Here is another in my irregular series of posts about stories in my new 24 hour comic collection SLEEPLESS from Dark Horse. This story is ID, and it is about a woman who has her identity stolen by a mysterious tormentor. Featuring an all-animal cast, until I changed my mind halfway through and made them all humans. Based partly on a story I was illustrating that week for the New York Times, with elements drawn from the Rock Hudson movie SECONDS, this is one of the few comics stories I’ve drawn, 24 Hour or not, which manages to generate genuine suspense. Possibly this is because I had no idea until an hour or two before I finished how it would end.
David Chelsea is watching:How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
starring Robert Morse
Because the protagonist, Aurora Dove, has had her identity stolen, she must get a new identity. This involves implanting a whole new set of memories:
The sequence of implanting her new memories went on for several pages, which gave me time to try to think of an ending for the story:
And here is where I changed my my mind about the animal characters:
Aurora becomes “Gertrude Goose”, a painter living in a seacoast town. Like Rock Hudson in SECONDS, she has “her” work is mailed to her:
Betty Mayther, who was my art teacher at the Metropolitan Learning Center, (and who died this past January) makes a guest appearance in ID. Betty owned the Bizarre Gallery in Cannon Beach for many years, and it is in that guise that she appears:
Want to know how it ends? Buy the book:
SLEEPLESS AND OTHER STORIES: DAVID CHELSEA’S 24-HOUR COMICS, VOL.2
Publisher: Dark Horse
Publication Date: March 16, 2016
Format: b&w, 168 pages; HC, 6” x 9”
Price: $19.99
Age range: 16
ISBN-10: 1-61655-884-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-61655-884-0
Order the book from Amazon here!: