Vintage Comics - Issue 8

Oh, the drama!

Yes, these poor girls in the comics from this period couldn't live without a guy.

Halloween Party (Finale)

I've always received a lot of comments about this series, probably more than any other. I've been asked once and again if I would ever do another part, or if I would finish it before leaving the blog for good.

I decided to reward that by actually ending a story that I never intended to finish in the first place. But now that I've done, it's OVER. There's no future Halloween Party captions coming out. This is it, really.

Previous stories: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

Vintage Comics - Issue 7

Ok, this isn't a comic, but rather a vintage cover for one of those "titillating" romance novels. A completely different period than the comics, but you get why I did it.

I had a lot of fun tackling the stereotypes from this genre, even though it was the most difficult one I've done. This wasn't just changing the text like I've done in some of the others. This was build from scratch... the aged texture and everything. I hope you appreciate the result.

Roll of the Dice - Part 10

More Vintage Comics are still coming, but this one was long overdue.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9


Dawn descended from the sky like a bullet. She landed softly into Odette’s shoulder and yelled:

“It started! I saw it all from above. The centaurs are charging towards the city gates! There’s loads of them! And they’re all so big and beefy! Did skinny Millie really turn into THAT?!”

Odette’s elven ears also started picking up the distant sound of the hooves galloping, even though it was happening miles away. Then… clashes of metal… screams. The carnage had begun.

“It is time,” announced the Grand Mage. “Most of the Wraiths have left Castle Ivory to meet the centaurs in battle. We’ll have no better opportunity.”

“Yeah… Wait, did you say most of the Wraiths?”

“Of course. I doubt there’s not a few of them still guarding the place. But don’t worry, I’ve got a plan. It involves you…”

Odette placed a finger over Dawn’s little forehead and said a few words in ancient elvish.

“This will only last a few minutes. I can’t hold it much longer. So you must be quick.”

Dawn immediately started growing like a weed. Her purple glow was waning while it happened, and soon she was about the size of a normal woman.

“Are you turning me into a human?” she asked, and her voice wasn’t squeaky any more.

But then her insect-like wings started to change into something that looked more like the wings of a bat or a demon. She was also still growing, way past the size of a human. She looked in horror as her skin started to cover itself with purple scale. A gigantic tail emerged from her backside, and then it sprouted thorns. Her neck elongated and she grew long tusks, while her face distorted into something reptilian.

She kept growing until she was roughly 100 feet long. She could hear the nearby trees getting crushed by her expanding body. Then it was over. She contorted her monstrous head around her new self.

“You turned me into a freaking dragon… I’m so ugly!” she said, her voice a deep growl. Then she chuckled horrifically. “Awesome.”

“Come on, you’ll change back really soon!” said Odette, climbing over her friend’s back.

Flying as a dragon was much different than flying as a fairy, but Dawn managed nevertheless. She batted her enormous leathery wings and rose over the forest. She could see the city just ahead.

She was so large it only took her a couple of seconds to get there. She could see the battle between the centaurs and the dark creatures raging in the distant gates, but she descended over Castle Ivory.

It was indeed flanked by a hundred Wraiths or so, all floating and circling the tall tower. When they saw her, they shrieked deafeningly and charged in her direction.

The cheerleader turned dragon knew what she had to do. It felt like expectorating, but a thousand times more powerful. Her fire was gold and amethyst and it poured copiously from her throat, burning all on its wake. Dawn felt just a bit warm, and completely impervious to the flames she was generating.

Dragon fire was too magical, and the Wraiths had no chance against her. They all vanished as soon as they touched her fiery ejection.

“Oh… Odette… I think I’m shrinking!”

The temporary dragon was indeed getting smaller, but she was so vast it took her a while to completely do so. By then, she had burned out all enemies.

She was soon no larger than a winged crocodile, and she couldn’t hold the elf any more. Odette jumped from her back into the ground. Before landing, she had already transformed back into her real self, her staff no longer disguised as a bow: Where she was going, she wouldn’t need to hide her identity.

Odette turned around and almost laughed out loud. Dawn now looked like a small purple iguana flying clumsily with its insectoid wings. However, as she watched, she quickly regained her human-like appearance and regular tiny size. In just a few seconds she was back to her pretty fairy self.

“What a rush!” she squeaked. “That was so cool!”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it while it lasted, because I won’t be able to do it again.”

“You should have saved it for when we get inside and face Karina. I would have…”

“What?”, wondered Odette. “Squashed her, burnt her? She’s your sister, remember. We’re not actually trying to kill her. We just need to get the upper hand over her.”

