Chapter 23 update!

I got the script back from my co-writer on Christmas Day and we are officially set to start up chapter 23. I think I posted the cover a few months ago, but here’s a wip of the first page, minus the dialogue. I’m pleased to announce that chapter 23 will officially debut on New Year’s Day this year, with a two page debut. This first page has actually already been completed and the next page is already being started.

Without going into too many spoilers, this next chapter will start a new story arch set in Feudal Japan, with Kalwa and Zack both learning to get back on ones feet, namely on Kalwa’s end. Well be introducing some new characters who will actually be having quite the impact on the overall story, show off some fighting styles and hopefully give some readers a bit of insight on what life was like in the feudal days of Japan. We’re also going to be tying off a little plot thread that’s been wondering around for quite some time which is what you’re starting to see here. So join us on New Year’s Day as we proudly debut the next story arch in this saga!

Page of the Day!

This emotional page from chapter 14. I’ve really credited this page as being a major turn around for the story as this is the first page in the series where we see Kalwa emotionally break down in tears. The second to last panel was the major vocal point which was a vitally important part of the page. I think when drawing it there were about three versions of this particular pattern before settling on the finished one.

Page of the Day!

One of my favorite pages from chapter 19, thus was the big page that revealed Victor in full light as the Whitechappel murder (or at least one of them). I put so much effort into the first panel as I wanted it to look freighting and intimidating given the huge role Victor would be playing in this arch and the future.

Chapter Look Back Chapter 19

So we come now to the final chapter of the whitechappel arch, and this chapter is split into two sections: explaining away the mystery, and horrible terrifying chase.

So the last chapter revealed that there was actually two Jack the Rippers, however this chapter indicates there may have been many more and that in reality there is no LEGITIMATE Jack the Ripper, but rather it is merely a name floating around the paper. As I was winding this story down in writing, I felt this was ultimately what it would lead to, and give a reason as to why this case has never actually been solved. Indeed according to history, the infamous letter that was found at the crime scene was proven to not have been written by the killer himself, but rather an anonymous reporter who really just wanted to draw attention to the crimes. In fact it is highly possible that Whitechapel murders were really no different than any other crime, they were just overly exposed by the media. This particular fact was played for both the story and the reader.

Indeed in the modern world, media tends to always hype everything. Possibly things in the real world are only made worse by media coverage, which only can help fuel the fire. While I am not trying to say that all media is bad or fake, I am saying that it’s coverage can heighten certain things to the worst, in this case the Whitechapel murders. As explained in this chapter by Victor, his murder of Martha Tabram drew great attention and led to imitators and more murders throughout the town. In addition this arch has stated that there was also growing mistrust amongst the police. With so much going on around town and the fact that there wasn’t one particular individual committing all the murders, it would come as no surprise that this case was never solved.

As much as we tried to follow history with this arch, one small fictional fact was created in this story, the fact that Martha Tabram was jewish. This fact has never been stated in real life (course much of Tabram’s life is unknown), it was our one forged fact in order to draw racist individuals into the pool of chaos. It should also be noted that even though we explained who killed Martha Tabram and Mary Kelly, we never explained who specifically killed the other canonical victims, whether it was Victor, Mathis or someone else. As noted there were many imitators who took after Victor’s crimes, it could’ve been anyone who may have been able to properly copy his work.

Getting off the historical side of things, it’s worth talking about Victor himself and the events he set in motion. Victor was in a way based off my own feelings as an artist, with a dark twist. His character was actually based more on an article I read some time ago describing and amateur artist and a real artist. The article noted that real artists will stick to their craft and keep working, while an amateur artist constantly seeks attention and tries different things. Many of these qualities were actually transferred to Victor as a character. While Victor has the passion and the drive to be an artist, he never really works hard at it. He keeps changing his craft and never really hones it to the point of perfection, rather he is constantly concerned with making a living and getting attention. He finally started to get the attention he always wanted with his murders and that’s ultimately what led him down the path he was on. In many ways, Victor is a mentally ill individual who craves attention more than he does making something beautiful. More will be said on Victor when he comes to the Creating Kalwa journals and his future appearances in the story.

