Years ago, in the before-fore times, I had an idea for a hardboiled sci-fi private eye story set in a world that did not rip off Frank Miller’s comic books Sin City and Hard Boiled at all! How dare you even suggest that!!

The tales would feature the ludicrously monikered private eye Sudden Hate in mind-bending adventures about memory erasure and a black market for stolen personalities. I eventually pitched this to Dark Horse Comics, who graciously never acknowledged it.

I will show some of the pages from that pitch on another occasion, but here, for your delight, is the only completed Sudden Hate story I ever wrote: “Lament in Blonde”.

I still like some of the high-contrast art I created for this story (which eventually ran as a back-up in Forever Eve, a comic book featuring my earliest published work). You might also recognize some of the callous prickishness I infused into Hate’s personality as being similar to that of Weapon Brown. (What can I say? my he-man types are all assholes!)

Part one this week, part two the week after. Enjoy!