Innovation's '91 DS Comic, Book 2

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's a version of the tenth page without the dialogue bubbles:

(Click here for a 1982X3000 version)

[Gothick]

I'm wondering just what it is about Nathan's legs that have Willie exclaiming "Oh God." Presumably, Nathan is turning to stone, but that's not visually evident, to me at least. Thus, it's hard to resist the thought that Willie may be a secret, hardcore foot fetishist.

For those who find the theme of this story intriguing, I strongly recommend the classic 1964 Hammer studios film, The Gorgon. It offers an interesting variation on the old legend.

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Because Nathan was running through the freezing cold water in an effort to elude the sisters, I suspect his feet and lower legs are supposed to be exhibiting symptoms of frostbite. But that's also not clear...

[Gothick]

And now today Julia is telling Willie that Nathan's legs are gangrenous from blood loss.

I think there was some kind of communication failure between the artist and the writer, at this point. Wasn't this the final issue of this short-lived series?

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And now today Julia is telling Willie that Nathan's legs are gangrenous from blood loss.

Yes, the 25th's quote could have been seen to imply that Nathan's injuries -

Book Two/Issue Four/Page 11 - Julia: 'DON'T YOU
UNDERSTAND? HE COULD GO INTO SHOCK ANY MINUTE! HIS
LEGS ARE GANGRENOUS! HIS FEET ARE DEAD! PNEUMONIA--
--AND THE BLOOD LOSS--'

- were related to his blood loss, but the 26th's quote -

Book Two/Issue Four/Page 11 - Julia: 'YOU AND I SHALL
DISCUSS SOME OF HIS BLOOD LOSS FURTHER WHEN THIS
MATTER IS LESS URGENT! IN THE MEANTIME--'

- helps to make it a bit clearer that her reference to the blood loss is because Julia is suspicious it's somehow related to Barnabas, which readers know that it is indeed. 

Wasn't this the final issue of this short-lived series?

This is the final issue of Book 2 - but there's one more issue: Book 3, Issue 1...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I wish I knew why the snakes are so attracted to the sisters, but when I tried to research it online, I came up with nothing. Yet snakes and Gorgons seem very closely tied and it's not just the snakes for hair.

As the quote for the 27th shows -

Book Two/Issue Four/Page 11 - Vicki: 'I HADN'T REALIZED
THAT SNAKES WERE SO INVOLVED WITH GORGONS! MEDUSA'S
BLOOD DROPPED ON THE SAND AS PERSEUS CARRIED IT--AND
IT BECAME THE POISONOUS SNAKES OF THE DESERT!'

- if I'd read ahead in the issue (rather than following along just so far as quotes for each individual month goes) I would have gotten a good idea of the snakes connection.

It's still odd, though, that nothing remotely like an explanation like that came up on the Internet when I did a search...

[Gothick]

In the version of the myth I remember from my childhood reading of Edith Hamilton, the blood from Medusa's severed head took form as the beautiful winged horse Pegasus. What I learned in my adult explorations of Greek mythology is that there were numerous versions of the old myths in circulation back in ancient times. These are dispersed in a really random way in various old authorities such as Apollodoros and Pausanias who traveled about and almost invariably introduce some odd new variant they've heard in their peregrinations with the phrase, "but some say..."

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the eleventh page:

(Click here for a 1328X1996 version)

Note that on this page there are only a few pieces of dialogue that were skipped in the slideshow...

[Gothick]

Va-va-voommmm! Today's panel is really beyond just slightly slashy!

Yesss, Willie... DO IT NOW! LOL.

G.

[Gerard]

The question is:  are Willie and Nathan going to tell anyone, or are they just going to insist they are "roommates" to "split the rent?"

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It wan't until I posted the scan and quote last night that I realized that taken out of context they convey a totally different impression of what's going on between Willie and Nathan from what's actually going on. Although... Well, no, I'll wait until I post Page 12 to get into that... 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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...

[Gothick]

Nathan still looks as if he's getting ready for his next Falcon Studios video shoot.

Maybe the artist and the writer had simply stopped speaking to one another?

G.

[KMR]

Gothick, you kill me!! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I love today's image/quote:

Book Two/Issue Four/Page 13 - Willie: 'YOU AIN'T
GONNA DIE! TRY SOME OF AUNTIE'S SOUP! I'LL TAKE
CARE OF YOU.'

Leave it to Willie to think that Auntie's soup is a cure-all for everything, including possibly impending vapirism! Classic '91 Willie...