Murder in the Maze Part V: The Legend of The Maze Part I

I'm going to ask for a final indulgence from you for this last of bit of maze history.  I thought initially that the following would be one post,  but I forgot that the Legend was so long...four parts in fact.  What follows is a good bit of text and I apologize for it's quality, but I intentionally did not edit it as I wanted it to appear as it did on the maze website.  Please forgive my poor writing, but I do hope you enjoy the story.

At the time I wrote this it seemed like Christmas got a new story attached to it every year, but Halloween was greatly neglected.  I was always fond of the legend of Sleepy Hollow growing up and I will be the first to admit the many elements stolen from that classic tale.  Our goal for throwing all of the Halloween parties in the first place and building the maze was to celebrate the holiday we'd loved so dearly as children, that night of magic and pageantry, the wall thinned world of spirits and legends: All Hallow's Eve.  I wanted the legend to have strange rural legend quality and that creepy edge of dark magic.  Of course it is set on Halloween, of course there is a murder, it is after all...

THE LEGEND OF THE MAZE

PART ONE: THE FESTIVAL AND THE STRANGER

Many Seasons past...

 

In a distant valley, there was a quiet village known as Valleydown.

Each year the townsfolk held a Harvest celebration.

Rivaled by none, all of the people from the neighboring towns attended.

The bonfire they raised each night could be seen from miles away,

and their revelry could be heard echoing off the mountainsides

late into the night.

 

One year, a stranger came to Valleydown.

He observed the festivities tentatively,

But refrained from participating in the merrymaking.

His furtive glances and moody air inspired suspicion in the Townsfolk,

but as the day progressed, a young maiden, Jessica, took a fancy to the stranger.

She decided then that he would be her partner in the evenings dance,

And set about a plan to coax him into obliging.

 

She came to him with a sparkling ale and offered to sit with him...

He was reluctant at first, but her insistent entreaties

and her fiery hair soon got the better of him.

"My name is Jack," he said shyly.

"This is your first time at the festival?" she smiled and sat closer to him.

"Yes, Its all very...Lively."

He took a drink of the Ale and looked away nervously.

"It's almost sunset.  There'll be a dance at the bonfire soon.

That's where I'm going, would you like to join me?"

The drink was very heady and made his face feel warm.

"Perhaps."  He turned towards her,

caught suddenly by the green of her large eyes.

"I hope I can find a partner for the revels.

Perhaps some handsome gentleman will ask me to dance..."

She smiled and looked away coyly.

"Perhaps..." He smiled, and took another drink.

By the time his glass was finished,

he was following her to the Bonfire.

 

Jessica, however, was not without a suitor.

Thom, the stout young farmer to whom she was betrothed,

did not take kindly to Jack's unknowing intrusion.

To Be Continued...

The two pieces of art presented here are some more headers from the previously mentioned Maze website: nexuscentral.net.

{created in Photoshop}

More Maze History and Art:

Skin Crawling Comics Today: Fanboy Comics Interview for "The Jack" - Only 5 Days Remaining

Here's an Interview at Fanboy Comics with Star St. Germain and Jeremy W. Kaufmann about their contribution to SCC, The Jack.

Halloween From the Archives: Jack-O-Lantern

In the spring of 2015 I created a set of Halloween themed pieces as submissions to a fiction print anthology focusing on Halloween.  The anthology was set for a juvenile reading level.  I toned down my usual gore and darkness and tried to shift my imagery a little towards the lighter side.  You will see as the pieces progress that the darkness began creeping through regardless.  Although my submissions were rejected, I ended up with six lovely pieces that I will be sharing between now and All Hallow's Eve.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here we have a Jack-O-Lantern painted in a watercolor style.  This was initially only a warm up piece, but I ended up including it in my submission.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Murder in the Maze Part III: The Second Murderer

During third and fourth years of the Maze parties, so many people were playing the Murder in the Maze game that we developed an alternate set of rules for a second murderer within the game.  This was to help the game last a little longer with a large crowd so that everyone would have the opportunity to be "killed".  Also, sometimes the games would run long and people would have to head home to bed and had not had a chance yet to be the murderer.  So we inserted a second murderer to up the ante across the board!  There were several variations on how the second murderer was activated and came into play.  I don't remember them all, but following is the rule we used most often.

During the game, if the first murderer tapped the second murderer on the shoulder, then the second murderer was activated and tapped the first on the shoulder letting him know that he had become a murder victim and was dead.

Once this unknown murder had occurred, it would throw off any theory anyone had developed so far on the identity of the murderer and turn the game intrigue up to 11!  There was always lots of chatting after we were finished playing about who was where when and who secretly or not so secretly was watching or overheard when the murders were committed.  Lots of fun moments in the dark scaring the crap out of each other!  Good Times!  :-P

The first piece of art here is the flyer for the 2000 Maze party.  The flyer was printed on neon green and neon orange paper.  I apologize for my crappy scythe.  The image of Jack here has a MUCH better scythe!  :-)  Over time, Jack kind of became the official mascot for the maze parties.

