The title of this comic is to be Chronicles of the Red Lion and the main character is named Zidan.

I have given to you a tale of myself, a document that trails my life through the eyes of those that followed.

My age was an age of wonders, an age of mystery and an age of death. For in my time, mankind knew not the meaning of the inner heart and its ability to feel affection. Man gave in to the perils of lust, hate and contempt of his neighbor’s wealth.

For there were those that fed upon flesh, and those that preyed upon the poor. Life is never a given in my time, but hangs upon the wind like a lone leaf clinging onto the branch of a dieing tree, until finally blustered away by the wind.

I can tell you of my time, for I live and fight in it. I am the savior, the deliverer and the one that calls for redemption.

Scarlet hair, and the mark of the lion upon my back, I charge into this world of evil and bring hope to those of my blood that has thought it be
long past.

From slavery I shall draw them, as if one would draw water with a bucket from a cavernous well. And not by diplomatic means will I deliver, but with the power of the star and sword in hand, I shall smite those that would dare bring humanity to the sniveling level of mindless beast. -The tout of Zidan

Some people could be turned off by this I suppose, writing Crossbones off as a cheap knock-off of Tin Tin, but Hergé is dead and Tin Tin books aren’t written anymore. Complaining about Jonny Crossbones resembling Tin Tin would be like complaining over M Night movies resembling Alfred Hitchcock.

I only have two complaints with the series: only the first two pages are in color. I’m not sure if McClaine plans to release the entire series in color (I hope so) or not. Secondly, the site is not updated with new pages all that often. Hopefully this will eventually improve.

Ballad is an ongoing comic updated on Tuesdays, mostly. Ballad is about a little boy who was dead but now finds that he is alive, Much to the suprise of the little girl who made him.

Ballad is a gory, gothic adventure. It is extremely well illustrated and has a distinct Edward Gorey influence. The comic currently has 119 pages for you to feast your eyes upon.

[Update]: Deadmouse.net is no more. You can check out ballad at it’s new home on Moderntales.com

Unfortunetly a new strip hasn’t been posted since June 27th. Let’s hope they start updating it again.

While at elftor.com, I discovered Rabbits for the first time (written by the same unknown comic book artist). I actually like the art in Rabbits better than Elftor. Of course it wasn’t much of a competition: hand drawn (Rabbits) vs. MS Paint (Elftor). Rabbits wins.