Hey, it’s me. And the gang! It occurred to me last month that 2024 is the 10th Anniversary of Closed Galaxy starting. And it’s been 5 years, almost exactly, since my last update. It felt like I should do something to mark the occasions. So, I took a look at my script for the next chapter, made some tweaks, and turned the first few pages into this short. It was easier than I thought, actually, with a pretty clean out. Sorry about that! I realize I just sort of extended the cliffhanger from last time.
I decided I wouldn’t hold myself to anything from the past, art-wise. I think my art has changed and progressed a lot since 2019, and this is just a little one-off, I thought I’d see what I could really do. I avoided even looking at the old pages as much as possible, just to try to get at what the kids look like in my head now. And, since this happened when it did, my recent obsession with halftones is in there. I think they look cool, what can I say. All told, I think it’s a pretty solid 7 pages. And a lot has changed for the kids, too! If the revelation about Pat’s romantic life seems surprising to you, I would humbly point you back to the previous pages, especially chapter one, and how he reacted to Navin being absorbed into the group. That’s right, I just made a 10-year callback. How insane. I also knew Jac would abandon the gang for those guys she was hanging out with in chapter one by around the time I was writing chapter 4. I doubt people even noticed she’d copied Zeke’s hairstyle back then, but she’s grown up some after her traumatic incident, even if maybe he hasn’t. Will she come back? And will the kids bring in some new blood? And what will happen to Amanika? I have answers to, uh, some of those questions! I guess I need to figure out the rest.
But doing these has made me think I should proceed for real one of these days. These comics are a lot of work, and future ones would only be harder as planned, but it’s fun. I don’t think future installments will be so complicated visually. I like the more painterly coloring approach I’ve been tinkering with in my recent Spider-Man drawings, but it would make comics take impossibly long to do. Who knows what Closed Galaxy will look like when or if it returns? I just wanted to mark this occasion. Thanks for reading! If you’ve been there from the beginning, I really appreciate it!
Here’s an extra thing. Did I used to post my design sheets? I don’t even remember. But here’s the outfits for this installment, and my first drawings of the kids in ages.
