Kim starts school today (or rather, tomorrow morning since this updated early on Sunday.) Luckily, these pages were faster than normal… because I didn’t try to do that same method of coloring I was trying out for that last bit. That … was KILLING me. It took much longer than I thought it would! So back to this, which looks quite nice with a few new methods mixed in.
Actual text will update this evening. Must run a few quick errands and get pencilling done today … and start writing more scripts before I run out!!
- Tiff
PS. Nevermind, here’s your text.
Hours later, Lexx awoke in his room, by himself. He stiffly got out of bed and enjoyed a quick, warm shower. Of course Damian’s ship would have an excellent water reclamation system and perfect temperature control. Water dripped from the ceiling of a small walk in cleansing room like a warm spring shower and Lexx enjoyed every moment of it.
Lexx found himself far more relaxed and calm than he had been since Chel had been taken. She was still on his mind. The urgency of the situation had not faded. His drive to fight had temporarily faded. Lexx dressed in a set of clothing that he found had been folded neatly and placed in a chair near the bed. Someone was nearby, likely watching him. They had not been there before he took the shower. Lexx was certain about that. The bed had also been made.
Lexx walked out into the living area and found Riley waiting for him … with a tray of delicious looking foods set out in front of him.
“Sleep well?” Riley asked curiously.
“No thanks to you.” Lexx grumbled taking a seat across from the littan.
“I’d imagine it’s all thanks to me.” Riley grinned, showing off all his fangs.
“I’ll wait a few hours before taking on another round of dice.” Lexx picked at the closest plate.
“That’s fine.” Riley nodded. “I came by to let you know that I don’t have any news .. and Sirius will not be available for combat.”
“Why is that? He fought well. He didn’t hold back.” Lexx took a bite of a large, pale orange wafer with a delicious looking golden glaze dripping off the edges.
“There was a glitch in one of the healing patches that was applied to Sirius.” Riley began to explain the situation. “The nanos stopped functioning after an hour’s work and he broke the holding stitches in several places. He lost a lot of blood, but we got to him in time to save him from fully reverting … or dying. You know, sometimes, that can happen.”
Lexx stared at Riley. He had almost lost Sirius?
“He’s doing ok now, Lexx, but it took a lot out of him.” Riley continued. “He should be allowed to rest.”
“I have the others.” Lexx nodded in agreement. The food was back on the plate and a growing pit in his stomach had robbed him of his appetite.
“If you don’t want to talk or anything, I’m going back to my quarters.” Riley stood up.
“That’s fine.” Lexx mumbled.
“Call me if you need me.”
“I will.”
Riley left with some hesitation. He wasn’t sure that he should, but after he had meddled so much the evening before, he felt it might be the best thing to do for Lexx. It wouldn’t do to have Lexx feel like Riley was trying to control everything.
Lexx stared at the food in front of him, picking at another wafer, then thinking better of it and getting up. He crossed the room to one of the towering window walls that looked out into space. What am I doing? Sirius is one of my best dice. Lexx felt bad. Not just sorry for Sirius, but sick to his stomach. If that glitch had gone unnoticed, he would have slowly bled to death. … I don’t want to hurt them …
The weight of his previous actions is catching up to him it seems. I do think however that he won’t stop here. Chel is too important to him to do that. But something will change. I just know it.
I read the comic, and didn’t really understand what the glitch was about until I read through the text. While this additional info is clear after reading the text, it wasn’t until then, at least not for me.
When you do your re-work for book publishing, if you haven’t already, I would recommend that you make some additional panels for the first part of the conversation above.
Cudos on mentioning the water reclamation systems as needing to be quality on a luxury ship, as this obviously is.
Really lovely coloring in this one! Whatever new techniques you’re using, I like it.
you know the diolog is nice but somtime I ish if more of it could be displayed in the comic itself
all this time im wondering how stealth is. hope she isnt takeing what the other dice said too hard.
Oh,dear. I hope Sirius gets better!
I must agree with the others. There is nothing more annoying then missing facts or events unless you read them. Especially when the text is behind the comic.
Seriously is there a voting link for TWC or not?
JoshtheAspie: I’m not so sure the book would need those extra panels/pages. The whole scene falls under the heading of Conservation of Detail. There’s only so much space in the comic to tell the story, so some of the events don’t need to be seen, only acknowledged or mentioned.
It flies in the face of “Show, don’t tell” rule, but it works because the story doesn’t bog down in every detail.
Also, I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I do like the additional text that Alien Dice has. It adds so much depth and texture to the story that can’t be easily added to a comic.
Ahh… what a balance to strike! I hope he can have both – his dice and his Chel.
I think the writing is just as important as the art. Beautifully done by the way.
hariman: While I can appreciate pith, what I am talking about is an important detail that can be taken several ways, is of emotional gravity to the characters, and is unclear the way it is presented. If this pannel comic is to stand on it’s own, extending the second bubble to one side to allow “that glitch” with “that glitch in the healing pack” would help to remove the potential concept that the glitch was in Sirius, and that Lexx may suffer a similar one.
I am not trying to bash the comic. I am enjoying it greatly. Just trying to offer Syke constructive criticism.
Also: Yay Kim! GO GO GO!
I like both too but the text should enhance the comic we see/read, not go beyond it so that we miss important details.
Perhaps Tiff has already considered this, and sometime soon in the actual comic the Glitch in the healing pack will be explained by one character to another – such as by Lexx to his guests, or the other dice.
If so, then the additional text I mentioned would not be necessary for full detail.