LORD, WHAT FOOLS THESE MORTALS BE!

A Shot in the Dark

Written by Alex Woolfson Pencils by Karla Diaz C. Inks and Colors by Winona Nelson
2007 Alex Woolfson. All Rights Reserved. Learn more about this book over at www.yaoi911.com!

SUMmONiNG ME iN A ROoM FULl OF HElLiSH ARTiFACTS --

-- HAD iT NOT OCCURrED TO YOU THAT SOME OF THESE TRiNKETS MiGHT ONCE HAVE BEEN MiNE?

SO USED TO ME BEiNG POWERLESs iN YOUR MUNDANE LitTLE WORLD... CORNELiUS, THE DARK. OLD WiZARD. OLD MASTER. OLD ENEMY. NOW FiNALlY... TOo OLD. {TCH}

HOW VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU TO STEAL EXACTLY WHAT I NEeDED TO END YOUR LiFE. NOT TO MENTiON RULE YOUR PATHETiC LiTtLE PLANET LiKE A GOD!

BUT, FORGiVE ME --- IM iNDULGING iN A MONOLOGUE...

...AND YOURE DEAD.

YOU HURT ME.

THAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL.

hhhh! hh a
{scuffle}

WELL, FEE FiE FOE FUM. WHAT LiTTLE MOUSE MiGHT THAT BE SCURRYiNG OUTSiDE THE DOOR?

spare the rod, I suppose... {tch} such bad manners.

AAH!

PERHAPS YOUR ELDERS MiGHT OfFER SOME... COrRECTiON.

MY, ARENT YOU THE LiTTLE MOUSE WHO ROARED...

lic {f

k}

SO YOU KNOW A LiTtLE MARTiAL ARTS.

Im impresSed.

Hes Korean-American, you moron. I WOULD AsSUME YOU LEARNED iT FROM tHE CHiNABOY HERE, BUT THEN HE DiDN'T HAVE ANY GAME WHATSOEVER.

AT LEAST NOT WiTH HiS FiSTS.

OF COURSE HE iS.

SPEAKiNG OF WHiCH, HERE'S A QUESTiON -- WHY ARE YOU STilL HERE?

PLEASE EXCUSE MY HAViNG A BiT OF FUN WiTH tHE BOY'S ETHNiC HERiTAGE.

ANY iDiOT WOULD KNOW THAT YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR ME, JUNiOR ApPRENTiCE. THESE BOYS HAD TO FiGHT WiTH THEiR MASTER, BUT WHY WOULD YOU DECiDE TO TAKE ME ON?

I HAVE THiS NASTY HABiT OF LiKING To PLAY WiTH MY FOOD.

| HAVE MY REASONS.

I iMAGINE YOU DO.

LET'S FiND OUT WHAT THEY ARE.

AAAHHHHHH!

STOP!

NO.

NOW, WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

WHY, iT'S THE TWO OF YOU. ON A BED.

I TRUST YOU CAN SeE EVERYTHiNG clearly FROM WHERE YOU ARE?

LET. HIM. GO.

I THiNK NOT.

YOUR FIRST TiME, I TAKE iT?

OH, HO HO!

I SEE.

BUgGERiNG THE SENiOR ApPRENTiCE...

COLOR ME EVEN MORE iMPREsSED, LiTtLE MOUSE!

SUCH ABYSMAl TECHNiQUE -- iT MUST BE.

REAlLY, IVE SeEN WARTHOGS DO THiS MORE GRACEFULLY.

EVEN SO, HE THiNKS ABOUT THiS A LOT.

HERE HE iS, iN AGONY --

-- FeELiNG PAiN iMPOsSIBLE TO ACHiEVE BY MORTAL MEANS, I MiGHT AdD --

HE MUST REALlY LiKE YOU...

-- AND THE MEMORiES OF THiS STilL MAKE HiM HARD.

oh, Dear. WHAT HAS THE LitTLE MOUSE GOT THERE?

SOME ANCiENT, POWERFUL, MAGiCAL TOME WiTH WHiCH TO KiLl THE BiG, BAD DEMON?

AH! THAT'S YOUR SECRET WEAPON.

A PiOUS LiTtLE MOUSE, ARE YOU?

very well.

TRY A SERMON ON ME! THROW SOME HELlFiRE AND BRiMSTONE MY WAY! do your worst.

NEVER LET iT BE SAID, I DiDN'T GIVE YOU A SPORTiNG CHANCE.

BECAUSE AFTER YOU GET YOUR TURN...

I get mine!

iF YOU'RE SEARCHiNG FOR MATERiAL, I'D RECOMmEND LEViTiCUS 20:13.

OH, | THINK YOULL LIKE THIS ONE A WHOLE LOT BETTER.

iT'S A PERSONAL FAVORiTE.

DIE! DIE! DIE!

ah, heh.

ha! ha! ha! ha!

OH! OH, THANK YOU! THAT WAS FANTASTiC! I HAVENT LAUGHED LiKE THAT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS. YOU'RE YOUNG AND THAT FORGiVES A LOT, BUT I MUST SAY YOUR STUPiDiTY iS TRULY EXCEPTiONAL.

NO BULLETS OF LEAD CAN TOUCH ME, BOY -- I WAS ONCE AN ANGEL! oh, my stars! YOU MiGHT AS WELL TRY TO SHOOT THE CLOUDS OUT OF THE SKY!

no!

