02/22/12 The Fire



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Don’t forget the Kickstarter for Book #2 campaign.

This strip makes me sad. I may laugh callously when I write death, but it also makes me sad. Ah, how mixed emotions can be.

Well, good. Now you know what our jolly crew is up against in book 3. And the characters who were doomed? They needed closure. Will I forget that aside from at-times-intense story that this is ALSO A COMEDY? — NO. Never.

It’s my brithday on Saturday. Whoot! Happy me. I’ll eat cake. And eat it too.

Anyhow. Kickstarter still going through Monday, pre-orders for book #2 and other fun items: artwork, name as a character, postcards! It’s really really awesome. Check it out.

41 Comments

  1. Marcus Cortez

    A girl, sitting on a rock on Carpsellon, suddenly realized what had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place.

    Sadly, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, a terrible, stupid catastrophe occurred and the idea was lost forever.

    But this is not her story. Not anymore.

  2. ronald

    Speaking of Fiyena, it occurred to me: Pierrot has been with Fiyena. Dimitri has been with Shuar, Dal, Choan, and no doubt many others (although A F A I K those are the only three confirmed lovers who’ve been seen on-panel; Dimitri has FLIRTED with additional aliens on-panel but none of those were confirmed to have become his lovers). Dusty, well, Dusty probably wouldn’t sleep with an alien even if one showed an interest.

    Seems sort of unfair that none of the human women have enjoyed any alien affection.

    Obviously individual characterization is a factor:

    Having been raised by coyotes, for example, Emily probably values monogamy, since mated coyotes tend to stay together for years.

    There may or may not be real-life statistics on whether chronically depressed people who live mostly in self-isolation are more or less likely to seek out “meaningless” sexual encounters, but I’m not sure if they’d apply to someone whose depression is rooted in mass murder, as Martina’s is.

    And Yuri, well, even if she still has cybernetic “self-pleasuring” capabilities, she now seems to be part cat, so I’m not sure how that would factor in.

    So, food for thought at the very least.

  3. KingInYellowTatters

    I know Fiyena was kind of a loose hanging thread in the whole Pierrot/Emily/Fiyena love triangle thing, but seeing her incinerated into ash is still really sad. She was a sweet girl (despite being kind of a spineless doormat, like the rest of her species), and didn’t deserve to die. It’s just sad… ๐Ÿ™

  4. Christopher

    @Marcus_Cortez, ha! Lovely. HGTTG at its best. ๐Ÿ™‚
    @Coyoty, if it involves me getting to eat your cake as well, you’re on.
    @Ronald, excellent point. Guess you’ll have to keep reading to know if I have plans to change that. ๐Ÿ˜‰
    @KingInYellowTatters, it is particularly sad, I agree. I will not bring her back specterally ala Obi Wan (though that would be awesome), but her storyline isn’t totally over.

  5. JKCarroll

    @Christopher, if your birthday is coming up AND if you’re getting ready to publish volume 2 AND if each volume is one year’s worth of story THEN in one year you will have both the end of the series AND a birthday. In other words, at the end of the series, …

    … there will be cake.

  6. JKCarroll

    @Captain Jack, what’s worse, think of all the carbon dioxide that the burning released into the atmosphere. Now THAT’s going to cause some hellacious global warming.

    Well, that and the global spicy-food-poop-firestorm. But mostly the CO2.

  7. ronald

    Would brain-clamped Eebs have survived the blast? Since EVERYONE uses brain-clamped Eebs, one might reasonably presume that there were at least a few in private use on the planet. If so, well, Dimitri didn’t liberate those, so…

    BTW, oh, GOOD ONE, Crimson-57, now the entire galaxy is going to fear and hate Eebs and possibly take out their frustrations on the ones who can’t fight back. [sarcastic slow applause]

    >>>Now THATโ€™s going to cause some hellacious global warming.

    If global warming occurs on a planet where no one’s alive to deny it, is it still warm?

