“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.