#adventuresofstybba

Stybba has gathered a heap of wild roses, mountain ash, and garlic to repel vampires. All the plants are life size, so they tower over Stybba and Dandi, who is surveying the collection. Stybba has a garlic bulb on his back that is almost bigger than he is.

Dandi says, “Oh, you don’t need those just yet. There isn’t a copy of DRACULA on our bookshelf. We’ll have to go to a branch of the city library!”

Everyone is excited to make the trip. Stybba bounces with glee.

The Urchin of Secrecy says, “Oh gosh! I LOVE the library!”

Stybba and Dandi relax on the bookshelf. “Oh hey,” Dandi says, looking at their phone. “DRACULA has a big following right now. The classic 1897 novel by Bram Stoker.” Stybba makes a questioning face.

Spoiler Fish appears to listen while Dandi explains: “A human named Matt Kirkland started ‘Dracula Daily’ as a way to read the story as it unfolds in real time, from May 3rd to November 6th. Maybe we should try it!”

Spoiler Fish swims to the far end of the bookcase. On this side of the bookshelf, a large wood sculpture of a left hand cradles Ursula K. Le Guin’s book “The Left Hand of Darkness.” Spoiler Fish updates the Urchin of Secrecy and then says, “But at the rate we’re posting, our first comic won’t go up until JULY!”

“Well, then we can worry less about spoilers,” the Urchin says with a grin.

Two panel comic. Stybba, Dandi, the Urchin of Secrecy, and Spoiler Fish all exit the book. On the way out there is sign saying “Thank You for Visiting A Journey to The Center of The Earth!.” There is also a themed gift shop with colorful toys and crystals and even a manometer for sale. In the first panel, Stybba looks pleadingly at the gift shop and at Dandi.

Stybba and Dandi examine a living fossil- a quillwort (Pleuromeia sternbergii) towering over them at 2 meters tall. The plant flourished in the Early Triassic period and then died out, but here it is happily growing by the shores of the underground sea. This is the first of many incredible discoveries. But the Urchin of Secrecy appears to urge some discretion.

“From here on, it could spoil the book if we share our adventures,” the Urchin says.

“Aww, but we’ve just gotten to the really exciting parts!” Spoiler Fish replies.

“The chapter titles are a given, so you can talk about those!” Urchin suggests.

“OK!” says Spoiler Fish, and gestures to a depiction of an erupting volcano. “So, ‘The Volcanic Shaft’ may be the best-known part of the adventure… but listen to this chapter title: ’Terrific Saurian Combat.’” The Fish wiggles with glee.

Hans (the eider-duck hunter) and the Professor discover an underground ocean, lit by lightning and auroras. Spoiler Fish bursts into song: “Under the sea, there is a sea! Underground weather, underground lightning, so we can see!”

The two men start to construct a raft; an eider-duck appears and follows Hans aboard. Spoiler Fish keeps singing: “Upon the shore the mosses sway; despite no sun it’s bright as day! Soon we’ll be floating, underground boating, under the sea!”

The adventurers descend through a tunnel marbled with minerals. Hans (the eider-duck hunter) is completing his first pillow full of eider-down. “Isn’t it going to become hot as we descend?” Henry asks.

“Aha, but this is science fiction!” the Professor replies.

In the next panel, the Urchin Of Secrecy explains the science that Verne used to justify a cool Earth interior. “Sir Humphry Davy said the Earth couldn’t have a molten core, because the moon would cause constant earthquakes,” the Urchin says. The Urchin wears a mortarboard and uses a ruler to point to a diagram of this theory, where Earth acts like a lava lamp, constantly straining as the liquid core inside it is pulled out of shape by the moon’s gravity.

“This has since been disproved,” Spoiler Fish adds with a laugh.

In the third panel, the Urchin of Secrecy teaches the current known model of the Earth’s interior. “In fact, the mantle is mostly solid, there’s a liquid outer core, and then a solid iron core,” the Urchin explains.

Spoiler Fish adds, “And even though we’re still in the crust, it should be about 500 degrees Fahrenheit!”

In the final panel, we are back in the tunnel with the adventuring party. “Hrm,” Henry says. “I’ll just watch the temperature and keep drinking water.”

“I didn’t pack any water,” the Professor says. “I’m sure we’ll find some.”

Two wide panels with a lot of labeled objects.

In the first panel, the adventurers are walking by slate and shale walls embedded with fossils. The Urchin of Secrecy, Dandi, and Stybba have lined up underneath fossils of their far-distant ancestors; as they walk along behind Henry, their pose resembles the “Ascent of Man” artwork.

The fossils are labeled Kainops invius (an early trilobite), Prodryas persephone (an early butterfly), and Morganucodon oehleri (an early mammal ancestor.) And our characters have their scientific names given as well. The Urchin is Arbacia punctulata (an Atlantic Ocean native); Dandi is Dryocampa rubicunda (the rosy-maple moth); Stybba is Equus ferus caballus (the category of tamed horses); and Henry is Homo sapiens.

The second panel shows our adventurers coming to a crossroads of sorts, where the tunnel branches in three new directions. In the book, there is nothing to distinguish the tunnels, but I have taken the opportunity to throw in loads of references to games and books that feature cave exploration. In clockwise order, they run as follows:

A faintly glowing vision urges us to “Seek the Crown of Horns”: this is from Bone by Jeff Smith.

A label marked with a wombat paw print points off down the western tunnel, indicating that it is Tunnel 17: this is from Digger by Ursula Vernon.

A large purple gelatinous cube lurks with a sword sticking out of its side: this is from Dungeons and Dragons, by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

A strange fire burns, but instead of light, it casts shadow; this is a reference to the Caves of Fire and Night from The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede.

The wall becomes blocky, and each cube-shaped block has a repeating texture: this is a nod to Minecraft by Mojang Studios.

Finally, some distinctive rocks and a downwards ladder on the ground refer to Stardew Valley by ConcernedApe. There is also a pickaxe on the ground that could belong to either Stardew Valley or Minecraft.

(I considered adding a blue and purple bat as well, but I don’t want to be sued by the Pokémon franchise.)