Research Fragments

This comic takes place between Albus leaving Ecclesia and when the gameplay
starts and is focused on his kidnapping of the villagers. I think it's
kind of interesting that he kind of places himself as “Dracula”, stealing
blood from villagers, positioning himself as the game's antagonist, and even is possessed by
Dracula in the end... (and is the “final boss”!... except for if you get the
good ending of course :P He’s Fake Dracula). Even Nikolai thinks briefly
that he’s LITERALLY Dracula. And, of course, his plans all end with him in a coffin.......

So I guess the focus of this is on becoming the monster you’ve sworn to destroy,
becoming the villain to be the hero, etc, and the ensuing guilt...
I think there’s kind of a comparison drawn visually between Albus hurting the villagers
and Barlowe hurting the disciples which is what the swarms of obscuring bats represent...
Worrying he’s become as horrible as the old man who raised him, that kind of thing.
The black panels on the side are memory or imagination, a realm of the unreal
compared to the scrapbooked reality of the other side. Finding photos and textures to put in
the background was a lot of fun. I should do something with a similar collage
effect sometime again. I also really enjoy doing lineless single-layer stuff, it feels
like it removes a lot of my self-imposed limits...