Interplanetary Patrol and Terran Space Administration seem to have slightly different philosophies.

You know, in 1993, when I first started drawing those notepads, it was cool futuristic technology. Times sure have changed. And while I’m on the topic of the gadgets… I was, naturally, a big fan of Babylon 5 when it was on the air. Imagine my surprise when, in the third season of the show, Marcus suddenly pulls out a Minbari Fighting Pike (at about 4:29 on the vid). Hey, isn’t that just like…? Well, the Contact Team’s tools are all about science instead of fighting, which makes them instantly more awesome.

I have a new title to add to the list of reader-recommended books, submitted by long-time fan and custom Lego minifig painter extraordinaire, Norbert Black.  Thanks, Norbert! For easy reference I’m blowing the dust off my blog and putting the list up there. Feel free to mention any good books you’ve been reading recently that you want to tell us about!

So to help you find something good to read, the Galaxion readership has come together to share their list of books they recommend. This list is constantly growing, so please contribute any good books you’ve read and think your fellow Galaxion fans would enjoy!

1. The Eye of the World (and subsequent books, including the most recent Gathering Storm) by Robert Jordan
2. Earth to Hell (part of the Dark Heavens series) by Kylie Chan
3. Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip
4. Children of Chaos series by John C. Wright
5. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
6. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
7. Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary ed. by Carol Serling
8. Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer
9. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
10. Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks (it’s been so long since I read these!)
11. The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain De Botton
12. Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
13. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
14. Graceling and its sequel Fire by Kristin Cashore
15. Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman (begin with City of Masks)
16. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein
17. Stardance by Spider and Jeanne Robinson
18. Commonwealth Saga (begin with Pandora’s Star) or Night’s Dawn Trilogy (begin with Reality Dysfunction) by Peter F. Hamilton
19. Jhereg by Steven Brust
20. Dresden Files (begin with Storm Front) or Codex Alera (begin with Furies of Calderon) by Jim Butcher
21. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves

UPDATE: If you’re experiencing difficulties seeing the new page, you will be able to see it here. Also, if you are having trouble, is it only the recent post or is it all the pages?

Of course he’s not just dumping all the bits and pieces pell-mell into his knapsack. I’m sure it’s all going into a tidy little pouch or something that is hidden from view.

Now’s as good a time as any to start listing my planned convention schedule (so far)! I’ll be appearing at:

Penguicon in Troy, MI, April 30-May 2nd

TCAF in Toronto, ON, May 8-9th (admission: FREE!)

Kids Read Comics! in Dearborn, MI, June 12-13th (admission: FREE!)

Baltimore Comic Con in Baltimore, MD, Aug 28-29th

I hope to see you there!

Well, it’s good to know that no matter how grim the situation is, you can still laugh about it.

See you back on Tuesday!

Want to catch up fast? Start back at the beginning of the chapter.

What Zan is referring to can be summed up by this scene from Chapter One, though it’s probably safe to say that this is only the latest in a long series of similar complaints.

March began this week, and of course you know what that means– a First Friday of the Month update! Yes, I’m not even wimping out and posting filling art this time, it’ll be another actual page. Yay! So please come back on Friday, March 5th, to see what happens next.

A very long time ago– at least in webcomic terms– we learned that Vessa is pretty good with languages. (That page comes from an early short story that begins here.)

It’s a minor thing, but for the curious: I realized as I was inking this page that although I’ve given last names for all the other bridge crew, this is the first time I’ve called Sera Ferradas by her last name. Her bridge station is the Galaxion’s scanner array, and she can be seen at her post on this page in the third panel. She’s also the same person that Assistant Chief Ewan Okalik (if you don’t remember him don’t worry about it, he hasn’t become important yet) was mentioning to Fusella. She also had a small part in a later scene, and bonus points to anyone who can spot it!

Wondering what’s going on? Hey, I don’t blame you! For a quick fix you can jump to the first page of this chapter, or if you’re feeling adventuresome you can start properly right at the beginning.

First off, many thanks to those who came by on Valentine’s Day to wish Fusella a Happy Birthday! She was in my thoughts, but alas, my available time did not permit any artistic celebrations. Poor Fusella. But in honour of her special day I can link to her Retrospective I posted a couple years ago. Some of you newer readers may not yet have discovered it, since it’s hidden away in the Extras page.

Also, I have a new book to add to the list of reader-recommended books! I just finished Jasper Fforde’s latest novel, Shades of Grey. I was a big fan of his Thursday Next series (go read The Eyre Affair if you don’t know what I mean!), so I was really looking forward to this one. For me, it felt a lot like reading a good mystery book; but instead of  the standard mystery in which you try to puzzle out who committed the murder, you get to collect the clues to figure out what the peculiar Chromatic world Fforde has created is all about. I was hooked from page one. Awesome!

Rake guy, you are pwned.

And if you find yourself wondering why the extensible probe that Vessa takes off of Zan is sturdy enough for a good whack while Aria’s snapped in two, I will call your attention to this scene early in Chapter Four.

…yikes?

Hey, everyone! I’m really sorry for the delay, but things seem to be back to normal around here, so I’ll be posting all the missing pages this week. One today, one on Wednesday, and finally the current one on Thursday. And then back to our regular schedule, cross your fingers!

UPDATE AGAIN: Argh! I thought everything was back to normal, but apparently some people can see the page and others can’t. *cries* Well, I will continue to post pages here and let our poor harried admins that know that the problem is still going on. (One suggestion has been to try clearing your browser’s cache, and hopefully you’ll be able to see the page then.) In the meantime, you can visit galaxioncomics.com, which hosts the full archive.