The Sleeper's Den

Gentle reader,

Here I am again with a new page of my wildly popular comic, The Darkest Hour. Universally acclaimed on Twitter (1 like), Facebook (2 likes), Tumblr (8 likes) and Instagram (7 likes), this epic, crafted with much sweat, tears, but even more love is bound to assure me a careless old age living off the profits.

...I realised that the last time I posted here, I was on page 86, so - that's a few pages ago! I'll just link you back to The Darkest Hour p. 87 in case you were waiting for that - and which just happens to be baby Arthur being born!

Page 102, incidentally, used to be page 85. The comic has expanded quite a bit in the redrawing, but I hope I'm done now and can just continue to the end with the pages as they were planned.

Of all the things happening in the world right now, a potential disappearance of LJ seems a discomfort rather than, you know, a really serious issue... But it's still a space that is and has been important to many of us. I just wanted to mention that I set up a Dreamwidth journal back in the day. It contains a back-up up until 2017 - so, that covers my most active period in Harry Potter fandom.

I'm trying to figure out if I can also import my 2018-2022 entries.

In any case: I'll be over there (sigune ) if the plus really gets pulled on poor dear LJ. I hope to find you there again!

Hahaha everything went so wrong! I made a complete and utter mess of the watercolours on this piece, and that's after I had drawn another birthday picture that had a glaring mistake in the lettering! I had to try and save this one in Photoshop and ended up finishing it on January 10 -_-.

Ah well.



Happy birthday, Professor Snape! And who knows, maybe I'll get back to my Comic of Doom someday and explain all about Brynhild Bromley.

Okay, so - I'm posting this ten days later than last year, which means you already know my cards are going to be mighty late (I still have to get them printed! or in fact even drawn, but I'm thinking about cheating, I'm desperate XD!). So you will probably get a Hogwarts-themed card this year, but if I decide I'm willing to be Extremely Late I may throw a Gawain card into the envelope as well.

Anyway - if you want one, please don't hesitate to send me your address and a card will find its way to you.

I'm asking again who wants one because last year two or three cards were returned to me. So, don't be shy and let me know if you would like one! You can put your address in a comment (I'll screen them) or you can send an email to gawaincomic at gmail dot com. My cards travel all around the globe.

As per my annual tradition I will be participating in hoggywartyxmas and snapecase, so the Snapey Season is upon us (which reminds me I need to do a Snapey Birthday drawing soon as well, hah hah.)

Also, for those who might be interested, the comic is Not Dead but as you may be able to tell, I've been struggling with my planning a bit (... a bit?) and I've never quite got it on track since my burn-out last year. I have two pages ready to be posted but I'd like to have a few more before starting to post again... I'm working on it.

So! I don't think that a lot of us had a great 2020, most of us for obvious pandemic reasons. Personally, I ran into my own limitations (I still have the bruises) and I learnt a lot about myself. I haven't been in a good place, and not being able to meet people who are dear to me hasn't helped. It was therefore great to see at least one familiar event return in the shape of hoggywartyxmas - a fest that has been going on for 11 years now and is as much part of my Christmas traditions as the Christmas tree and what should have been the family dinner. I think that for many of us, the fest had even more significance this year and the sense of community was even stronger. My heartfelt thanks to therealsnape and kellychambliss for giving us this ♥.

I still have some catching-up to do, but here are a set of entries I much enjoyed and recommend:

By the Fireside by cabepfir
Rating: G
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva/Severus
Summary: A quiet afternoon together
Warnings: None
(It's difficult not to rec a cabepfir piece, because her sense of colour and atmosphere are brilliant and she is the Queen of All Watercolour. Also: her Snape. Plus cutiepie cat.)

What Minerva Did Next by hiddenhibernian
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,100
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Augusta Longbottom
Summary: Of magic, witches and whisky, and why there are no female Dark Lords (that you know of, anyway).
Warnings: None
(This was my gift, right up my alley - I find it almost philosophical :). Minerva's understanding of magic grows, and with it her dissatisfaction with the magical community as it is. She begins to consider taking action, and talks it over with Augusta Longbottom. Don't expect flashy action, but enjoy the musings of two sharp witches.)

To All a Good Night by delphipsmith
Rating: G
Word Count: ~5500
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Poppy Pomfrey, Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Madam Malkin; brief appearance by Hagrid and mention of Malfoys
Summary: Just when things seem dark as a crow's wing, life takes a lucky turn.
Warnings: None
(I'm going to let you discover Delphi's puns for yourself. This story made me laugh out loud every few lines. Basically this is "magical covid takes the Wizarding World". Having lived through this non-magical covid year, I wasn't sure that I would be able to laugh at it, but - I was. I hope you are too.)

Death and Love and Other Yuletide Mysteries: A Hogwarts Castle Story by milotzi
Rating: G
Word Count: 7244
Characters and/or Pairings: Minerva McGonagall and an assorted cast of Hogwarts staff and friends
Summary: Hogwarts Castle as Blandings meets snowbound country house mystery.
Warnings: It’s a Yuletide tale, yet you may discover an easter egg or two or three if you like reading crime mysteries.
(I have a weakness for pastiche. I couldn't write one to save my life, but I so enjoy it when other people prove they can. This was a good one, and I just adore this ironic, knowing 30s style of writing.)

