Personally, I think that's a killer idea. Not only do you not need to change the story you have, but you could perhaps some day tell it to the same audience you're targeting with the new approach.

I love the big version of her in the first pic. I sort of feel like she's not as athletic as the second one, but that might be kind of cool. Maybe people take her for a big slow mom, but completely underestimate her fighting prowess. I also like how her silhouette plays against the smaller, skinnier silhouette of Annora. They feel too similar in the last one.

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I'm leaning most toward the second one personally, but it may be something in-between. It always annoys me when artists draw Red Sonya as a mincing little waif rather than a tough-looking amazon. Frank Thorne and John Buscema had the right idea and Frank Cho does it right. The kind of girl who would be able to survive as a mercenary is the same kind of girl who drives a big rig. I was thinking of Rena Titañon from Love and Rockets when I drew this.

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I agree I like the first pics of Una where she is bulkier.

I think it looks like it could be a fun book.

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My challenge is to find the right tone. I still want to incorporate humour, but the plot will revolve around Annora's identity, family secrets and nameless Lovecraftian horrors. Along with the requisite ass-kicking and taking of names of course.

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I think the literature I read as a youth was severely lacking in Lovecraftian horrors.
I'm even more intrigued

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I think it could work, for sure. I'd be interested in seeing it, but I'd still like to see some of the same period as you were doing previously.

You could always do it different stories/books with characters in different parts of the overall story, like Dungeon:Zenith and Dungeon:Twilight.

I like that the earlier stuff is racier, but you could still do a younger readers market with the future stuff. Another fine example is how Doctor Who is more or less a family show, it has two spin-offs at the moment. One being Torchwood, which (when it's not censored by CBC) is strictly and adult show, and The Sarah-Jane Adventures which is most assuredly for young audiences and young teens.
All told it makes something for everyone.

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The idea was to have different readerships for different parts of the saga. The teenage Annora stories would be more for young adults while the younger Una stories would be for adults, due to all the breastfeeding and young children in peril. More Harry Potter for the kids and more Lone Wolf and Cub for the adults.

That's the idea anyway.

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Sounds like a fun project!

Visually, I like the idea of Una having a bulkier silhouette in contrast to her daughter... it would also help distinguish these stories from her younger adventures... but maybe another clue (eye-patch?)? Something that imediately idenditifies her as "Older Una" might be cool.

Any hope they'll stop by Illyham at some point?

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I did toy with the idea of an eyepatch but I thought it would be a bit obvious. Possibly a very visible scar?

I have some very definite ideas about Una's world which aren't necessarily compatible with Illyham. I'm treating the Illyham stories as seperate from the continuity of this series. That's the plan at least. It might be funny for them to stop by this town full of fairies and elves and talking animals which don't fit in with the rest of the world though.

I'll think about it.

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Not a bad idea. But what would the story be? What Una wants is the usual treasures and adventure of the barbarian lifestyle, but what about Annora? She must have different goals, hmm? Or has Una "settled down" and determined to keep her kids from following the same path she did?

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The story is that Una has hung up her sword because of something that happened while Annora was still young. Una has retired to a tiny northern island populated by some of her own people who hunt the whale-monsters to make their living. Of course, Annora, being a typical teenage girl with BLUE SKIN has trouble fitting in and this causes tension in their little family. Sooner or later Una is going to have to face her past even if it destroys everything she cares about and Annora will uncover the secret that Una has dedicated her life to hiding.

SOAP OPERA!

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That's really cool to see a beefier muscly Una. Big and voluptuous and still able to kick anything's ass.

Combining Una's and Annora's stories might offer an interesting framework. Like in Lost where the flashbacks help build character, you could do something similar in finding parallels between mother and daughter jumping between Una's earlier tales as a mother/warrior and Annora's coming of age story.

But where's Izel?

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Steve, these are brilliant!

I love the first Una, she looks like she could still really kick your ass and it makes a nice contrast with her slim daughter.

One thing I learned from pitching cartoon ideas, is that teen girls have to have a best friend, or else they are seen as "weird" by test audiences. Oh, teen-age girls, will they ever win.

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Thanks Rebecca. I'm still a little torn here. My whole problem with Una has been finding an actual story to tell with the character. I certainly don't want to start down the road of focus groups and test audiences.

Check out the discussion over on Gutterzombie where Dave McCaig goes all 'Misery' on me:

http://www.dave-co.com/gutterzombie/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11112&start=30

(Just kidding Dave.)

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