A Magnanimous Birth

I published page 12 on Sunday afternoon, which was the only page I got done last week. Today, however, I did almost all of page 13, so hopefully I can keep myself motivated enough to get number 14 ready too.

The story is called “Born in the Grave,” and page 12 actually shows why. Black’s mother, after being shot and left for dead, gives birth to Magnus in the mass grave of the other settlers. The idea might not be very realistic, but I really wanted Black to have such a fateful beginning to his life. Since I’m a fairly straight-laced person, I obsessed about the panel that shows Black’s mother – not because she was dead, but because she is showing her left breast. Since I show the baby in the same frame, the breast signifies motherhood. I wasn’t really going for anything heavily symbolic, but I thought it was important. However, for some reason, I thought people might not like the nudity. I was silly to obsess about it for two reasons: one, it’s really not gratuitous and two, I don’t think I have a big enough audience that anyone would really care.

Page 13 shows, in quick fashion, Magnus growing up and learning how to be a pirate (and a killer). I’m a little worried that readers will get bored with all this narration (versus dialogue). I was always taught that it’s better to “show” than to “tell.” However, I need to tell the middle of the story this way in order to get to where I can get back to the real action. I expect I can do that in another couple of pages.

Here’s a picture of Black and his pirate clan tattoos. It’s a little beefcake for those interested. ;-)