Enough preamble.

Monday, Strip 21. Not much to add here other than to say that picture of the Swokes Swokes was inspired by this Image Attack.

Tuesday, Strip 22. As promised, a Squib! Meet Smileredon-Verdont, a.k.a. Smiley. He's a character that first appeared in a published source back in 1996 -- the Heroes and Rogues supplement from West End Games. He's the quintessential "Annoying Squib." He actually predates that book by several years, but not in any official way.

In my own pre-official tales, I loved interjecting Squib characters as comic relief, and in doing so I developed a real feel for "Squibberish". One of the words I coined is "koovy", which I throw in every opportunity I have to write a Squib (see "Spare Parts" and HoloNet News). What does it mean? I'm not entirely sure, but if I had a guess, it'd be halfway between cool and groovy.

Does the Star Wars galaxy have pacemakers that can be pickpocketed? Evidently.

Oh, and that billboard the characters are walking past is lifted from Episode II production art.

Wednesday, Strip 23 I'm ordinarily not a fan of the narrative text in comics ("ELSEWHERE...") but it read oddly without it. Ordinarily, I put in establishing shots when I cut locations, but there wasn't room for one here. Without that text box, I was worried readers might think a strip went missing.

Here, our female fugitive from the first week is given a name. Or at least an alias: Kestrel.

She's chatting with Skivvers, a Ho'Din slicer. Don't know what kind of nefarious activity Skivvers is doing with a dismantled blaster pistol on his work bench.

Thursday, Strip 24 The way to a Ho'Din's heart is through his green thumb. Ithorian herdships are sort of massive interstellar greenhouses that fly from planet to planet for trade. Skivvers cleary is afraid of leaving his lair if he's able to resist so green a temptation. Mordanthi bloomers are new.

Kestrel's comments about a price on her head is obvious given how we were introduced to her. The datapad she's holding, presumably, is what she was carrying during her mad sprint.

Friday, Strip 25 If you're wondering if "Raleigh Dawn" sounds familiar, it shouldn't. That is, it's not some obscure reference. It's an original story point. Stuff will get blurred like that often in this strip.

... Okay, we've got all four Rookies in play: Raal Yorta, Sammie Staable, Smiley, and Kestrel. Place your bets, folks. Who knows where they'll land...

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