Uncommon Tales - Remnants

Mama Glow

It was about 5 minutes after we started researching our Uncommon Tales comic, that we realised that we should have given ourselves enough time to do a 128 page comic, rather than a 32 page one - there are just so many wonderful horrors to choose from. It's honestly no wonder Scooby Doo keeps so busy travelling around the world. In practice, what this meant is that some creatures only got a wee cameo appearance and some never appeared at all. So we thought we'd spotlight someone who didn't quite make the cut... Mama Glow...

"Mama Glow" or "Mama Dlo" or "Mama Dglo" whose name is derived from the French "maman de l' eau" which means "mother of the water" is one of the lesser known personalities of Trinidad and Tobago folklore. A half woman, half snake with long flowing hairwhich she combs constantly. Her upper torso is a naked, beautiful woman, the lower part coils into a large form of an anaconda snake that is hidden beneath the water. She is sometimes thought to be the lover of Papa Bois, and old hunters tell stories of coming upon them in the 'High Woods'. They also tell of hearing a loud, cracking sound which is said to be the sound made by her tail as she snaps it on the surface of a mountain pool or a still lagoon. Mortal men who commit crimes against the forest, like burning down trees or indiscriminately putting animals to death or fouling the rivers could find themselves married to her for life, both this one and the one to follow. Sometimes she takes the form of a beautiful woman 'singing silent songs on still afternoons, sitting at the water's edge in the sunlight, lingering for a golden moment, a flash of green - gone. Nothing but a big Morte Bleu, rising in the sun beams.

Old people talk: "Did you see a fish jump?" "Yes, but it did not go back in again!" If you were to meet Mama Dlo in the forest and wish to escape her, take off your left shoe, turn it upside down and immediately leave the scene, walking backwards until you reach home.
Trinidad and Tobago Folklore 

Don't forget, you can read or download Uncommon Tales free via scribd.

Anyway, here's the Happy Mondays take on John Kongos's song about another Carribbean horror who actually did end up featuring in Uncommon Tales, Tokoloshe..

Uncommon Tales - Free Download

Rounding off our 13 Commonwealth Tales project, our Uncommon Tales comic is now available to read for free online.

Physical copies will be available at various Magic Torch events throughout the rest of the year, and also at Glasgow Comicon.

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the physical edition, you can drop us an email.

Tales of the Oak - Uncommon Tales

Midwinter Tales - Wendigo

Andy's welcoming PostIt Note Wendigo, which once lived on the office door.
Really wish we'd thought about using this for a Christmas card...

While stocking up on your winter provisions to avoid Wendigo attack in the lean months, you'll be wanting to make sure you have a copy of the 32 page full colour folk horror comic Uncommon Tales, available digitally later this month as a free Christmas treat. It could very well save your life*

*this is highly unlikely, Wendigo is relentless and remorseless, and unlikely to be distracted for long by a comic

Uncommon Tales - Singing Bones

from the Green Old Oak Tree, art Andy Lee

One of our stories in Uncommon Tales is The Green Old Oak Tree, one of many tales which feature a murder, a bone from the murdered body being turned into a musical instrument, and the musical instrument telling everyone the grisly details of the murder every time it is played. Lovely. Oh wait...SPOILER ALERT.

You can enjoy our version soon, meantime, here's perhaps the most famous Singing Bone...



There are plenty more to choose from though

Singing Bones is also a rather smashing album by folk band The Handsome Family, here's a wee tune from that album which is rather popular...

Uncommon Tales - Inspirations

cover by Andy Lee

Our winter comic for this year is Uncommon Tales, in which Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes travels around various commonwealth countries, encountering creatures and monsters. The really horrible ones we left out of the 13 Commonwealth Tales book. As such, we're celebrating a grand tradition not only of storytelling, but of international monster hunting...

