Bartholomew's Crime Scene

The aftermath of Bartholomew's attack:

Art by Daniel Crosier

Attack Blob

Conceptual sketch of an Attack Blob (by artist Stephen Fox). Notice the underbelly nipples that spray digestive acid and the brain mass that houses a spectral phantasm.

Design Sketch

Here is a design sketch from Daniel Crosier. Pictured here: Jessica Holbourne, Gordon Watt, and a spectral phantasm emanating from someone's brain.

Gordon Watt

Here is the first rendition of Gordon Watt, the film-noir paranormal detective of Bartholomew of the Scissors.

Victor

Here is an early conceptual drawing of Victor by artist Stephen Fox. I think he does a wonderful job capturing the adolescent angst of the character. In the graphic novel, Bartholomew becomes obsessed with Victor, in part because Victor also has a spectral phantasm in his brain, and Bartholomew needs to drink Victor's blood.

First Bartholomew by Daniel Crosier

Here is the first conceptual drawing of Bartholomew by artist Daniel Crosier, who went on to illustrate all of the 88 pages of the graphic novel with his innovative "wood-burning" method.

What are the Spectral Phantasms?

In my comic book miniseries, Bartholomew of the Scissors, the Spectral Phantasms play an integral role in the story. Spectral Phantasms are octopus-like, ghostly creatures from another dimension that occupy the human mind and provide their host with all kinds of paranormal abilities, like telepathy and shape-shifting. They are like ghosts, so they don't occupy any space inside the brain, and they can only be perceived by psychics.

The origin and purpose of the Spectral Phantasms is a mystery, which detective Gordon Watt is trying to figure out when he stumbles upon the mystery of Bartholomew. Phantasms are passed down from generation to generation. Many people possess spectral phantasms and don't even know it. A phantasm can be dormant inside of someone's mind until a trauma (like a car accident) or a life change (like puberty) awakens it.

The phantasm feeds off the life in the human bloodstream, but they are more symbiotic than parasitic. In return for the life in the blood, which allows them to exist in our dimension, they infuse the human nervous system with spectral energy that provides miraculous healing properties (sometimes even resurrection), and also endows the host with a wide range of paranormal abilities. There are many different "breeds" of phantasm, and the paranormal abilities depends on which kind of phantasm the person has in their brain.

The Phantasms have spectral tentacles that can extend beyond the confines of the human brain and influence the mind of someone else within reach of the tentacle. Bartholomew uses this to cloud peoples' minds, which makes him appear to be invisible or to vanish into thin air. Bartholomew's Spectral Phantasm can also call forth a storm of spectral energy from another dimension that manifests in the form of the Scissor Swarm, his most powerful weapon.

A Spectral Phantasm doesn't "take over" their host's mind, but the Phantasm can have a powerful influence over the subconscious mind of its host, and this can have a dramatic effect on the behavior of the host. This also means that the Phantasm can only communicate directly to its host through dreams and visions.