Short Story - Duel of the Magic-Users!

I’m very pleased to share the latest Bill and Butch short story “Duel of the Magic-Users!”. This story was a great deal of fun to put together and hopefully a lot of fun for you to read. I will say that everything is not quite what it appears to be at first glance. In other words, I think you’ll need to read it TWICE to really “grok” what’s going on. But hey, I can say that about a lot of stories, right? After the last page I included a bit of an explanation — but read the story first! Why spoil the fun?

One last thing: the opening page is actually a DOUBLE-page splash; you can click on the image to see it in all its glory!

Have fun!

There you have it! As I noted, this story really requires being read a few times. I think the reason is obvious; this story is non-linear, moving about in time. I generally don’t do that, though with art there are no hard and fast rules. Whatever serves the story best is the way to go. In this case, I wanted the story to open with a bang and I wanted the reveal of “kayfabe” to come on the final page. The only way to make that work was to play with time. A linear version of the story might have worked, but the “kayfabe” punchline would have occurred midway through and obviously the “kayfabed” fight would have happened at the end. For an “inside-my-own-head” reason, I didn’t want that here. It makes the story a little more challenging to read, but I think it’s far more rewarding this way. You, obviously, will have to judge that for yourself!

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html
• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/
• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html
• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

Announcements

Three quick announcements, folks!

The first is that the Vanier Artisans will be having a spring show here in Ottawa on Sunday, June 8th at the Vanier Community Services Centre at 270 Marier Avenue. The poster by yours truly is at the end of this post and the Facebook page just went up, too! I’ll be there along with a number of terrific artists! One of the things I really like about the Vanier Artisans is that a wide range of styles are represented. Knitted items, food items, painted items, soaps, photography, and comic books and graphic novels (me). In other words, there’s something for everyone. It is well worth your time, so if you have a chance, please check it out!

The second announcement has to do with MailChimp. I had mentioned that I’ve not been a particular fan of their service, especially when I compare it to the “good ol’ days” of FeedBurner. Coincidentally, MailChimp has taken the interesting decision to make their service, at least for people like me, measurably worse. The screencap below has all the details.

What does this mean for you? Well, for regular visitors of this site along with folks that are using RSS to subscribe to my periodic updates, not a thing. For those of you who have subscribed via email, there is a big change. Sadly, as of June 1st, that option is now over. That means that you’ll no longer be receiving updates via email from me. There are a few options going forward.

1) Switch from email updates to RSS. I’m a big believer in RSS. For most people, it is quick and easy to use and is a snap to set-up. You just need a RSS Reader (aka a “News Aggregator”) and these can be installed on pretty much any internet-enabled device (desktop computers, cell phones, tablets, you name it). The one I use is BetterBird, a much improved version of Mozilla’s Thunderbird (or as the BetterBird project notes, it’s a “fine-tuned version”) and is tremendous. There are a lot of other options out there, though. Some for free, some not. Wired did a good summary but a simple search using Google or DuckDuckGo or whatnot will turn many up. You may need to experiment, but it’s well-worth your time.

2) If you truly hate this idea and would prefer to keep receiving periodic emails from me, drop me an email (media@vonallan.com). I’m going to put together an HTML email mailer that will be similar to what you were already receiving. So if RSS isn’t an option for you for whatever reason, we can still do email, just not the way you’ve been receiving it via MailChimp or FeedBurner.

The third announcement is that the new Bill and Butch short story is finished (pencils, inks, colours, lettering, you name it!). I just need to do some proofing/edits and then it will debut right here, hopefully before June 1st so that MailChimp can send out one last email.

That’s it right now! I hope to see you on June 8th!

I thought I’d share a little teaser of an upcoming short story — a brand new Bill and Butch¹ short story! These two crotchety wizards have their fair share of fans who have been clamouring for their return! And, I have to admit, I’ve been itching to write and draw them again. As always, the main issue was time (too little of it!) and other commitments (too many of ’em!). But I was finally able to figure out my schedule and work something out. The script is done and the first two pages (a double page splash!) are complete. And, with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to share that splash with you. I’ve included the pencils, too!

