Doctor Crowe - Guardian (p1) - P. A. Nolte

1/ Dr. Crowe bursts through the back door of a small shop and into the main room.  It is after hours.  Atop him is a large, clay man.  A golem.  The first glyph in the Hebrew word "emet" (truth), carved into the golem's forehead, has been scratched out to make the word read "met" (death).  Crowe is worse for wear, his clothing torn in multiple places and the beak of his mask partially bent.  His hands, in particular, are bloodied.  Through the doorway, his assistant Nora has her crossbow readied, and has fired an arrow into the back of the golem's head, where it sticks with a soft splut.

Caption: The key to a golem's destruction is often the removal of a single glyph from the word that has been fed into it.

2/ The golem, distracted, has Crowe pinned to the ground, but is more interested in Nora.  Underneath him, Crowe tenses a bloody fist.

Caption: Or carved into its forehead.

3/ Swinging with all his might, Crowe's fist connects, flinging the golem's head back.  Droplets of blood from Crowe's wounds fly into the air, and where they hit the golem, what counts as skin starts to sizzle.

Caption: Or on a sign hung around its neck.

4/ The golem dissipates.  Crowe has risen to one knee as he shields himself from the thick cloud of monster dust.  Nora has so many questions, but advances hesitantly.

Caption: There really are too many methods to imbue formed clay with such a brutal mockery of life.

Crowe: Blood magic.

Nora: Doctor?

5/ Crowe stands triumphantly over the pile of golem dust, but the battle is not yet won.

Caption: But the most dangerous of all involves blood.

Crowe: The word was merely a ruse.  This... thing.  Whoever sent it...

Crowe: This is personal.  Very personal.

Doctor Crowe – LEATHER APRON – Derek Adnams

Page 1 – (6 Panels)

1.1:  Interior, night, a pitch-black Victorian era house.  Doctor Crowe is walking through an open door, the misty night behind him lit by a lone gas light.  He is holding what appears to be a “Genie’s Lamp”, a mystical device he is using to light his way.  The hand not holding the lamp is closing the door behind him.

Caption:  The Whitechapel District of London, 1888.

Doctor Crowe (caption):  I took on this case secretly, with no companion, protégé or accomplice.

Doctor Crowe (caption):  There was a compulsion to complete this mission alone, though Nora has been with me for so much and seen more than anyone before her.

1.2:  Doctor Crowe walking through a hall, the lamp he is holding casting shadows and vaguely illuminating what appear to be slabs of meat hanging from hooks chained to the ceiling, like he’s in a huge meat locker.  Nothing is explicit, but there is a feeling of subdued dread.

Doctor Crowe (caption):  Still, I feel the need to shield her from some horrors.

Ripper (from off panel):  Croooowe . . .

1.3:  Doctor Crowe turning around quickly, the light from his lantern glinting off of a knife in the darkness.

Ripper (from the darkness):  I feel honored and disappointed simultaneously.

Ripper (from darkness):  Honored that I am monster enough to garner your attention . . .

1.4:  The Ripper turning up a lantern on a desk, revealing that the “slabs of meat” from Panel 1.2 are really dismembered torsos, legs and arms!  The Ripper, however, is clad in Victorian finery, top hat and tails, white gloves and pocket-watch.  Immaculate.

Ripper:  . . . yet disgusted with myself for not better concealing my identity. 

Ripper:  Had I anticipated your involvement, well, I would have taken better precautions.

1.5:  The Ripper, knife drawn, approaching Doctor Crowe, who has his crossbow out and is about to fire.  Doctor Crowe is dropping the “Genie’s Lamp”, the falling light source casting a huge shadow of the scene on the wall behind the two principal figures.  In the foreground is the desk with the lantern on it from Panel 1.4, and there is a piece of paper with some writing sitting near the lantern.

Ripper:  But no bother, I have my Disciples who will carry on my good work for all of time!

Doctor Crowe (caption):  I think of Nora.

1.6:  The shadow behind the desk and we can clearly see Doctor Crowe pointing the now empty crossbow at The Ripper, the arrow from the crossbow jutting from The Ripper’s throat, blood spurting from the wound.  In the foreground still are the desk and the piece of paper, now splattered with blood.  The only words written that we can see are, in lavish handwritten font - “From Hell”!

Doctor Crowe (caption):  The rest is easy.

Doctor Crowe – Haunted House of Horrors – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: Interior, a haphazard laboratory inside a secluded mansion. It is night, with a dark atmosphere covering the entire scene. DR CROWE is hidden within the darkness, looking about for his target.

Said target is a creepy-looking Dr. Frankenstein type, MR JASPER. He hides behind an operating table that’s covering a large individual in a less than clean operating sheet, preventing us from seeing what’s underneath.

DR CROWE: You’ve gone beyond the madness of even Frankenstein himself.

Panel 2: MR JASPER sneaks into the darkness as he tries to evade DR CROWE. DR CROWE glances out from cover, revealing just a peek at him.

MR JASPER: Dr. Frankenstein wishes he could rival me!

Panel 3: DR CROWE steps out from cover, crossbow aimed out, ready to be fired.

DR CROWE (1): I believe you’ve made my point for me, Mr. Jasper.

MR JASPER: (Off Panel) It’s Dr. Jasper, thank you.

DR CROWE (2): That’s not what I heard.

Panel 4: DR CROWE moves carefully about the lab, certain he knows exactly where MR JASPER is, even if he doesn’t have a clear line of sight to him.

MR JASPER (1): (Off Panel) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…

MR JASPER (2): People say so many things.

MR JASPER (3): I doubt any of them mentioned all I’ve accomplished.

SFX: CreeeeEAAAAaaaa

Panel 5: Panel is behind DR CROWE, hinting at some kind of monstrosity that’s sneaking up on him.

