"Post No. 516"

In 1986 I was still deep into the small press publishing biz', trying to get my work out there "somehow" and let people see it, with dreams that I may someday make it as a comic book artist once someone took notice of my ambition.

During that time I started a 10 issue digest-sized limited series called Kelpie, which was all about the quest of a Celtic demi-elemental attempting to travel back to the time of the crucifixion of Christ to stop it from happening, as that was the beginning of the end of the faeries existence on Earth ( see above scan of the cover to issue #2) .

Unfortunately, although this series opened to some rave reviews by Small Press Comics Explosion magazine publisher, Tim Corrigan, the story sort of played itself out too quickly and I discontinued and tied up the series with the final issue of #7.

Now, a "kelpie" is based on the ancient Scottish legend of water elementals which took the form of a horse ( in Ireland they were known as Aughisky) . In Scotland they were a bit of a prankster, luring people to ride them where they'd take off in a start and then dunk them in a lake. The Irish version was less admirable as they'd drown their victims and then devour them all save for the liver!

But, digressing aside...
I watched a recent flick called The Water Horse, upon which legends of kelpies are based. Today we call the same legendary creature the lochness monster", or, "Nessie", and supposingly it still dwells within the deep inland loch in Scotland, and is claimed to occasionally be seen rising from those depths.

This movie deals with a small boy who lives next to the loch during World War II, who finds this egg which hatches into a baby "Nessie", and the tales the locals have about this is that once in every lifetime of such a creature it lays a single egg then dies, and that egg hatches to grow (very quickly in fact) into a new "Water Horse".

This story about a child and his friendship with this creature is one of the best written family films I've seen in a long time. It's not one of those tear-jerkers, but has a decent script and the acting is fine. The background scenery is breath-taking at times, and the realism of the Scottish army and their uniforms, machinery, etc., has all been well researched. The special effects are outstanding.

It's the sort of film that anyone in the family at any age can enjoy and I highly recommend it.