{Pen & Ink, Text created in Photoshop}

The second piece of art here is the box I created for the deck of cards I created in Photoshop for the game.  During that time I had backed up many of my art files to zip disks and did not realize my error until too late.  I don't remember the exact year it occurred, but rapidly over several months time, all of my zip disks began to scramble and become unreadable.  I found out far too late that this is something that happens with zip disks over time.  I lost two years of artwork due to the scrambling.  The Murder in the Maze deck artwork was on those disks.  I've looked through all my old files to see if I had a hidden copy, but have not found any trace of the cards.

The person on the front of the box is my friend Don.  He let me xerox his face and use it as the cover.  The image from the back of the box is a skull painted by my dearly departed friend Ratboy aka Mike.  It was attached and used as the keystone in a fearsome archway we built for the entrance to the maze.  I'll see if I can find a picture of the archway and post it at some point.  The background is from several photos Don took of the black plastic that we used to construct the maze.  Those photos were used in the website we created to celebrate and advertise the Maze.  The website only ran for a couple of years but is no longer present on the web.  In my next post I will post some of the work I did for the site and give some more background info on it.

{Digital images manipulated in Photoshop}

More Maze History and Art:

From the Archives: The Light Within

Here we have the header from October 2015 of a crowd burned through with jack-o'-lantern faces.  I wanted to do a piece for the dark season to evoke that feeling of Halloween without simply repeating the traditional imagery.   I wanted something that would give the aura of the unusual that jack-o'-lanterns posses minus the happy go lucky feeling even scary jack-o'-lanterns seem to have.  I also wanted to access that unsettling feeling when a large crowd is looking at you and only you....zombie fears activate!

For 2015, I wanted to take the headers in a different direction than the work I had been producing.  I chose to adopt a looser style.  Although the 2014 pieces all had some underlying element of dark humor or social commentary, the 2015 headers have all moved back towards the essence of the work I want to create: horror.

{13.33x4.68,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Night of the Cauldron: Part I, The Cauldron

Night of the Cauldron
Part I

The Cauldron

Traci brought the freshly carved Jack o' lantern out of the house.  She set it upon the railing at the edge of the deck.  She moved the bowl of candy to the small table beside the steps.  Turning the Jack o' Lantern so that it fully faced the driveway, she paused to admire her handwork. She adjusted her witches hat and her black skirt, being careful not to knock off her fake fingernails.  She was ready for the trick-or-treaters.

Her father was preparing a fire bowl further back on the deck.  Suddenly there was cackling laughter behind her.  She started and sighed, glaring at the source.  Hanging from the fence at the deck's edge was a creepy mechanical grim reaper that cackled, lit up, and shook whenever there was movement nearby.  She hated it, but her father enjoyed how it scared the other kids when they came up the side stairs to get their treats.  She swiped at its tattered robe and stuck her tongue out at it.  The reaper shook its scythe in mock menace.

Saturday Sketch: Kirby's Merlin

Here we have Merlin the Magician from the first run of The Demon.  I had a blast doing this piece!  Every time I study Jack Kirby's work I learn something new about the man's genius.  

With this piece, I learned that the heavily designed aspect of Kirby's style subtly forces the viewer to work at understanding the image.  Kirby's visual language is simple and direct, but his stylistic presentation forces the viewer to work a little harder to understand exactly what it is that they are seeing.  To me this comes across as a learning tool.  His style teaches the understanding of art simply by being what it is.  It requires the viewer to translate.

While I was researching for this piece, I also noticed that there is something oddly psychedelic about Kirby's artwork.  It may have just been that I had taken too much cough medicine while fighting off my recent sinus infection, but all the pieces I was looking at seemed to have a similar quality to psychedelic posters from the sixties.  I noticed it specifically in his later work:  The Demon, Machine Man, The Eternals, New Gods, Captain Victory.

I must offer my apologies on this piece as it is not the usual sketchcard size.  I got into the groove while doing studies of Merlin's costume, then that turned into sketching and before I knew it I was finished.  At that point I realized I had been drawing the wrong size.

I may permanently go to the larger size.  Both sizes takes about the same amount of time to complete and I can get more detail in the larger image.  The whole point of the Saturday Sketches has always been more about the time limit to complete the drawing.  I do enjoy the extra detail.  I'll have mull that one over.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio and appreciation purposes only.

The Parade: Part III, Behind The Star

Continued from The Parade: Part II, Under the Mason Bridge

The Parade
Part III

Behind the Star
 

As Jackie entered the Star diner, she was pummeled by a wall of sound.  The dinner rush had come early and the restaurant was full.  A coffee maker at the far end of the bar gurgled and hissed as it finished making a pot of its dark elixir.  In the kitchen, Abe was busy filling orders.  She could see his arms rising and falling behind a wall of steam as he flipped burgers, pulled plates, and dropped baskets into the deep frier.  He placed several full plates in the window behind the bar and yelled, "Order up!"  The television over the bar blared and all around her different conversations merged with the clatter of plates and silverware. Ruby smiled at her as she rushed by with a cup and a pot of coffee.  Jackie waved and moved closer to the bar.

