Oh my goodness. Monday was the most amazing day. Not only did you all help me do so well with the Kickstarter campaign (thank you thank you thank you) (more thank yous later, trust me), but the weather was perfect and we made a dash to Ocean Shores to see the Snowy Owls there, who only go there about once in every TWELVE years. And they were so pretty. And the sun was out and it was not very cold at all. Hard to think of a better day. Except that we didn’t stop for donuts.
Of course this means I’ve been madly working all day to get the strip done, and have it done and this blog done about 4 mintues before it posts. Phew! Plus I got in racquetball. I’m feeling almost fit. It’s been about twenty years since I’ve felt that! Plus, you may notice I have some adrenaline in my system. 🙂
A heads up, I made pita pockets, and made a video and blogged about it (including the recipe) over on Cookrookery
A touching coda to story that had “ended” so sadly.
I really like Martina. She’s been my favorite character. She was thrust into a position of responsibility, took it seriously and tried her best – and even succeeded (mostly). Someone who wanted so hard to do the right thing, to hurt as few people as possible. Yet all her efforts to do good horribly backfire in her face (literally).
So much like real life I suppose – the worst damage is done by those with the best of intentions.
TheWreck
So is that the “official” end of Book 2?
Inquiring minds want to know!
I can “hear” the crickets and tree-frogs chirruping!
@Leland, like book one, there will be a silly epilogue strip, but that’s it. 🙂
I like the musical instrument… Light guitar? Photon harp? Holo-banjo?
I think the point is that the instrument doesn’t really have an Earth equivalent. It is refreshingly itself.
So, since Nogg isn’t “really” speaking English, does that mean that the song’s lyrics *just* *happen* to rhyme in Thelbian as well as in English? 😉
We’ve seen Snowy owls here in south central Ohio this year. Rare for us, especially since we have had no snow cover all winter. The last time I remember them being in Ohio was the blizzard year of ’78, the worst winter in Ohio history.
What is this song? Something you came up with for the comic, or a folk song I am failing to track down?
@Robin Bobcat: I’m going to place my money on the Mandolamp.
Geeze I like this page. Not sure why. Good endings to chapters of webcomics seem to be something I am into. S lot. Also, I’m not sure why I just typed that.
@ Ronald. My own guess was that maybe Nogg picked up the song from one of his passengers and might be singing it in its own base lyrics. I am curious as to where it goes from here since this is a fairly dark path but I am curious where it will be later, since Martina isn’t dead yet and I get the feeling that she will die to save the galaxy…and it will be a great and horrible event.
I’m with Erisian, the song leaves me curious.
First sad, then playful, then wistful. What are you trying to do? Raise real emotions out of us?
Out of left field, does anyone else hear Nogg singing with the voice of Jim Henson as Rowlf from “The Muppet Show”? I don’t think I ever “attached” a particular voice to Nogg before, but when I saw him singing somehow it just clicked immediately.
So Nogg carries around some kind of holographic, theremin-ish, guitar-synth, lyre-like thing eh? Cool!
And I have to say for panel three that the shading of light and color around Mr. Zorilla is very effective in showing his isolation and deep sorrow–I think it’s really beginning to sink in that his daughter is dead, and not even cleanly dead but painfully so.
@Erisian, A South American children’s song: estaba la paloma blanca (Nogg sings it slightly slower).
This reminds me of the joke “I’m giving away my theremin. I haven’t touched it in years.”
Nice owl picture. Of course, I’ve heard that they aren’t what they seem…
Space harp…? Really? but…that means space The Clash can’t smash their space guitars because they’d be too small…
Where would Nogg have learned that song except from Martina?
@Christopher- AWESOME! Now I have a new song to learn this week! Thanks so much! 🙂
You know, I might just try to record myself singing this!
… I’m going to need a photon harp
Decompression, FTW.
On a more serious note, I did an archive crawl of this comic a few weeks ago, and I now check the page for updates daily. This is a very, very good story, and very well told, both in writing and art. I’m almost a little sad that (I sense) we are getting close to the end.
I was clicking around on the YouTube links to the song, because honestly I had a hard time picking out the melody. I ran across this version (which is probably nothing like the link you gave, but that shows how hard it was for me to hear the tune), and was suddenly struck by the image of Nogg shaking his hips while moving around the room, playing his space accordion.
When so many have lost something, there is time to drink a little and remember. Whether just a thought, a song, or the destruction of a galaxy, it does not matter. Loss may always be loss.
Or maybe, if you pine away, she will come back and kick your mental but for not believing in what a monumental force she was.
So that means the lyrics rhyme in both English and *Spanish*. Okay, that’s significantly more probable. 😉
What a wonderful quiet poetic moment.
I love how the wingship’s been parked out in the yard for, what, three days now and nobody’s been by to ask any questions. Does Nogg have an SEP field generator? Can I have one? 🙂
@Leland, there’s quite a significant adobe wall surrounding the house and the backyard. Unless someone comes climbing over the wall, no one’s going to see the wingship.
Also, Mr. Zorilla introduced himself to us by loudly complaining that no one wants to visit him. The fact that he evidently doesn’t visit anyone himself implies there’s some distance between himself and everyone else, and OF COURSE it’s THEIR job to come to HIM. 😉
Plus, it’s South America, home of magical realism. Lots of other stuff going on…
… plus … (and here’s a chilling thought) … what if there isn’t anybody else left? We don’t know what the eventual fate of the Earth … or of the galaxy … will be.
@Eris, maybe Shuar followed through on her threat to enslave humans and turn them into sex slaves.
https://www.baldwinpage.com/spacetrawler/2010/06/02/spacetrawler-46/
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