Head on over to see the full thing.
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| It's Zach and Jack! |
It'll be updated weekly, until I burn out and descend into an alcohol induced stupor and get deported to a gulag in El Savlador, and join a despearte mission to move nitroglycerin through the jungle with Roy Schneider to put out an oil well that's on fire.
All in a day in the life of a comic book artist.
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| Why, I'd buy that for a dollar... or $3.99! Free? Even better! |
Theo Paxstone and the Dragon of Adyron is available for FREE for a limited time only: July 28th to July 31st, 2025. Get your copy from Amazon today!
THEO PAXSTONE AND THE DRAGON OF ADYRON is a fast-paced fantasy adventure that brings together steampunk and medieval myths, pitting noble knights in steam powered battle machines against dragons. Yet the feudal Kingdom of Adyron is mired in injustice, and even the heroes have something to hide.
"Like some sort of steampunk Robotech without the convoluted timeline, the first adventure of Theo Paxstone features an appealing cast of central characters and an intriguing plot that zips along at a delightful pace. The adventure is serious, but Turner lobs some light touches and natural humour into the fray. The book is such an adept balancing act, your "sauce-box" will drop open when you learn it's his first book for younger readers."
Evan Munday, author of the Silver Birch-shortlisted ‘The Dead Kid Detective Agency'
‘This is a charming futurist fantasy that will appeal to young steampunk fans. In a world of ravaged by global conflagration, humankind has reverted to a feudal society powered by steam. An orphan named Theo uses his mechanical genius to find a ticket out of a crowded sweatshop, offering his services to an old knight with a heart of gold. Yes, there is a quest, but no, it doesn't turn out the way you'd expect. It's a fun read enhanced by the author's quirky illustrations.’
Sheree-Lee Olson, author of ‘Sailor Girl’
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| Because every fantasy adventure worth its salt has a map! |
Oh, the foreshadowing! From the graphic novel, Dragon Garage.
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| What? What are we gonna see?!? Are you trying to get me to buy the book or what??? |
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| The Fall of Elthar... okay, it's the Fall of Rome by Thomas Cole, but imagine! |
Thousands of years ago, the Eltharian Empire was a beacon of enlightenment, justice and hope in the world. Descendants of the Archons, the true men, they were of noble stature and long lived. After the passing of the Titans, they founded the city of Elthar. A modest city of craftsmen, merchants and fishermen, it would eventually rise to greatness. They tamed the Midsea, defeating the pirate nations, and making it safe for fishing and trading fleets. Demand for resources led to an appetite for military conquest and annexation, until eventually Eltharia ruled over the entire Midsea basin.
The rival kingdom of Setesh, an ancient kingdom ruled by sorcerers, contested the Eltharian bid for domination, and the two powers fought a multigenerational war, until the mighty Sorcerer-Pharoahs were eventually defeated and driven south into Upper Setesh.
In its darkest hour, the Eltharian Senate appointed a dictator, Galorean, to command the Republic’s armies. He dutifully turned the tide of battle and ensured Eltharian victory, but then became drunk on power. He refused to relinquish his powers and declared himself the first Emperor of Elthar, buoyed by popular acclaim for ending the war. The Senate was unable to resist, and thereafter became a largely irrelevant body.
Emperor Jartus lead the first crusade against the rising necromancers in the Forest Crescent of the Lakbans, a struggle took six crusades and a hundred years before the threat was extinguished.
Later emperors lead campaigns against the mighty storm giants of the Southern Wornspine and their dwarven allies, the Bullywug bogs and serpents of the Wrymfenns, the goblin empire of Mok’dan, and finally against the great magical Elven kingdom of Eyrndor which frequently raided the northern coast, attacking Eltharian encroachments into sacred fey forests. This led to centuries of animosity, and Elven curses that crippled the Archon bloodlines.
Aside from martial pursuits, the Eltharian Emperors implemented just legal codes (such as the Laws of Emperor Lyrean), built public buildings and monuments, settled dozens of new cities and connected them all with an extensive road system. They founded the Order of Celestial Wizards, the City of Starfall and the Fraternity of Thaumaturgy to research high magics, and sent out expeditions to the far corners of the earth. Knowledge, trade and the arts flourished.
With the seeming defeat of all earthly foes, great riches and security, the ruling class eventually fell into indolence. Hedonism, cruelty and corruption spread through the empire like a plague, enhanced by dark magics. Sadistic gladiatorial games became the most popular form of entertainment. Aristocrats created vast slave combines which drove free farmers into insolvency and serfdom.
The Eltharians became corrupted by the demonic and undead foes they had so stalwartly fought for generations: the thousands of powerful relics and tomes they had seized, suffused in evil magics and placed in deep vaults beneath the Imperial Palace in Eltharia, leaked their malign influence into the earth and finally the world above.