“You’re right. So… how are we getting through that door?”

Odette turned around. She could feel the strong magic protecting the huge entrance to the castle. The Grand Mage raised her staff and its red gem glowed as she pressed it against the oaken door.

She pronounced a spell. Nothing happened.

“Come on, you can do it!” cheered Dawn. She felt quite vulnerable being a fairy again after being a powerful dragon.

Odette casted another spell, and then another. Nothing was working. Then, on the sixth attempt, the door swung open.

“Yay, I knew you could!” applauded Dawn.

“That… that wasn’t me. I couldn’t breach it from the outside. Someone on the inside must have…”

A beautiful young woman emerged behind the door and beckoned them in, leaving it ajar. Her blonde long mane was braided over her back and she was wearing the low cut black robes of the castle’s servants. On her collar, there was a necklace with a winged shape: a harpy, the sigil of the Dark Sorceress.

Odette examined the woman’s face. She appeared to be human, but the Mage could detect she wasn’t.

“You’re a… a mermaid,” she said.

“Yes, you’re right,” she said. “Karina cursed my tail into this form. And you are... the Grand Mage of the elves. You’re Odette!”

“I am.”

“Odette, it’s me! It’s Mia! I got transformed into this when I entered the game!”

“Mia? Wow, you look fantastic. I would have never recognized you!”

The mermaid was surprised, because it wasn’t Odette who answered, but instead the tiny fairy on her shoulder.

“Sorry, who…?”

“It’s me, Dawn!”

“Dawn? Oh, yes, I can still see a bit of you in your face! You’re soooo cute. And so tiny!”

Odette intervened.

“Girls, we must get moving. But… I don’t understand. You opened the door, didn’t you, Mia? How…?”

“Because I became the Dark Sorceress’ servant,” she explained.

“But… why?” asked a shocked Dawn. Was their friend about to betray them?

“Because she promised me my mother’s throne. She’s the Sea Empress in this world. She promised me I could stay here, beautiful and important forever.”

“And that’s what you’ve always wanted…” said Odette, feeling defeated.

“Yes. But no. Karina failed to understand me. She mentioned my fake mother, not realizing she only made me think of my true one. And as much as I love who I am in this world, I can’t stand the thought of never seeing my real Mom again, or the rest of my family.”

“So…”

“So, I pledged my allegiance to the Dark Sorceress, waiting for the right moment to overthrow her and end the game. I immediately contacted the resistance and they told me you were going to try and enter today, but that you needed help from the inside.”

“Wow. Thanks, Mia,” said Dawn, ashamed at having thought she was a traitor.

“You can thank me later, Squirt. Now let’s go to the Throne Room and kick Karina’s butt.”

None of them noticed the pale figure hiding in the shadows behind them.


Part 11

Vintage Comics - Issue 6

Miss those melodramatic crying girls from old comic books? Here's another one!

By the way, the Vintage Comics have their own label.

Vintage Comics - Issue 5

A rather simple one, but the picture was perfect and I wanted to do vintage science-fiction!

Vintage Comics - Issue 4

I really like this one, though maybe it's just because the edit took a lot of effort. You're welcome to dislike it, though.

Vintage Comics - Issue 3

Don't think I've forgotten about Roll of the Dice. The next part is actually finished, but the one after that isn't, so I'm making some time by posting these, even if they don't seem to be very popular.

Vintage Comics - Issue 2

Here's another comic cover. Classic horror this time.

Vintage Comics - Issue 1

Are you familiar with this very old AP/AR comic book?

Well, you shouldn't be, since I just made it up.

This is a new type of caption that occured to me today. Tell me what you think and I'll do a few more.

As you can see, they're based on the style of vintage comics, so expect a lot of crying girls!

Roll of the Dice - Part 9

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

The snake’s enormous fangs almost closed around her, but Dawn shot a potent spray of purple, glowing dust directly into its face. The reptile sneezed and twirled, and immediately slithered back to where it had come from.

The fairy sighed. She had learned to fend off predators quite well, but it was exhausting. To make things worse, her pointy and sensitive ears could hear steps behind her. She turned to see an elf ranger. Dawn immediately sprung back into action, ready to dust the stranger’s eyes. The elf was startled and with an impressively agile motion, she aimed at the tiny woman with her bow.

“Dawn, it’s me!” she said.

“Oh, Odette! I had forgotten how you looked like.”

Both the fairy and the elf relaxed and laughed nervously.

“So, what did you find out?” asked Dawn.

