The Merry Wives of Windsor starring Lady Sif & the Enchantress by Alan Kupperberg

I had not planned on commissioning any more Shakespeare Project works this year, but I saw on Facebook that Alan Kupperberg was looking to take on some commissions. As I recently had seen and liked some of his cover recreations on CAF, well, I just couldn't help myself.

Since he had a pretty good run on Thor, I asked Alan if he might be interested in a commission involving "fery fantastical humours and jealousies" where Lady Sif and the Enchantress stuff Volstagg into a basket of dirty linens. The answer, it seemed, was an enthusiastic yes.

You see, in the play, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," the scalawag, Sir John Falstaff (Volstagg), who is down on his luck, decides to woo the wives of Ford and Page, two gentlemen of different dispositions living in Windsor. In my casting, Ford, a husband given to fits of jealousy, would be played by the Executioner, whereas the more trusting Page would, of course, be played by Thor.

The reason Falstaff has chosen Mistress Ford (the Enchantress) and Mistress Page (Lady Sif) as his marks is that they have control over their husbands' purses. However, in his attempt to "woo" them, he makes the mistake of sending identical love-letters and the ladies quickly see through his ploy. They then spend the rest of the play finding ways to make a fool of him.

In the first such scene (Act III, Scene III), which takes place at Ford's house, the wives stuff/hide Falstaff in a basket and then cover him with smelly linens to hide him from their husbands. They then have Falstaff's mischievous servant, Robin (Loki), carry him and tip him into a muddy ditch to help him make his escape. (Alan cast and added Loki to the commission when he saw there was a fourth character, about whom I had not mentioned, in the research materials I had sent him. He also added the picture of the Executioner above the fireplace.)

PS
To give you a little idea of Alan's enthusiasm, we exchanged several emails discussing a few particulars. ("Can Lady Sif use her sword to stuff Volstaff into the basket?" No, that would be out of character. "Can the Enchantress use her magic to cover Volstaff with the dirty linens?" Yes, cool idea, go for it! etc.) I think I sent my last email to Alan around midnight, Japan time (which is 14 timezones ahead of the American east coast), and then went on to bed.

The very next morning around 8 a.m., before even getting my coffee brewed, I opened my email and discovered that Alan had already sent me a highly detailed "rough" prelim drawing that included everything we had discussed. He also added the message, "Sorry I took so long." LOL!