V for Vendetta?

I got an interesting question in the mail yesterday: Deda, what's that V on his arm?
I did not explain it, did I?
Human branding nowadays is considered almost as cool as tattoos but was used, in the past to brand property and criminals. You would brand your cattle and your slaves... the Romans did it, the Greeks did it and up until the 1800 the French and the North Americans did it (then a certain Civil War set the slaves free).


As for the criminals... each Country applied its own method and laws (Wikipedia says that the Germans never resorted to branding... but I know from a certain book that in Frankfurt branding was in use and they use an eagle).

If Foxy were to be British his V should be on his chest and should mean: Vagabond.

But the V is on his shoulder which means he was not branded in England, he was branded in France for being a thief (V for voleur).
Thieves would usually be branded with a Fleur-de-lis on their shoulders mainly... but some smaller Regions would use a V instead.

So our little Fox was a thief and was caught? Yes, he was.
Why is he so ashamed of his branding and covers it all the time, then? Why does he fear Lio's reaction? What did Lio see?

Well Lio saw that the scar is stretched and looks very old, so she realized right away one simple thing: he was branded as a kid. She is not a stupid blonde at all and seeing his embarrassment she asks him: does it hurt? <--- that implies a "still". After so many years, this thing still hurts? It feels like it dominates you.
Foxy is not very clever and answers: it did. He does not realize though that, once he says that, he is finally letting go of the pain and the fear and the guilt... because the judgment he was afraid of did not come. He got understanding instead.

He probably stole just that one time, he probably was hungry, but the law is the law and kids would be branded too, if caught. He shriveled in remorse his whole life for that one wrong action that got such a harsh punishment, yah?
This kind of emotion would solve probably the last mystery: if he was branded in France, why does he have an English name?

Do you guys know what Huguenots are? They were not lucky people at all and most of them fled to England, Germany and other places were protestants were not persecuted.
So, if you are a religious person and steal, get caught and branded... wouldn't you feel that God's punishment always comes to get you and his judgment would follow you for the rest of your life? Even if you change name, Country, family... the V is still there to remind you: you sinned.

Until you don't know what to do with your life anymore and want to just throw it away... then along comes a pirate and tells you: give your life to me, I have better use for it.
Then you meet someone who shares the same burden as you do and that someone becomes your best friend.
Then you meet a girl who dresses your wounds, even the one buried deep down at the very bottom of your being...

Once all the pieces come together to tell you how much you are worth then maybe you'll find it in your heart you can smile at life again. Aren't you dying to see Foxy's true smile? I know I am!

Scurvy dogs!

In the last two chapters we saw two particular episodes show up: 1) a man overboard 2) possible scurvy symptoms.

The first case was explained in the chapter itself. Consider that the Alidivento is a small ship and the Mediterranean is not completely an opened sea so it may have strong winds but does not have huge waves. It is also saltier than an Ocean (and salt help people stay afloat longer) and it's warmer (so hypothermia would take on slowly).
On an Oceanic Vessel a man overboard was doomed. I might have mentioned this before but most sailors didn't know how to swim. You stay on a ship, what would you need swimming for?
Taking baths was also not considered to be a healthy habit so... water was not even contemplating for drinking, most of the times, let's say it's something you sail upon.

In our case, although Foxy's recovery is placed a few panels after his fall... you have imagine the Alidivento maneuver, come about and do a large circle to go back and fetch its pilot. So we can probably imagine, instead, that the guy either grabbed onto one of the ropes floating along the ship or maybe he managed to stay afloat long enough to be rescued.
In our story we cannot let Foxy die: he is the pilot, he is good at it and he is Lio's boyfriend! We need him!

But the episode helped us start the relationship between him and Lio plus I used it to go "History Channel" on you and tell you about "man overboard".

The second case is the insightful incident that sparks Westley's love interest for Kes.
I could have used anything... a cold... dermatitis... diarrhea... but we've been on this ship for a month already (well, almost a month, right?). When you move into a new place there are a few things you need to do to settle down: buy toilet paper, pots and pottery, towels... you get a bank account, a phone line, the internet... Once you settled a month is gone by and you finally get to explore.
Volume 2 will explore.
Of course there isn't really much to be seen on board of a ship... except the people who lives on it.
Because of that the first chapter is a captain's log. By the log we'll definitely learn to know that Kane is very observant and that Westley probably opens up to him a lot.

I am warning you, I won't tell you everything directly, a lot of things I'll hint to and you'll have to piece things together yourself. I believe that's how life works and I want to reproduce that.
It will feel weird, at first, but trust me... eventually all the pieces come together, they just do it when they need to do it, it's more gratifying that way.

