As you can see in the banner below the strip, this weekend I’ll be tabling at the Philadelphia Comic Con, Friday-Sunday the 17th-19th. Come by and say hello! The hours are:
Friday noon-8
Saturday 10-7
Sunday 10-5
And by-the-way, for anyone who wants to come to the convention simply to say “hi” or have me sign books you’ve already bought, you are welcome to. For those who WISH you could come by to purchase a book bu cannot, thank god for TopatoCo!
This blog is a bit brief because I’m madly getting ready to go to Philadelphia. In fact, I’ll be there before this even goes live. If anything interesting happens on the plane (ooh, maybe they’ll give me double salted peanut rations) I’ll try to blog it when I get there. If not, rest assured it was likely a dull flight in which I finally get to finish the book I’ve been reading this past month.
(many hours later)
Hey, I’m in Philly with twenty minutes to kill before the strip goes up. The flight was actually quite pleasant (despite getting NO peanuts). I was very lucky to get a non-stop on this leg, so it was only 5 hours. The screaming children directly behind me were screaming in Italian, which took the edge off somehow. And I had the most lovely conversation most of the way with a statistics professor who writes SF recreationally, and then I played Uno with her and her friend. Bonus!
And now I’m here, and it’s so lovely to seem my brother and sister-in-law and nephew. It’s going to be a good week.
Man, I’m a bit surprised Pierrot is being such a jerk about this. I guess first impressions of the Mihrgoots have not been the best.
There seems to be a space missing in Krep’s second-last line of dialog. Should be “my money’s on”.
Hydrargyrum, I blame it on the time spent with Krep. By the end of this Pierrot will be eating meat, raw, killed with his bare hands.
Thanks, @Hydrargyrum! Will fix as soon as i can. :)
Curious – and pathos rich. Not where I saw the story going … I suspect new members of the Eeb Liberation Army may be nearby (and one of their member may have a crown on their head). but Geez, Krep is such a grumpy bastard, I cant imagine what the heck was done to him as a youngling to make him such a pain to be around.
I recommend that he sees a chiropractor, his spine is probably all gambled up with plaque flakes, he’s permanently in pain and processes it by being a vindictive bastard.
Hang on – if there are two Mihrrgoot races (one imbecilic the other cleverly adept), but the planet has been a dumping ground of the Galactic Empire’s troublemakers, there’s a lot of smart troublemakers down there on the planet somewhere and that begs a question … What do trouble makers do when they are passing time – I’m presuming contract bridge myself.
@Thomas S: They do what they always do: troll stupid people.
Panel 9 should read “each of our atmospheres.” There’s something oddly hilarious about the bird not having a beak. Well, I suppose alien birds do NOT, in fact, have beaks.
Does Oohlooh have a beak on panel 7?
By the way, love the comic, read it every week. Usually when I should be working….
The frowny face on the bird in the last panel is is definitely touching, I got a tear in my eye
@Crabtree: Oohlooh’s mouth is wide open in panel 7. What appears to be a beak is the angle of the wall in the background.
Can’t wait to see Krep’s Money’son. I wonder if it will get along with Oohlooh. ;)
I want to give you money so bad now. Any new merch in the pipeline?
Thanks, @Matt! Will fix along with the other typo. Eyerrhhk!
@Crabtree, @Herander’s correct. (and, thank you <3 )
@Tim, I’m playing with a few designs. I have been still thinking in the tshirt/mug arena, so if ANYone has thoughts outside that, let me know (I have not got the sense that I can get the orders to support an Eeb plushy, but I am keeping an eye out for manufacturers).
Yay! Survival instincts kick in!
@Matt: Birds have beaks because when they’re born, they need to break through a tough egg shell, and throughout their lives, they need to crack seeds open (or whatever it is they eat). Clearly we’re dealing with a species that does neither of those things
Eeeee! I am loving this so much. I had this moment a few days ago when I was like “awwwww. Krep and Pierrot were my favorites!” so now that they’re alive again (?) I am a very happy camper. I very much missed Krep’s….Krepiness.
On a related note, “Krep” sounds kind of like “crap.” If I only had a brain today, I’m sure I could think up a terrible, terrible pun for that. :)
Keep up the badassery, good sir!
