And finally here is the twelfth page:
(Click
here for a 1328X1996 version)
Note that on this page there are very few pieces of dialogue that were skipped in the slideshow...
And I've held off posting Page 12 until today's quote comes up in the slideshow -
Book Two/Issue Four/Page 13 - Nathan: 'YOU HAVE TO--
*AGH* I'M DYING. THE DOCTOR... SHE KNOWS I'M DYING!
IF DEATH WAS ALL... IT WOULD BE EASY! BARNABAS BIT
ME. I MAY BE INFECTED. *KOF* INSURANCE...WILLIE...
EITHER WAY, I'M DEAD. WITH...STAKE...IT'S OVER FAST
...AND I STAY DEAD!' - because it makes perfectly clear what Nathan and Willie are really talking about. Though, even given that, it doesn't completely eliminate the sexual connotations in some of the things Nathan has been saying, especially if one subscribes to the notion that stakes are phallic objects and staking a vampire is a sexual act. Personally, I've never seen it that way, but many who've analyzed vampires do. I blame Sigmund Freud, who seemed to see phallic objects and sex acts everywhere. But as many others have argued, sometime a cigar really is just a cigar.
Also, note the top right panel because it's an obvious reworking of one of the Willie publicity stills from the '91 series...