pilot season: instruction manual

In the process of accepting the fact that I’m getting more scatterbrained, I’m going to start sharing some comic “pilots” here on this very blog. Some may just be a page, while others will be a few pages long. We’ll see how this pans out! Let’s kick things off with Instruction Manual, a project I pitched to open submissions for mini-comics last year. Nothing came of that—at least not as of this very moment—so now the first five pages will exist right here!

If there’s interest from others and if it fits in with what I’m working on next, we’ll keep it going for the full story. It’s not a long one, at least!

Here’s the logline:

Three years ago Berill and his little sister Juniper started finding lost pages torn from a mystical video game instruction manual, each one granting access to weapons, items and other artifacts. Berill always knew the other shoe would eventually drop, and he’s about to find out what happens when he discovers the other side of the manual; the bestiary, the dungeons, and the suffocating demonic aura behind it all.

Stay tuned for more!

manual save: splatterhouse wanpaku graffiti

What could possibly follow up the inaugural entry in the new Manual Save feature? Makaimura may be a tough act, but I’ve got something special for you this week, too: Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti! If you haven’t treated yourself to this 1989 Famicom game before, it’s essentially a chibi-fied take on Namco’s Splatterhouse series, complete with an adorable Rick design and plenty of Halloween-friendly frights ‘n freaks. As you’ll see, the instruction manual definitely does this jovial gem justice.

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manual save: makaimura (ghosts ‘n goblins)

Anyone who has followed this blog (or just me) knows I am a great appreciator of video game instruction manuals. Heck, I even made my own! It should come as no surprise, then, that I’m starting a new feature called Manual Save, in which I scan in manuals I have sitting around and we appreciate them together as very good friends. While I have no doubt that some of the work I do here is already available elsewhere online, the good news is I don’t care.

First up is the Famicom version of Capcom’s 1985 classic Makaimura, AKA Ghosts ‘n Goblins. This manual is really special for one key reason: It turns the contents of your average manual into a thrilling comic!

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