1. I think Simon asks a perfectly legitimate question.
2. I think his approach to Flagg is risky but perfectly logical.
3. I think that front end loader would hurt. Yowza!
Yes, you’ve seen the first half of this. Originally it was going to be spread out over two strips, but it really flows better this way. *shrug*
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. Before long, he brings her back in and tries to reason with her. It doesn’t go well, but before Simon and Captain Quinn can beat each other to death, the moon aliens come calling.
For a run-down on all the characters, see the NEW READERS page.
Knowing Mr. Flagg’s temperament I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t jump in a digger and tear out there after Simon just to scold him on this. I hope they can get that digger to moving, other wise at the rate that alien creature is getting on to their digger, if it’s a hostile action it won’t take long and they’ll be without transportation. Hope Simon’s got a reserve tank for Quinn, other wise one of them might be up a creek with no paddle. I guess at this point they can only hope that Sinclairs digger comes back in time and either scares the creatures off or gives them a much needed distraction. Glad to see a new one up, I really enjoy this webcomic and can’t wait to see where this story line is going.
Yeah beat it, Flagg! Simon has a *little something* getting all his attention at the moment
I love that first panel where the alien is gripping the machine. That’s gonna be a problem.
Can’t wait to see what happens next. By the way, in addition to the overall fantastic art, I absolutely love the way Steve handles radio transmissions. Love the stylized blippy balloon tails on the transmission speech bubbles. Just one of many details that add that special something.
Thanks, guys!
Ruben – glad you like the blippy bits. That’s just me having a play. One must amuse one’s self, no?
Welcome to the pack!
That can’t be good! Love Simon’s expression in the last panel. He’s not really sorry, is he?
Wow, very dark.
I see you continued the small panels from the last page, and with all that black it really gives a sort of claustrophobic and dark feel. Suits the current storyline very well.
I had a tiny bit of trouble reading what was going on in the first panel, though. I think it maybe got a bit crowded.
Caressing a glowing floodlight? Eyes glowing with what…desire or “that would work great in my secret cargo bay!” or just a compulsion fueled by “minemineminemineminemine”?
I wonder if Mr. Flagg is a real person, maybe he’s just a computerized boss like dude only living in the digger’s computer system, lol.
i bet flagg hasn’t read the previous strip otherwise he’d be sure to know that tripline ran into some serious issues with that creature there.. .
How convenient Simon took the charge out of Quinn’s Kill-o-Zap. Let’s see some driller-and-crane-action here! Clash of the titans! Whoot! Ten bucks here say Quinn has to disembark and give the herder some thrashing!
Hooray, an update! And it’s good to see Simon taking an appropriately no-nonsense, decisive approach to the situation, by effectively telling Flagg to get bent while Simon deals with the problem!
Are you playing with the layout a bit? Going to change up the formatting?
HooRah welcome back OG, you were missed. (Cass and Simon too… Flagg not so much
Hope that Lunapus isn’t able to eat a digger whole.
Matt – short answer, no. Long answer… yes, but only for this strip and the next one. Originally I slated them for one update, two rows that would fit in a regular strip space, but it was taking me too long so I split it up. *shrug* Second half tomorrow, and then back to normal.
AWESOME!!! I love this strip!
Awesome added detail!
Who is he? Was he in the military once? A super agent? Was he the youngest child in a family of 10 children? How can he be so calm and collected when there’s an alien creature attacking/probing?
B A S H ! That will leave a mark.
I think the implied reaction by the little alien squid rider is one of the better parts.
Yep, they needed to be together. This flows really nice. “one monster at a time” – classic!
That’s great! Looks like the first round goes to Simon . . . tho’ Flagg’s gonna give it to him for losing that light I betcha . . .
Hornet, your imagination go where mine went? A sort of Muad’Dib-ian at the mental reins?
Ah!! Finally!
Thank you, I’m loving it.
Action baby, Action!