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Star Wars: Knight Errant — Deluge #2

"DelUGE" PART 2

As with all my “production notes,” consider a “Spoiler Warning” attached. Please read the books first.

The concept for Grace Command began to develop not long after I began thinking about Vannar Treece's mission. He was doing hit-and-run fighting -- would there be anyone doing flat-out humanitarian (no offense, aliens) missions? If any existed, they'd have to take a beachhead before they could feed anyone, something we've see done in Earthly missions. Devaad's Devils play the role of staking out those beachheads -- although, as we hear, they're not there forever.

Extended dogfight sequences are something you don't always see in comics, and there's a reason: Unlike action sequences between living opponents, where bodies change shape as they move, spaceships — and airplanes, and cars — look about the same in comics when they're moving as when they're parked. There used to be a lot of auto racing comics in the 1960s and 1970s, and the challenge there was always keeping things from looking static, like a parking lot.

Today, there are a lot more clubs in the bag. Photoshop has been a big help to these kinds of scenes, allowing color to be dropped onto the motion lines; the ships and background themselves can be blurred. The result is an issue here that has a different look than any other issue I've written -- which is always one of the goals.

This issue features the first work of new artist Iban Coello on the series, and Kerra looks a bit younger and wide-eyed now -- which fits where her mood is at the beginning of this issue.


TRIVIA

• Vellas Pavo was the planet that Lord Bactra wanted access to in the Knight Errant novel. While it was unaligned at that time, we may assume that Daiman has since taken it over.

• Daiman's line here reminds me of an old Liquid Television bit where an inspirational video reminded viewers that "you love to bowl." Daiman's people have no bowling alleys, so they must mine gadolinium.

• The Fire Lotus fighters are finally names here. They're big, heavy, bulky fighters, in contrast to the frail vessels that the Republic's opponents are using. The foils play a significant role in shield generation; as you might assume, in a war in which you're always falling back, you take a lot of incoming fire from behind. The "shield blossom" -- both physical and unseen energy -- provides useful cover to the crew compartment. These are also very long-haul, hyperdrive-capable fighters — so figure a bit of bulk comes in handy.

• The Mother Grace transport is intentionally designed similar to the shining, swooping vessels of Naboo;  it's a vehicle on a peace mission from Alderaan, so that seemed to suit.

• The character Vahss was originally named Voss -- then I realized one of my Facebook readers had that name. I try not to duplicate, even accidentally, if I can help it.

• We haven't seen the orientation of the Hutt's Intruder up close, but he's lying forward with his arms in control sockets in the wings, much like Batman in the Nolan movies when the Batmobile's in its attack configuration.