![The_Magician_Page_2.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmP5kWksKstgVQmW2HCkCjkaLJh8sufjHam9twvPTUATi9/The_Magician_Page_2.jpg)

This week has not been productive in terms of pages written, but it HAS been productive in terms of ideas for the series. I hit a roadblock in my rewrite for issue 6, and as bad luck would have it, my editor was too busy these last two weeks to hop on the phone.

So I brewed myself a dangerously strong cup of yerba matè, broke out a moleskin notebook and a pen and got to work writing in the real world. I did a lot of freeform brainstorming where I questioned basic plot points I had assumed were coming for a long time.

I've "known" what Rupert Saxton (the villain) was after almost since the beginning of the writing, but this week I decided to go crazy - just see what would happen when I wrote down every possible scenario I could imagine happening after Rupert initiates his ritual. I knew that no matter what, the Tapestry he built around his estate served as a barrier/magic circle to protect him from elder gods and amplify his power, I knew that it would involve Time, and I knew it would infect our main characters (and the city of Ithaca) with Rot.

Everything else that I thought I knew, I decided to push to the side, just to see what I would come up with. Several pages later, and I'm onto something interesting. It wasn't so much that my brainstorming caused me to throw away what I had previously thought would happen, it's that seeing so many options allowed me to deepen Rupert's motivations. I'm currently of the mind that I will synthesize  some of the things I wrote down, with what I had originally planned.

Please check out our Fundition page - you can score exclusive rewards by contributing steem!
https://fundition.io/#!/@drwatson/zim8j667e/backers

Issue 3 Leaderboard:

@Fundition Contribution: $165.99

Council of Five:

@kommienezuspadt - $11.18
@smjn - $4.09
@katharsisdrill - $3.58
@Veryspider - $0.08 +$2.00 direct contribution = $3.08
@supdork - $2.47

The Council of Five will get to vote on which Ithaqa character (or characters) is featured in our steemit exclusive print when we reach 15% funding!

We have currently raised $201.26 towards our goal of $2,000, which puts us at 10.06% of our goal. When we get to 25% of our goal, we will unveil our next prize!

You can read all of "Ithaqa" Issue 1 here on steemit!
https://steemit.com/art/@drwatson/full-issue-1-of-ithaqa-comic

If you have any friends or family who might be interested in a Lovecraftian horror comic, please send them to our website to sign up for some free pages! https://www.ithaqacomic.com/contact-us/

Additionally, If you're new to this comic I strongly recommend you check out our instagram, as I'm currently uploading pages every day.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ithaqacomic/

Theresa Chiechi's (The Artist @la-fumettista) website is here: http://www.theresachiechi.com/

Lucas Gattoni's (The Letterer/Logo Designer) website is here: http://bit.ly/LG_Lettering

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