StoryWorld

It's time for our Third World.  It's pretty much a given that when you've got a Multiverse, at least one world is going to be a Fantasy World.  So, continuing with that age old trend, we have StoryWorld.

I present to you, Page One of "Bearskin":

I recently read an article where they claimed the four bases of "Speculative Fiction" are Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, and (the more recent addition) Superheroes.  Of those four, Fantasy is definitely on the bottom of the list for me personally.  I don't have a problem with Fantasy, per se.  It just interests me less than the other genres.  So, it was really hard for me to come up with a decent Fantasy concept.  I ultimately scored a download of Grimm's Fairtales, and I dug around until I found something that interested me that hadn't already been done a thousand times before.  What I found was "Bearskin", a neat little FairyTale about a Soldier who returns home from the war, but because all he's ever been good at is being a soldier, he's bored and homeless.  Obviously, the Devil shows up and makes a wager with the dude, because that's what the Devil does.  The Soldier will be given a grimy coat which is magically enchanted so that whenever he reaches in the pockets, he can pull out gold.  The Soldier has to wear this coat, as well as a Bearskin, for seven years.  In that time, he cannot shave, cut his hair, trim his fingernails, or bathe.  In addition, he cannot sleep indoors or on an actual bed, but can only sleep outdoors on his Bearskin.  If the Soldier wins, he gets to keep the magic, gold producing coat.  If he loses, well, you can probably guess what the Devil planned to do then...

I thought it was a neat idea and a neat character, and I dreamed up all sorts of neat adventures for this grimy, hairy, ugly Soldier to have.  It was gonna be cool.  Except, it wasn't right.  No matter how hard I tried to bring myself to start a Bearskin comic, it just never got off the ground.  My Muse wasn't interested.  It just wasn't TORC Press enough.

So I sat on the idea for awhile, and then I had an odd thought, "What if, instead of a story about a man who looks like a bear, what if the Hero was just a Talking Bear in people clothes?"  CLICK!  Just like that, I had my story.

Anyway, this is a sample page of Bearskin.  I've actually inked a total of 5 pages, but this is the only one I've colored, and with things being crazy right now anyway, I thought I wouldn't stress over additional pages for now.  If you like this little sample, let me know, and I'll roll out more Bearskin in the future.