamgee once said, “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo…” (Yes, we’ve just finished our yearly rewatch of The Lord of the Rings.)
Mats Steen was a young Norwegian gamer who died at 25 from a form of muscular dystrophy. After his death, his family was astounded to learn that the life that they knew about — largely confined to a wheelchair and keyboard and screen, seeming to be exceedingly lonely — was only one small part of his persona and influence.
Inside the real-time multiplayer game World of Warcraft, Mats was “Ibelin”, an adventurer known for his compassion and empathy. Over the years, Ibelin traveled thousands of virtual miles across the near-limitless expanse of Warcraft’s countryside and cities. He was having the sorts of adventures you’d expect in a fantasy role-playing game: fighting dragons, gathering treasure. But on a far bigger scale he was also bonding with friends, experiencing romance, and offering heartfelt advice that demonstrably changed the real lives of person after person on the other side of their own screens.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is a seamless mix of documentary footage of Mats and his family in the “real world” — and Warcraft’s game animations that recreate his in-game experiences and interactions. Tragic, touching, empowering, it’s a watch that reminds us that the point of technology can be — should only ever be — to make us more human.
Have you signed up for alerts on Axles Infernal #2? My new comic launches in the next couple of months — and you can get notified first on early bird rewards and other goodies. Speaking of “early”…here’s the first pass on our main character, Percy Cross. She’s evolved over time, so not all this still applies — but her basic soul remains intact. (Extra important in a comic book about multiple hells!)
CROSS TO BEAR
"Persephone" Percy Cross is quick to blame her moral lapses on a broken home, abusive parents, and molesting siblings. The list of her trials reads like something ripped from society's most unpleasant headlines.
Well, "ripped's" not quite accurate. More like "clipped." The truth of the matter is that's where Percy gets most of the bullshit stories that flavor her own chiefly benign background. The Cross family — Percy's mom and dad and two brothers — couldn't be be more ordinary, or nicer people.
But if Axles Infernal proves anything, it's that there are all kinds of hell. And for Percy, "ordinary" screams of damnation. It's not what her folks represent: integrity and compassion and fair play. It's the maddening sameness of their existence that drives Percy to the edge. To Percy, that kind of moral fiber should be used as strength to test the world; if something goes wrong, then you've got that to fall back on. But the other four-fifths of the Cross household treat it like a prison, fearing the repercussions of taking a chance or getting involved.
Percy wouldn't risk that lock-up for herself. She blew out of there when she was 16, a rebel none too concerned about a cause, but dead set against falling into the same pitfall that had trapped the the rest of her brood. The detour she chose for herself was through a jungle 180 degrees away from everything they might stand for or approve of.
Percy had a blast. It's easy to do when your philosophy about life boils down as, "To hell with it." She did a lot of things she might not have been proud of if she bothered to think about it, but she wasn't thinking. She was reveling, feeling —- until there was damn near little left to feel.
When you live hard, life treats you back in kind. Four years on her own hadn't left too many scars on the outside, but Percy's insides had taken a beating. Not just her psyche, either. One vile experience – or maybe a dozen – had made certain that Percy was never going to have children of her own.
No big deal. Percy never gave much thought to a family. But sometimes when Percy dreams it's of herself, crying...and holding a dead baby in her arms.
The truths about Percy's family and the fears that sent her spiraling out into the world aren't delivered in one fell swoop: they're parceled out over the course of the series, paralleling Percy's eventually rekindling the dead parts of her soul.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
— Winston Churchill
As I line up 2025 comic con appearances, I’ll promote ‘em here — and hope for a chance to meet some of you fine folks face to face. Be table ready: first person to show up at the show with a copy of any Daredevil: Black Armor issue or trade — the autograph is free. Show up in a Black Armor cosplay: get a full set of the original Fall From Grace comics!
Amazing Times
I’m D.G. Chichester. Seems pretentious to me, so if you’d rather just call me “Dan”, and have a go at the last name as Chai (like the tea) Chester (like it looks).
I earned my word-cred writing comic book titles like Daredevil, Terror Inc., Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. I like weird tales, so if things here bend that way — now you know why!
Folks seem to like the comic book adventures I’ve written, so if you haven’t checked one out — please do. Many are now available in fab collected editions — including the recent rad retro
For the moments between newsletters…
That Churchill quote just kicked my head in, Dan. 🙏
Another great post. 👏👏