Sacrifice page 1

This is another four page wordless story that was published in Heavy Metal magazine in September of 2000. It also takes place in the world of Nimbus, though its connection is not so clear as that in "Lift". In fact I only know that it is part of the same world from something Seth wrote (and I have forgotten now where I read it).

Clearly the woman in this first page is preparing to give herself as a sacrifice, though we don't know why. She comes into the room in a cloak which she sheds somberly. The cloak, though it is only partly seen and quickly removed, is not at all a throwaway prop. It has been as carefully planned as the more substantial images in this story, with turtle shells at the shoulders, and a fabric design that--if you imagined the cloak spread out--you could picture, just from the little bit visible.

The three shamans (shamen?) have their assortment of magic tools at their sides. The one on the right has an open book and some scrolls. The one at the left has beside him something that looks like either a fire extinguisher or a seltzer bottle. Hmm. Each of the men has his own tools, presumably those for his own particular part of the incantation. The case at the top of the large lower panel seems to be an aquarium, because inside it you can see an octopus! I think that, especially earlier in his career, Seth couldn't resist things of the sea.

The other thing about this page that I wanted to mention is the point of view (which Seth always referred to as the "camera angle"). A bird's eye view is useful in a picture like this, where you want to show all the objects in a room in one picture, especially where no one thing is more important than another. Seth used it pretty regularly, from his earliest serious drawing. So he got pretty proficient at drawing people, and columns, and other stuff, in that extreme foreshortening that is necessary to make things look natural from above.

Two of the pages from this story are among the pages that Seth himself posted on this website, under the heading Comic Art.