When will this little story be available to read in full? Well, the short answer is “soon.” The long answer? “Soonish.” In other words, I’ll share it when its ready! In the meantime, enjoy! UPDATE: It’s available now! Please visit https://www.vonallan.com/2025/05/short-story-duel-of-the-magic-users.html

Oh, and before I forget: Professor David Beard from the University of Minnesota Duluth (he of the incredible awesome review of my work!) was lovely enough to do an interview yours truly that is now available. Interestingly, the interview touches on my very first graphic novel “the road to god knows…”² And even more interestingly, the interview appeared in the PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING STUDIES JOURNAL Volume 4.0³ (yes!), something that is fascinating to me. Why fascinating? Well, that pro wrestling is an art form⁴ should really not be a surprise to anyone. And that scholarly folks are studying it should also not be a surprise. Sadly, like much of our contemporary cultural touchstones, it is an artform dominated (at least here in the West) by a couple of large corporations, but that doesn’t undercut the fact that it is an art form all the same. Now, it is an artform that — in its current iteration — I find myself largely alienated from (partially due to the aforementioned corporations, partially due to storytelling issues, and partially due to the tremendous death toll that has taken too many wrestlers), but pro wrestling does have a lot to offer from a narrative and storytelling point of view. Why am I saying this? ’Cuz storytelling and pro wrestling is exactly what Professor Beard and I discuss. If you ever want a glimpse into some of my approaches to storytelling (not, I hasten to add, my only approach) this interview is a good overview.

As Beard noted in his forward to the Volume 4.0, “Von Allan never once depicts wrestling in his comics, but in The Road to God Knows, the child in a family that struggles with a parent’s mental illness escapes the sadness of life by watching the action in the ring. I am touched, myself — recognizing in The Road to God Knows the escape that professional wrestling also brought me as a child.”

One last note. As some of you know, this site uses MailChimp to bring new posts and updates directly to your email box. However, I find the various restrictions that MailChimp has for creators pretty onerous and the service is (in my not so humble opinion) nearly as intuitive and easy as FeedBurner’s was back in the day. As a result, I may wind up discontinuing the service, but I want to do a bit more thinking on this before I come to any final conclusions. For those who subscribe this way, it might be a problem. I would gently suggest that a better way to go is with good old RSS and a handy RSS reader. At any rate, if I do discontinue it, I will be sure to give everyone fair warning first.

Onward to my art! These pages are larger than what they appear as below, so feel free to click on them to get larger versions (ahem, in all of their glory!).

1  For their other adventures, you can read them for free right here on this website. Here are the links: THE COWARDLY CLERICS OF RIGEL V, TOTAL PARTY KILL!, and THE PLANET WITH NO BEER. And if you enjoy them, please share them! Sharing is caring, after all.

2  Sadly, “the road to god knows…” is now out of print. For those who are interested in some of the background to why this is, please read this short essay (with loads of art!): On Getting Stronger.

3  The full journal is crammed with all kinds of delightful interviews and explorations, too. You can visit https://pressbooks.umn.edu/pwsajournal4/ and either read it online or download it in various formats, including PDF and EPUB.

4  There was a great website called “Pro Wrestling is Art” that delved into this quite a bit, but sadly it hasn’t been updated in many years. The archive is still available at https://prowrestlingisart.wordpress.com/ and is worth your time if you’re so inclined. Editor and lead writer Leslie Lee III also is one of the folks behind the podcast “Struggle Session.”

Some of the more observant among you might have noticed a small change on this ol’ site. What is it? Well, for those of you visiting Von Allan Studio on a desktop or laptop computer, you might have spotted a new area of the website called “Pirate Von.” What the heck is that? Well, as much as I’ve given away many of my comics in the past, these have almost always been in the form of webcomics. You can easily find them on this site, but not all collated in the same place. The Pirate Von section corrects that! And it corrects it with gusto, because I’ve enabled easy reading in .cbz format, as well as a few other formats, too.

In conjunction with the Internet Archive, I’ve uploaded my comics to their site. One of the really lovely things about doing so is that it allows for automatic converting into various additional formats. PDF is the big one; creating PDFs on my end can be a smidgen fussy. While I’d like to present more options in that format directly created by me, the reality is that it’s fussy enough to be an obstacle to doing so (as the saying goes, there’s only so much time in the day). If you really like PDF, then the Internet Archive has you covered. Personally, I prefer .cbz, but there is definitely not a right answer for these “format wars.” Just the right answer for you, and that’s what the Internet Archive provides in spades.

