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.

Short Story - When I Find You Again, It Will Be In Mountains

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 is an older story, but I thought it was about time I dusted it off and posted it online. I really love the idea of lost and sad robots in the depths of space. Of course, both Pioneer 10 and 11 as well as Voyager 1 and 2 are still out there, right now.

The poem Seeing Off A Man of the Tao is from the collection WHEN I FIND YOU AGAIN, IT WILL BE IN MOUNTAINS: SELECTED POEMS OF CHIA TAO translated by Mike O'Connor. It is a beautiful collection of poetry. Chia Tao wrote haunting poetry many, many years ago. He died in 843... not 1843, 843. Let that sink in for a bit. I think the thing that draws me to the "Buddhist Poet Monks" is how universal their work is. Loves and losses that feel like they could have been written yesterday. Amazing.

This story first saw print in the comic book titled STORIES! 2015 TO 2019 back in 2019. Unfortunately, the print edition is out of print (though you might be able to find a copy using Bookfinder). But! 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 version of STORIES! 2015 TO 2019 on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. That edition is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QX5LJC.

For more of my comic short stories, please visit my archive of comic books and webcomics.

Short Story - I Was Afraid For My Life

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!

I Was Afraid For My Life is an older story, actually a few years old now, that has never been published. I think, given the times we live in, it still packs quite a punch. Maybe more now than ever.

It's also one of the more abstract stories I've tried to tell. As can be seen once you've read it, the nameless main character and his dog Niko are growing up and getting older during the course of the entire tale. It was an interesting narrative challenge to get the flow of that down and to have it make sense. It might work better in print, given the nature of the "page turn" in comics, but I think it still comes across pretty well in this online version.

Note that pages four and five are shrunk a bit to fit the website. You can click on that image to make it larger.

This story first saw print in the comic book titled STORIES! 2015 TO 2019 back in 2019. Unfortunately, the print edition is out of print (though you might be able to find a copy using Bookfinder). But! 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 version of STORIES! 2015 TO 2019 on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. That edition is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QX5LJC.

For more of my comic short stories, please visit my archive of comic books and webcomics.

Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure: I did briefly post this story on a Tumblr page while I was entertaining the idea of using a different pen name. I decided against going in that direction, so here it is where it belongs.

Short Story - The Planet With No Beer

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 is the final appearance (so far!) of the wizards Bill and Butch. A really, really neat story to write and draw...and one with a lot of humanity and zest for life, too. Wizards + Beer = Fun in my book! Bill and Butch's other adventures can be found here. Will Bill and Butch appear again? Well, that's up to you! Drop me a line and let me know that you'd like to read more!

This story first saw print in the comic book titled WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! back in 2017. Unfortunately, the print edition is out of print (though you might be able to find a copy using Bookfinder). But! 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 version of WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. That edition is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QXBYY9.

For more of my comic short stories, including Bill and Butch, please visit my comic book archive that has links to all of my short stories. These are all available as free webcomics, so there's quite a bit to read! Have fun!

Short Story - Total Party Kill!

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 is the second short story featuring the wizards Bill and Butch.  Fantasy gaming, probably best represented by DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, was certainly an influence here. But more than the game was the tone of what made the "old school" exactly that. Dangerous, violent, and scary, but the characters are taking those risks for the gold. Get rich or die trying is oh so very true when it comes to dungeon delving. Especially true for the lowly first level character.

'Course, that's part of the fun.  Especially when combined with the laughs sitting around a table eating pizza and making bad jokes while the brave little PCs get shivved in the dark!

This story first saw print in the comic book titled WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! back in 2017. Unfortunately, the print edition is out of print (though you might be able to find a copy using Bookfinder). But! 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 version of WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. That edition is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QXBYY9.

For more of my comic short stories, including Bill and Butch, please visit my comic book archive that has links to all of my short stories. These are all available as free webcomics, so there's quite a bit to read! Have fun!

Short Story - The Cowardly Clerics of Rigel V!

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 story first saw print in the comic book titled WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! back in 2017. Unfortunately, the print edition is out of print (though you might be able to find a copy using Bookfinder). But! 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 version of WIZARDS FOR HIRE — CHEAP! on Kindle that can be read anywhere in the world. That edition is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089QXBYY9.

For more of my comic short stories, including Bill and Butch, please visit my comic book archive that has links to all of my short stories. These are all available as free webcomics, so there's quite a bit to read! Have fun!