Let us discuss necromancy

[WigglyLines]

Greeting, stranger! I will start with a quick introduction - my name is Yulia, i live in Russia and simply adore stories about necromancy. Do you know any comics, centered around this theme? I would be grateful for any recommendations!

I'd love to have a little discussion as well. Who are your favorite necromancers? What necromancy-including plot-twists you enjoy? What are your favorite/less favorite cliches, related to the subject? What kind of visual approach to necromancy works the best for you? Etc.

I, personally, enjoy experiencing mixed feelings. I like seeing relatable characters, being part of something sick and unspeakable! I also like, when there's a little more depth (philosophy?) to the concept. How does resurrection feels? What are the moral standarts in that specific fantasy universe? What are the possible usage of necromancy (beside raising endless armies of skeletons).

I guess, necromancy is a very controversial topic and has a lot of potential. Sadly, i don't see many stories using it as a tool for creating personal drama. Of course, i am trying to remedy the situation with my own creation - "Beetroot and Marzipan" https://tapastic.com/series/BeetrootAndMarzipan .It is a tale of a strong warrior, who finds herself befriending an old wizard. Right now i am translating the first chapter, which mostly consists of jokes and blood. But it will get more sad and sentimental later. I will be glad to recieve any feedback, but don't forget about my questions above.

[shazzbaa]

One of the main characters of my comic is a necromancer! (the new-fangled zombie-raising kind, not the old-school communing-with-spirits kind). He has a bit of a soft spot for his undead.

I find necromancers way more interesting than necromancy itself, to be honest! In a fantasy world where many different sorts of magic exists, what kind of person do you have to be to decide to master the one magical art that requires you to be surrounded by corpses, just, constantly? Are you just a weird nerd who likes zombies? Are you a messed up kid who prefers minions who can't judge him? Are you That Kid who thinks being As Dark As Possible will make you cool? Are you just So Into Recycling that this somehow seems like a perfectly reasonable use of resources to you?

I keep running into things where necromancy is sorta lazily assumed to be evil without much actual evidence, just because it sounds the darkest -- raising the dead in a shambling mockery of life is probably a social faux pas, sure, but I'm not sure why it'd be The Most Evil Thing -- so I don't pose necromancy as The One Really Evil Magic in my world; it's just a weird, unpleasant one. I love the idea of a necromancer in the party getting inappropriately excited when encountering the recently dead, or having strange ideas about exactly what graveyards are for, just because death isn't an upsetting thing to them -- just a normal part of their "job."

I think I enjoy necromancy falling somewhere between "dark and questionable" and "weird and impractical."

[WigglyLines]

@shazzbaa
Actually, your comic was THE FIRST I SUBSCRIBBED TO on tapastic! I didn't know, there were any necromancers involved, i liked the overall fantasy feeling... Which makes this situation pretty funny. I hope, i'll get some free time this weekend and read the whole thing!

And thank you for such an informative answer! I like your suggestions on what the necromancer's motivation might be! Recycling fan is the best!

[J.Lovelace]

Ohhh, necromancy is an interesting topic indeed!

Few years ago I was drawing a necromancy centered comic, "Necro Magic" and it had a few chapters before I stopped working on it. It was about a girl, whose home village was destroyed, and she wanted to revive her family. She didn't really know how necromancy works, so her idea of it was like revinding time to the point everything is like it was before the raid. She went on a journey to find powerful necromancers to help her in the goal. In the end she became their apprentice XD
It was more of a cute story with horror elements and dark humor of discovering the four necromancers everyday life rather than completing her quest. I had a lot of fun with it.
I was posting that comic on Deviantart, but then I deleted it and left a few random pages for character reference.

Other then that I have other stories that involve demonology and a part of necromancy, mainly liches, and the way they keep their soul in containers to prolong ther life. Even sci-fi necromancy.

My favorite necromancer would be a character my best buddy has. He's not a comic maker, but he draws and writes a few bits and pieces about him, and we talk a lot about that character.
This is a collab of Reiko we both made:

(Reiko belongs to UltraLiThematic)

[WigglyLines]

Oh! The plot-summary of "Necro Magic" sounds extra-cute! I would love to read something like that! Sad to know, you abandoned the project. I guess, you had your reasons! Thank you for sharing, though!

[J.Lovelace]

(I edited the previous post with my fav necromancer so scroll up to it to see XD)

There were few elements that could be done better in that comic haha, once I get to finish my current projects, I wouldn't mind to get back to it and reboot XD

[WigglyLines]

Ha-ha, i like his outfit! Does he rob the tombs or is he just rich?

If you reboot it - leave me a message! I'll be your faithful reader!

[J.Lovelace]

He totally robs the tombs, and has a love for sparkly stuff XD He also loves skulls and collects corpses for his undead army. His hobbies include freaking out his ancient ancestor that somehow lives with him in the "necromansion" how I call it XD
He's a funy dork XD

Thank you so much ^^

[sarrowsmith10]

The main villain in my comic Goblins of Razard is a necromancer, and his desire to bring back his dead sister is what drives the plot of the comic.

In this fantasy world, necromancy is generally frowned upon and in the order in which the villain belongs, it is forbidden. He has kind of a weird relationship with her sister and the order let her die, so he's got reasons that create alot of drama and hardship for the main cast. However, earlier in the plot, Zilck helps one of the main cast members bring back a dead bird to life, and the heroes don't really have a problem with that.

[graceroche]

My comic also has a necromancer of sorts! c: She's a lich and the main antagonist (?) of the story, at least according to the other main character.

Most of her story and reason/motivation behind becoming a lich is super spoilery so I can't share much of it. She doesn't really consider herself a necromancer beyond utilizing what magic is relevant to her. She was a royal naval captain before dying and still believes herself to be very much a good person. Between her and the 'protagonist' of Shanties, there's a lot of grey morality; each believes they're in the right and neither is strictly a hero or villain.

My favourite kinds of necromancers are the ones who use necromancy for reasons beyond the desire to amass a skeletal horde and 'be evil', haha. I play a lot of D&D and one of my characters is a healer. He has some necromancy in his spell repertoire and often uses it for legitimate good, such as keeping an organ or body part in Gentle Repose ((stasis, basically)) until it can be put back where it should be.

Basically I love when necromancy and its users are more than the simple 'it's evil because it is!'. I get bored of the bad guy who uses undead just because 'that's what bad guys use'. I want more! I want personal drama too! Necromancy can be complicated and morally ambiguous and I love seeing stories delve into that. c:

[cribeilletguillaume]

Pardon this shameless selfpromotion but I plan to talk about it in my comic : Scavenger (as in : the main vilain is a necromancer)

I don't know if it will be to your liking because in this comic, more than raising the dead, I view the necromancy as a way to control life energy.

The dead and undead are puppets and the livings are supplies.

So yeah, like you I find necromancy interesting altough I may not be its best portrayer !

[donathinfrye]

One of my comics is entitled I, NECROMANCER -- and it is very much an exploration of a pretty terrifying Necromancer and how he became the way he is. I also dig stories of dark magic, and Necromancy being misunderstood or widely feared makes it the perfect fantasy metaphor for people fearing what's different from them in real life (culture, religion, race, etc). Those are some of the themes that I hope to explore with my comic! I've posted a couple of covers and character concept art for the Necrotagonist!