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Saturday, April 17, 2010

West of Bathurst 679

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YES, I ADMIT IT: I'm all late again! I am a terrible person! At any rate, I have finally finished Saturday's comic, which contains way too many fiddly bits, and will do Monday's tomorrow, on Monday. After that, I plan on getting my act together. I've heard that can be fun.

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Panel 1: In the title panel of this Sunday-style colour comic, Barbara walks through a landscape that looks as if it belongs to a Golden Age pulp sci-fi comic. A man in an old-fashioned silver spacesuit is holding a blonde women in artfully torn clothing. They both turn to stare at Barbara as she strolls by. In pulpy yellow lettering are the words "West of Bathurst by Kari Maaren." A caption declares: "An all-new story designed to shock and amaze you!" The price of this "comic" is 25 cents.

Panel 2: Barbara walks through the registration area of an SFF convention. Among the things we see are a sign reading "Welcome to Ad Astra / April 9 - 11, 2010," a man and woman selling registrations and handing out nametags, a woman in a flowing green dress who has just collected her registration package, and another man looking at posters, including one for Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven.

Panel 3: Barbara sits on a bench and reads her programme book as attendees walk past her. We see a man and woman in steampunk gear, a woman who bears a suspicious resemblance to Kari Maaren and is holding a programme grid, a very small Batman, and, in the distance, the silhouette of a woman in a Victorian dress.

Panel 4: Barbara is in the dealers' room. She sees a man selling swords, a man dressed in a sort of red spacesuit, a man in a stormtrooper T-shirt, and a woman in ordinary clothing taking a picture with her phone.

Panel 5: Barbara stands in line to get an autograph from a bearded male author. Other authors sign books nearby. Behind Barbara in line are a man in a "Frak" T-shirt, a woman in a short orange dress, and a man in a long grey rob and brown coat. A blue-skinned, purple-haired woman walks by.

Panel 6: Later, in the Davies College basement, Rahim talks to Barbara, who is holding her loot bag from the convention.

Rahim: Were you just at that sci-fi con?

Barbara: Yeah.

Rahim: How was it?

Panel 7:

Barbara: Much like ordinary life, albeit with fewer aliens.

Rahim: The way your mind works scares the hell out of me.

Alt-Text: Barbara's description of Ad Astra is quite accurate. In ordinary life, the aliens simply have better disguises.

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Comics copyright Kari Maaren 2006-2014