  8. Happy birthday and congratulations on the KickStarter campaign success. I’m glad to have contributed my own small part. My own startup company is now looking into its own campaign based on recent successes. I hope we have the same degree of luck. I love actually getting paid for my work ๐Ÿ™‚

    Damn! Can’t wait until Monday to see what happens next. The bonus material is working out nice. Thanks.

  9. Galane

    Whoo! For a long time I was figuring Khuu Drak was going to get away, being a squishy, squidoid type of being. A rock falling on him that didn’t mash him into paste probably wasn’t really fatal.

  10. ronald

    More Random:

    I wonder if learning the meaning of “Harnoth’s Pods” will take as long as it took to learn the meaning of “Brograhm’s Teeth.”

    When Red-9 walks away, will a fragment of the floor of Carpsellon Base be where she was standing? In the shape of her footprints?

    Since the evil Eebs have no experience with clothing, it’s mildly interesting that they decided to wear togas the exact same color of the jackets that all other Eebs wear. Hm.

    Incidentally, it occurred to me, the crew has (that we have seen) freed two passels of Eebs — plus Cerise22 (from Shuar’s ship) on her ownsome — and AFAIK not one Eeb has ever said “thanks.” I mean, come on, how much is THAT to expect?

    BTW, still wondering about the Mihrrgoot/eyes thing. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  11. Red 9 imparted information to them when he (she?) released them. Such a transfer could have contained cultural elements such as clothing style. No mystery if Chris affirms this.

    How much is it to expect “Thanks” from the eebs? Apparently too much. Especially since they seem to have a general hostility to the universe at large.

    Oh. I just realized I don’t even know how old you are now, Chris. Safe to ask?

    A definite mystery is how the eebs of Brogham’s Teeth knew who fired off the self-destruct button. Red-9 might of imparted such information, but I don’t see why. The eebs have telekinetic ability, not telepathic (that we know of).

  12. Christopher

    @Roanld, “Harnothโ€™s Pods” were also mentioned here. The future of them and the story: nebulous. Oh, and yes, those are the Mihrrgoots’ eyes. Clothing…. I’m not sure I’ll get into that i the strip, although I did intentionally make the cloth the same, but Richard’s answer is as good as any. ๐Ÿ™‚

    @Richard, 39! (and good luck with your campaign)

  13. JKCarroll

    I donโ€™t know, Ronald. Why donโ€™t we ask Venus?

    @Frank, I think that depends on which Venus you ask. I, for one, prefer viewing her as a planet clothed in perpetual rain, filled with rain forests and giant creatures. I know there are some scientists who claim that Venus is a dry hell-hole whose only light comes from the dull glow of a surface that’s been heated to incandescence. But hey, who are you going to believe: some fancy-pants scientist who says he’s got facts on his side; or Ray Bradbury?

  14. ronald

    >>>How much is it to expect โ€œThanksโ€ from the eebs? Apparently too much. Especially since they seem to have a general hostility to the universe at large

    Well, those are the UNclamped Eebs, all of whom were freed by Crimson-57 (except for, you know, Crimson-57, who was freed by Red-9). The clamped Eebs who have been rescued by the crew are surely enjoying life at least a BIT more now they’re not being used for slave labor. They’re now only expected to obey the same authority as any free beings, such as the ship’s captain (and I’m sure Krep would observe that even THAT’S sort of theoretical), the crew’s requests of them so far (help fix Yuri, for instance) seem to have been fairly minimal, and they’ve otherwise been free to pursue their own interests. Which makes me wonder what sort of mechanical…STUFF might be lurking in the ship’s cargo hold or wherever it is they live on the ship.

    Obviously the crew is dedicated to freeing Eebs out of idealism, with or sans gratitude, but, come on, who doesn’t like to feel appreciated every now and then?

    Of course, now that the ship’s entire Eeb populace is with Dimitri for the foreseeable future, they won’t be talking to any crew member but him for a while anyway.

  15. Prairie

    @ronald said “Just think, if Fiyena had gone to die with her friends, sheโ€™d be alive right now.”

    I think that’s profound. It says that cowardice doesn’t guarantee safety from harm – which is what the coward wants above all.

    In the Bible (Luke, I think) it says something like ‘If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.’

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