DR CROWE: They mentioned your experiments. That’s all I needed to hear.

MR JASPER: (Off-Panel) Is that so?

Panel 6: DR CROWE starts to turn to look at the creature that’s behind him, preparing for its full appearance on the next page.

DR CROWE: !

MR JASPER: (Off Panel) Then perhaps I should introduce you.

(END PAGE)

Doctor Crowe - Truly Lost - R.A. Wonsowski

Set-up: a number of gruesome deaths befalling excavation and construction crews beneath the catacombs of Rome have been discovered to be at the hands of a 2000-year-dead Centurion soldier. He has fought off police and army, got past our hero, Doctor Crowe, and is about to reach the surface...

Layout:
1122
3333
3333
4455

Panel 1- POV, from the top of the catacomb stairs. The CENTURION has nearly reached the top, his rictus grin of rotted teeth bared, sunken eyes gleaming in palpable victory.

CAPTION: One cannot stop a plague by attacking the symptoms...

CENTURION: ...SSSS...

Panel 2-  same POV as panel 1, except the CENTURION is at the top, but the manic confidence is gone, replaced by horrified shock.

CAPTION: ...but rather by wiping out the source of the disease...

CENTURION: ...

Panel 3- from behind the CENTURION. Wide shot of St. Peter's basilica, the large crucifix of Jesus center.

CENTURION: ...nnNazareno...

Panel 4- the CENTURION is kneeling in front of the stairway.  DOCTOR CROWE comes up behind, readying to swing a giant Roman war hammer.

CROWE: Do you see, foul Roman? Your battle lost, your victory stolen. Not now...

Panel 5- same as panel 4, except CROWE has swung the hammer, demolishing the CENTURION's head.

CROWE: ...but two thousand years ago.

Doctor Crowe - Boiled Frogs - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Doctor Crowe and Nora stand at a clearing, looking at a sizeable body of water that is filled - absolutely filled - with frogs starring back at the two heroes.  They're everywhere, sitting, floating, and doing general froggy-stuff, but they're all focused on Crowe and Nora.  Nora looks towards Doctor Crowe, while Doctor Crowe looks back at the frogs.  LETTERING NOTE: The sfx could either be one big thing at the bottom of the panel or a bunch of small ones, both options to represent how many frogs there are.

NORA: Doc...

SFX: rr-bit!

2 - Close-up of a frog in the water (such as this).  It isn't really necessary to have much further detail to the panel than the frog.

NORA (off-panel): ...what is this?

3 - Doctor Crowe puts out an arm in front of Nora and holds out his crossbow with the other.  He continues to look directly at the frogs.

DOCTOR CROWE (1): We need to go.

DOCTOR CROWE (2): Now.

Interested in more Doctor Crowe?  Don't hesitate to check out the Kickstarter!

Doctor Crowe - Too Little - Corey Fryia

Panel 1.

Dr. Crowe is tending to a grouping of plague sores on a servant’s wrist. The two are completely unaware of what is transpiring behind them. The silhouette of Lord Ambrose’s transformation into a hellacious, plague-infested werewolf can be seen through the canopy drapes.

1 CAP DR. CROWE: The chilling memory still haunts me to this day. I was a fool to think that I could stop the grisly inevitable.

2 DR. CROWE: Now, miss, let's have a look at that arm of yours.

Panel 2.

The werewolf stands before them on its haunches, towering over Dr. Crowe and the servant girl. Dr. Crowe has armed his steam-powered crossbow and has it pointed directly at the werewolf.

3 DR. CROWE CAP: I had miscalculated the severity of his affliction, and the treatment only served to accelerate his turn.

4 WEREWOLF: ROAAARAGH!

5 DR. CROWE: Quick! Get behind me!

Panel 3.

The beast pounces on the servant and begins violently ripping her to bloody shreds.

5 SERVANT: AIIIIEEE!!

Panel 4.

Dr. Crowe fires his crossbow and sends an arrow directly into its black heart. It roars out in pain.

6 WEREWOLF: ROAAARAGH!

7 DR. CROWE: Damn you, beast! Don’t make me do this!

SFX: FWIP!

Panel 5.

Dr. Crowe stands over the slain beast. His crossbow rests proudly on his shoulder.

8 CAP DR. CROWE: In the blink of an eye there was so much meaningless death.

9 CAP DR. CROWE (2): If only they had sent for me sooner.

10 CAP DR. CROWE (3): If only.

Interested in more Doctor Crowe?  Don't hesitate to check out the Kickstarter!

Why Doctor Crowe?

If not for stumbling upon a super creepy photo of a plague doctor then perhaps the character of Dr. Crowe wouldn’t even exist. There was something about that plague doctor’s mask that intrigued me and, being the kind of daydreamer that I am, my mind started wondering and the gears started turning. Within moments I dreamt up the idea of a plague doctor pulp hero who traveled the globe fighting off gruesome, otherworldly monsters. And in that moment – Dr. Victor Crowe was born!

This creation has allowed me to play in a few sandboxes that I sincerely enjoy as a writer -- horror, pulp and action/adventure. As a reader, there’s nothing that appeals to more than a book that simply entertains and allows you to forget about any real world problems, if even for a brief moment. Blending these genres together, and having a character like Dr. Crowe lead the charge, has allowed me to create the entertaining kind of book that I would pick up at my local comic shop.

I’m currently in the process of running a Kickstarter campaign to fund issue number one of the Doctor Crowe mini-series and I’ve been fortunate enough to find a publisher in 215 Ink. I’m proud to say that the first issue is currently funded, but we’re still in the process of trying to raise as much money to pay for as much of the production as we can for the remaining three issues in the mini-series. So, if you feel inclined to do so, then I urge you to help support the Doctor Crowe Kickstarter campaign.