Sketchpage 27

This little guy is Ethan, Dan and Molly's second child. I waited to introduce him until after I had Beatrice pretty well worked out in my mind, since they have an interesting sibling dynamic between them.

Ethan here is completely albino, so his markings (which would usually be black and grey) show up as different shades of pink. His eyes are very pale and his pupils appear to be obscured by a cloudy film. Save for a slight bit of stigmatism, his vision is completely clear...his eyes just have a very unnerving look about them. Albinism is a fairly uncommon condition among phantasms. Before Ethan, it hadn't shown up in either Dan or Molly's family before, so Ethan was a bit of a surprise. When he was first born, Molly's side of the family, the Tombstones, completely freaked out and blamed Dan's family for not contributing enough pigment to the mixture. Since Dan's side of the family is currently taking an extended dirt-nap, they were in no position to refute such a claim. The first few weeks after Ethan was born were pretty stressful, since it seemed like everyone Dan and Molly had ever met wanted to contribute their opinion about where Ethan's pigment had gone. (Ed's contribution of 'Who needs pigment? I did fine without it' was not at all comforting.) Since both Molly and Dan are high-ranking bogeymen, the Bungle and the four senior bogeymen came to visit Ethan after the initial excitement had died down. The general reaction was lukewarm at best, and Dan had to be prevented from throwing leslie Corvus out on his rear on one occasion.

Phantasms are extremely sun-sensitive to begin with, and really don't like to venture outside in bright sunlight (even though they are completely capable of doing so). Ethan cannot stand sunlight at all. He sunburns almost instantly, and even pale evening light is enough to make him uncomfortable. Since he has only a limited amount of pigment in his eyes, his vision will slowly deteriorate if he doesn't wear sunglasses outdoors, inside...pretty much everywhere, all the time. Even reading, he wears sunglasses. This is not a fun situation at all, especially since Ethan is convinced that glasses make him look silly. It doesn't help his confidence that the first things other bogeymen notice about him are his little pink wings, either...

His mom and dad try their best to make things comforatble for him, but Ethan has had a really rough time of it. He's naturally very sweet and shy and is absolutely terrified of strangers. He's not at all afraid of running around and getting himself into all sorts of trouble at night though, when most other phantasms are on duty. During the daylight hours, he hides indoors and reads or colors...when Beatrice isn't dragging him off on some sort of wild adventure. Beatrice was absolutely delighted to get a little brother to play with, and the fact that he's pink is just a bonus for her. If the other kids mess with him, she starts cracking skulls, and has more than once had to be dragged home by Dan after attempting to stomp on another kid's head. (Beatrice is very tall for a six-year-old, and has more than once been reprimanded for using her superior height and new shoes for well-intentioned but violent purposes.)

Dan, like Beatrice, spends quite a bit of his time defending Ethan...even though he usually doesn't end up stomping on someone's head. The De'Corpus family has served Figment City for generations and generations, and so Dan's son has gotten a lot of negative attention from the higher-ups at Figment Corp., who perceive Ethan's condition as a weakness. For generations, the elder De'Corpus has acted as the enforcer of Quixotian common law until he's succeeded by his son, and since Dan has a rambunctious little girl and a shy little boy to back him up should he meet with an unfortunate incident in the near future...well, it doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence in them. Luckily, the current Bungle, Hartley Nightley, is more concerned with Bea and Ethan's latent abilities than their appearances, and neither of them disappoint. Both Bea and Ethan will probably grow up and kick just as much monster tail as their dad, and on Bea's part, with perhaps even more enthusiasm.

Dan absolutely loves his two kids, and is a very devoted father. If he's not out kicking rogue nightmare butt, then he's at home with his family. To build up Ethan's confidence, Dan will go outside with him at night so he can play like any kid without an extremely restricting skin-condition. Each morning, Dan spends some time reading with Bea and Ethan. With Bea, he usually ends up reading action and adventure stories, since Bea likes the idea of growing up and doing exciting and heroic things someday. With Ethan, he usally ends up reading Victorian-era poetry and short stories, which the little guy finds soothing. This is fantastic for Dan, who often finds himself wondering if he is the only bogeyman in Figement City with a taste for trancendentalist poetry. (He probably is.)

In Phantasm, Beatrice and Ethan are 6 and a half and three respectively. Molly and Dan each have their own part to play in the main story, and since the two of them like kids, so it seems only natural that they'd have some of their own.


(sketchbook page- pen and ink, cheap photoshop colors.)