***Please note that I am using a standard thumbnail image for all the full size pictures on this page. This is purely being done to save myself sometime.***

page one.

page two.

page three.

page four.

page five.

page six.

page seven.

page eight.

page nine.

page ten.

page eleven.

A story for Hallowe'en, finished just in time. This is the first time I have adapted a short story for a comic. The main difficulties I found was deciding what to leave out and how to put into pictures what was being said in the story. I had to be ruthless in cutting passages out, otherwise the story would have ended up with reams of text. An example is the fourth page of the story which is more text heavy than I would have liked. It was at this point that I realised I had to trim 'the fat from the meat'. After all a comic is a mixture of pictures and words working together to paint a picture for readers.

I chose this story as it was short, not to difficult to adapt (I thought at the time, ha, ha), and featured action in a railway station. Even though this was just at the beginning and end of the story. I chose to adapt a short story as I felt I didn't have the confidence to script a horror story. Maybe the 'creative juices' will be flowing better next year.

The story was sandwiched with a brief appearance of The Guard and other characters at the beginning and end of the story.

I have tried to be inventive in how the various pictures have been produced. Examples include the question mark panel on page two and the triangle on page ten, where the stranger is changing into a werewolf, is supposed to depict the Greek Delta letter. Which also means change in the world of science and maths. I hope I've got that correct.

Part of the story was told in Lord Freer's study, after dinner. Luckily I had a Lego built study with a fire that was lit by a Lego light brick. After much testing I was able to produce some photographs that suggested that the light in the room was created by the fire. Although in a couple of pictures it does look as though the fire burning was of a Guy Fawkes bonfire night proportion! I also had to be inventive as regards shooting the two characters from different viewpoints and ensure that they didn't stay in the same position. Overall this part of the story seemed to have worked out well.

The station featured in the story is the building that can be found in the Swindon Steam Railway Museum, in England. I added the two brown doors, to the picture. I also made use of some of my scenery from my wargaming days. This looks much more like natural trees and hedges than Lego does.

The Kill was written by Peter Fleming, brother of the writer of the James Bond books Ian Fleming and published in a collection of short stories entitled A Story To Tell. The Kill was the only supernatural horror story in the collection. The story has also been published in various horror anthologies over the years.

Anyway, if anyone is reading these small entertainments I hope you enjoy the story. On to story number five, which should be appearing mid to late December. No prizes for guessing the theme of this story!

I've also knocked together some cards featuring some of the characters that inhabit the Guard's world. (The last page of The Kill story above). If your so inclined the sheet can be stuck onto card and then the cards cut out. There will be future additions in the coming months. I may even get round to providing some backs for the cards!

text © Adrian Banfield, 2015; artwork © D.C. Thomson Co. Ltd.