Here we are inside Fatima’s brain and it’s not a very happy place! This is the first time we’ve seen any other PherNians (the half human, half cephalopod inhabitants of PherNos found somewhere under the oceans of Earth). Unfortunately for her mother and father it’s also a recounting of their demise – sorry it’s a bit brutal! I know, I know… Orphan’s Ordeal… not the most original origin but one that I’ve had in mind for Fatima since the beginning. As far as I know she’s the only direct orphan in our current crop of cadets (although the alien Chiq doesn’t know his parents at all). These events would have taken place about two years before we first met Fatima in pages 1.45-46. Now, Fatima has given an account of how/why she is at Magellan Academy on page 6.41… make of that what you will!
Discussion (21) ¬
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Woo! New comic!
I was very surprised to see no comments until I realized it was a time-slip post, showing up about a day early. Don’t know why..
But at least my compulsive checking gets me a bonus today!
Gola/Olga is having interesting troubles. One might think that an astral projection would be immune to multiple personality syndrome, having no brain around for them to hide in. Just goes to show how mysterious the mind really is…
This is really intriguing! I wonder if they will manage to manifest and shake
Fatima out of her fugue?
Great page!
Or maybe I’m just behind the timezone.
Apparently it is already Nov 16 in OZ. I’m slow, but I get it eventually…
>>Gola/Olga is having interesting troubles. One might think that an
>>astral projection would be immune to multiple personality syndrome,
Unless… By her being a very strong telepath, Olga/Goal is still stuck in her nightmare fuge, but is able to transmit out.
Ooh, nice theory! I like it!
great page
I always get the updates on Thursday evening. I’m west coast USA.
Also, damn. Kaycee, quit talking about olga/gola, and start talking about the problems instead. Gola can fix and deal with her split personality later. Or maybe Vostok can.
Jen wrote: “Gola can fix and deal with her split personality later. Or maybe Vostok can.”
Maybe, although Vostok doesn’t seem to care much about anyone associated with Magellan other than Kaycee.
I agree with Kaycee, Gola was pretty awesome. Not like wimpy little Olga. Whatever you do, don’t tell her she’s dead again Kaycee!
Good point!
Though Olga may inadvertently remind herself anyway…
so: Quick! Ask her again about short circuits before she reverts spontaneously
Getting quite a bit more interesting.
The hardest person to know is yourself.
My goodness! How long are you planning to run this strip? I just don’t know how you’re going to fit in Maverick and Aqua-Maid eventually deposing the evil Phernian queen.
I estimate four more pages – give or take a page
No, I meant Magellan as a whole. This subplot is now begging for a resolution, but I don’t see one happening for quite some time.
It’s not going to go to 300 pages that’s for sure… this is a side-bar but things will rapidly pick up pace soon. And as Golga points out above, nothing can be done about the queen, it’s already happened!
This is what I mean: The Queen cruelly had Fatima’s parents killed four years ago. The Queen still rules Phernos and would like to also have Fatima killed. Fatima’s story, important details of which are revealed here, is therefore unresolved. I see this scene as a foreshadowing for a future chapter in the Magellan saga in which Fatima’s story is resolved by the depostion of the Queen. Dramatically it seems more likely for Fatima (whom I have flippantly given the future hero name of “Aqua-Maid”) to face the Queen after having graduated from the academy. That means that such a chapter would probably be produced many years from now, based on your current rate of production.
Or, you may consider Fatima’s origin story to be incidental to the Magellan comic strip as a whole, not integral, and we will never hear of the Phernian queen again after the resolution of this scene in this chapter.
you don’t want magellan to continue? i know that eventually it will just be rehashes since here is only so many stories, but that may be for a while. also there is the fact that kaycee is the main character, and she will graduate at some point, though olga is also a character seen from her start, so the torch might pass to her, and another for next year (story wise). schools tend to be one of the few stories that can be made to continue without having an armageddon every once and a while (though some do due to serial escalation). so far, the world has only been in peril once, and the next big crisis was considerably less world changing.
Quite a few Magellan characters have fairly extensive back stories which I’ve parked somewhere in the back of my mind and only hinted at, mostly in side notes. Certainly I’d like to explore as many as possible… in the meantime I keep pouring in new characters (how many have been introduced over the course of this year, not just in the main comic but also through Olga & Brelvis and Dr Spooky & Otto?). Plus, as you say, my production rate, while not exactly snail’s pace does a while to move through the telling of any story (this week is one year since starting this chapter!) So, yeah, I just can’t answer that question – I’ll keep working on Magellan for as long as I can and feel the desire to tell stories. I am utilising the voting incentives as a means to tell other stories – Dr Sppoky & Otto has, I think, expanded significantly on Otto’s backstory plus revealed some of the occult world Dr Spooky moves through. Up next? I have quite a few options and have yet to make up my mind… stay tuned!
And yes, Fatima’s backstory isn’t central or pivotal to Magellan… not yet anyway, who can say? Sometimes bigger ideas happen along while I’m working on something, and before you know it…!
nice symmetry. under karmaya’s mojo, old gola thought she was younger gola, now young olga thinks she is old gola. incidentally, the last panel is the first time i remember seeing kaycee outright perplexed. good use of body language.
definitely raising the issues bar for olga.