#9 Verification Required + Ghost Duty

 Happy Blog Day Everyone!

Today I want to talk about A new story that appears in the pages of Malarkey's Imaginomnibus (and why its not as new as you'd think). First, though...It's comic time!

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz

Is it true or is Riz just pulling Bren's leg? Who knows, there's the truth, and then there's Riz’s truth, afterall.

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus - Ghost Duty

As I announced last week, there's a brand new anthology on the scene, and I'm in it! If you still need a copy, go and pick one up! It's free after all, just click the link here!

Still here?

...

Then either you've already read this best-selling anthology or you don't care (shame on you!). Either way, let's talk Ghost Duty.

Ghost Duty is the second non-Brennan and Riz work I've had published (first was a Daemon Soul related work featuring Gabriel in the Decagon Key...also free). Its about a guy called Josh, who is dead. In the world of Ghost Duty, if you're dead but you've left a bad deed debt, you're stuck in purgatory till you've worked that debt off. How do you do that? Well, the clue is in the name after all...

So, a good set up for a new story yeah? What if I told you that it wasn't a new story, but instead one that has its origins in the misty far back year of 2006.

2006- a time to be alive.

Back then, whilst brainstorming different ideas for stories, I'd also picked up drawing as a way to relax away from University work, and as I slowly got better, I wanted to try something new with it. I wanted to try a webcomic. 

With my skills being lacklustre, I needed an idea that wouldn't trip me up too much, so my burgeoning Daemon Soul series was discounted. I needed a good hook, and then recalled a conversation I had with a friend about Ghosts, and the fun idea that the spirits of the Dead, were just doing a job. I had the spark and then after a bit more thinking...I came up with these:

Terrible art incoming!

First thing you might notice, the main characters name ended up changing, and the reason is...I'd completely forgotten the original. The wispy tail was an attempt to bypass my futile attempts to draw legs...I've marginally gotten better at them. The idea never got further than these two pages for various reasons, so the idea went dormant, but wasn't too far away from my thoughts, as this picture I drew back in 2014 will demonstrate. I tried to go down a Grim reaper approach with this version, but again, nothing came of it.

Flash forward to 2022, and a conversation with fellow author, Ross Young (he of Malarkey fame) and the idea was born again... I went back to the original concept and expanded on it, thus writing the story that you've hopefully read by now (even better if you enjoyed it!).

That's it for this week. 

Keep on writing!

Peter James Martin