Right now three of my collections¹ have been uploaded and are ready to go. You can go to the “Pirate Von” subsection and find all the links, or just visit the Internet Archive (right here) and download directly in the format you choose. The Internet Archive also provides torrenting options, so there are not only multiple format options but also multiple download options, too.

What prompted this move? Well, a number of things. First and foremost, Amazon’s decision to absolutely destroy ComiXology was a big one. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say that while ComiXology was never particularly indy-friendly (in my not so humble opinion), incorporating (engulfing?!) ComiXology into the Kindle platform made independent comics basically disappear. In my own experience, even trying to search for my own comics on Amazon was an exercise in futility; you had to have the exact title as well as the exact name of the indy creator(s) to really turn anything up. I gave it the old college try, but enough was enough. I’ve now discontinued sales on all of my titles that I had “over there.” You can now have them for free. And for those who did spend some hard earned money on my work, then you still have them. My decision to discontinue those titles on Amazon does not in any way, shape, or form effect those purchases. And hell, you can even download those free versions for even more reading options, too.

What about WOLF’S HEAD? Well, having just finished the script for issue 19 (!), my plan is to start rolling the series over to the “Pirate Von” section, too. And discontinuing them on Amazon, as I discussed above. That process will be starting in the near future, so watch the “Pirate Von” section for that roll-out. And when they become available for free, I’ll be discontinuing them over on Amazon, too.

2024 Update: This has now happened! WOLF’S HEAD is rolling out!

Are there any drawbacks to losing Amazon? Well, the only one is the panel-by-panel view. However, that’s a small loss. Why? First, because creating the panel-by-panel version — something that ComiXology used to do for free, I might add — added far more work for me. Uncompensated work, I might add. And it was pretty fussy work, with very little ability to get any feedback from Amazon directly about any potential questions or even resolutions to pesky problems. The latter point was particularly annoying. I uploaded the last issue of WOLF’S HEAD, issue 18, in October. Someone complained about some issue with the panel-by-panel view and I received an automatic email from Amazon detailing that. I responded, made some tweaks, and waited to hear back from them. I have been waiting to hear back ever since! What… the… hell?! Three months just to determine if the problems have been resolved to their satisfaction? Screw that.

And honestly, you don’t need the panel-by-panel view. Why? Because there are free apps that will do it for you. For example, Fabio Bezzi’s Comic Trim app creates the panel-by-panel view automatically. I bought his app and I find that it works extremely well. It is ideal for reading comics on a cell phone, webtoon-style.

Lastly, for those of you who worry that giving away my comics hurts me, by eliminating a method of financial support, don’t. First, print copies of my work are out there and easy to find. Yup, even on Amazon. Alternatively, if you want to toss a few dollars my way, you can easily use PayPal to do that (I’m at PayPal.Me/vonallan).

And while folks buying my work means a great deal to me, sharing the love is always important. If you like my work, then sharing my comics has just become so much easier. Just download them and send them to whoever you’d like. Or pass them the “Pirate Von” link (https://www.vonallan.com/p/pirate-von.html) and they can download my comics in whatever format they want to. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

So that’s that. Free comics, no restrictions. Period. Anywhere in the world. Download ‘em, read ‘em, share ‘em.

If anything, I have one regret: I should have done this a long time ago.

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html

• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/

• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html

• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

• Mailing List Sign-Up: https://vonallan.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f6d06612e90503db886a31a24&id=7642c19478

1 These include WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP!, STORIES! 2015 TO 2019, and SHEBA THE GREAT!

Love, Laughter, and Loss Wraparound Cover

I've been meaning to post this for a little while. While the front cover of my latest hardcover LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND LOSS: A COMICS COLLECTION is readily "discoverable" online (and, of course, on this very website), the wraparound cover isn't. Let's remedy that!

I really like how this one turned out! And it looks great as a physical copy, too! For more photos of the actual graphic novel as well as links to all of the stories contained in this volume, please visit https://www.vonallan.com/2021/05/Love-Laughter-Loss-Comics-Collection-by-Von-Allan.html

Oh, and I should add that Frank Plowright over at The Slings and Arrows Graphic Novel Guide did a fantastic review of the graphic novel. It's up at https://theslingsandarrows.com/love-laughter-and-loss-a-comic-collection/

ComiXology Release - "Wizards for Hire - Cheap!"

