Webcomic / Tales of the Skull King

Tales of the Skull King is a Fantasy Sprite Web Comic created by author "Jareth". It's created using sprites from the Scribblenauts video game series.

The story centered around a young man named Jay, who's full name has yet to be revealed. Jay's life can be considered normal, until the day he starts hearing voices in his head. But these voices aren't a part of his slow and slippery decent into madness. No, they are actually a Narrator and his Niece and Nephew who have suddenly taken an interest in him. Shortly after discovering them, he comes up with an idea for an epic fantasy adventure, which he publishes with mob money, which in turn results in his sudden death.

But this isn't the end of Jay's journey. Before his death he was able to sell one single book, and received an amulet as payment. As it turns out, this amulet is magical, and Twenty-Five years after his rather gruesome (and highly censored) death, he awakens in the far north. Learning that in the time since his death his book became a best seller and is considered one of the greatest works of modern literature. This causes Jay to snap and discover that amulet has transformed him into an undead Lich with the ability to raise the dead and control fire. So naturally what does he do? Try to take over the world. He transforms himself into the dreaded Skull King, and begins his path to global domination.

Easier said then done.

Jay isn't alone in his conquest of the world. Among those he resurrects to help him in his quest are:

• the ultra violent viking Olan Van Blonderpoot.
• The mysterious assassin Anastasia Cassava,
• the "scientist" Carl Rogers,
• A Valkyrie warrior he has dubbed "Lady Demonus".
• As well as many others.

Tales of the Skull King can be found on Tumblr and usually updates three times a week, with a monthly week off or end of chapter break.

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Tales of the Skull King contains examples of:

• All There in the Manual: The Author has been slowly building up an Index page for characters and Nations.
• Ancient Artifact: The Narrator uses one to tell his niece and nephew the story.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Empire of Russiama is pretty much this. They're even in the process of exterminating all the Drews' aka Dwarves.
  • Jay "The Skull King" can be considered this in a way, seeing as he plans to kill everyone in the world and turn them undead.
• Art Evolution: Although still a Sprite Comic, the looks of the charicters have evolved a bit since it's beginning. And the backgrounds and items used by the characters have also gotten "more proportionate".
• A Bloody Mess: Many of characters seem to have a hand is causing this.
  • In Odeon's official introduction, he blows up one of his assistants.
  • Olan tends to cause this to happen quite a bit. such as in this comic.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Nearly everyone working for the Skull King tends to be this.
• Censored for Comedy: The Narrator does this to Jay's profanity early on.
  • and later when we see Jay's corpse.
• Grim Up North: The Skull King's Fortress.
• Idiot Ball: Jay taking money from the mafia is what starts off the chain of events that leads to his death.
• Interactive Narrator: Beginning with the second comic, Jay is in contact with the Narrator.
  • This backfires slightly when others who learn of his contact choose to follow him because of it, so the Narrator takes a moment of drama to erase knowledge of himself from the world. Leaving only Jay to know of the Narrator's existence.
• Mysterious Past: Most of the main characters have yet to have any focus on their past lives. Even Jay's past has yet to be fully explored.
  • The only real subversion to this is Carl Rogers, who constantly brings up his past.
  • This is especially true with lady Demonus's daughter Illa, who's mysterious death is the driving force for her mother.
• Rewriting Reality: The Narrator tends to do this every so often.
  • Such as when he turned Jay into a cat to prove he could do it.
• RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Caused by one of the Narrator's rewrites to the Skull King's world.
• Shout-Out: There are quite a few throughout the series.
  • The first comic has the narrator trying to start several stories, with his niece and nephew constantly turning them down. This includes (in order):
    • Star Wars
    • Transformers
    • Samurai Jack
    • The Hobbit
    • "The Frozen Land of Nador" is a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    • and of course the classic Once Upon a Time
• Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration: It's stated early on that once resurrected, the Skull King's soldiers will cease to rot. However it's currently unknown if they can heal from damage.
• Small, Secluded World: The Skull King's whole world (and maybe universe) exists inside a strange artifact that looks like a board game.
• Sprite Comic
• The Undead: Makes up most of the main cast.
• The Unsolved Mystery: Oh my but there are quite a few.
  • To begin with, who was the little girl who gave Jay the amulet to begin with. On top of that, why did she even HAVE that amulet.
  • What is the strange fox creature that seems to be following our protagonist since his rebirth?
    • It's tagged as The Nine Tailed Arctic Fox, still doesn't explain what it is.
    • The recent appearance of the Three Tailed Scorching Hawk confirms that there's more then one of these creatures.
  • And then there are the details around Illa's death. So far all we know is that she died shortly after her mother last saw her, and for some reason her body was sealed inside a secret chamber of the Sacred Glacier.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time moves differently in the Skull Kings world when compared to the Narrator's.

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