A change I made to the story was to expand the scope of bad guys who are chasing after Elizabeth. Instead of one evil wizard and 2 hench-wizards, they will be backed by a whole group of wealthy financiers who are intent on subjugating the kingdoms of Europe. They are “The Consortium.” Of course they operate out of a menacing gothic stronghold.

This is the rough thumbnail sketch for Page 1, drawn at half the printed size.

It’s been quite a while since I posted! Here’s what’s been going on:

My original idea was to tell this story one page at a time, right here on this blog. It didn’t work out. GLORIANA is a saga, with lots of subplots, each involving a set of characters. It was too much for me to keep track of everybody. For instance, I needed some of King Henry’s soldiers to escort Elizabeth to a carriage after he’d banished her from court (that really happened). Where were these soldiers? I forgot to include them in the previous scene. Oops.

The other problem is I wasn’t easily able to design 2-page spreads this way. GLORIANA was a long-form online comic. After I started, I decided I want to make this a printed graphic novel instead. In print, the 2-page spreads need to look good. I wasn’t planning ahead. I’m an old graphic designer. If you’ve seen my picture books, you might guess that I design the whole project—thumbnail sketches of all the pages—before I start drawing illustrations. I blogged about that process at johnmanders.wordpress.com. Even before that, my picture book projects began with the author’s story, the manuscript. I was writing the story and drawing the pictures as I went along—an unwise move. Picture books are usually 32 pages. GLORIANA needs to be much longer than that. I was getting overwhelmed and I’d hardly begun.

So, I stopped working on it.

I really do believe in this project. I haven’t given up. I’m starting over. In the past months I wrote the manuscript. I had support and advice from my friends (thank you, Diana, Vince, Licia and Jenny!). GLORIANA is a tale of what-ifs: what if Elizabeth Tudor, after the big argument with Henry and her banishment, were chased by bad guys intent on assassinating her? What if these bad guys were part of a super-villain consortium bent on subjugating the kingdoms of Europe? What if the super-villain-wizard chasing her were a character from a popular play—a man who sold his soul to the Lord of Hell? How would she escape; make herself unrecognizable; where would she go? What if, during her flight, Elizabeth met real-life historical personalities who helped her? What if Elizabeth’s escape turned into an almighty battle between Good and Evil?

Elizabeth starts out as an unlikeable brat. I need her to become someone who values others. I need her to become a leader who would one day assume the throne of England.

The manuscript is finished. I’m storyboarding the graphic novel now. It looks like I’ll produce it in 16-page installments and self-publish. I’ll likely sell them on a crowd-funding site. If this is going to work, I need to find lots of customers! I will post updates here.

Thanks, friends, for your patience.

—Your old pal Manders