Rounding up Classics week is one of my early favorite strips. At least in my mind, this is one of the special few where everything just seemed to come together and work. The writing is good and interesting and it ends with a funny joke (a joke that is not too obvious up front). The staging is atypical and interesting. I like the perspective of Asimov’s screen, something of which I’d like to do more. And the “special effects” came out good, too.

The truth is, I’ve always had plans to do interesting things with Asimov’s screen. I’ve struggled with doing that so far. I mean, he’s got basically what amounts to a advanced HD monitor on his face, and nearly all I ever show there is his “mouth” line. It’s something I think about, but have not yet solved. The one thing I don’t want to do is get too close to what Evan Dahm did in Rice Boy with his character The One Electronic, where he often showed video stills in his “eye.” Something I am still thinking about.

I was actually pretty happy with the original coloring on this one for the most part, although how I got there was a bit of a mess in the Photoshop file. I decided to scrap most of it and give it another shot though for fun, and I like the way this came out.

You might notice I added tails to the Geborga speech bubbles. Originally I had felt they would communicate telepathically, but I later grew to dislike that idea. However, I do like the colored speech bubbles still, as I think it gives a sense that they are still something different.

We haven’t actually seen the Geborga in quite some time, even though they have been talked about. The next time we see them, they will most likely be modified from their current design. It won’t be anything drastic, but I think there are some issues with how they are now. In particular, I find it odd that the greatest Martian scientists have no arms. Do they do everything with their feet? I don’t know. It’s something I need to figure out. Like many things early on, their design was a bit rushed.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s look back at some Marooned history. We’ll be back to the nitty gritty with John, Asimov and the whole gang on Monday. See you then!