ABOUT

A GRAPHIC WEBNOVEL BY NEIL GRIFFITH

Kraken is a novel I wrote about two years ago, which I was unsuccessful in getting published. Although the feedback was consistently positive, there is increasingly little chance of an unknown ever getting to print in a failing industry. So I have decided to release the story on the Internet. The story has been adapted to use characters that many people following my art over the years are already familiar with. On top of that I think it really helps the story because I have truly come to love these characters and enjoy drawing and writing about them, and that’s a good thing because this is the most ambitious creative project I have ever undertaken, and you need to love your characters if you’re going to be consistently drawing and writing about them for at least several months, or maybe an entire year.
The term “webnovel” essentially describes that this project is much different than a web comic, as it is based on a complete story. It has a beginning, it has a middle, it has an end. The pages are based upon a standard eight-panel format, which is subject to change from time to time. The essential difference from web comics is web comics tell short stories that are complete within that page, although I will make an attempt to sort of wrap things up at the end of each page, there will be times when the end of the page will come in the middle of a conversation or a pitched battle, which will be picked up in the next publishing. This might make the story difficult to follow for the reader from time to time, I don’t know. But what I do promise is once the story gets rolling there’s going 50 – 70 solid pages of gunpowder, sword fights, and horrible beasties causing havoc.

So prepare to weigh anchor and cast off, me mateys, it’s going to be one tumultuous ride.

Characters

Sea-Bee
Yup, it's actually "C-B" which is short for Catboy. I didn't bother altering Catboy's clothing for this story, people wore such bizarrely decorated tights in the pre-Victorian era anyway I didn't see the point in changing his costume. Sea-Bee has the role of the town's protector, and is in possession of the magical talisman, "The Builder's Key" which was handed down to Sea-Bee by his mother. Sea-Bee's family has been in possession of The Builder's Key for generations, and it is not common knowledge that the secret to using it is long lost. Before the start of this story, Sea-Bee's parents have gone off to the mainland to visit relatives as Sea-Bee was left behind to take on the role of town protector on his own, as is tradition. If Sea-Bee does run into problems there are plenty of people on the island town of Ganymede who will help him out, such as Vesuvi the baker, who has for many years served as the local deputy sheriff if ever needed for anything really serious.
Captain Pippi Jones
The eight-year-old anarchist I've had so much fun illustrating since 2005 takes on the role of the infamous child captain pirate, Pippi Jones. Pippi is a pirate incarnate. Fearless, amoral, terribly destructive, and often drunk. Pippi exercises a frightful brilliance in achieving her ends. Her crew is mostly made of cute cabin boys she rescued from Royal frigates and their Victorian cruelty. Nothing stands in Pippi’s way. Her motto in dealing with adversity, “There isn’t a problem in the world so great you couldn’t send to firey damnation with enough gunpowder.”
Karen Jacobs
Karen is a natural witch, and most of what she has learned of magic she taught herself. During the last Guild War all great houses that held knowledge regarding magic and science were greatly destroyed. Centuries of wisdom was lost. Karen is a historical investigator looking to recover that knowledge. She has successfully recovered records using her unique gifts, such as being able to pick up arcane objects and gain visions from them. Most adults with Karen's gifts are used to investigate crimes for obvious reasons, Karen is considered too young and mentally fragile to be involved in such work. When she's not buried knee deep in dusty old scrolls or perusing around underground passages for long lost treasures she's getting her thrills investigating spirits, ghost, and various troubling magical phenomena.