"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Four Post Two

These four panels were really all about trying to firmly tie the events on board the ocean liner with those occurring on the coast of Cornwall, and having a bit of fun with some ludicrous zombie-killing situations. In particular I wanted to get my main protagonist involved with some Undead close combat, and thought it'd be quite amusing having him snatch one of the German corpse's boat paddles and start battering them around the head with it.

Meonstoke's use of the 7.92-MM LMG 34 is heavily influenced by my love of using light machine guns in the "Call Of Duty" zombie-based video games. As a result I thought it would be a bit different if he conveniently 'found' one, not too water-logged, and having propped it up upon Mister Gotch's shoulder's, started to drive the Third Reich ghouls back with one of their own weapons. All silly stuff I realise, but it makes me smile.

Assailed by a seemingly endless number of German zombies, Meonstoke's thoughts momentarily turn to Miss Priscilla's predicament, as his faithful secretary goes hand-to-hand with the long-dead monster behind all these Undead shenanigans... Fedor von Bock!

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Four Post One

This fourth instalment of "Sacrifice Upon The Waves" hopefully starts with something of a shock as the entire sub-plot of Miss Priscilla involved her saving young Weimar's life from the German Undead, and ultimately the secretary fails in her mission. It also gave me the chance to introduce a genuinely intelligent zombie, in the form of Fedor von Bock.   

Priscilla's scene also provided me with the opportunity to suggest that time had also subsequently passed on board the ocean liner. Thus Mister Gotch is able to imply that Meonstoke and his crew have been busy futilely barricading themselves within the vessel. The sailor's dialogue also follows the exact route the zombies would have to have taken if they were aboard the real ship. 

Faced with a seemingly endless number of water-logged hungry corpses, Ermin Meonstoke and Mister Gotch take to the dance-floor in the hopes that they'll be able to disco-dance their decaying foes to death...

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Three Post Three

Having managed to incorporate a few more of the cruise liner's crew members previously, I was able to utilise one of their gory deaths within these first three panels to give a bit more detail about the layout of the vessel, and the composition of its staff. I even managed to squeeze in a quick reference to what type of decaying uniform my German zombies were wearing.   

Meanwhile back on dry land, I needed to finally remove Weimar's grandmother from the action, in order to be able to fully concentrate upon the arrival of the true leader of these Third Reich living dead. It did however give me the opportunity to show just how much affection the elderly woman's young ward still felt for her, despite the pensioner trying to feed her to the undead. 

Desperate to escape a house packed full of zombies Miss Priscilla faces the sinister mastermind behind the German corpses' invasion of the Cornish Coast. Whilst Ermin Meonstoke discovers just how powerful the Undead can be when they wear the Iron Cross...

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Three Post Two

Following on from the last post's revelation as to where the German zombies have risen up from, the first three frames of this instalment clarify just what Weimar's grandmother is up to on the Cornish Coast. But also momentarily give the protagonist's hope that they may be about to escape the ghouls' clutches - Only to have them immediately quashed by more of the walking dead coming in through the back door.  

The last frame finally sets up a genuine purpose for Meonstoke to achieve whilst on board the cruise liner, except for just generally surviving, and also provides the hero with a few more 'souls to save'... or be eaten. Ermin's dialogue is also once again based upon the actual layout of the passenger ship I used for the basis of the narrative.

With the cruise liner's lifeboats within sight, Ermin Meonstoke's fortunes take a turn for the worse as the vessel continues to sink and flood the corridors with even more of the hungry undead. Meanwhile Miss Priscilla confronts Weimar's grandmother for the last time..?

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Three Post One

This scene once again consists of my standard zombie-killing sequence, where a hapless victim is devoured and Ermin Meonstoke then dispatches the offending walking cadaver. However I did want to make it clear that my titular character and Mister Gotch were now surrounded by the living undead. This would allow me to have more of the ghoulish cannibal 'pop' up into frame at the most inopportune of moments for my heroes. 

In addition the dialogue (despite the spelling mistake) is reasonably important as it establishes just where these German zombies have come from, and perhaps more crucially, provides a link with the Third Reich undead also plaguing Miss Priscilla on the Cornish Coast.

Determined to defend her sightless charge, Miss Priscilla stands firm against a seemingly insurmountable horde of German carnivorous corpses... at least until she runs out of ammunition and Weimar's Prussian grandmother decides to open her home's back door...

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Two Post Three

Ermin Meonstoke's scene in this posting is a pretty standard 'zombie-killing fare' for my drawings and sticks rigidly to my three-frame formula of (i) zombies eat someone, (ii) Ermin blasts one and then (iii) Ermin runs away. The only addition to this particular encounter is that I used Mister Gotch as an opportunity to impart some more 'real world' facts about the Eclipse. For some reason the headgear of the helmet-wearing Third Reich zombie also would appear to be slipping back off of its head. 

Miss Priscilla's brief frame was simply included to slowly push along her plot, and use the revelation that Weimar's sacrifice will bring back her long-dead German grandfather as a cliff-hanger for the next instalment. 
   

Desperate to reach the main deck area and safety, Ermin Meonstoke discovers that the cruise liner has suffered more than just the ones hull breach. But will the 'Saviour of Souls' be able to react quickly enough to help his companion Mister Gotch evade the hungry undead..?

"ERMIN MEONSTOKE" Sacrifice Upon The Waves - Part Two Post Two

One of the reasons this particular story is a five-parter as opposed to my usual four episodes in length, is because I needed some additional space to set up the adventure and establish the motivations of the main 'guest' characters. Ordinarily I can usually accomplish this within the first twelve or so frames. But for this story it was clear I was going to take a little longer; thus it is only now, as the reader starts to close in upon the conclusion of the second instalment, that Miss Priscilla confirms this entire situation has in some way been manipulated by Weimar's grandmother since shortly after the young woman's birth.

I had always wanted to write a tale based upon large vessel sinking beneath the waves and trapping the passengers in a 'Titanic-like' fashion. The addition of the clawing Undead swimming down the ship's corridors and dragging its passengers to a gory death made the prospect doubling exciting. However as I couldn't have either Mister Gotch or Meonstoke eaten (at least not this early into the adventure) I added the nameless seafarer into the scene in preparation of an imminent horrible demise.
   

Determined to seal the hull breach, the crew of the cruise-liner Eclipse discover that it is not only salt water which is seeping into the vessel. For the long-dormant dead of the Third Reich have awoken and have need of fresh flesh...