“Hiura” is a name I just liked the sound of. It’s a bit of a combination of Huron (a Native American tribe name I always liked) and Hera (the top goddess in the Greek pantheon).
Hiura’s pose in panel 4 mirrors Azarek’s on page 2, with both dismissing the bounty hunters with a wave and the same line, “Better luck next time, boys.” I thought it’d be fun to establish some similarity between Azarek and Hiura while also ending the scene with a nice button.
And here you meet Maeki, another member of Hiura’s crew (which I often refer to as the “Rogues” crew). I really like the idea of an expansive cast, but I hate the idea of piling on a bunch of new characters faster than readers can absorb them. So in this case, I deliberately wanted to introduce the members of this new crew in a staggered way. You’ll meet the other 87 of them later. Ha.
I just realized nobody so far has had irises or even pupils apart from maybe the green guy? Or are orange guy’s spots not chitinous highlights?
Mursa and Craygar were going to buy fancy contacts for themselves with the bounty money so people could tell where they were looking… 🙁 Poor Cray-Cray and Methicillin Ulbrecht Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus III…
I have to admit, I struggle a lot in the design stage with pupils. I feel like more characters should have them, but then sometimes when I add them in, they just don’t look right to me. Maybe having grown up on superhero comics where a lot of characters have blank eyes, I just came to like that look. And it looks more otherworldly and alien to me. I’ve have another reader on Webtoon point out the lack of noses on my characters. Not sure I can blame that one on superhero comics though!
I read the ridges on Azarek and Maeki’s nose bridge as nostrils, the lines on green guy’s head fin as nostrils. Orange dude probably has spiracles on his abdomen. So in my book (which is awesome, it’s got those fold-out schematic by the way, nice full-color pages, hardcover), we have nose/nostrils more often than not. XD
Is that a Crazy 88 (Kill Bill) reference in the director’s commentary?
Are the Rogues going after the Runners?
Perhaps a certain blue member?
Anyone else trying to match names with faces on the cover?
Funny. I just picked the number 87 randomly. But since I’ve introduced 2 already, the other 87 would bring it to 89. So 1 greater than Kill Bill. Take THAT, Tarantino!
Ooooo, interesting, interesting! Unless the implication is that there’s a jumpsuit SO skintight, it doesn’t even have line art, it seems Maeki here isn’t wearing clothing.
Which, on it’s own, makes sense! Her species is already armor plated, and additional gear on top would most likely just be a hindrance. (And from a meta perspective, we’ve already seen other species that run around without or with very minimal clothing, so it’d be rather silly if that only extended to the boys lol!)
But then that leaves to question: Is the blue and purple just real cool looking natural markings? Or could it be some kind of tattoo/paint/hologram display, used to make other species who DO feel squeamish about the lack of arbitrary cloth more comfortable/less gawky?
(And if the later, does that mean we might run into a scenario where the RUNNERS gang has to paint a fake tux onto Bennesaud to fit in and not get stared at? Ahaha!)
Tune in next time for even more over-analyzing theory crafting about potential background society lore and character anatomy over just two comic frames! Woo!! :’D
I’d say painted, anything else would likely not make the sparkle on her body duller than on her shoulder/face.
Also, I like the idea of her going into a hardware store to buy masking tape and a few rattle cans of candy clearcoat for a wardrobe change.
Sharp eye, Spyroid! I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the lack of line art on her costume. As for your theories, some of it will be explained later in the story! But I do like Exxos’s hardware store scene. I wonder if a primer coat would be necessary first.