Before his death, Emperor Trahl the Great divided the empire into three separate administrative regions: Elthar, Catharn and Setesh, which he bequeathed to his three sons: Malerean, Agmanus and Gallar. For a time, the Empire prospered, even expanded: Malerean seized several islands from the Sea Kings, Agmanus absorbed Scythia and forced a peace with the Dragon Riders of Xan, and Gallar conquered Kanush. A decade later, however, the brothers had become bitter rivals. The triad finally fell out over a territorial dispute (over Naxos) which escalated into civil war.
The three sides were evenly matched: Elthar had greater wealth, but Catharn had more manpower, while Setesh could call upon powerful ancient magics. None was able to secure a quick victory, and all were too stubborn to contemplate a truce. As the war ground on, the rival Emperors turned to desperate measures. Alliances with dragons and other monstrous beasts were struck, and plagues too small to see were unleashed.
When Elthar’s navy was defeated at the Battle of Orinthal, Emperor Malerean broke the ultimate taboo: in order to stave off the invasion of Elthar itself, he turned to the Black Vaults. Writer and senator Casan claims in his Histories that Malerean was already obsessed with death and had begun necromantic rituals in secret to gain immortality. With the help of dark magic, Catharn’s forces were driven back, and Elthar was saved. Malerean compounded his sins by raising undead legions and recruiting hobgoblins to bolster his armies. Pacts with demonic forces led to crossbreeding and the rise of tieflings in the upper classes of Elthar.
Elthar’s high priests, however, were appalled by the shadowy advisors the Emperor now surrounded himself with. The Heirophont Innocan issued a Holy Decree denouncing Malerean as The Abomination and incited the population into open revolt. Two opportunistic governors, Aetus and Ostono declared themselves emperor, and turned their armies against both each other and Malerean. Aetus held the provinces of Eryndor, Anvou, Aragon, Livonia, Thiryndor, Yore, Rossaon and Avendil, while Ostono had the allegiance of the imperial legions in Salesia, Uzice, Halych, Vylach, Morea and Sylvania.
Malerean declared himself Hierophant-Emperor, purged the Church of the All-Being, and declared The Order of the Dawn corrupt heretics. His Crusade of the Pure saw Dawn temples and assets seized, and members of the order executed en masse. A portion of their wealth was distributed to the hobgoblins and mobs who participated in the lynchings.
Unfortunately, it also removed a powerful bulwark of the state: The Fleet of Dawn fled Elthar to the island of Tol Eressia and the fortress city of Gwalior with the Hierophant’s entourage, and even more importantly, much of the church’s treasury. They quickly made peace with both Catharn and Setesh.
Catharn and Setesh had problems of their own: foreign powers, aware that the garrisons of the empire’s perimeter had been stripped to feed the civil war, stepped into the gap. Under pressure in the east from the centaur clans, hordes of barbarians, trolls, goblins and orcs flooded into now defenceless imperial provinces, raping and pillaging as they went. At the same time, Setesh saw the long exiled sorcerer-priests return ahead of undead legions, while Kanush rebelled and asserted independence once again. The reptilian Mekara seized the coastal fortress of Tjaru, threatening the Seneb Delta.
The Sea Kings, independent pirate realms outside the Great Pillars, returned to the Midsea and raided the northern coast, making off with slaves and booty.
Worse was to come.
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| Barbarians rampage across Elthar... okay, it's a painting by Ulpiano Checa about the Fall of Rome. Again. Look, Rome's been on my mind. |
In the east, Kiron united the centaur clans, and forged an alliance with the dragons of the Draconduns. He then invaded Shantung, conquering the Eternal Empire in under ten years. He placed his ally, the great dragon Vagandur, on the throne as governor and turned his armies west.
Kyr Aklyros invaded Albyron and toppled the fledging realm of Aetus, while the Kha-Kyr, Kiron himself, led his forces into the Anhar Peninsula against Catharn. He seized the wealthy trading city of Zulathar through subterfuge, and after defeating a field army led by General Elaganus, laid siege to the mighty city Cathar itself. It was widely believed to be impregnable, being ringed by three concentric 60 foot high walls and powerful enchantments.
In Kiron’s wake, whole cities were razed and provinces laid waste. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were marched east to work on the centaur’s massive lightning mounds, dedicated to the Centaur War God Khrun. Kiron’s horde became known as The Scourge of All.
After nine long months, just when the fall of Cathar seemed certain, Vagandur broke his alliance with Kiron and declared himself Dragon-Emperor of Shantun. Incensed by this betrayal, Kiron turned his armies east to deal with Vagandur, saving Cathar from catastrophe. Kiron would die by an assassins blade before he reached Shantun.
The damage, however, had been done. The Triad of Eltharian Empires had depleted their treasuries and manpower, and could not reassert control over rebellious provinces, nor block the influx of barbarians.
