When we first started this Rice Boy story, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to try and mimic the less-is-more approach to the artwork that Evan Dahm did on the original. His line work is so sparing, there’s nary a line that doesn’t exist without a specific purpose. The landscapes, the characters, they’re all crafted in a way that wastes nothing and uses everything. Thus was the issue with Father Dimmon, the menacing creature that Gerund, Rice Boy’s faithful travel companion, encounters on his journey.

You can see that Dahm’s original seems almost snake-like and slithery in it’s simplicity. The smooth curves bring to mind that which we are all inherently terrified of and the massive, paw-like, clawed feet (hands?) foretell of a mauling that nothing could survive. And that’s with being nailed to the earth!

Rather than ponder over which direction I should take with such a fearsome character, I just let my pencil do the talking. Or walking. Or whatever action makes the most sense. And what I came up with was much more intimidating, much more immovable, and ten times as unnervingly monstrous!

Now that there are two versions, I can look at them objectively and judge them for what they are. And while I definitely believe that there is room for both, and possibly even more if the opportunities present themselves, Dahm’s is one that really stands for something and works on a completely different level than mine to earn the chills and uneasy feelings that Father Dimmon should evoke.