After all the blather, nice to have a quiet storytelling moment…
Security Agent Captain Cassandra Quinn is on assignment to the mining outpost Luna Seven amid rumors of pirates near the outpost. On her approach to the complex, she saw something moving around on the surface of the moon that shouldn’t have been. During her attempts to verify her visual sighting, a mysterious ship blasted her out of the sky. Her story starts HERE.
Meanwhile, on miner Simon Tripline’s morning commute to work, he sees something strange through a porthole. Shortly thereafter, Simon’s suspicions are aroused concerning the mysterious activities of the base’s top earner, Vin Sinclair, who becomes separated from the mining party. Simon takes off to find him, but finds Captain Quinn instead. He rescues her, but she wakes up confused, angry and armed. While they argue, something is watching them.
But the disoriented Captain Quinn threatens to shoot Simon one too many times, so he buckles in, seals his mask, and vents the cab compartment, blowing her out of the digger into the vaccuum of the moon, even though she only has 5 minutes of oxygen left.
For a run-down on all the characters, see the NEW READERS page.
Way to go Simon. I love it, and that last panel…
I hope he remembers to take away her gun this time
Totally agree with Utherkbn last panel rocks!
We knew he’d come good and save her as well – good to see.
Love it – keep ‘em coming!
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh this is storytelling Gold, Steve. This was beautifully timed!
I’ve only just discover this comic, but after trawling the archive I’m hooked.
Great stuff! Glad to see Simon had time to figure out how to carry her this time. Hope the natives are friendly . . . by the way, I like warm glow coming from inside the cabin as they enter. Nice touch . . .
Expected Ms. Quinn to try something, but I guess she didn’t have many options.
So, of course Terraluna Universale saw fit to issue these to security guards headed into the vacuum of space.”
Ha ha. Blast those darned pirates into the far reaches of space, and the security guards too.
Ha ha @ Five minutes later.
I think this strip looks great. The way Simon looks at her, how he carries her back inside thrown over the shoulder the opposite (right) way around, and the Moon Men, or, uhm, Moonians?
Looking forward to more alien action.
Ooooh, Lunar creatures spying on the proceedings, and what appear to be two different forms to boot. Very nice.
Now the question becomes, are they friendly or hostile aliens??
Duhn-duhn-duuuuhn!
VERY cool, Steve! Every panel you draw has me on the edge of my seat wanting more! I love that last panel, especially with the way you tie together both lifeforms you’ve shown us so far!
Different topic, but is your book still on schedule? I can’t wait to get my greedy hands on a copy!
Thanks for the nice notes, everyone!
Mercy – welcome aboard and I’m glad you’re hooked. We’ll see if we can keep your attention.
Sardtok – you did post twice although only one showed. Hmm. *shrug* well, I added the first note into your second, so it’s all there now.
DCS – Duhn-duhn-duuuuuhn indeed!
PiperKev – I’m glad you’re enjoying it! The book *should* be on schedule. I had a little trouble getting the second group of proofs back from the printer because of the historically high snows we had here this month. I got the proof yesterday, and aside from it being a bit too purple in the first chapter, and some of the flesh tones washed out, I’m pretty happy with it.
I’m trying to decide whether to send a third group of files to adjust. I probably will, and if I do that, I’m not sure what effect it will have on the shipping date, but I assume it won’t be more than a couple of days.
Wow, we get to see a bit more of the natives. I would assume they are friendly or the settlement would have experienced them much earlier. They must have something they are protecting, and I’m sure the lost digger will lead us to that.
This has been an awesome story to follow, you do a great job artistically and by way of story telling, very captivating tale. Keep up the good work.
Gaah! Hilarious with the SpongeBob “5 minutes later” hehe. I’m thinking she is not gonna be happy. But man, what a great last panel!
Thanks Tmcelmurry! High praise indeed.
Tom – ha! Glad you caught that. In fact, the original draft of this chapter, “Five Minutes Later” was going to get its own whole panel. But over the past few comics, I’ve needed to steal that space back for an extra panel, so it became a caption instead. It was slightly funnier as a whole panel, but I’m glad the idea came across anyway.
Thanks for the nice notes, everyone!
WOW! This sequence of panels, culminating in this last one has and is, great! I think each panel just keeps getting better as each presents itself. Simon seems to have found a whole new personal footing, resident within but now emerging. And I think a certain relationship may be about to take a whole new turn. I can’t hardly wait to find out. But most certainly will!
That’s funny! A few more times and he might wear her down. Love the last panel. You always get me with that last panel!
Thanks, Eddie. I’ll tell you, in the original draft, I was going to do the SpongeBob thing – he throws her out til she passes out, then she throws him out and locks him out til he faints, and back and forth and so on for a few pages. As funny as it is to me – and I’m sort of still laughing about it as I write this – I feel the need to progress the story instead of detour further into that broad humor. I think I struck a good balance on the pages to come, but I’m glad I got to at least get my “Five Minutes Later” homage to SpongeBob in there. *snicker*
More gorgeusness and amazing storytelling! Love the reveals in the last panel too. Indiginous moon-sentients? Rivals for resources? Or something even more convoluted?
(Nice outfits too. Love the staff. I want one!)
Frankly, Steve, it looks a little like some of My Babies from The Cavern managed to hitchhike Tink’s WHITE OWL and drilled their way out just beyond Moon Town. If it IS the bunch I think it is, the closest thing they have to a “leader” recognizes “Vin the Diesel” as his “name”, when dealing with Terran-like humanoids. ~<8o} Tink
It would have been funny to have them repeat it (and I’m giggling thinking about it) but I agree with your instinct, that you need to get on with it to keep the right balance.
SO THEY ARE REAL!!!
Oh, holy…
Finally, made my way through the archive, so it’s time for the first comment. This is an excellent comic, with great humor and excellent art. Keep up your fantastic work!
I can already see the next panel, the Moonians will start to sing “We will rock you”, I’ve already seen them doing it!
BTW, I discovered your comic through your comments on “Marooned” which is also a great comic.
Yeah, Bartimaeus – it’s about to get all strange up there.
HA! That Evian spot is Brilliant, Peter! Thanks for the link.
Now… how did you KNOW that’s what happens next!? heh heh…
Thanks for the nice comments, and I’m glad you found Moon Town (and Marooned)!
Nice Plan to calm the crazy secruity guard!
Great suspense building in the last panel.
I trust Simon will restrain her in one way or another this time around so that she’s not so quick to the draw with her gun.
Yet again, a great page.
The drawn out extended joke would still fun to see, but agree its not needed for this comic as its not a full on comedy
Maybe you should create a deleted ideas/scenes section for extra laughs
Theorist – one must regain control of one’s rig, at the end of the day. I think you can only push someone so far.
Chris – I do believe he’s learned a thing or two. We’ll see.
Fireryone – there are so many things I have to delete for time (space) and to keep the story on track. Most of the time I don’t miss them, but this is one that I was really sad to see go. Still, as they say, “Kill your darlings”. Gotta keep it on track.