Within a Forest Dark by squibstress
Rating: soft R
Word Count: 9,725
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall
Summary: Severus expects his journey at Hogwarts to be dark and lonely. He’s right. Mostly.
Warnings: None.
(Squibstress promises 'snark' and 'bitching'. What else can one want from a Severus/Minerva story? ;P An excellent tale with great characterisation and strong dialogue to entertain you even if you don't ship SnacGonagall.)

The Unofficial Minutes of the Hogwarts Knitting Society by therealsnape
Rating: G
Word Count: 14K
Characters and/or Pairings: Irma Pince with a supporting cast of Hogwarts Staff Members. Also, the owner of a knitting shop.
Summary: When Gilderoy Lockhart announces his plan for motivational lectures that will bring the fun back into teaching, his colleagues have to do something. But who would have thought it would involve needles and yarn?
Warnings: None.
(I have two words for you: WITCHES and KNITTING. Truly a magical combination?! Well, it was for me. Minerva McGonagall sets up a knitting club that must save its members from attending lectures by Gilderoy Lockhart. This leads to Ravelry Revelations. Don't be scared of the word count: this story doesn't at all *feel* like 14K, it's that good a read.)

Season’s Greetings from Hogwarts! by mywitch
Rating: PG
Characters and/or Pairings: Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Irma Pince
Summary: The Hogwarts Faculty tries to keep it together for the annual Yule card photo.
Warnings: Tiny bit of full frontal nudity ;)
(mywitch is one of these people who can't hide their identity in an anonymous fest because they just ... are who they are? She is amazingly versatile and can, I think, do just about anything. But even though she uses a variety of styles and media, you can always tell it's her because of the unique combination of technical brilliance, creativity and mischief in her entries. Treat yourself to this animated postcard. Do not consume beverages while watching.)

Here endeth the reccing!

So, as we've had the reveal last Saturday, I can quite openly claim authorship of The Gift, a very silly 5-page comic:

The Gift
Rating: Ummm... PG for a word you don't want your child to repeat?
Word Count: 168
Characters and/or Pairings: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore
Summary: The year is 1993, and the presence of one Mr Remus Lupin at Hogwarts means that this isn't the Potions Master's favourite Christmas ever. Maybe, just maybe, Minerva McGonagall can lift his gloom.
Warnings: Rude language

I want to share some behind-the-scenes information about this little comic because it's special for me. If you're interested, I'd advise you to read the story first and then come back for the making-of, which I'll put in a separate entry.

Would you like to receive an Arthurian Christmas card from me this year? Please let me know and send me your details! I've made the comments to this post private (...I think XD). You can also send an email to gawaincomic at gmail dot com.

Last year, a few cards came back to me, so clearly some people's addresses have changed. I'm making a new list this year, so - don't hesitate to let me know if you want to be on it :). My cards ship worldwide.



Oh - I'm participating in snapecase and hoggywartyxmas this year, as per usual, so there will be some Snapey stuff soonish.

I've been religiously making teaser pictures for every new page with the intention of posting them here, but I'm not exactly doing a great job of it. I apologise for my lack of replies, too - especially because your comments mean a lot to me. People close to me sometimes tell me to ease down on the self-imposed deadlines for things like the comic, which doesn't make any money and isn't exactly a huge hit. But though it brings its own frustrations, making this comic is something of a consolation as compared to my often thankless job. (Never become a professional writer, kids: everyone thinks they write better than you.)

I'm getting to a point where it's beginning to look as if the early pages were inked by someone else. This bugs me very much, but, um, I can't really afford to start all over again. I mean, I really would like to get to Gawain some day and, you know, maybe do some Green Knight and Loathly Lady and stuff. And I'm positively *aching* for the Castle of Wonder, that Ygraine Payoff in, oh, 2000 pages or so.

...Yeah. Well, if I can keep up this 'a page a week' rhythm, I may not go on Summer hiatus this year. If I manage it, Arthur could be born in September...

Today was not a good day. Nothing serious, mind - I am healthy, I can do every bit of my job from home, I'm actually really lucky in these times of corona. But I woke in a bad mood and nothing that happened during my workday did anything to dispell the feeling. In fact the opposite was true. I felt unhappy, unappreciated and useless. It didn't help that I'm really struggling to keep up with my weekly publishing schedule, which makes me feel like a loser, to be honest. Now - both of these problems can be at least partly resolved with a few holidays, so thank goodness there are some of those coming on...

Every night of this week, I've been trying to draw page 64 and I really couldn't capture what I wanted. I was fully prepared to actually let a Thursday go by without a page. But my dark mood brought me this image, which was very satisfying to draw (despite being so sad) and also saved me from an abrupt transition. That difficult page 64 has now become page 65 and I'll have Easter Monday to ponder it.

This keeping up with the comic really isn't going so well XD... Then again, I've had a weird week so I posted today's page barely half an hour ago. I'm not sure how to go about creating a new buffer - it's difficult to be productive when your job eats all your energy (especially emotionally). Anyway: here are 5 pages!

Well by gum, I dropped the ball for a while there...

Truth is, ever since my return to work after my holiday, things have been incredibly busy. And there were my hoggywartyxmas and snapecase deadlines, too... Yes, I kind of forgot about posting new pages here. So now you get 4 in one go :P.

I don't think I ever mentioned it here, but I have a Ko-fi page, in case people want to support the comic by buying me a coffee (I consume loads of those)... There is a gallery with my complete set of Inktober 2019 images, which I can't help mentioning because I'm still proud of finally having completed an entire Inktober ;-).