In our house, Scooby Doo is on near constant repeat. And it has been for over ten years now, each of the kids loving it in their own way, but especially loving the monsters. If you don't have kids under 8, or are not attempting to forlornly recapture your childhood, its unlikely you are watching Scooby Doo on a regular basis. But you should. From Owl Men, Ogopogo, Baba Yaga and Tikki monsters, via Yeti, alien abductions pirate ghosts and Goatsuckers, Scooby Doo and the gang have pretty much explored every popular folk legend there is. The programme moves from the early days of "science versus superstition" where all the bad guys turn out to be people in masks, through to the newer series, where the monsters are entirely real. A high watermark is the recent Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated series, a 52 episode arc of horror, conspiracy and self referential cleverness which riffs on everything from the Saw films and the Velvet Underground to Twin Peaks and Cthulhu...and is still suitable for children!

Needless to say, any worldwide monster hunt owes a tip of the hat to Scooby Doo. Here's a topical clip from Mystery Incorporated..




Another, much more direct inspiration was from Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. In a storyline called "American Gothic", Moore has the titular Swamp Thing trudging around America encountering creatures and objects from American folklore and mythology, including Native American ghost shirts, boogeymen and South American cultists. It's a classic, and initially I wanted to call Sir Glen's adventures Commonwealth Gothic in the flimsy hope it would make it just as cool. But we went with Uncommon Tales instead. You can get copies of the American Gothic storyline online. The storyline's other claim to fame, is that it is the comic which introduced the British occultist John Constantine...here's hoping the new TV series, starting this week, features some of those stateside horrors...





Remember of course, you can still enjoy last years Tales of the Oak comic on scribd below, or if you are lucky enough to live in Greenock, by popping into the Dutch Gable House to be furnished with an actual real copy.

Tales of the Oak by Paul J Bristow

Uncommon Tales

Cover by Andy Lee

Rollicking along just in time for the darker months, comes Uncommon Tales, a terrifying selection of folk tales packed with unspeakable horrors from around the Commonwealth, featuring Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes. Meet Wendigo, Tokoloshe, Sharktopus, Anansi and more.

The comic was produced with the support of Celebrate funding, which also helped us to publish 13 Commonwealth Tales.

Uncommon Tales is available digitally via Scribd.

Andy and Mhairi - Scribblers for Hire

Scooby Doo and the Gang, with my wee Molly, chased by Captain Kidd
by Andy Lee

We've been really lucky these last two years, to work with a couple of smashing artists...and we like to really challenge them with various eldritch horrors and folk nightmares. But did you know, you can also commission them to do pieces of artwork for you, friends or family? I'm just one of the folks who has done just that over the last year, and above you can see a special Scooby Doo illustration Andy did for my daughter, below is an illustration Mhairi did for an Alice in Wonderland story I wrote for my wife for our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

You can see lots of Andy's other work and find out how to contact him at Call of the Deep or find him and his sketchbooks on instagram. Mhairi is at Mhairi M Robertson.

And hey...obviously there are lots of other cool local artists and crafters you could be supporting too, some of whom will no doubt be appearing at the next Violet Skulls Market in Dutch Gable House. Apparently it's Christmas coming up...why not do something a wee bit different this year...something special.

Alice, discussing the finer points of relativity with a watchmaker
by Mhairi Robertson

And keep a wee eye out, as Mhairi and I may well be shortly launching a kickstarter for another book.

Anansi - Uncommon Tales

Anansi features in both of our Commonwealth books, Spun Gold will appear in our Uncommon Tales comic, due out later this year and starring Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes and a host of international monsters...

Until then, there's our Commonwealth Storytelling this weekend in Dutch Gable House...

Sharktopus Attack!

A preview panel for Uncommon Tales, in which Sir Glen battles Lusca, the Sharktopus found in the Bahamas.

This folktale of course inspired the epic movie...Sharktopus, which is way better than Sharknado. But obviously not as good as Ghost Shark or Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark.

Uncommon Tales - Preview

We've already shared the first page of Uncommon Tales on The Dutch Gable House blog, here's a little more, showcasing for the first time, Sir Glen's ship the Mary Lamont, which he uses throughout his commonwealth adventure..

And here's one of Andy's prep sketches for page one...