The Mystery of Darkstone Manor

The Mystery of Darkstone Manor is the first issue of the Valewood Tales webcomic. The first page was released on the 17th of September, 2017.

Synopsis
Andrew Wheatley moves to the quiet town of Valewood, but discovers that it is more than it seems - and that his grandfather was hiding secrets.

Plot
On a bus to Valewood, Andrew Wheatley writes in a personal diary about the circumstances that led him to move to the town - the death of his grandfather a year before. Elsewhere, local photographer May Winter awakes and regrets it.

Arriving in Pines Close, the location of his new house, Andrew realises that he has lost the key and turns to Burns Realty, an estate agency next door, for help. However, he finds nothing outside of a sinister voice warning him that he is beyond help.

While Andrew decides to break into the house, May and her cat Henrik witness the events and May catches them on camera, deciding to show them to her friends Matt and John, and Elizabeth in Tom's TVs, the shop just across the road from Andrew's house. May plans to foil the burglary with Elizabeth's help.

Meanwhile, in the basement, looking for the fusebox, Andrew discovers that the place is full of mysterious paraphernalia of a seemingly supernatural origin, left by his grandfather. Upon knocking over a shelf, he finds several books pertaining to the mysteries of the town compiled by Douglas Wheatley, mentioning strange phenomena and the old mansion up on the hill overlooking the town, Darkstone Manor. May and Elizabeth arrrive and confront Andrew, who explains the misunderstanding and learns that Douglas was something of a local enigma. He accompanies May and Elizabeth to Darkstone Manor to investigate the mystery as a starting point, using May's career in photography as an excuse to get in there. Andrew experiences some doubts about the owner, millionaire Moe Frankfort, as they arrive.

In the mansion, Moe consults his butler Kentworth about the suspicious photography appointment and finds that he does not have one booked. Meanwhile, Andrew and Elizabeth venture below the mansion and discover a network of old catacombs that seem to be famously unmappable. However, with Douglas' map, the two of them stumble upon what appears to be a mysterious chamber inhabited by a strange man in goggles. This is Darwin Archimedes, and his reaction to strangers in his lair is immediately to pull a bizarre harpoon on them.

After accidentally confirming his extraterrestrial status, Darwin is interrupted by the arrival of Moe and May, presumably having headed into the catacombs in search of the other intruders. While Moe attempts to make sense of the situation, Andrew tries to confront Darwin again until the latter throws a memory-erasing device at him with little success.

When Moe takes the Memorb and demands to know what Darwin is doing underneath his house, the eccentric intruder is forced to reveal himself - he is an alien researcher from the planet Reloo, sent to study Earth for the purposes of his university degree.

Moe, unimpressed, attempts to casually throw the Memorb aside - but this triggers a security protocol; a large and dangerous-looking robot that Darwin calls the Securobot hovers out of the floor, scans the assembled idiots and seems to decide that they are a threat. It attacks them and Moe attempts to defend Andrew with the Har-Doom, which works as expected. He discards the glorified watering can and leaps at the Securobot, which has little effect. Elsewhere, May stumbles upon a length of broken pipe.

Andrew and Darwin attempt to consult Douglas' book for answers, but can find nothing helpful and end up using the book as a shield from the robot, which fires a laser at them and destroys the book. May climbs the Securobot's arms and impales it with the broken pipe, causing it to explode and destroy most of the lair, leaving it a ruin.

As Darwin despairs about the destruction of his home and Elizabeth attempts to console him, Andrew pipes up with an offer for Darwin to move in with him. With little other choice, Darwin accepts as Moe reluctantly asks him if he is required to pay for the destruction of the Securobot. They return upstairs, where Kentworth confronts his boss about the intruders and reveals that he has called the police, much to everyone's dismay - but Elizabeth has picked up the Memorb.

Later that night, Andrew and Darwin finish unpacking the former's things, and Andrew attempts to ask Darwin more about Reloo - but he is unwilling to talk about it, and cheerfully heads to bed. Andrew, carrying his last box of stuff to bed, stops by the portrait of Douglas to pledge that he will find out the truth about his grandfather. Across the road, a sinister old man named Monothiel Blackwill watches from the window of Burns Realty.

Appearances

 * Andrew Wheatley
 * May Winter
 * Elizabeth Glass
 * Darwin Archimedes
 * Moe Frankfort
 * Douglas Wheatley (pictured, mentioned)
 * Toby Kentworth

Credits
Written by: Drawn by:
 * Alex Donald
 * Alex Graboyes