I'm very pleased to announce that WIZARDS FOR HIRE - CHEAP! is now available on Kindle using the following link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QXBYY9/

One of the things I really love about the Kindle is their "panel by panel" guided view. It makes reading comics on a small device (such as a cell phone or a small tablet) really easy and intuitive - and fun!

For those on the fence, please don't forget that you can read all of the stories in WIZARDS FOR HIRE - CHEAP! for free right here on this website, in webcomic format. The links are as follows:

"The Cowardly Clerics of Rigel V" - https://www.vonallan.com/2017/08/short-story-cowardly-clerics-of-rigel-v.html

"Total Party Kill!" - https://www.vonallan.com/2017/08/short-story-total-party-kill.html

"The Planet With No Beer" - https://www.vonallan.com/2017/08/short-story-planet-with-no-beer.html

For the Kindle collection, I also included the bonus short story "The Two Magic-Users" which can be read at https://www.vonallan.com/2019/04/the-two-magic-users.html

All in all I think this is a great package of short stories at a very affordable price! For those looking for a print copy, there is bad news (boo!) and good news (yay!). First, the bad news: the original print edition comic of WIZARDS FOR HIRE - CHEAP! is out of print, though you can still find copies in a few places. Now, the good news: all of these stories plus a number of others are now in a beautiful deluxe hardcover edition titled LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND LOSS: A COMICS COLLECTION. More information about this hardcover can be found here or by visiting the studio's shop page. I'm really pleased with this version and a hardcover edition ensures that these stories will be widely available for quite some time!

Short Story - The Two Magic-Users

UPDATE! While you can always read the short story below, I have decided to start making my comics freely available to all for easier digital reading. Please visit https://www.vonallan.com/p/pirate-von.html for more information and download links!

This was a fun little story to do. The main idea behind it was a simple one: there have been a number of different "retro-clone" versions of the old B/X ("Basic/Expert") style of dungeon crawling since the publication of the Open Games License. I thought it would be interesting to take some of those differences and contrast them in a story. Specifically, I wanted to contrast the magic-user class presented in LABYRINTH LORD with the one presented in Tom Moldvay's BASIC DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and David Cook and Stephen R. Marsh's EXPERT DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

It was originally supposed to run as a black and white story in the second issue of UNDERGROUND COMICS, but sadly that project seems to have fallen apart. However! It has seen print as a back-up feature in the 3rd issue of my own ongoing series WOLF'S HEAD.

I also subtly linked the story to the world of Bill and Butch, too!

This story — as well as a boatload of others — were collected into a beautiful hardcover edition titled LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND LOSS: A COMICS COLLECTION. More information about that edition can be found right here.

In addition, there is also a digital comic book titled WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. And it contains this story! This is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QXBYY9.

Other Links

• Overview of my Comics: http://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html

• Wolf’s Head (My Ongoing Comic Book Series): https://wolfs-head.vonallan.com/

• Von Allan Studio Shop Page: http://www.vonallan.com/p/von-allan-studio-shop.html

• RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Von_Allan_Homepage

• Mailing List Sign-Up: https://vonallan.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f6d06612e90503db886a31a24&id=7642c19478

Christmas Card Design

For the first time in a long time, I decided (with some gentle nudging from my wife!) a Christmas card. This features the wizards Bill and Butch along with their press agent (!) from the short story The Cowardly Clerics of Rigel V. Pencils, at least when I am inking and colouring my own work, are pretty loose and sketchy. In some ways these are a little tighter than I normally do, but I still leave quite a bit of room for working these out at the inking stage. That has a lot to do with time, but also keeps the inks and even the final colouring a bit more fresh and fun than it might otherwise be. As always, it's an "inside-my-head" kind of thing that hopefully makes sense to you, dear reader. You can see the inked staged and final colour version right after the pencils below.

The final inked version features snow as well as a song!

And here is the final version in full colour! YES! Can you tell that I'm having fun with these guys?

As always, you can read their adventures for free by following the links that are at https://www.vonallan.com/p/comics.html. Even better, you can read them for free on your tablet, monitor, or even on your phone for free by visiting my ol' Pirate Von site at https://www.vonallan.com/p/pirate-von.html.