GSB: New GODS OF AAZURN on WEBTOONS

More stories are starting today at Gods of Aazurn on Webtoons. Go there direct here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/gods-of-aazurn/list?title_no=202820 or just remember to click on the big red WEBCOMIC graphic at StrangeHorror.com. For a few weeks I'll be posting stories on Webtoons that go back to 2016 when I first began experimenting with Gods of Aazurn. Many of these have a fairy tale feel to them; all are twisted. This first page, below, of The Deadly Passion of Vega and Altair is inspired by The Kiss, an 1882 marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin. I'm quite pleased with it but I'd like to think my inking has improved since. Inks and coloring processes are posted for Patrons on Patreon here. +++ Just when I needed a ridiculous distraction, this came along.Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (1968) in new cartoons, voiced by Woody Harrelson, Pete Davidson, Tiffany Haddish and John Goodman. No male hippie would have been without his FFFB and Wonder Warthog comics from Rip Off Press back in the day. Kudos to Gilbert Shelton for sticking it out for this updated, though not yet ruinous, adaption. +++ When I was skipping around between grade schools, Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery (1949) was a favorite required reading assignment. The quaint farm town setting, reminiscent of many Ray Bradbury stories, leads to a jarring lesson about the destructive nature of thoughtless tradition and mob psychology. Skip ahead to 2018, when Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House series dropped on Netflix and We Have Always Lived in the Castle started making the film festival rounds. I was hooked. I had to read more Shirley Jackson. As stunning as the film adaptions are, the book (you knew I was going to say this) is better. The Haunting of Hill House novel is unrecognizable to the film series but no less dynamic. What starts as a haunted house story quickly becomes a character study of four people and their interactions. Shy, young Eleanor Vance may be the single best actualized woman character ever written into a book. Stephen King sites Jackson as an influence and King is who I thought of while reading Hill House, with it's measured buildup, subtle reveals, and realistic character studies. The We Have Always Lived in the Castle novel is also a study of four people in a house. Three of them are mad but wildly different. One is a determined doer who thinks she keeps order through her own concocted spells. The daffy and happy one keeps her world in order through growing, cooking and serving food. One is constantly reaching for answers that escape him -- his mind was once affected by poison. Surprisingly, these three wacko characters are better realized than most characters in books. I wouldn't have done things the way they did them, but I completely understand their thought processes. The movie, now on Netflix, did it justice, but the ending was given more punch. I prefer Jackson's ending, strange and sad. Short stories in this volume are also brilliant. My book was bought from The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher dedicated to preserving America's best writing. I found it on Amazon here. +++ We're both still here and still thinking. Keep going. Find some joy, it's OK. An hour of news a day is plenty -- after that they're just telling you what they don't know. Don't be pressured into feeling mad, or somber. Keep going, you've got this. Stay safe and be happy. In glorious service to our Aazurn overlords, Gary Scott Beatty For Gods of Aazurn ink and color details, join us on Patreon