What, man, am I crazy? Webstrips crawl at a snail's pace, and yet I take time out to explore the nature of bounty hunting bureaucracy?

Hey, anything for a laugh, right...

Monday -- Strip 26 Folks who own and have read Galaxy Guide 10: Bounty Hunters will recognize a lot of familiar territory here.

It's one of the more detail-oriented guides produced by West End Games that attempted to look at the day-to-day details of a certain walk of life. It's really amazing that they did it, when you think about it. There are certain game guides I have a hard time fathoming being published today, because the audience for it would seem so small. Things like...

Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters -- the first edition book, that had workable rules for handling loan sharks and supply and demand calculation. It was intro to economics, SW style.

Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim -- the absolute craziest, with chapters on rock music in the Empire and types of beverages.

Galaxy Guide 10: Bounty Hunters is right up there. Rules explanation on bounty hunting bureaucracy, including types of licenses, their jurisdictions, and how to properly format an Imperial warrant.

I liked the idea that bounty hunting is an actual profession, with overhead, profit-to-loss margins, and paperwork. It's one thing to say you're a bounty hunter in an attempt to look cool. It's another thing to make a living off it.

So, anyway, that's what Skivvers is referencing in this strip when he talks about a bounty hunting license. Bounty hunters have IPKCs, Imperial Peace Keeping Certificates, that allow them legal leeway to pack the hardware they do, and trap the citizens they do. In this case, the bounty that Kestrel is looking up is for IPKC-carrying hunters only. Skivvers has no interest in slicing it... at least not for the cost of a Mordanthi bloomer.

But he does offer something...

Tuesday -- Strip 27 ... it's not hard to guess the kind of contacts a Ho'Din like Skivvers might have.

Oh, and his glasses were fun.

Wednesday -- Strip 28 Galaxy Guide 10 again... the building is marked with an Imperial sigil, and the letters say IOCI. It's a branch of the Imperial Office of Criminal Investigations. that's the bureaucracy that deals with bounties.

The particular permit the CZ-3 droid is mentioning is new info, but it fits within the rules presented in the guide.

Thursday -- Strip 29 I love comic strips that seem to have a sense of comedic timing to them. Bloom County was great at that. So was Calvin & Hobbes. This was my attempt at capturing that.

And, yes, Raal likes to imagine he's cool as a cucumber, but only if lady luck is shining on him.

Friday -- Strip 30 This gets into some of the underling theme of Rookies. It's about the little guy. It's not about the galactic hero. These characters are defined as much by what they CAN'T do as by what they can. This trio can't afford their lifestyle. Sammie apparently has no ship of his own and is dependent on Raal. To me, I think that makes for interesting characters. Star Wars has no shortage of larger than life heroes. I like telling tales about the ones that are a little more relatable. I did the same thing in "Spare Parts," for those who have read it.

Now, on to the comments.

jkthunder: Not only do I love the strip, but I really enjoy your walk through annotations. It really pulls me in to the story. Its like having a webcam for the movie productions.

Thanks! I had originally thought of them as insurance in case some spotty artwork made it hard to follow, I could explain what was going on Actually, what inspired them are some fantastic annotations I found online about Alan Moore's comics. Not that I'm equating my little webstrip with those works; I just found myself enjoying the medium of panel-by-panel annotations.

Hedec Ga: I really love your characters. Very fresh and funny, keeping with the spirit of the orginal Star Wars without retreading the same old archetypes. I can't wait to see where we go from here. My only problem is only being able to read three panels at a time! I'm too impatient! I want the whole story now!

Part of the reason the characters seem real -- and I'll get into this some more later on the series -- is that they were all 'portrayed' by real people. The dialogue is very easy for me to hear in my head.

Rogue_Follower: Perhaps somebody's been smuggling data in a blaster, as shown in Cracken's Rebel Field Guide...

Very, very likely! Good call!

Heh, love the dialogue in strip 21...
Such showmanship!
Such panache!
Such verve!

I don't know what it says about me that I can write wealthy dowagers with such gusto.

I must admit I'm beginning to like this comic very much. I just love all those WEG links! Skivvers is a neat guy Is he as tall as the regular Ho'din?

He's a little short for a Ho'Din, but yeah, he's meant to be tall and lanky.

Poor Raal is having the kind of day common to anyone who's ever visited the Dept. of Housing and Traffic in Queens! I just came back from there myself, so reading strips 28 and 29 was the perfect respite. At least they didn't shuffle him around from one counter, floor, and section to another like they did me!

If I had more than three panels a day and thought I could get away with it, I'd pull something like that on Raal!

Thanks to everyone who is enjoying this strip. Your comments are what help me keep my momentum, especially when I'm falling behind on staying ahead!

ph