The Beast in the Cave, Page 4
Another page from my adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s teenage story “The Beast in the Cave,” originally drawn for my friends’ comic anthology Beards. Unlike my pages for Sarnath etc., which are drawn on 12″x18″ sheets, “Beast” was drawn at approximately 8″x10″, thus the lower level of detail.
Here’s what I’m listening to lately as I draw:
* The Double Shadow — An awesome Clark Ashton Smith podcast. Irreverent readings & commentary on often equally irreverent Clark Ashton Smith stories. Lots of mayhem, doom, weird monsters, and speculation as to the motivation of tentacled demigods.
* The HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast — The original, one and only by Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer. Currently reading oldschool (out-of-copyright) horror fiction mentioned by HP Lovecraft in “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
* A Podcast for the Curious — a.k.a. the M.R. James Podcast. They’re about halfway through his fiction now, and I have to admit I’m finding the stories becoming weaker as James gets older, but at their best, they’re really good ghost stories. And the hosts are great.
* The Yog-Sothoth.com Roleplaying Podcasts — Unfortunately the Yog-Sothoth crew just finished their most recent RPG recording, “Beyond the Mountains of Madness” (most grewsomely, in fact), and I’m totally caught up on their other excellent RPG recordings, so I’m waiting for them to get started on their next campaign, Ancient Roman Lovecraftiness in “Cthulhu Invictus.”
What else is there…? Well, I’ve also been listening a bit to a pair of oldschool British gamers ruminate on RPGs in Improvised Radio Theatre– With Dice!, and while I’m not sure if I’ll stick to it, I’ve just started listening to a comedic (and, I suspect, drunken) D&D play podcast, Nerd Poker. I really should be more educational and listen to NPR or BBC Arabic more, or Arabist.net, but when I’m drawing RPG stuff and Lovecraft stuff, I have to get in the mood… right? Someday I’ve got to check out Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop,” but since I need to keep my eyes on the page, the whole video aspect is a distraction. Forget videocasts! I’m all about podcasts! Podcasts! Podcasts!
NEXT UPDATE: Monday!
Jason, here’s a (very) belated “Thank you” for the King of RPGs minicomic you included with my Dream-Quest order. I subsequently ordered both PB volumes from Amazon, so it served its purpose! I thought the story might require a glossary of gaming culture terms (much like Kim Newman appends to his “Diogenes Club” collections), especially since I haven’t role-played since my high-school days, a time-period so long ago I’m ashamed to pinpoint it exactly. But no–surprisingly, I got an embarrassingly large number of the references, even the Dead Alewives “Dungeons and Dragons” bit. (Although, back when I was playing D&D, we had actual female gamers playing with us).
Oh, alright it was about 1980, okay?
Please tell me that you and Victor are contemplating a third volume. These characters are too good to die!
I started playing RPGs in 1981-1982 myself, so right after you! ;) Of course, I was only in elementary school, trying to emulate the cool high school kids who were playing D&D.
I’m glad you liked it! I don’t know if we’ll do a third volume; Victor and I have both tentatively agreed to it but we’re both loaded with other projects and, in my case, other comics.