WHAT MAKES YOU THINK | WAS SHOOTING AT YOU, ASSHOLE?

no!

nooooo

oo

| HEARD... GUNSHOTS.

YEAH. THAT WAS ME.

|VE TOLD YOU, BENJI... USE MAGIC... GUNS... VERY BAD FORM...

SORRY, ETHAN. |LL REMEMBER THAT NEXT TIME.

NO PROBLEM... STILL A LOT FOR YOU... TO LEARN.

AND YOURE GOING TO TEACH ME.

SOON AS YOU GET BETTER.

LOOK AT YOU. ALL MESSED UP.

ME ON THE OTHER HAND... IF | LOOK ANYTHING LIKE HOW | FEEL --

STILL CUTE AS HELL.

{Huff} WELL, THAT DEFINITELY HELPS... Heh. FEEL BETTER ALREADY.

WOW. WE REALLY SCREWED UP, HUH?

HOW ARE THE OTHERS?

THEYRE DEAD. ALL OF EM.

| RAN AS FAST AS | COULD, BUT | COULDNT-| just wasnt-{choke}

BUT YOURE SAFE NOW. THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. YOURE SAFE.

BRAVE, BRAVE LITTLE MOUSE.

Heh. YEAH. GUESS SO.

ee fr lk ta
Hey Everyone! Alex here. Thank you so much for reading our first comic, A Shot in the Dark. | hope you enjoyed it! Its the first story in our upcoming three-story book, Yaoi 911: Firsts, and its been a blast putting it together. When | was first thinking of publishing a full-color book of short yaoi comics early last year, | knew | wanted to create a story | could give out as a free sample. But it had to meet certain criteria: | wanted it to be a complete story. | wanted it to be short enough for everyone to download. But, most importantly, it had to give readers a real sense of the mix of sweet romance and shonen-style action that would be in the other stories in our book. Where did the original idea for A Shot in the Dark come from? A mental image, actually something | had been thinking for some time might be fun to draw (if | could actually, ahem, draw): | had this vivid picture in my mind of a Junior Apprentice stumbling into a room to find his boyfriend, the Senior Apprentice, at the mercy of a demon. The boyfriend would be suspended in the air, bound by bands of energy, and the Junior Apprentice would be hiding in the shadows desperately trying to figure out how to save him. (| believe | had been looking at a lot of Poser artwork on the web at the time, most of it featuring scantily clad women in magical-fantasy situations, thinking This is kinda cool, yet, theres something missing. Hmmm... What could it be? Oh, yes -- the scantily clad guys in magical-fantasy situations! Thus, the creation of my own little imaginary picture...) Now, the truth is, | get my best story ideas from daydreams and these will often start out with an image or a short exchange of dialogue rolling around in my head that turns me on in some way (and no, not always that way, but in this case, well...). Anyway, | stepped into the shower one Saturday afternoon with that very image in my mind and in between the lather and the rinse, watched the entire story youve just read play out in my mind. And | knew right there and then: thats the one. So, | wrote the script and then posted want-ads on artist websites looking for the right artists for the piece -- and boy did | find them in Karla Diaz C. and Winona Nelson! | received close to 200 responses to my postings for artists, but was immediately won over by the strong composition, great narrative sense and naturalistic shonen-style of art

that | saw on Karlas DeviantArt page. Once | reached out to her, Karlas firm sense of professionalism and strong work ethic carried through in all of our correspondence further convincing me that she was the right choice for this comic. And even though she lived in Chile, working with her through the Internet turned out to be very easy and | found myself eagerly awaiting the next email that would contain the newest revisions of the pages. In a matter of a few months, she had created beautiful finished penciled pages for this comic which you can see for yourself over at the Yaoi 911 website. Once the penciled pages were created, it was time to ink and color them, and thats when the brilliant and talented Winona Nelson entered my life. Her finishing skills were head and shoulders above that of any other artist whose work |d seen, but it soon became clear that she was so much more than a technical virtuoso -- viewing the pages on her website, you could immediately tell that she had a very deep sense of story and character. Her art wasnt just a representation of life, it had a life of its own. (And now shes here in San Francisco with me, creating the art from start to finish for the other two stories in the book!) Honestly, collaborating with Winona is both very inspirational and very humbling. And for A Shot in the Dark, | think she took some great pencilwork and, yes, made it truly live. | feel very lucky to be working with her. The truth is, | feel very lucky to have the opportunity to tell these stories at all. My day job is as a filmmaker and for years, there have been visual stories | have wanted to create that have just been too expensive to make as films. And now heres one of them, full-blown, right in front of me, in living color. | cant even begin to tell you how happy that makes me feel. And this is just the beginning right now, Winona and | are hard at work on the second story of the book, Artifice, about a misunderstood android assassin who falls in love with the guy he was supposed to kill. Its much longer 88 pages its coming along great and | cant wait to share it with you. Its a bit more serious, but also, a bit more sexy | think youll like it. ;-) | do hope this story was enough to pique your interest in reading more and that youll be willing to overlook the failings of a yaoi writer just starting out. |ve tried to tell the kind of story |ve always wanted to read. If it turned out to be something you enjoyed or thought was interesting, please let me know. |d love to hear from you. Your friend in yaoi, Alex Woolfson August 2007 www.yaoi911.com