Anyways let's go back to our exploring people. We saw in the first volume that Wes is a doctor, he has his sick-bay set up in his cabin and takes Lio as a nurse. We heard from Cat and Fox that he can be scary and can even give orders to Kane or override his orders and revert them.
It's his medical dictatorship.
We needed to see the doctor at work (you cannot just say "I'm a doctor" and just leave it at that, right? Otherwise why put a doctor in the crew?).
I always believed that the surgeon had a reason to be the second most paid mate on board. Westley was born to show that!

Now, when the girls arrive on board they are probably malnourished. Cat noticed that, Kane noticed that... Pea and Kes stated so. I had to keep the medical visit short - in the original lines Westley checks Kes's neck and teeth, it wasn't useful to the story, visually... so we only see... the pus.
At this point of the story Wes still hates Kes - oh, hate is so closed to love! - but because he looked stern and serious about his job and she decided to trust him... his attitude changes, becomes "professional" and he acts like a doctor should.
He understands it's not the case to say: you are scorbutic - in most Latin languages that also means: you are not kind!
No offense, she is not kind to him but just say it so, bluntly, in her face while she faces a serious illness... would be indelicate.
Plus it's possibly an early stage... no teeth fell off, no blisters show up on legs and arms... and probably it's just a dermatitis and nothing more.
Still it is better to prevent, rather than cure... aaah, and that's the cure: the magic lemon.

Using lemon or lemon juice on sailing boats has been known and forgotten and known for... centuries. Wes knows that lemon help prevent scurvy. Does he know it's because of the vitamin C? No, he doesn't... it's ancient wisdom. The history of the Jewish Physicians is very long, there's a nice book about it, you might find it interesting.... it's very amazing and, unfortunately, also very sad.

p.s. somebody mentioned limes on SmackJeeves, and that was actually a good question.
Limes were used mostly after the 1700 and in the Eastern/Caribbean and Asian Seas. As I said on SmackJeeves we probably had limettas coming from Persia but not limes in the late 1600. The lime was first mentioned by Sir Thomas Herbert in 1677 when he referenced a site near the coast of Mozambique. Our story takes place about 15 years before that. Also... we are in the Spanish Kingdom (Spain, Sicily and Naples all belonged to the King of Spain)... I'll post a map... here!

There are a lot of little islands on this side of the sea and we are island hopping right here! :D Between Sicily, Spain and Sardinia... (of course we went to Greece to fetch the girls but that was our man going out of his way to get the wife). We'll see an island with black rocks and shores... probably Stromboli! (I renamed the island though ;P) We'll try different Italian and Spanish foods and wines.

Now, Sicily has a valley known as "la conca d'oro" - the golden bowl - near Palermo. You'll find huge, delicious oranges, tangerines and lemons there!
That's why Wes uses lemons and not limes.

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 4 END

Release! Release day!

I'm uploading it now! It's 12:35 at my watch and the release will be completely posted on Smackjeeves at 1:49! (so you have to wait one hour - that's because it takes 5 minutes to post each page ^^").

So be back in one hour or tomorrow directly - if you're on my same time shift. You might be noticing that the last 3 pages aren't finished. Well, I am back home now so, starting tomorrow, I will clean them up, render them and change them!

You can still understand the story as it is now... just the drawings will be prettier in the end! He he he.

You'll know when I'll change them because I will post here and I'll also upload a free-talk and the back cover to close the volume on Smackjeeves.

Now I can start the countdown again. The next update will be on June 21st... directly from Singapore! (how thrilling).

Work in progress

Hi guys,

so I am rendering the last 6 pages.

The last 3 pages will not be rendered for this upload... I've had a little technical problem and I didn't have time to finish the clean-up so I scanned the rough drawings!

You'll get to see the sketched pages instead with the lettering and then I'll replace the files with the finished ones maybe the following two days or so.

In the meantime this is how I will open this installment... with nice color and we go back on Foxy and Calliope. They were going to sick-bay to get rid of wet clothes - did you really believe Lio would stop at a simple smooch? Wait and see! XDDD

The Pirate Balthasar - Chapter 4 B - in English! (release)

Yeah, so SmackJeeves is loading the files now and it will take about 1 hour!!! It's 6:50 now at my watch and the websites says all the pages will be up by 7:39.

If you cannot wait... here's chapter 4B on issuu for ya! (of course the first 12 pages are the old ones, you know I add the new ones at the end so that the story continues).

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

Chapter 4 B - Preview!

Here's a little preview... at least I can post a preview by the end of countdown!

I don't think I will be able to make it before tuesday actually!
Unfortunately I had to work today and I will be able to do more Balthasar tonight and tomorrow.
Then saturday I have to go to a wedding, sunday I can work in the afternoon and monday I teach the whole day.

So I wonder if I can make it by tuesday, then I'll make it by tuesday!

Busy week-end too. The wedding is so far: all the way to Rome - in Saint Peter, nonetheless!

<--- in the meantime please enjoy the pin-up! ^^"

I need to improve my calculation skills!

Chapter 4 A/B - Release!

Open publication - Free publishing - More comedy

It's out! It's out!

Chapter 4 A is out on SmackJeeves!

I am so sorry to have kept you waiting.

So go go, Run!

http://thepiratebalthasar.smackjeeves.com/

The full release will be available in about an hour! (you know how SmackJeeves delays its uploads)

Read it! Vote it! Comment it! Despise me XDDD!

I am currently proofing it, so if you find mistakes, please let me know.

The chapter will be soon uploaded on Issuu, the Italian version will follow.

Scusate ragazzi se vi faccio attendere ancora un pochino per la versione italiana! ^^"

tic tac 5!

As you can see I am behind... but I did manage to scan and edit all of my 12 pages in one evening! ^_^/

Yay for me. starting tomorrow it's rendering and lettering!

Now, time for me to go to bed! Goodnight!

Greetings!

Hello! (shyly appears from behind a corner)

I know I know what you're saying: What? Deda, what are you doing? You're showing pictures of the rough only now?!? There's only 5 days left to upload!

I knooooow!!!!


Still this is as far as I could go this week and I still have a pile of homework to check out. Sigh.

Anyway let me blabber for a few minutes.

First of all I'd like to say the yesterday's Fan Art was a great success!
The blog was super visited - even more than on release dates hahahahaha!
Way to go Supervillain!

I take advantage of this to encourage you all to do more and participate to the fun *_* I already prepared folders for all the characters and I expect to fill them with beautiful drawings, fan fictions, anything to your liking!
Go for it guys!

Also I introduce you: the polls!!! Yeah yeah! Neat toys, aren't they? I love polls. I was thinking it would be fun to see what you think about the characters right now and if the results will change with time! (for instance I put Josh in the list but we haven't seen much of him, yet).
In the future we'll have: my favorite pairing is...

Now a message to the visitors of this blog!

You might be curious to know numbers and statistics, soooo... our top ten visitors are:

1. Italy
2. United States
3. Netherlands
4. Kuwait
5. Australia
6. Canada
7. Poland
8. Brazil
9. Russia
10. United Kingdom

You are fantastic, I love you!

To my Italian friends: grazie per tutto il sostegno! Siete grandi!
To my American friends: you almost beat up the Italian visitors! Wohoooo! Go for it!
To my friend from the Netherlands: you know, if I manage to get this thing going the way I want to you'll see the son of the Second Pirate Balthasar (Wilson Kane is the 5th)... who was Dutch! Of course I was inspired by the most famous Ducth Pirate to ever sail on the Barbary Coast: Simon The Dancer/ Simon Rei's!

Anyway, I don't want to be partial so: I thank you all very much for following my blabbers all the time.

Stick around I'll post Cat's paper doll in the afternoon! ;)

Chapter 4 - cover work in progress

The finished drawing for chapter 4's cover is already on my desktop.

I am currently drawing the last batch of pages for chapter 3, well, not today, my sister's kids are running around the house like crazy - I can't believe they get to be on vacation from school until the 12th! - and I am taking a little break.

As I already mentioned yesterday this cover will have Westley and Cassandra on its cover, I have chosen a blue analogous w/split color scheme for them...

I decided long ago that I would dedicate the covers to all the characters - taking turns - when something cool happens to them in that specific chapter.

Now, chapter 4 is not particularly Wes&Kes-centric but I've already established a certain type of relationship between these two and it will be developing along THAT line - of love&hate - in a very strong way from this chapter on.

Since I am not for pairing up couples and leaving it at that... I am also creating odd friendships and societies along the way because a Stockolm syndrome is inevitable in these types of situations. There has been no abuse, although the pirates can be rude, and some imprinting will sure follow!

In this chapter we see Cassandra rocks! Not only she is attracted to the doctor and defies him in a strong, sensual way, but she is also bound by common interests to Cat and Fox. I think the Cat-Kes-Fox society was inevitable: Pinocchio has to meet a Cat and a Fox, doesn't he... and Cassandra is such a nice Pinocchia! Expect her to shine!

Chapter 4 - cover sketch

While you sizzle in anticipation like a giant sausage on a pan... like I know you do... maybe hahahaha....

Here's a preliminary sketch I did for the cover of chapter 4.

No, chapter 3 is not done yet... we have one more installment.

Yes, we have to see what happens between Castalia and Kane - remember? The dude was not wearing his mask!!! *ç*

Anyways, since I need the covers to turn out exactly like I want them to be... I start working on them early on, while I draw the previous chapter!

Usually, once I am done, I put the final work on my desktop and stare at it for weeks... this way I manage to see if there's any problems that need to be fixed!

So, yes, we are going to have the first cover without Kane and Castalia. This one is a Wes&Kes!

It will mostly have blue hues! *_X/