Two Bit Comics

Welcome to Two Bit Comics!

It seems like another lifetime ago when, at the tender age of forty, I made a commitment to become a comic book artist. Comic books have long been a source of great entertainment for me both as a child ( big Marvel Comics fan!) and later on as an adult ( Watchmen, Sandman, Frank Miller’s Dark Knight series). In order to practice the art , however, I needed a platform. So I began to create my own stories, doing not only the art but also plot, layout, script, and even sometimes color. Some of the results are what you see before you.

A couple things before story intros: these stories have ADULT CONTENT for rough language and graphic violence. New pages will be posted every Wednesday morning and I will be available for questions and comments Thursday 10 – 12am. Yeah – I know- wierd hours, but I have a night shift.

CONTACT Two Bit Comics (twobitcomics.com) on Facebook, Tumblr, or Instagram.

Let’s start with Of Beasts and Men!

This is the story of a down and out private eye named Burke in the down and out city of Milltown. Burke doesn’t have much going for himself except one redeeming quality: he likes to kill monsters. And for some reason Milltown is chalk full of ’em! Follow along as our anti-hero does battle against all the ‘old school’ creepies while trying to figure out just what the hell is is going on!

After Of Beasts and Men is in full swing, we’ll start with Coyote, an offbeat Western:

A young renegade Lakota woman, with the help of her animal spirit and an old war horse, tries to survive off- reservation in the Dakota Territory of the 1880’s. A stranger in a strange land indeed.

Scheduled to appear in January!

So! After a year and a half of plotting, drawing, inking, and publishing I thought it might be time to give character descriptions of the three main figures of my off-beat Western graphis novel, ‘Coyote’. I have introduced many tangent people in the strory so far, but I want new readers to keep their focus on the Big Three!

Meca: a renegade Lakota girl in the late 19th century U.S. Her name is derived from the Lakota coyote spirit, who accompanies her on her travels throughout the Dakota Territory. The coyote spirit in Lakota lore is a trickster and highly intelligent. Beneficial traits to have in the wild, violent, unpredictable early West. The lead-ins to the first three chapters show her growth from a six-year-old to a sixteen-year-old, learning how to survive in a white man’s world by adopting many of their ways. Assimilation, however, is often a trap in itself.

Grundy: formally a low-rent con man and a terrible cheat, Grundy becomes possessed by Iktomi, the Lakota spider god. Iktomi is often portrayed as an evil spirit in Native American lore. Also very cunning much like Meca, setting up a contrast between the two spirits when it comes to the use of this trait. Iktomi uses his advantage to take over the Town, whereas Meca uses his guile to help a young Lakota girl survive off-rez.

Lund: a man haunted by the ghost of a young girl. Formally a colonel for the U.S. Army in the Indian Wars, and now a Marshal in the Dakota Territory, we suspect he has done something unspeakable in his violent past. Added to that is the accidental killing of his wife when he attempts to shoot the specter. These events could drive him into complete insanity or on the road to redemption.

My next project for the ‘About’ page is also written with new readers in mind. With all of the pages I have published a new visitor to the site might be discouraged from reading them all. To address this issue the following paragraghs are plot synopses of both stories through chapter two.

Of Beasts and Men, Chapter 1-2:

Of Beasts and Men, Chapters 1-2: His name is Burke, a down and out P.I. in the down and out city of Milltown. Being overweight, ugly, poor and an alcoholic, he is an easy target for a sexy young thing like Melania. Melania wants her husband dead, and she figures Burke is the perfect fallguy to do it. But as Burke soon finds out it’s just a setup. Melania’s husband is actually a werewolf and old Burke is the meal!

Our anti-hero somehow manages to kill the monster, thereby incurring the wrath of Melania. It is at this point we are introduced to a major baddie known as First Mother, the leader of a coven of witches. She sees something in Burke the coven can use.

Meanwhile, Burke follows a lead to an S & M bar whose management is all too aware of his recent murder of one of their members ( the werewolf). What they don’t realize, however, is that our anti-hero was bitten by the werewolf and there’s a full moon out! Burke turns the tables on the bloodthirsty crowd and a massacre ensues. At the end of the chapter we see a brief appearance of the First Mother again.

Coyote, Chapters 1-2:

A Native American child finds a pistol, then buys a horse.

Grundy gets caught cheating at cards and is beaten for it. Possessed by Iktomi, he returns the favor to the assailants. Having taken over the town, he decides to buy himself some protection in the person of an outlaw gunfighter.

Lund is haunted by the spirit of a child and accidently kills his wife. Years later we find him in the Territory meeting an old acquaintance. Lund offers him a deal.