We open as all classical vampire tales do: with a boat. :3
- Zeynel on a ship bound for England is an accidental allusion to Dracula and Count Orlok’s journey to foreign lands (I wrote and drew this scene before I read and watched either Dracula or Nosferatu). Now that I know better, I find it a cool coincidence.
In 2016 I didn’t really much comment about this page… except that I decided to forgo using a typeface and instead letter all the dialogue by hand – in consequence, this turned out to be both a wonderful and disastrous decision. At this point, this 10th anniversary edition would represent my THIRD time in a decade redoing the letters (in other words, around 1600 pages…). Hopefully this will be the FINAL time. I cannot be cursed by this anymore!! Still, I cherish the hand-lettered quality of TCM.
Didn’t change this page art-wise. Only made the sound effects clearer.
↓ Transcript
Prologue, in the year 1750 CE.
The glow of the full moon casts shadowy blankets over the world below. In the purple midnight a commercial Spanish ship floats stilly; her passengers lulled to slumber by the gentle cradling of the English Channel. All except one person, smoking on the deck.
Here is one member of the ship’s crew: a middle-aged, plump, round man with generous eyebrows and a generally unkempt appearance. He is alone, or well, he was alone. He feels a frantic tap-tap-tapping on his shoulders, and is surprised to hear an excited voice.
“Psst, hey!” whispers his friend. This friend is the very opposite of our round crew member: tall, light-skinned, and rugged in the way veteran adventurers are. His eyes crinkle in excitement, like a little child who has discovered a secret.
“Look who’s finally come outside!” he says.
The glow of the full moon casts shadowy blankets over the world below. In the purple midnight a commercial Spanish ship floats stilly; her passengers lulled to slumber by the gentle cradling of the English Channel. All except one person, smoking on the deck.
Here is one member of the ship’s crew: a middle-aged, plump, round man with generous eyebrows and a generally unkempt appearance. He is alone, or well, he was alone. He feels a frantic tap-tap-tapping on his shoulders, and is surprised to hear an excited voice.
“Psst, hey!” whispers his friend. This friend is the very opposite of our round crew member: tall, light-skinned, and rugged in the way veteran adventurers are. His eyes crinkle in excitement, like a little child who has discovered a secret.
“Look who’s finally come outside!” he says.
