The eponymous Bog Witch appears, at long last. She’s a sweet old thing.
Dark Places
The eponymous Bog Witch appears, at long last. She’s a sweet old thing.
10 Comments
She seems almost reasonable 😉
Almost. Aside from the soup thing, I guess. 😀
She also seems as wizened as a decade-old ginseng root. 🙂
The flaming skulls-on-poles popping off in the first panel? Creepy!
Nice pacing throughout. The eyeing of the washed plates and the broom are a nice centering device. Twelve! Panels! On the page! And very well composed.
I was kicking myself during thumbnailing trying to fit in too much stuff on one page – but I’m glad it’s worked out nicely. The skulls are actually coming in to land, as they were swooping around with the witch at the end of the previous page. Might need to make that clearer.
Really old people are actually kind of fun to draw. Wrinkles! Wrinkles everywhere! 😀
Well, I’m glad you didn’t hurt yourself with the kicking-while-thumbnailing. (When I do that, I risk brain damage, ifyouknowwhatimean 🙂 ) And I hadn’t noticed the hand-wave in panel 11—I’ll compliment that as well. I don’t recall seeing you do that before. A tricky thing to do in black-and-white.
“That awful girl” has a name, and that name is either Jain or Gretel. Calling it now!
Bzzzt, sorry, try again. 😀
It’s to do with a snippet of in-world folklore about the Bog Witch. The short version is that the daughter of a lowly woodcutter got kicked out of her home by her wicked stepmother, and found the Bog Witch’s house. Through wits and cleverness she managed to earn a boon from the witch and asked for lovely hair – which then caught the eye of the handsome prince, they were married, etc.
That’s how the story goes, anyway. 🙂
Oh my, I love the bog witch! Her look, and her attitude – she’s clearly a very practical old horror, who understands the value of good help. And I agree with dadman: the flaming skulls are a great trick, one that I’ll have to remember!
I can’t help but think of the Dread Pirate Roberts, though. “Good job boy, I’ll probably make soup of you in the morning,” and then years pass and he inherits the role of Bog Witch 🙂
Not boiling him up right away is to do with certain unspoken rules of the fey realms – the balance of gifts and favours is Serious Business. If he’d just made himself at home then he’d be indebted, and she could do what she liked with him. He cleaned and tidied, though, so that counts as a favour and she’s the one indebted – and thus obliged to let him stay the night.
If Aled’s lucky he might survive. The witch is ancient and tricksy, though, so he’ll have to stay on his toes.
But we’ve already seen him in the future, all fine. Could that be… an impersonator?