Great comic, Chris. Science fiction and sarcasm go so well together.
small typo in panel two, third balloon. “realy” should have two L’s, unless that’s an alien accent.
Oohh! Oohh! I was checking the early episodes to see if @Thomas’ question was answered re: Krep’s attitude. (Personally, I think he just became chronically tired of those dang kids cutting across his yard [Think Jeff Dunham and "Walter", but with tentacles.].) Anyway, I ran across one possible explanation in the episode “Watch That Last Step”
( http://spacetrawler.com/2010/03/15/spacetrawler-23/ )
but I also found some potential foreshadowing! Check out the last two panels of this strip:
http://spacetrawler.com/2010/03/03/spacetrawler-20/
I can’t wait for the Curn-Oohlooh fan fiction.
My guess is that Pierrot is being more sarcastic than usual because:
1) Emily likes him but has serious relationship issues to work out. It’s probably her first in a very long time. And he’s not entirely sure what his own feelings are.
2) His plan to sway the GOB failed miserably.
3) He was thrown into a hole described as certain flaming death.
4) He was run over repeatedly by slimy gastropod-like creatures for a few hours.
5) He had to fend off the unwanted affections of a being that is hardwired to be passive and cowardly.
6) Hours of close proximity to Krep is really just icing on the cake.
Just basically he’s got a zillion reasons to be stressed.
Thanks, @John_Waltrip! Dang! Three typos today. I’ll try to give that a fix tonight. :-/
@JKCarroll, there’s also some insight into his background here: http://spacetrawler.com/2011/02/15/spacetrawler-24f45g44/
@Kevin_Moore, just find some Snape-Hermione fan fiction and word-replace the names Curn-Oohlooh. I think you’ll reach satisfactory results.
@Corpore_Metal, indeed, I would say he behaves almost reserved considering what
I’ve beenthis universe has been putting him through. ;-)Having two continents doesn’t explain the ground/underground political system. Or is that what is meant by land-mirghoots? Why did the “smart” ones go underground? how did the land mirhgoots get to the other continent then?
Also: do Pierott and Krep wish for death? If they do not, is it because: mirghoots have an extremely high tolerance for ribbing, or the gas they went through has some sort of being-a-jerk side-effect?
this is really implausible, and usually you are so good at portraying human reactions to things. I am slightly dismayed. But, I might be taking things a little too seriously.
PS: you are awesome for always talking to us here in the lowly comment section.
PPS: bonus points for referencing Snape/Hermione fanfiction. :D
@Katheleen, I enjoy the interaction. :)
As to your questions: the Mihrrgoot societies will be explained in further details. About them being Jerks, well, Krep is kinda simlpy a jerk and as @CorporeMetal pointed out, Pierrot’s been pushed a bit to wits end. Also, they both recently feared they were being put to death and then they woke up on an office couch, I think they’re upset and also are annoyed because they feel they’re getting jerked around AND they feel that if they were going to be harmed it would have already been done.
The only thing harder to deal with than aliens, is alien love. Maybe for some aliens being a jerk is they way the are to us but not to themselves.
“Their way.”
have a strange feeling that oohlooh may turn out to be a double agent.
Chris,
I finally caught up! I read (and adored) Bruno–one of the best-developed strips I’ve ever read, and that’s a lot–and then loved Little Dee; I knew about Spacetrawler since before you posted the first strip, but hadn’t had a chance to settle in and read through. I just caught up today, and I’ve loved every strip. Great work! :)
And next comic we’ll most likely (it might be the comic after that) see how the non-terranean mihrrgoots are as bad as, or worse, than the land-mihrrgoots.
@Frank: Some seed-eaters break open seeds with their bills (finches and parrots spring to mind), but omnivorous genera (galliforms, corvids) often simply swallow the seeds and grind them up in their crops. Bills do, occasionally, allow a species to fill a unique niche, but often toothed animals feed on similar things (several rodents are seed-eaters, though not exclusively [finches]; aye-ayes feed on grubs in rotting wood [woodpeckers]; fish-eating birds are accompanied by [certainly with different feeding styles, given their flight] fish, mammals, and reptiles). In most cases (excluding shorebirds) non-bird vertebrates can eat anything birds can.
Just imho! (Explains joke)