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| All art copyright Charless Vess |
A long time ago in a country far, far away there lived a young writer who met an artist. Despite the artist's initial hesitation they discovered they had much in common. A short time later the writer forwarded a short prose story to the artist for his consideration. The artist loved it and pledged himself to adapting the story as a graphic novel. They found a publisher in France and all seemed rosy. The writer was even paid up front for his script. The artist began work and a dozen or so pages were completed before they heard the news that the publisher had been bought out and their contract canceled. Several other avenues were explored, including the artist self-publishing the work himself, but all efforts eventually bore only bitter fruit and the project was sadly abandoned after some twelve years. The project was Skade, a tragic adaptation of the Nordic saga. Above are some of the pages by Charles Vess including the painted cover for issue #2 of Ballads and Sagas. If you'd like to read Skade, the story is available as a PDF on my website.
