For the last year I’ve been involved in a secret project that I’m very excited about. I can’t talk too much about it yet, but I can offer a sneak peek. Here’s page one of EPIC: The Gift. (Created by Patrick Hatfield. Artwork by Patrick Hatfield. Written by Joe Nassise)

The text reads:

The monk moved through the night’s darkness and neither the dead nor the living took note of his passage.

His errand was an urgent one and he had spent the last several days in seclusion preparing for it. Only the cleansed were allowed into the sanctuary and the task he had been ordered to undertake was so far above his usual duties that he felt nearly overwhelmed just contemplating it, so he’d taken his preparations very seriously. His stomach felt tense from the forty-eight hours of fasting he’d undertaken and there was a dull throbbing in the back of his head from hunger, but he did what he could to ignore it. Everything seemed brighter, louder, as if he were more physically grounded in reality as a result of the fast, and he at last understood just why it was that his mentor had recommended it to him: what he was about to endure required the entirety of his senses.

The dark robe he wore over his ceremonial garments helped hide him in the shadows as he stole down the street toward the market. The streets were deserted, allowing him to move swiftly and without fear of discovery. When he reached his destination, he quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

Tagged as: Epic, EPIC: The Gift, graphic novel, Hatfield Innovative Design, illustrated narrative, Joe Nassise, Patrick Hatfield