Here’s the new 24 hour comic I drew this year! This one is called THE KING’S FOREST. cw: blood, violence
[image description: a traditionally illustrated comic.
the first panel shows a girl with brown skin and shoulder length black hair, wearing a red and yellow tunic and green pants. she holds a bow and has a quiver on her back. she stands triumphantly on a cliff in the woods. the panel is captioned, “i am a ranger in the king’s forest. it’s a very important job.”
the next panel shows a sparkling purple flower and is captioned, “a magic flower grows only in the forest — and could easily be taken by a —“ the caption breaks off as a hand reaches into the next panel to grab the flower. a speech bubble, coming from the unseen ranger, says, “poacher!!!”
the next panel shows the ranger drawing her bow on a girl with light skin and blond long hair, wearing a frayed white dress and holding the flower. the ranger shouts, “put that back!!” the girl asks, “this?” and calmly eats the flower. the ranger makes a face of cartoonish shock and outrage.
the ranger waves her arms and shouts, “you’re in trouble!! the king says people’ll gobble up all the magic flowers! then there won’t be any left!!” the blond girl responds with a smile, “king’s wrong.” she bends over to a mossy log where the flower was growing and says, “magic flowers like knowing when people need them. if you pick one but leave the root, two more will grow in its place.” the ranger grimaces and replies, “that makes no sense.” the blond girl says, “tell you what — if i come back tomorrow and there aren’t two flowers here, you can put an arrow right through my heart.” the ranger, slightly less angry, asks, “… promise?” the blond girl walks off into the woods and waves, saying, ‘see you tomorrow.”
the next panel shows the ranger sitting in front of a campfire under a red night sky, with her head in her hands. it’s captioned, “i realized too late i’d invited her to trespass again tomorrow.” she says, “i’m the worst ranger.”
the next panel shows the ranger and the blond girl bending by the same log. the ranger looks skeptically at the two sparkly purple flowers growing there. the blond girl smiles back at her. the ranger looks grumpily at her and says, “you’re still breaking the law.” the blond girl, now chewing both of the flowers, responds, “i’m not scared of the law. you know what is scary? the beast of the forest.” she holds up her hands with fingers crooked into mock claws.
the next panel shows her narrating, then various abstract panels of horns, claws, teeth, and blood. they’re captioned, “it’s got a coat the color of blood, and claws as black as tar, and ten sulfur horns on its head, and it hunts children for fun.” the ranger replies, hands on her hips, “that’s stupid. i know everything about the forest. i’d know if there was a beast.” the blond girl looks back at her, dreamily, “but clearly you don’t know everything about the forest.” “see you tomorrow!” she calls, as the ranger storms off.
the next few panels show animal prints in the dirt and are captioned, “the king’s forest has birds, foxes, and deer. (which sometimes come very close to your tent at night.)” the next panel shows the ranger sitting at a campfire again, looking warily over her shoulder at a crunching noise behind her. the next panel returns to the flowers. now there are four of them. the caption reads, “but no beasts.” the next panel shows the grumpy ranger, leaning against the log. she asks the blond girl, who stands over the flowers, “what do you even need the flowers for, anyway?” the blond girl answers her sadly, “i’ve been sick for a long time. the flowers help me feel a little better. do you think the king is sick too?” “what?” asks the ranger. the blond girl holds out the flowers in her hands and asks, “is that why he doesn’t let anyone else take the flowers?” the ranger replies, “i don’t think so. i’ve never actually seen him in here.” “oh,” answers the blond girl, and she looks away.
in the next panel, the two stand next to each other in silence for a moment. the ranger turns to the blond girl with a soft expression and says, “do you think it makes you pretty too?” the blond girl is surprised for a moment, then responds with a grin, “what?” the ranger turns away, blushing, and yells, “NOTHING.”
the next few panels show more purple flowers blowing in the wind, more animal tracks, and more red night sky. they’re captioned, “days passed, and magic flowers grew all over the forest. on patrols, i looked for claw marks in the soil. but saw no signs of a beast.”
the next panel shows the girls walking down a rocky riverbed. the ranger says, “i don’t think there is a beast.” the blond girl answers, “there is.” in the next panel, they’re lying in a field of magic flowers. the ranger says, “i would’ve found its tracks if it was real.” the blond girl answers, “it’s tricky. it can disguise itself as other animals.” the ranger sits up, frustrated. “what does it even want?” she asks. the blond girl, still lying down, answers with a concerned expression, “i think… it’s greedy. it likes when people are sick. it’ll be angry when it finds out i’ve been taking so many flowers.” the ranger points into the distance and asks, “why don’t you just leave then? take your flowers and run!” “some things are worth a little risk,” says the blond girl, and puts a flower behind the ranger’s ear. the ranger blushes and looks back at her.
the next panel is blank, with the caption, “the next day, i found a new set of tracks.”
the next panel shows the ranger crouching over hoofprints in the dirt. it’s captioned, “horses — many horses.” she runs off confidently, saying, “not a beast at all!” she peers over a bush and says proudly,
“it’s just the —“
the next panel shows the king on horseback, flanked by other people riding horses. the ranger stares at him and at the blond girl, who lies curled in a pool of blood at the feet of the king’s horse.
the next panels show the king’s black gloves holding the reins of his horse, then his red cloak, and his head, topped with a yellow spiky crown. he is a light skinned man with white hair and a mustache and he wears a calm expression when he says, “ah, good. ranger. please remove this beast from my forest.” the next panel shows the blond girl curled on the ground, bloody and shaking. the next shows the ranger, drawing her bow with a blank expression. she says, “i will.” the final panel shows her arrow flying through the air.]
(via kimabutch)
