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dragonsong12 on Oct. 12, 2008

SO…MUCH…TEXT!
I hate having to cover up part of the art because I don't leave enough room for all the speech bubbles…sigh.

Jerome takes on the role of “exposition man” here. (Saving the world from slight confusion one page at a time) The idea for this was based partially on reality. I don't really think the Northern areas of the world will ever be “abandoned”, but growing up the the rust belt, it was something you couldn't really help but be aware of, the way the cities and towns would have fewer and fewer companies and jobs and ultimately people year after year as it all moved down South. Can't really blame anyone, the weather's better down there, but the slow decay always made me a bit sad.
So, in this quasi-futuristic world, I decided to take that idea to the greatest extreme. I actually envision that around the equator is actually just one solid mass of development, and that the further away from the equator one traveled, the more sparse things became, until finally, it was just nature. So now, instead of vacationing in the tropics, that's where people live, and they have to go elsewhere to “get away” so these large vacation homes are built up in the wilderness. The “North” bit is only true North of the equator, the same deal happens if you travel far enough South of it.
The area that Katyn and Co. live in is on the outskirts of this giant city, which is why they never had to travel far to leave it, but they rarely do so.

I don't know how much sense that all makes, that's just how I envisioned it XD

If you wondering why Tara and Marian are standing in some sort of void in the final panel, they're supposed to be standing just inside the house looking out the doorway, so due to the outside light, you can't see what's inside, it's just a dark mass. Unfortunately, I didn't design that well enough so it comes across, but now you know ;)

Wow, this looks like the author's notes for a TM page. XD

Thanks for reading! See you next week!