Page 1 The Adventures of Samantha Everett on the Astral Plane

Page 5 Happy Trails Part One: "Happy" Harrison’s Accidental Pilgrimage to Mexico City

Page 8 The Face of Doom: A Father Mike Abraham Story

Page 20 Nicki’s Story

This issue features the first few stories about Happy (an ironic nickname, like calling a seven-foot tall person "shorty"), Sam and Nicki. I’ve been drawing these characters since 1977, but this is their first published appearance. They’ve grown, changed and have mirrored my own thoughts, feelings and fantasies over the years. There are many stories to tell about them.

Father Abraham dominates the other half of the book. The plot line developed from my passion for monster movies. I was also imagining what the back stories might be for the priests that show up in Mike Mignola’s "Hellboy". This one is a living head yarn and on the back cover you’ll see some "classic" cinematic living heads. Father Abraham may not be in every issue, but he will return.

As an artist I’m interested in making the invisible world visible. The opening pages of the Father Abraham story reflect this. It’s also some of my motivation for doing Sam’s tale – the Astral Plane story. Steve Ditko, who was a master of drawing unseen dimensions, had an influence on that one. I’ll be exploring this sort of thing more in future issues.

Monkey Mind Press info: