Why is Asimov so irked at the term “loyal robot companion?!” Well, I think you can probably guess – it makes him sound subservient to John 🙂 However, in the New Frontier Federation (NFF) promotional material, that is how the mission robot is described. John never misses an opportunity to rub that in.

You’ll notice John’s uniform has changed a bit. I had been working on an update that would be new but still called back to the original. I’ve gone back and fixed it on the first strip, too.

The return of the comic is going great so far, thank you everyone for stopping by! If you enjoy the strip, please consider letting your friends know. Share on social media or send an email. It really helps me out a lot. You can also become my Patron for as little as .50 cents! The Patreon blog is 3-4 weeks AHEAD of the comic site – there are already 5 weeks of comics there

The plan is to generally stick to one update a week, on Mondays. This week however, I plan on giving you an EXTRA strip, since I got 5 done in February. So look for another comic on Wednesday!

Just when John thought he had an open door!

Update on the Back Situation

I had an MRI, and it turns out I have an L5/S1 herniated disc. This is putting pressure on my nerves and causing the nerve pain in the leg and numbness in the foot (aside from the low back pain). The short term solution is I am getting a epidural cortisone shot to reduce the inflammation, and we’ll see how it goes.

There has been some improvement, but I’ve kind of hit the wall. So I am hoping the shot helps. I was able to get some work on the strip done this weekend.

As always, thank you for reading.

Here’s the second page this week, as promised! Things are getting tense here.

I’ve learned a LOT about you folks through the reader survey. Thanks so much for participating. If you haven’t still answered, it only takes a few minutes. Most people complete it in under 5 minutes. I’m going to collect responses through the end of the week and then take a hard look at the results.

I will be sharing the results with everyone and talking about how I can make the Marooned experience better for us all. I’ll also be following up with some quick polls to dig into some other little items. So stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

If you haven’t filled out the survey, please fill it out now!

Welcome to Marooned – the story of Captain John, a self-centered space pilot from Earth, and his sidekick Asimov, an automated garbage can turned into a genius robot.

The central theme of the story is Captain John’s journey from hapless to heroic. Along the way he encounters :

• An insane stowaway robot
• Martian scientists with no arms and martian mystics with three legs
• Sentient crystals that embed themselves into your head
• The smartest creatures in the universe – who also are the clumsiest
• Martian tween angst
• Zombie martians and their crazy dictator
• And a little romance – just to get started!

Marooned is a mixture of things I loved as a kid. It’s a story that I thought would be fun to read. It’s a mix of influences like Star Wars, Bugs Bunny, Calvin & Hobbes, Thunderbirds, Star Blazers and Peanuts all rolled into one.

And John & Asimov aren’t alone. There’s also Ugo, the martian leader, who is wise and helpful. Ril the orphan tween who has lots of attitude, but desperately wants a family, Zed the renegade alien, and the mysterious Captain Lian Fisher – survivor of a lost mission to Mars who has become something more than human.

In the end, he is presented with an all-or-nothing battle where selfish behavior and foolish pride have no place, that will decide not only his fate, but the fate of everyone on Mars. Marooned is a story that is funny, but it also has heart.

So sit back, grab your favorite drink and snack, and dive in!

True story. I was not once, but TWICE in business meetings where the person next to me whipped out a plastic bag and began flossing their teeth. Unbelievably disgusting, and you wonder how people can act like that in a professional setting!