Around 1994 or 1995 I wrote a number of short Astorial stories (stories set in the imaginary Astorial Hotel) and sent them out to fellow cartoonists and friends, in hopes they may wish to draw them up as comic strips. Denny Derbyshire, Chris Reynolds and Ros Garbles all responded, and their completed strips were published in The Staring Eye #3.
Those who made a start but didn’t quite manage to complete the task were John Bagnall and Paul Schroeder; Savage Pencil didn’t want to do it at all. Two panels from Paul’s pencilled artwork are shown here. I forget exactly what happens in the story, but I do recall the detail of a corridor in the hotel where the narrow windows were set very low, a few inches above floor level, such that they provided no light. Bob Backshine, the hero of the story, is about to make a discovery as he picks up an object.