She had been waiting for three days in the forest while Odette infiltrated the city disguised as a lowly ranger in order to investigate.

“Well, I revealed my true identity to a couple of loyal elves I knew from my travels,” explained the Grand Mage. “They introduced me to the capital’s resistance cell.”

“And?”

“Well, things are trickier than we anticipated. Karina has grown more powerful here than what we’ve seen in other lands. Castle Ivory is protected strongly. The magic on its doors is too great. I doubt even I could break it from the outside.”

“So what will we do?” asked Dawn desperately.

“We’ll try to enter anyway. Remember, that’s the only way to end the game. There’s something in there that we have to do, but I still don’t know what.”

“But you said…”

“Yeah, I know. The odds are against us, and there’s yet another thing: her dark army guards the Castle.”

Dawn glowed even more intensely, as happened when she was furious.

“But… here’s some good news for us, finally,” said Odette with a smirk. “The resistance knows something that will allow us to try and break into the castle while the whole army is away at the gates of the city: an attack by the centaurs is imminent. Captain Millie of the Guard will arrive shortly, bringing thousands of her soldiers.”

“Millie? Do you think she’s our Millie?” asked Dawn excitedly.

“She must be, because “Millie” doesn’t exactly sound like a centaur’s name, does it? They say she’s brave and strong, and that she’ll give the Wraiths a good battle. And whenever that happens, we must be ready to get in.”

__________________________________________________________

Millie’s army was epic. That wasn’t only in numbers, but also in the strength of each centaur warrior.

As she oversaw the preparations for the surprise attack on the capital, Millie felt proud of her people. War had become a part of her ever since she had transformed into a centauress… as had loss.

Just four months after leaving the Eastern Kingdom in her attempt to reach the capital, the Wraiths had ambushed them. Millie managed to defeat them, but her Stallion had been killed in battle.

She was aware that he wasn’t real, just a character that probably would respawn if the game was ever played again. Still, that didn’t make his demise feel any less tangible for her. Millie didn’t dwell on her grief for too long. Death was a natural part of being a centaur… but so was revenge.

Her pain only strengthened her, and she emerged from this experience as thrice the warlord she had been. She made an oath to defeat the Dark Sorceress and she had managed to make most of the centaurs in the Kingdom to pledge their allegiance to her cause. After all, it was their duty to protect the lands against dark threats, and Karina’s was the greatest evil in ages.

Millie felt very inspired before the imminent battle. She was an artist, after all. War was her craft, the Dark Sorceress would be her canvas, and blood her paint.


Part 10
Part 11

Roll of the Dice - Part 8

I fleshed out the conclussion more than I thought I would, so this isn't the finale quite yet.

I hope it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

The capital welcomed every race with open arms, or at least so was said. The reality was a bit different.

It was true that the beautiful elves of any land were hailed respectfully at the city, and the same could be said about most humans, though the Barbaric tribes were often frowned upon. Centaurs were respected because of their wisdom and strength, but they were too proud to live among others, so they rarely ventured to the capital and preferred to keep to themselves on the Eastern Kingdom. Mermaids were also too distrusting of others to be interested on Castle Ivory, and since there was only one important lake in the city, they didn’t have much business there. Nobody cared either way about having fairies around; unless you were a Dust smuggler and wanted to kidnap them. They weren’t very useful, but since they were pretty, people enjoyed their shiny presences. And of course, no giant had ever set a foot on the capital.

Even if the city was never as diverse as it was intended, at least it had been tolerant enough, but now not even that could be said. Things had changed radically ever since the Dark Sorceress took over.

Almost two years had passed since the players had been absorbed into the game’s universe, and Karina had already spread her reign of terror through most of the land. Castle Ivory was now her fortress, and it wasn’t either white or benign any more.

The citizens were mostly unharmed unless they directly opposed her regime: any resistance was instantly crushed by the Sorceress herself or by one of the many Wraiths and other dark beings who had joined her after she seized power.

Of course, being the Grand Mage herself, Odette was at the head of that movement. Barely a month ago she had finally reached the capital, after helping organize the defenses of the many victims she found during her travels.

She now lived in the woods around the city, waiting for the right moment to strike. And she wasn’t alone. After defeating a couple of robbers, she had found they had caught a little, defenseless fairy, probably looking for someone who would buy her dust. Odette had released her and had been quite surprised (an a little amused) when she discovered that the tiny woman was Dawn, her formerly tall friend.

Since then, Dawn had become Odette’s companion. She was now sitting at her shoulder, as they overlooked the devastated capital from the branches of a tall tree. The pretty fairy seemed downcast.

