43. The forest monster.

I love the forest. It has always been one of my favorite places to be. But during the recently deceased summer, I got chased away by a horrible beast. This monster, which is the only living thing I really hate, doesn't only eat its way through your flesh to drink your blood - as if that wasn't enough - it can also make you very sick. I even had to visit the hospital to get one of these fuckers cut out of my skull. Fire seems to be the only thing killing them. 

And the ticks get larger in numbers every year. Not in size though, luckily. I saw a bad horror flick once, with giant mutated ticks, but I'm telling you - if those bastards where even slightly bigger, I'd never chill under a local tree again. I'm sorry if reading this made you itch all over. If it's any comfort, writing it had the same effect on me. 

42. The rock, the rope and the Frog-man.

As usual, you can click on the image for a larger view.

Those very few among you who've read the Norwegian book-version of the Frog-man's early travels have probably already noticed that the main storyline is the same. This is, like, an expanded version. A director's cut. More details, more panoramas, more maps. And also, a connection to happenings in our universe, which, because of a page-issue in the graphic novel, were postponed to a later book. Right now, we're in the beginning of the first of three books which contains the Frog-man's first journey, through the Neverending Forest, indeed to the very end of it - Dryad Woods. Number two's called The Troll Forest, and three Fort Acheron.

Come back, won't you?

41. The weather made me do it.

There's a concert I'd like to go to, and a new club opening, but it rains. Tonight after dark, I was supposed to go to the shore on a photo-expedition, which has to do with the project I mentioned the other day, but, again, it rains. A lot, actually - the people who work with such things have even issued a flood-warning further east.

Think I'll stay in and put out the first piece of the next chapter in the Travelogue...

Okay, now what?

40. The first shoot.

On Sunday, the first serious step was taken on a new project. And, as usual when I'm serious, I had loads of fun. This time it had a lot to do with the people I worked with, all good friends of mine - Thor Birger Brobakken, photographer and technical advisor; Mimoza Hassani, who's doing make-up and styling, and assisting everywhere else; and, of course, the model, Rikke Nordby, Miss Norway finalist. I won't go too deep into details about the project yet, but you'll get to follow its progress here on The Travelogue.

If you like to see more from the shoot, and more of Rikke, check out her blog http://diddirikke.blogg.no/. It's in Norwegian, but you can read the pictures.

39. Pia Zawa.

The first issue of Pia Zawa is now out on iPhone. You'll find it in the appStore. This series will collect all the old stuff - publishing started in 1990 - and also new stories. To check out this and other releases from Oxicomics, go to oxicomics.com.

38. Rewind.

And, we're back. It's hard to keep blogging when there's so much else to do, but this time I'll try to stick with it. (Yes, I've probably said this before...) Anyway, I'll show you some of the work I've done recently later, but first--

It's been almost a year since I started this thing, and we haven't gotten very far in the story. This is why I'm now giving you the rest of the chapter called The Valley Of The Rock People. Included are also the pieces already posted here, for the benefit of new readers, and because the rest of you probably have forgotten most of it. Like I said, it's been almost a year.

Enjoy.

Next: SUICIDE POND.

37. When it rains...

36. The Deluge.

Noah, yes. The story about him and his ark is much older than itself.

The first ones we know with certainty told the tale of the big flood was the Sumerians, since they also developed the first real writing language - along with the first city states - where current borders place southern Iraq. The story of the deluge and of Ziusudra, who was both forewarned and given the receipt for a boat by the god Enki, is full of similarities with the Noah myth.

Abraham, by the way, the ancestor of three religions, is supposed to have been raised in one of the Sumerian cities - Ur.

35. Sighing in the rain.

We're celebrating that it's 3194 years (according to some sources) of the destruction of Troy - thanks to King Odyssevs' ingenuity and King Priam's love of wooden horses - with the very first comic-strip starring Wulf Greybones.

No, I cannot find the connection either.

34. Wet fur. A cover.

33. The pack.

It's no coincidence that this series of animal-pictures ends with one of wolves. My hard-drive is still sick, so in the time to come you'll be able to read an English version of my Norwegian comic-strip Ulveblues - Wolf's Blues.

32. Wolverine.

He's the best there is at what he does, and looks nothing like Hugh Jackman. Chances are, he's never even heard of the X-men.

31. The black sheep. Or goat.

One of these animals is a wolf in a cheap Halloween-costume. Guess which.

30. The eye(s) of the tiger.

Even though the Siberian tiger is imprisoned, locking eyes with a beast such as this is both terrifying and fantastic. Later that day, I called a female lion over to me by making purring noises - neither things I would've tried in the wild, or without a fence between us.

Now, I'm not usually a big defender of zoos. Some of them treat the animals like it really IS a prison, with a strict policy of miscarriage of justice. I suppose they're all like Kafka's Josef K, and wonder what the fuck they've done wrong. (I'm actually banned for life from a really bad Zoo in Denmark. I'll get back to that, I'm sure.) But. There is one zoo where the larger predators at least seem to live an okay life, and that is Kristiansand Zoo. It's a question of space. Space, and places to hide from prying, human eyes. I've been here twice without seeing the wolves - four times missing the wolverines.

So, my favorite zoos are the ones where you don't always see the animals.

29. Yellow boat with yellow sky.

This is from the same island as the last photo. Notice the footprints leading out to the left. They may have been left by some thieves who crossed over the ice to the next island, plundering its summer houses. Havsøy (Sea Island) is usually only accessible by boat, so I guess this is more proof of King Winter being a bad guy.

28. On ice.

Ice covering the beaches and ocean outside Stølsviga, Hisøy. I fear neither name work very well in English.

The unfortunate hiatus in my blogging has to do with a sick hard-drive. I'm not a technical person, so that's all I can tell you. Oh, and there's about five years work stuck in it. Yes, I know it would've been smart to make back-up files, but I guess I'm not. Smart, that is. Instead, I eagerly await my hard-drive's return from the computer hospital, hoping it's nothing lethal.

Meanwhile, I'll show you some of the photos I'm taking these days, from a place of summer in the claws of winter. Consider this a non-commercial break in the story.

27. Predator to predator.

Yes, it's meant to be this confusing.

26. The message in the bottle.