Strip 10: Warzone

I wanted to practice showing without telling in this strip, as I'm used to writing prose and it was kind of exciting to take a more hands-off approach with this scene. Not only did I want to introduce the spaceport that Dy-Gar first mentioned in strip 6, but I wanted to reveal another side of the war that destroyed Cykta. It wasn't just organics vs machines - there were at least a few robots who remained loyal to the Cyktans, like the heavily armed civilian robot in panel 1, and this intersection shows the aftermath of a battle between Loyalist and Revolutionary forces. Hopefully it's clear based on their designs which robots fought for which side (the giant spider robot doesn't look too organic-friendly).

Alex and Evan did a fantastic job bringing this scene to life, especially since I drew all the design concepts for the military robots, and I don't know how they ever interpreted my childlike doodles into genuinely awesome-looking machines. If this strip hits the mark at all, it's because of them, and it's only with talented artists that artistically-stunted writers like myself can kick back and let the scene flow without the help of a single dialogue bubble.

- J.S. Conner

June 7th 2013