“Are you sure it’s really Karina?” she asked in her annoyingly squeaky voice.

“Yes, I’m afraid the Dark Sorceress is really your little sister,” said Odette with sadness. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. I saw it in one of my visions.”

“But how could she do this? She was a bit spoiled, but she could never… I mean, this is pure evil! She can’t be a wicked witch!”

“She is one in here,” shrugged Odette. “This is a role game after all. A very literal role game. Maybe she’s just in character, as we all are.”

“But she’s doing bad things to people!”

“She is, Dawn, but maybe this is just a game to her. We’ve been in her place before. Have you never played as an orc or a necromancer in other games? And you did dastardly things as those characters, because it was just playing.”

“But that was different. Those games were pretend. This is real. And she’s killed real people!”

Odette reflected on that.

“I don’t know. We are not sure how “real” this is. I don’t think anyone else is actually real here. They’re just characters. I think only the seven of us can be considered authentic people.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I hope that too, because I’ve killed too, if always in self-defense.”

Odette threw herself from the tree to the ground and, as always, she landed on her feet. Dawn glided gracefully alongside her.

“What’s our plan now that we’re here?” she asked. Odette thought it out.

“I need to get closer, I need to understand the Castle’s defenses if we’re to breach them.”

“But… you can’t! It’s too dangerous! They’ll recognize you and they’ll kill you! You’re the Grand Mage!”

“Luckily I am, because that means I can do this…”

Odette clapped her staff against the ground and she immediately started to change. It was over in a few seconds. She still was a blonde elf, but her face was much different, her body curvier and her clothes less elegant. Her staff was now also disguised as a bow.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot you could do that…”

“This form has been really useful, yes,” she said, looking down and admiring the realistic illusion she had projected around herself.

“How come you can do that and I was just turned into a shiny insect?”

Odette shrugged before turning around to face the city.

“Lucky dice, I guess.”

__________________________________________________________

Mia waved her long honey-colored hair and smiled at the three fish swimming inside the glass water tank.

“Very soon, my friends, you shall be free,” she said cheerfully.

It was so strange having legs again and walking around, not to mention being in the open air instead of underwater, but she could bear it.

Suddenly, her chambers darkened and her smile vanished. That could only mean one thing. She turned to face the presence behind her.

Dark Sorceress Karina was stretched there, looking malevolent as usual.

“Still talking to them? I’ve told you, they can’t hear you.”

Mia nodded.

“I know, my lady.”

After her long journey, the mermaid princess had finally arrived to the capital two months ago. She had emerged in the middle of Castle Ivory’s lake and was immediately captured by Wraiths and conducted before Karina.

The Dark Sorceress had turned Mia’s three guards into fish and locked them into a tank. The princess had fared better: she was given human legs.

“You’ll live and be my servant,” she had declared, and then had proceeded to reveal her true identity.

Mia couldn’t believe that Dawn’s annoying sister was now this monster.

“Why don’t you destroy me?” the mermaid had asked. “I’ve heard all you’ve done. You’ve killed hundreds.”

“Oh, but you are different. All those people weren’t real. Just mere illusions conjured by the game, just like your fish guards. But you’re a player. I don’t wish you any harm, just to give you my gift. And of all the players, I think you’ll take what I have to offer with the most delight.”

“And what is it that you’re offering?”

“Staying in the game forever. That’s what you want, I do know it. And why wouldn’t you? You were a nerd, a nobody, in the outside world. In here you look like a model… you’re a real princess!”

Mia looked down.

“I can’t deny this is like a dream,” she admitted. “But it’s not our real life. We need the game to eventually end.”

“But why?!” Karina asked in fury. “Look at us here! I’m all powerful! Who cares about real life when we have EVERYTHING here?”

“I thought you mocked us when we played role games. You said it was silly to pretend being someone else. That’s why you called me a nerd, isn’t it?”

“But that was before! Now I’ve come to understand the appeal. This world is at my feet. I can make you, a princess, into my servant.”

“But... you’ve got plenty of servants already.”

“Wraiths and abominations, yes. All of them characters within the game. I need someone real to acknowledge my superiority. I want to collect all of you, especially my sister and the Grand Mage. And once you all bow before me, you’ll be free to do as you want in MY world.”

Mia didn’t answer.

“Think about it,” pressed Karina. “Once I win this war, we’ll remove that fake mother of yours from her Pearly Throne and I’ll make you Empress of all Seas.”

Princess Mia thought about it. And in the end she pledged her loyalty to the Sorceress.


Part 9
Part 10
Part 11