Progress Report #2 - Kane Mesmer (and other sickly ramblings)

Harrumph, I say. Spent most of yesterday utterly useless due to a Seasonal Ailment (this handy euphemism can mean anything from a cold, through overindulgence on Ferrero Rocher, up to and including an alcoholic coma. 'Tis the season! In my case though it's a stomach bug). So only completed one page of shading. Bah humbug and so on.

Today, still not well, but me and my pyjamas and my bucket of Complan are parked at the desk hoping to make some more significant progress.

Detective Donaldson evades the press

Today's entertainment is Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing in the background. (I like to have familiar noise in the house when I'm busy - something I know well enough that I won't be tempted to sit and watch. It's season two, so it's safe to say I won't be hugely distracted by anything too compelling. Oh look, Dr Pulaski's being mean to Data again. What a wise choice that was, and sure to endear this new character to a skeptical audience.)

Anyway, Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch? is the story of the eponymous magician and the police detective assigned to protect him. I don't want to give too much away so I'm just going to post some random panels as I go back through the book, tarting up the older pages. Hooray for pretty pictures without context!

Jason and Kane

This panel below with the playing cards just makes me want to go and play Alice: Madness Returns again and wallow in its utter lusciousness. I love that game. I want another one please. I'm still astonished that they had the cojones to go in the direction they did with the plot. 

That game got mixed reviews, apparently because some reviewers found the gameplay shallow - jump, shoot, jump, shoot. Personally I couldn't have cared less, since the world they created was so deliriously beautiful; and it's not as if the game was any easier for its simplicity. If all they created was a playable storybook, then it was still a gorgeous experience. 

People might deride a game (or indeed a book, film or human being) as being pretty but empty, but so much of our experience of life is visual (for sighted individuals anyway). Why should we rely so hugely on our vision, and yet pretend that the satisfaction we get from just looking is somehow insignificant?

Kane as a child

Um, anyway, apologies for the tangent: back to the book I'm working on. Hard to discuss it much without giving too much away but it involves mystery, murder, and magic (excuse my alliteration). It'll be finished by the end of December and I think published by Accent next year, and I shall spam everyone relentlessly with advertisements when it's available to buy.

Jason views a crime scene

All text and images copyright © Marleen Lowe / Accent UK Comics - please do not reproduce without permission