Yamara™

First published: September, 1991. First posted online: October 06, 2005.

The rejected strip this one replaces appears below. We explained it best back in 1997 at SciFi.con:

“Persephone had arrived on the scene.

“Originally, she was supposed to be a one-shot off-screen joke at the expense of Joe. We weren’t sure what humiliations the Church of St. Nobian had in store for our favorite cleric, but that was pretty much all we were thinking of at the time.

“When we submitted unrelated strips, Roger asked after Persephone. We told him we weren’t sure that we wanted to make romance a bigger focus– there was already Ogrek and Yamara, after all.

“But from his wider perspective in Lake Geneva, Roger could see the winds blowing from Stone Mountain, and said, ‘Run with the vampire.’

“This was our first halting attempt to jog, since we hadn’t really thought any of this relationship through. Here’s a midnight encounter that wasn’t quite as intense as its rewrite, when Persey showed up for the ‘first’ time, at Joe’s window.”

The Only Bat in the Sky, rejected for September, 1991.
Script
PANEL ONE

JOE HOLY is walking alone at night, when suddenly he notices a BAT flying above him.

JOE.
(thinking)
!

BAT.
♥

PANEL TWO

BAT.
(landing, turning into PERSEPHONE)
Hi, Joe.

JOE.
Hello, Persephone…

PERSEPHONE.
That’s me. The only bat in the sky that truly loves you.

PANEL THREE

JOE.
Oh, not that again– Persey, there’s nothing between us.

PERSEPHONE
How can you say that! Remember that time in the Italian restaurant when I choked on the garlic, and you saved my life? Nothing was ever more romantic!

JOE
…That never happened…

PERSEPHONE
Well, it should have!

PANEL FOUR

JOE.
(raising cross)
Look, this is very embarrassing–

PERSEPHONE.
Oh hiss! *snif* Oh splutter!

JOE.
Oh, I’m sorry, it’s a reflex–

PERSEPHONE.
Your holy symbol says no, but your eyes say yes.