Wow! You guys are totally being uber-supportive with the Spacetrawler Book #3 pre-sales! Thank you so much!
I had a really busy weekend. I was commissioned to draw a chalk drawing as part of Chalk Fest in Glens Falls, and had loads of fun with it!
Then on Sunday I drove with Mike Peterson down to John Burrough’s writing cabin “Slabsides” in West Park, NY (where we had a very nice tour with his grand-daughter). We were doing research on a serial story we’ll be writing/illustrating (him writing, me drawing) for the New York News Publishers Association.
Oh god. Poor Martina, but I can’t stop laughing at that last panel.
And Dimitri saves the day again.
He does have a flair for being at the right place, at the right time…
SJONK. YEAHHH DIMITRI
but poor Martina 🙁 through this whole thing I’d been hoping she might miraculously make it after all… heh.
Brainclamp an Eeb, buy him a beer. It’s only fair.
Lol. I thought Yuri would come around and clamp the srubken little Eeb. Of course it would be Dmitri. Great work, Christopher.
I’m hoping that now the 12th Eeb (almost sounds like an Ingmar Bergman film, or something with Bruce Willis) has been SJONKed, I’m hoping she can be talked into inventing something that will rejuvenate Yuri’s power systems and get her back on her feet. So to speak.
Chris, my congratulations on the chalk drawing! Excellent work! It’s nice that the city has the facilities needed to store and maintain exotic animals in an environment where everyone can see them. I also imagine there’s a program in place to pay the homeless to … er … feed the dragon.
(“Hey, Lenny! You gotta come over here and see this! Just come up to the edge, bend over really far, and look really, really close. Just … like … that…”)
I suspect that part of Dimitri’s frustration is that he had plans for the eebs that Martina spoiled.
Nice loop you threw us for. The cool calm sophisticated Dimitri finally has a piece of serious personal news hit him where he ought to have a heart, it affects him for two or three seconds, and then he instantly reverts back to the unconnected drunk he really is. He’s the blonde bimbo here, isn’t he.
Redemption’s a funny thing: Yuri the antisocially insane killer is the one still crying, Dimitri cracks a joke, and the one in horrendous pain gets killed. I never would have expected that the only three honest characters in your story were Yuri, Emily and Krep, but me and my expectations aren’t what just broke your story.
Go figure…
Nice one. Hilariously anti-climatic. Kudos.
Why did he order two drinks?!?
You are a master at the setup and have perfect comedic timing.
@heng, one at a time isn’t enough. 😉
Dmitri just happens to carry a brain-clamp?
@Nomi, well, he did know that by going to Tornitus-6 he was going to possibly be facing unclamped eebs.
@Waldobaby, I usually steer away from discussing people’s interpretations of my intent, but I want to say, that was not my intention. Dimitri’s outburst here is one of the few instances of him really just losing his shit even if only for a moment, which means (to me) that it affected him a lot. In panel #9 I was attempting to show him feeling sad (the tear in his eye) plus sentimental (his expression and words). The next we see him (two panels later) he realizes he can walk three steps to his left and save the galaxy, so of course he is momentarily focused on getting that done. But I did not intend for it to minimize his mourning.
But, perhaps I’m enabling him by projecting depth where there is only drunkenness. Who knows. :-/
I am really going to be quite sad to see this all end. I have loved every bit of this Chris and hope you continue to do similar work in the future.
@Grndragon, yes! My next project will also be sci-fi comedy, and I won’t be taking any break between the two. 🙂
What an (anti) climax!
Also really happy to see your reply to Grndragon. 😀
“I should’ve guessed you’d be more reliable than him.” Yuri. More reliable. You just can’t help constantly insulting Nogg in his own flashbacks, can you? :3
Dimitri isn’t unfeeling, just extremely good at suppressing it when he’s got things to do. Several examples during the series. I get the impression he has a history of “losing it” that got him in trouble, and learned how to control it over time. Maybe the drinking is part of it.
I think Yuri’s systems are self-repairing, just not fast enough.
Woot for more sci-fi comedy!
Woot for Dmitri!
Woot for drunken eebs!
etc.
By the way, I’m really impressed by the chalk drawing. Do you actually have to work from the center out to avoid smudging it, or is there some kind of trick used?
@TB, well, if I had more time and more chalk, I may have been more careful, but in the end I just did my best to step from one similar color to another and not drag my feet. I think some people use fixatives, but I did not. 🙂
Three steps to the left and save the galaxy… yeah, I wanna be able to do that!
We knew she would die but it didn’t affect the story one bit. It still had gripping action, deep drama and various levels of humor. Still does. Interested to see how much more we will be shown before the end of the story and the beginning of a new one?
I’m confused: can’t the Eebs read people’s minds? Or was he too drunk to notice someone thinking of clamping him?
@Bmonroe, too drunk! 😉
That was SICK… and dead solid PERFECT.
Total spirit of Spacetrawler.
SJONK. Yesss!
I should have known Dimitri would come through.
I’m glad to see that @Waldobaby’s interpretation is wrong. @Chris, Dimitri’s question in panel 6 is serious, isn’t it?
That said, I am a little disappointed to see such a deus ex machina resolution of this part of the drama…
It feels like the 7th panel is out of character. Years ago, when someone just broke the news to me that one of my closest friend had died in a car accident, all I could do was go straight to what is shown in panel 8… No revolt, just shock.
They can’t read minds, but they are able to ‘see’ everything around them, even down to the microscopic level, and through solid objects. It’s basically 360-degree Superman Vision.
That’s brilliant! And the last piece of Martina’s plan falls into place! All thanks to Dimitri’s excellent luck!
wow…another really incredible story from a certain someone or other…this is the end…right?
@Dkkauwe, the BEGINNING of the end. 7 strips to go (5 of the story, 1 epilogue, 1 prologue).
This is such a beautiful joke