Right then and there... I knew what I wanted--what I needed-- to do.....

Special thank-you's go to Syrena Done, The Queen of Swords, Silvestris and Pairaka, whose friendly e-letters and encouragement have helped me out these past few weeks. I'd like to special special thank Syrena, who hopefully won't be too miffed at me for copying her fancomic's general format and page layout. ^^;;

All of the Shakespearean quotes used in this manga come from the New Folger Library's version of Hamlet. (Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. Washington Square Press. Published by Pocket Books. 1992.) And ultimately, of course, from the Bard himself, William Shakespeare.(1564-1616) to whom I'd now like to make a sincere and profound apology. I really don't mean to offend anybody with this work. If you're some kind of Shakespearean purist, then you probably don't want to read this comic(or for that matter, watch anything filmed by Kenneth Brannaugh, either).

I will do my best to follow Shakespeare's original text as closely as I can. But bear in mind, since this IS a comic, some of the dialogue will be sacrificed and scenes re-arranged in keeping with the fast pace of this particular medium. (I've made an early change, for instance, at the beginning of Act One, where the character of the soldier, Marcellus has been omitted completely and some of the dialogue has been snipped.) Sorry if this bothers anyone.

Also, as some of you sharp-eyed readers have already noticed (particularly those of you who are theatre majors), the costumes which I have dressed my players in come from a wide variety of geographical regions and historical eras, ranging from the Middle Ages to the late 16th Century. Zelgadis' getup is Elizabethan, the same era that Shakespeare himself lived in. Lina's and Xelloss' hose and doublets date from the Italian Renaissance. I've also got characters running around in garb from the Tudor Era and from early medieval times. I know this isn't historically accurate, but in my character designs, I was mostly aiming for style, not accuracy....Anyways, as any Elizabethan historian can tell you, reckless anachronism is a perfectly period thing to do. Shakespeare himself often practiced it, putting clocks in Julius Caesar, and in having Hamlet himself attend a university which hadn't even been established at the time that the action in his play was supposedly taking place. So then, if the Bard himself isn't going to give a rat's ass about historical accuracy, I don't see why I have to. 'Nuff said..

Oh, and I'm also perfectly aware of the fact that a lot of the images and expressions I draw are copied from Slayers TV Screenshots and the Slayers TRY artbooks. I assure you that at no time did I ever trace any images, I just referenced them very closely. (This is especially evident in the beginning of the manga, where I rely on the artbook images rather heavily.) As time passes though, and as I'm getting more and more familiar with the character's faces, I'm experimenting more with designing my own expressions and poses, and as this happens, I should be moving further and further away from my slavish referencing of the artbooks, although I still intend to use them as a general guide for the character's features. If you think it's "cheating" for me to rely on other people's work to compile the raw material for my own doujinshi, please keep such opinions to yourself. I'm derivative, and I really don't give a damn. Not as long as I can get a cheap laugh out of people.

Lastly, I shall do my best to keep true to the spirit of the Slayers, but even I don't know everything about the series. If I stray from the accepted Slayers canon, or have a character acting in a way they're not supposed to, I apologize. If you want to e-mail me and tell me I made a major mistake by having Lina cast a Ra-Tilt, or having Amelia call someone a namagomi, please don't. There are times when I may purposely ignore canon just for the sake of my own sick little brand of humor. I'm sorry if this irritates you, but if it bothers you to the point where you feel you have to write in and hound me about it...well....maybe you're spending just a little too much time in front of the VCR and you should really go outside and play for a while. Make some friends or take up an outside interest. You'll be glad that you did. As will I.