Happy 4th of July. Drive safe.
Convergence was a sight to behold. An around the clock party for the geek set taking over the entirety of a two tower motel. Days spent in the “Dealers Room” talking with fans — ones who have been reading my work since “Bruno“, to people who’d never heard of me. Evening’s spent wandering halls where every doorway led to a different geek-themed party. All with frequent trips to the PB&J room. The costumes and craziness was overwhelming, but it was mostly the utter acceptance and good will which impressed me. I never set foot in any place the entire convention where ANYONE looked at me funny like “what the hell are you doing here,” more often than not they’d hand me something blue to drink.
Thanks to Betsy, Mike, Doug, Ellie, Bruce, Julie, Mya, Dave, Brickston, Felix, Regina, Connie (heh), Amanda, Carlos, Gwen, Don, Molly, Nick, Chris Nitz, Megan, Richard & Suanna, Ski, Denise, Kate, Lisa, Ben, Oz, Jeanie, Bonnie, Gordon Smuder, Brian Keene, the good folk at the Splounge, Con Suites, and everyone else who helped me in making this such a fun weekend. And special thanks to Hedgie, who connected all the dots.
Of course, I missed my my girlfriend and the cats. Ah, the duality of traveling away from home.
I didn’t do a lot of standalone sketches at this convention, mostly sketches in books. But for some reason of the giveaway sketches I DID, I had Dimitri on my mind, possibly because of the massive amount of booze which seemed to be consumed by (most) all of the attendees in the evenings. The girl sketch at the bottom, I’m not sure who she is, just a sketch I guess, steampunk maybe?
You know, I clicked the “random comic link” and got one of your old convention posts. Your sketches then were also of Dimitri. What’s up with that?
By the way, love the literal smoking gun in panel 8
I have yet to see a mind-wiping device that inspires confidence. The trend continues!
oh man oh man this is exciting!
My question: how did mirghoots get to such high level of tech without opposable thumbs? look at the small parts on that crown. and don’t say eebs, they’ve been space-worthy since before the eebs were clamped.
In a previous comment we learned that they make machines, that make smaller machines, etc., until they reach the desired level of complexity.
So my theory that they have uncounted delicate tendrils around the anus is apparently incorrect (unless they are dissembling because matters concerning defecation are taboo…).
RE: Mirghoot Tech
That, and they seem squishy enough that they can probably squinch down the tips of the larger limbs for detail-work.
Yes, “squinch”.
“Well, I didn’t see THAT coming.”
Me neither, King. Me neither. 🙂
(good job, Chris)
I like the ‘consider’ bit – which suggests that the option of mindwiping and still leaving some part of discovery to take place later, is still just an option.
Like has been said by Leyland – I did not see that coming.
….
Hmm – mindwipe on reverse, your brain gets filled with all the deleted stuff of thousands of people who found out that mirghoots actually have two cerebellums to rub together after all …
Where, pray tell, did he get the blaster from?
@Grizz,
The same place Krep got the laser-blade. He had it the entire time.
The bigger question is why didn’t the Mihrrgoots take them from them? Perhaps King and other Mihrrgoots are complacent in their “nigh-invunerability” and weren’t thinking of threats to others.
Maybe Mihrrgoots really are naive after all!
oh yeah:
“Krep is a mean Flimboulxian!”
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!
(HA!)
I’m glad you had fun at Convergence. It was great meeting you. Thanks again for the sketches!
Also, Spacetrawler is awesome.
@Frank, I find that Dimitri, Yuri, and Emily are eye-catching even to people who don’t know the strip. I think I like drawing Dimitri best because he’s always grinning, which makes me grin.
@Grizz, @Leland is correct. You can see the blaster in Pierrot’s holster the last several strips. 🙂
@Leland, also I forgot to link: in an early strip it was mentioned that he was from planet Flimboulx.
Great meeting you too, @Pedro!
Oh, Christopher! Panel 6 will cement Pierrot’s role as “Defender of Awesome “! He must have had fencing training at some point in life, because he appears to have automatically assumed a standard “lunge” attack position — prepared, at an instant, to thrust his weapon deep into his opponent. Shades of “The Scarlet Pimpernel”! (Or would the final sword fight of “The Count of Monte Cristo” be a better description?)
Will you be at WorldCon in Reno this year? ( http://www.renovationsf.org/ )
@M.A., I wish I could, but it’s expensive and I wasn’t sure if I could break even this year if I did it. Next year for sure. Same thing probably for Dragon*Con.
Oh Pierrot! They must’ve been able to keep their memories SOMEHOW, or how else can this part of the story be retold in recall? /meta-speculation
Small wonder Pierrot is always in a snit and messing things up, and not the ladies’ man that Dimitri is. As we can plainly see in panel 10, Pierrot is conspicuously missing a “bulge” in the front of his space suit a little below the belt. Good character drawing skills, Christopher.
PS: you look so much like the Sheriff of Rottingham (Roger Rees) in your avatar.
ooh dick move on top of another dick move on top of another one. I like that.
Hey cool! There’s that laser blade again! 🙂
Despite how much Pierrot can get on my nerves, I’ve got to give him props for this move. The man isn’t afraid to stick by his principles, and I think he did the right thing here. Taking hostages = not cool. I hope this results in some good for him later on down the road.
Pierrot, from his actions here, have the makings of a CDT diplomat. Though in the unconventional mold of the great Retief.
@WarPig, Roger Rees is my Doppelganger.
@Devin, Yeah, he’s kinda a really nice guy. Not your average superhero.
@night-Gaunt, the Galactic Diplomat look fascinating. Sadly I can’t find any Retief audiobooks! :-/
There’s a few audio versions of Keith Laumer stories featuring Retief here:
https://catalog.librivox.org/search.php?title=&author=Keith+Laumer&status=all&action=Search
Oooooohhh, thank you, @Jeff!
Christopher – It was awesome to meet you. I hope the rest of the con went well and you sold oodles of stuff! 😀
I’m really glad you had a good time at CONvergence. It was excellent to meet you!
You too, @Prairie! Glad our scheme all worked out. 😉
@Amanda, if this is the Amanda I was touring with Saturday night with Gwen, my apologies for disappearing, I was greatly enjoying both the tour and the company. But, it’s… a long story.
And Now Oohlooh has Tweety Bird as a voice ^^