Posted my first new Wilson Barbers (as opposed to "Lewis Baird") WG story for the year on the Dimensions site: "One of Us" is a story that I've probably worked my way toward writing for several years, combining as it does my long-standing fascination with old-fashioned circus and sideshow fat ladies, in particular. The piece originally was created two years ago as a script for a proposed web comic to be illustrated by the FA artist BeakerFA, who provided some feedback on my plotting as I worked on it. Unfortunately, other commitments kept Beak' from being able illustrate the 75-episode strip, so last summer I started the task of transforming script into a full text story. Beaker contributed three illustrations to the new version, the first of which should give you an idea of what we were going for:
I love this graphic for the way it captures my rapturously singin' heroine and her soon-to-be lover Earl (the name was inspired by movie midget actor Harry Earle) and the ten-in-one tent show setting. Gotta admit, though, the first time I saw it, my initial response was a picky technical one. In the story, there's a moment where I mention Betty's lower belly knocking off an audience member's hat with her belly (it's meant to anticipate a story action that occurs a bit later). Looking at the graphic, I had to wonder whether that was even possible. Describing the ten-in-one, I was originally thinking of a somewhat lower platform on the level of this 'un (from the movie
The Unholy Three):
It's a small point, but it does illustrate how differently two minds can visualize the same moment. I added a descriptor indicating that the hatless Rube was very very tall to the story, so mebbe it doesn't matter. In any event, the results of both our work can be found
here.Labels: Fat Magic
