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Hammer Of The Gods: Back From The Dead #19
Published by ComicMix, November 2008
The wolves are at the door...
Credits: Mark Wheatley (Letterer), Mark Wheatley (Writer), Mike Oeming (Artist), Mike Oeming (Writer), John Staton (Colorist)
Comments (4)
Russ Rogers (1:24 PM on Tue Nov 25, 2008)
Nice, quick, sharp, short story. I associate the word "Caul" with the membrane of the placenta at birth. I don't immediately think of an embroidered baby blanket. So I was a bit confused when the old woman offered Modi the use of her daughter's birth caul.
Why was the coloring all in sepia tones? This is a coloring method that I read as "flashback." But this doesn't seem to have a flashback point. Anyway, the art and the coloring are still beautiful.
MARK WHEATLEY (2:32 PM on Tue Nov 25, 2008)
Actually I was using "caul" exactly as you say - the membrane of the placenta at birth. These folks keep that item for good luck - so they tan it and tattoo the thing. And I didn't make that up - found that detail in an interesting book on the old Viking legends (but don't ask me which one of these books in this stack had the detail).
The art on this story is entirely by the masterful Neil Vokes. Neil likes to work in ink wash. His originals are graytone - but I shifted that to sepia just to give it color and still retain the look that Neil gave it. I like how it gives the story a distinct look.
Russ Rogers (2:25 PM on Wed Nov 26, 2008)
I have heard of cauls being used in folk magic. There is a plot point in Orson Scott Card's "Tales of Alvin Maker" that revolves around a character saving Alvin's Birth Caul. It was the tattoo on that caul that threw me off and the fact that Modi would be so willing to snuggle up with it. I know, these are different times, but... eeewww!
The splashes of Odin and Skogul are cool. I missed those the other day. And Neil Vokes needs mentioned in the credits.
MARK WHEATLEY (8:13 PM on Sat Nov 29, 2008)
Apparently there are problems updating the credits on a weekly basis on this current ComicMix system. So the credits I had in mind for this week did not get posted. But Mike and I love Neil's work and are happy he was able to play in our sandbox. We did give him a credit on the first page of the story.
Oh - and to be fair - Neil actually thought he was drawing a towel or blanket, not a birth caul. So visually it might really be confusing. This is fallout from the free form way that the story was created (Mike gave Neil a short, verbal plot - Neil drew whatever he wanted and the first I knew about it was when I got the art - when I had to make up a story to fit the art - and that's why we all had a great deal of fun doing it!).
And BTW - I love those Alvin Maker books. Scott Card and I talked about the possibility of turning them into a series of comics about a decade ago. But Scott had some kind of contract conflict on that and was pushing Ender instead. And I was less intrigued by the comic book possibilities in that series - even though I have enjoyed the books.