"...and coming up on channel five news - Are you looking for a good scare this Hallo-weekend? We'll give you a listing of the best haunted houses and trails in the tri-state area...and if you haven't carved your Jack O Lantern yet, we'll tell you the best places to shop for that last minute pumpkin.  Later we'll be speaking with federal authorities about the nationwide manhunt that continues for convicted serial killer Doctor Theodore Mars.  Dr. Mars escaped from federal custody in February of this year and has eluded federal authorities si-"

Night of the Cauldron: Part V, The Bone Chimes

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part IV, The Pumpkin Bogey

Night of the Cauldron

Part V

The Bones Chimes

Theo walked along behind his brother and sister.  Martin and Stacey rushed up the sidewalk to the next house for another batch of candy.  They giggled as they ran.  Stacey was dressed as a bright sunflower and Martin was the Red Power Ranger.  They disappeared behind a large framework of orange lights in the shape of a Jack O Lantern.  He heard them yell "Trick or Treat!" followed by laughter.

Theo sighed.  He wore no costume of his own, embracing the designation of adult for the evening.  He had planned to dress as Batman, but he had also planned a different Halloween night altogether.  Just before sunset, his mother had thrown him the wrench.

"You've got to take Martin and Stacey Trick or treating Theo.  I'm sorry, I know it sucks, but they called me into work."

Featured Creature HZO: Bunny

"I was beginning to get worried.  My sister is never late.  When I got to her house, I let myself in and looked around.  No one was home, but her car was outside.

The Parade: Part IV, Under the Mackey Building

Continued from The Parade: Part III, Behind The Star

The Parade
Part IV

Under the Mackey Building

Richmond Norris turned the open sign over to closed and locked the front door of his store.  The jack o' lantern decoration on the interior of the door smiled gleefully at him.  He stuck his tongue out in retaliation.  It had been a long and busy day and he was ready to be home.  There was at least an hours worth of work left before he was finished with the store, but all he wanted was a pillow beneath his head. 

Daylight Savings time was this weekend.  The clocks would be "falling back" and he'd be getting back the hour of sleep he had lost in the spring.  He loved Autumn for that reason more than any other.  Despite the darkness in the morning when he rose, the ease of a perceived extra hour of sleep made his days much more palatable, at least until next March when the whole cycle began again.  He flipped the switch for the exterior sign to off.  His last customer of the evening, Ethel Blackwell, had left about fifteen minutes ago.

Ethel was usually his last customer every night during the week.  She always came in fifteen to twenty minutes until nine to pick up a chocolate bar.  Sometimes she would buy a bottle of Tums or a tube of Aspercreme for her arthritis but she always purchased a single chocolate bar. On Saturday night she would buy two bars as Norris was closed on Sundays.  He always smiled to see Ethel.  It meant his work day would soon be over.

Night of the Cauldron: Part VII, Scythe of the Reaper

Continued from Night of the Cauldron: Part VI, The Scarecrow's Lantern

Night of the Cauldron

Part VII

Scythe of the Reaper

Traci watched with horror as the mechanical grim reaper peeled itself off the fence and climbed down toward her and her father.  The reaper's fake teeth chattered as it crawled.  It cackled endlessly now, no longer waiting for Traci to come near.  It was coming to her.  As it moved, it's scythe knocked the Jack O Lantern off the edge of the railing.  The large pumpkin rolled across the deck and finally came to rest near the cauldron.

Suddenly, she was moving backward, away from the reaper and green glow of the cauldron.  Her father had opened the sliding glass door and pulled her inside the house.  The door slid closed with a soft hiss just as the reaper's skeletal fingers danced across the glass.  Traci's father quickly pushed the lock button and dropped the security bar down into the door's track.

The reaper flattened its plastic face against the glass door.  Much like a bird, it seemed unable to see the glass.  It pushed forward, perplexed by the unseen obstruction, biting at the air.  Traci noticed that its movements had become less mechanical.  It seemed almost to slither now as it sought passage.

Coming Soon: Third Annual Halloween Outbreak!

As the days grow colder and darker, the walls between the worlds grow thinner.  Strange entities wait just on the other side of the veil. Each year on All Hallow's Eve they break out and overrun the world of the mundane. 

Jack

Tis the Season! This is the exterior to an invitation to a Halloween party.

{Photos manipulated with Photoshop}

Jack and His Scythe

Here's an older piece, before I discovered the wonders of Photoshop color. It's still a bit of imagery I am very fond of.

{Pencilled, Inked, Prismacolored, Scanned, then manipulated in Photoshop}