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Guard Story No.14 - - Winter Fair.

***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.***

story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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story © Adrian Banfield
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Winter Fair was the title I finally settled on for this story. It was originally going to be a Guard Tales episode, but then I got the idea for using real frozen water and scratching out the The Guard in the ice. Then using a blue ball point pen to highlight the title. As the story is told on one location, Yorkton ’s frozen River Flumen, I built a set using a mixture of Lego and wargaming scenery. As nice as it would be to make every set out of Lego, it isn’t really practicable. I would never get around to telling any stories.

I also toyed with the idea of using a tray of frozen water as the frozen River Flumen,. Luckily though common sense prevailed. It would have been difficult getting the mini-figures to stand up and then keep them standing. Then there would have been the constant shuttling back and forth to the freezer, to re-freeze the water. Luckily, I had a back up plan. Which involved using a piece of wood painted white and then covering the board by placing sheets of three millimetre Perspex over it. The result gives the impression of the characters standing on ice.

I did use the frozen ice for the climatic scene, which involved three figures, which was quite a challenge. But with pleasing results.

This story is the seasonal special, the time of year which dictates that nothing too drastic happens (in the Guard’s world anyway), and even those with evil intentions, do the right thing and are rewarded. Eisner was famous for his Christmas Spirit stories. Nine in total and all told using different story techniques. They were all collected into a slim volume and are worth tracking down.

Those of you who have read the story First Meeting will be aware of Inspector Topham's dislike for Piper. This story tells another chapter in the suffering policeman's life. I'll be continuing Piper's story at sometime in the future.

Finally, there is a cameo appearance of Mark Guest Editior of the new Blocks Lego comic that has just started publication here in the UK and in some countries abroad. Those of you who took out a subscription to the magazine will have been rewarded with an exclusive mini-figure of the editor. In my story it looks as though he's had a good day and just has the one copy left to sell.

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