Ballads of War 1x18 & 1x19

Here I am again, with some more 40K old doodles. I'm a little late on my regular updating schedule, but on my discharge I'll say that this time I had a lot more of text to translate!

I thought I should keep it anyway and offer you a couple of pages at a time, I think it's more rewarding to read. But let me know your thoughts, if you prefer this rate or just releasing the pages as I have them ready.

OK, let's go!

Well, now the plot is really revealed, so the reader gets a better glimpse of the full story so far and how this unlikely bunch of people got stuck together in a space blender (and what is supposed to be expected of them!)

The Great Harlequin steals all the show here. I firstly thought to make him way more 'extreme', more like a histrionic ator stuck in his role. After all, Eldar follow the Path of their election (Path of the Warrior, Path of the Seer, Path of the Scout, Path of the Artist, Path of the Baker, whatever) until they become simply outstanding at it and reach perfection, so they profession is their lifestyle more than a job career.

But remember, remember, it was 2005 (maybe early 2006 by then). The character I was envisioning already existed, and was the leading role in V for Vendetta. Ouch. The comic version had settled, of course, but the movie was totally fresh at the time. I simply couldn't bring just the same character into the comic, an over the top crazy bloke wearing a mask, speaking in verses and all that. A pity, I would have loved to have such a character here.

Anyway, I made him much more sober and weary, with some occasional emotional outburst. After all, Eldar feel much, much more deeply than humans, so their emotions are way more extreme or pure, sometimes uncontrollable.

About the outfit, at the time GW had abandoned the Harlequins ranges, so the only references were from the late '80s and they weren't to succeed, I'm afraid; too extreme. I simply reimagined/updated the appearance and went for the white armour, the sash, etc. Venetian masks were of course my main reference, and I in fact had a few sketches with dozens of ideas for masks, for the moment when we were to see more of the Harelequin's troupe. Never got them to the actual thing, sadly, but I even had designed a full scene in which the troupe played a full performance of Eldar myths. I didn't want to overdo the mask, so the thin gold trimming or the shells were simple concepts to attach to, and I think they worked fine.

About the last couple of panels in the second page, I wast just delving into Warhammer 40,000 fluff. That's the thing I talked about last week; the veterans will get the references and secretly giggle at them, and the newcomer won't be bothered by them and will (hopefully) get itchy to know more of this all.

Well, this is it for today, I'll go get some more stuff as soon as I can!

You know, previous pages HERE, as usual.