Malerean’s oppression of the All-Faith resulted in great discontent; he was torn from his litter and assassinated in the forum, on his way to the Coliseum of Glory, by a group of religious fanatics wielding poisoned blades. Malerean had no children; over the next year there would be four claimants to the throne, each of whom would be assassinated, or commit suicide, after a few months on the throne. Stability returned with the ascension of Balbinar, an experienced and ruthless general.
Unfortunately, Balbinar’s forces were exhausted by the civil war, and could not prevent the Eternal City of Eltharia from being sacked by the Sea Kings. After that, trade and grain supplies collapsed, and the great city dwindled away, becoming known as Glory’s Shadow. To compensate for the decline in their military power, Emperor Cortinax founded the Eyes of Elthar, an organization of spies and assassins that worked to manipulate the politics of the continent in Elthar’s favour. The Imperial Throne was fought over even more fiercely during this period of decline; the Imperial Guard sold the throne to a dozen senators over the next few decades, only to later turn upon and murder them.
In Setesh, Agmanus was overthrown by the sorcerer-priests, who established a dark theocracy worshipping Sutekh. He fled to Mystilla Island and then to Naxos, where he established a court in exile. Some say Agmanus was embalmed alive and became a lich, like a Setesh Pharaoh of old; whatever the truth may be, he lives to this day, a calculating and machiavellian creature like his dead brother Malerean.
Gallar fared best through this series of catastrophes, managing to hold on to the provinces of Beldor, Catharn, Tymeria, Dalmach, Talondor and the Malar Islands. Krim, Scythia, Kumad, Sarai, Anwar, Cthonia, and Sahar however were all lost to Imperial control.
Gallar lived for another century, thanks to the constitution of his Archon blood. Upon his death, his thirty-seven children slaughtered each other over the throne, until his ruthless daughter Aerpina emerged triumphant. Some say Aerpina imbibed the vampire sickness, to achieve immortality, and that to this day she rules Catharn from the shadows, while her descendants sit upon the throne. The Church of the All-Being is still the official religion of Cathar, headed by the Supreme Patriarch. The Patriarchs claim to lead the True Faith, just as the God-Emperor of Elthar and the Hierophant do; each calls the others The Abominations, Mouth of Lies.
New kingdoms arose, in time, out of the ruins of empire, merged with the fresh blood of the barbarian peoples: the Yoreans, Asturoths, Aostans, Calendes, Avalares, Thiryn, Rugens, and Salese.
Mercenary armies of nomadic peoples who had served Elthar in its twilight era settled around Livonia, establishing the nations of Avar, Avalon and Aragon.
The Hierophant Hadras decamped from Gwalior to Iseria and the knights of Dawn carved out the Realm of the Holy See, whereupon the Hierophant sent out demands of fealty to the All-Being to all the emergent kingdoms.
Eadric, the King of Yore, attempted to unite the fractured lands into a new empire. He drove the goblins, orcs and trolls back into the Trollshaws and the Wornspine mountains, and slew the goblin king Uglocus. Hierophant Hadras demanded he submit to the All-Being and the Hierophant’s authority, but he refused. Hadras declared a holy war against King Eadric, labelling him a heretic. Beset from all sides, Eadric was forced to beg for forgiveness from Hadras, and stood barefoot in the snow outside the Basilica of All for three days before Hadras relented. Later, when angry giants descended from The Grip and waged war against the Holy See, Eadric refused to send military support. With the Order of Dawn away and engaged in the Lakbans, Hadras’ palace was only lightly defended, and he was ripped in two by the giant chief Grundoch Gutstuff and devoured.
The Sea Kings settled in western Albyron along the north coast of the Midsea, and founded the powerful Merovian dynasty, conquering the Avalares, Calendes, Asturoth, Quent, and Dagonia. Missionaries of the All-Faith converted the Seven Sea Kings to the All-Faith and averted an invasion of the Holy See. The Sea Kings also wisely steered clear of the still powerful Black Fleet of Elthar, which became known as The Hermit Kingdom and cut off all trade and contact with the mainland.
King Eomel, one of the greatest Merovian kings after Thorvald the Unyielding, continued Eadric’s war against the goblins and trolls south of the Wornspine, and led a crusade through the mountain passes against a rising necromancer in the Hexewist. The troll-giant Ruhxahk, champion of the Necrolord, charged through Eomel’s bodyguard, slaying knights left and right, until Eomel struck the huge troll down with the Blade of Cantos. In his later years, Eomel went mad with paranoia, and massacred many Merovian nobles at his summer retreat of Druidun during an infamous Harvest Feast. This weakened the hold of the Merovians over Albyron; his children suffered similar fits of paranoia, with Asmund the Ruthless being best known for slaughtering the entire mining city of Spines for perceived disloyalty.