Finally worth noting was the impact of this chapter. As seen is later chapters, Kalwa is constantly haunted by her deadly encounter with Victor. With this chapter, it was meant to mark the end of an era, in which Kalwa meets an opponent that she CAN’T defeat. Kalwa has now experienced real danger of owning a time traveling phone and it’s left her in a terrible state. So this would be the set up to the long running arch that would shape the remainder of the Kalwa story. But more on that later, thanks for sticking by our chapter look backs on the Whitechapel arch, and we will be doing more chapter look backs in the future.

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Chapter Look Back: Chapter 16

It’s finally time to look back on the Whitechapel saga, which I’ve been holding back on. Of all the story’s done in this story so far, this arch has the most backstory thus far. From the moment the story had begun, Whitechapel was always planned from the start and there was a LOT of research put into it. All the facts presented in the story such as the murder of Martha Tabram are all real life facts, and perhaps the hardest part of all it was taking the real life facts and steering them to work in the fictional story I wanted to tell. There is so much information here that it will all have to be told in spoonfuls which will all be attached to each look back on the Whitechapel chapters.

In addition to the research this chapter also allowed me to pour my passion and love for horror and suspense into the pages of a comic book, most notably chapter 16 has this in the first few pages where Kalwa encounters the Ripper. The dreaded suspense and build up with the creaking was a drawn out moment to get the audience disturbed and on the edge of their seat.

Even the very design of arch (namely the night scenes) were modeled after the IDW mini series the Fly Outbreak, which featured heavy amounts of shadow in the panels to convey it’s frightinging and suspenseful atmosphere. The first time I actually read this series I was filled with dread and the thought of what was lurking around the corner and what would leap out. Despite is only be a still comic book, its art style alone was very dreadful and very creepy. As soon as I finished the story, I knew I wanted to incorporate these elements into this story.

In addition, this story arch would serve as the conclusion of the “free adventuring” storyline set in since chapter 1 as Kalwa encounters something she hadn’t faced before… an opponent that she could not defeat. Kalwa’s self defense abilities had been getting her by on the grounds that she had been a girl in time, and most opponents would not expect a girl to know how to fight. This plot line comes crashing down this chapter as Kalwa actually encounters an opponent who is actually skilled in combat and can even hurt her very badly. This would make the audience fear the ripper as much as Kalwa would in the story.

More information will come out in future chapters, and feel free to click any of the images below read this chapter for yourself.

Chapter Look-Back: Chapter 14

It’s time for another chapter look back, and today I’m reflecting back on chapter 14. Chapter 14 marked a major turning point in the story. Up until this point, Kalwa’s adventures had been mostly small and moved in a simple way, Kalwa and occasionally Reko traveling to some distant era and dealing with whatever peril came about them, they would go home and do it all over again.

With Chapter 14, it all changed as this issue brought a whole lot of new to the plate. This was the first time in the entire series that Kalwa’s happy demeanor is ultimately broken and she sheds tears for the first time in the entire story. The ultimate theme of this two part story was “fun and games” illustrated as now Kalwa faces an even greater danger than just her own life… her brother’s.

The bond between Kalwa and Zack was actually based off of the bonds I had seen amongst the siblings of my friends in high school, in which the two siblings tend to share a great deal of common interest and treat each other like best friends. More importantly this type of bond would probably be most valuable to Kalwa given that she didn’t have very many friends herself having just moved in from America. Thus this chapter allowed us to give Kalwa an even greater challenge of not only having get home, but to clean up a mess that SHE HERSELF created.

Zack himself went through a notable change since the first chapter. In the first chapter Zack was shown to be somewhat of a “typical” younger brother, notably being bit snarky to his sister and vise versa (though this is ultimately revealed to be a simple interaction) in the first chapter. This was changed in this chapter to so that Zack is much more cowardly and fragile, this was done to set him on a character arch that will be further carried throughout the story, which we will once again talk about as it progresses.

Possibly my favorite part of writing this chapter aside from the emotional moments featuring Kalwa and Zack are Zack’s interactions with Alexander. When writing these scenes I based them off interactions between “special needs” students and instructors. As an aspie myself, I know first hand how hard it might be to connect with people with special needs and that brute force and toughness doesn’t solve the issue. Every time I was drawing Zack and Alexander’s scenes I nearly cried myself, plus it was also a great way for people from the past to learn about the future and it played a roll in the overall search, see the pages below. As for the antagonists… we will get to them when we discuss chapter 15.

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