Arcturus, who had been in his youth the youngest general of the Eltharian legions, left his long seclusion and led Avalon against their Merovian overlords, establishing an independent kingdom. Aided by Celestial Wizards, he marched his forces west and laid siege to the Merovian capital of Bloodstone, but was forced to retreat when King Olaf landed at Ironhelm and threatened Kingsgate. Arcturus defeated Olaf at the Battle of Deepford, and slew him in the river. For this, he is remembered as King Arcturus the Great.
Olaf’s son, Rolf the Bold, seceded from the Sea King Alliance and asserted independence. Aosta, Calendon and Asturia soon followed, reducing The Twelve Sea Kings to Seven.
In the forest crescent of the Lakbans, the new states were beset by necromancers fuelled by the dark energies that emanated from ancient lost tombs. Some say evil poured forth out of gates to the underworld, or that the spirit of fallen demons lived on in the earth. The Order of the Dawn launched crusade after crusade against the undead, but each time the threat seemed vanquished, it would fester in the shadows and return in force to plague a new generation.
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| The bonkers big map of Arthea, showing Bronn, Cassea, and Gudana |
The map of Arthea, an exercise in excessive detail. Originally intended to build out the world of Dragon Garage, but a sequel isn't looking likely, so now it's just for the game world in Dungeons & Dragons.
The characters are on the continent of Bronn, which extends from the arctic circle down to the Midsea. Druidun Dungeon is basically in what would be Southern France.
The map is based on early maps of the earth, mostly ancient Greek maps, and then warped from there. Africa has been smushed up with the Amazon jungles of South America, with a great mountain range in between.
Another great mountain range runs through Bronn, known as the Wornspine. The great plains beyond are dominated by the ruthless Centaur Khanates. The far east is dominated by the Celestial Empire of Shantun.
Since the whole campaign is based in a stylized medieval Europe, everywhere further afield has more monsters and otherworldly kingdoms.
The ports on the southern shores of Bronn have plenty of traders and travellers, so word of fabulous far off treasures and tombs is relatively easy to find. Getting the actual treasures is quite another matter...
To orient myself with the landscape in Dragon Garage, I decided to make a map of the region the players visited in greater detail.
The gateway from our world into the fantasy world of Arthea is hidden in the Hyllwode, near the crumbling remains of the Elven Temple of Finla...
It was fun to do up, although I didn't wind up using it as much as I had thought I would. I jam packed it with possible adventure sites.
On top of that, Baron Rogard of Forksbury is feuding with Baron Sigulf of Walcastra. Goblins infest the mountains, lizard people Basilisk Bay (along with the basilisks), and giant spiders stalk the forests.
The entirety of Pelshire sits atop the ruins of the ancient Eotan city of Eodyr; the great Titanohere road is still used to this day. It's massive flagstones are worn smooth after thousands of years, but it was constructed (and enchanted) to last. Ruins of their colossal buildings still jut out of the earth north of the Hyllwode.
Slogs, a derisive name for a reptilian species of humanoids, dwell in Basilisk Bay and along the coastline, harassing fishermen and emptying their nets. The Barons have tried to wipe out their watery strongholds, but the swamp is all but impenetrable for humans.
North of Warringhast are The Badlands, in the shadow of the South Wornspine Mountains, and here goblins gather in great numbers. Many are in service to the Witches of the Hexwist, who harbour a long simmering grudge against the Lords of Avalon.
Hopefully there will be the opportunity to do sequels and flesh out the region more.
In the meantime, it's proving useful with my Dungeons & Dragons game crew.
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| The redacted version of the map, sans Dwarf and Goblin cities. |
I faced some difficulty working out the style for Dragon Garage, and there were many false starts. It became so frustrating I did another entire graphic novel in the meantime.
With this version I tried for a light, squiggly line combined with a tone. Something different from what I've done before.
Unfortunately, it didn't have the energy I was looking for.
Back to the drawing board, as they say...
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| I like the first page, Zach looks worried, but the angle could be more dramatic |
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| The framing is a little lacklustre here, a little straightforward. And the angles aren't extreme enough. |
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| I like the dust in the top panel, it sets up the surprise for the villains in the third panel nicely. |
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| Should have shown Zach getting out of the vehicle here, for context. Also, I'm not very consistent with his appearance. Ugh. |
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| The pitch doc cover, in a 'clear line' (if wibbly wobbly) style. People thought it was dated. |
Dragon Garage evolved over more than a decade; it started out as one of a cluster of ideas I came up with after doing my first graphic novel, Nil: A Land Beyond Belief. Rex Libris, Warlord of Io and Rebel Angels (in very different proto-form) were also part of this batch. I picked Rex as an antidote to Nil, and the serialized comic book ran for 13 bonkers issues.
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A process video from Dragon Garage. I created the book in ProCreate, using a single brush style:
