Starside was a webcomic which I started back in February 2010. I updated it intermittently over the course of the year, before ending it that December, only seven strips in, after an attempt to resurrect it, on account of not having time to update.
The strips are collected here, with both the original and rerun commentary. I probably won't be bringing Starside back, but I occasionally get a request for a link to the strips. They were originally available on my blog, but I don't want them mixed in with the other posts.
(probably) February 1, 2010 – ??? (I don't have the original commentary for this script handy. It might be in a database backup, but honestly, it can't have been that fantastic, so I don't feel very inclined to hunt it down.)
October 6, 2010 – What is this! Starside again! You thought you'd finally gotten rid of them.
You'll notice I've adjusted the layout. This is so that the strips run at the full 750 pixel width.
Nope. Rerunning them on Tumblr. Look out for new material.
Archive commentary – This was the start Starside got off to — a bad omen, no doubt. This is the only time I ever drew Tricia properly, a feat I was never able to replicate. And no, I don't understand why I drew both of the last panels either. The strip would be vastly improved by deleting the text from the last panel, and then swapping it with the third panel to provide a beat panel. Oh well.
The sign above the "interview" desk says "TEACH'S SPACE FRIEGHTERS". Starside, once it got rolling, was going to be about a space-pirate fighting team composed of Blake, Tricia, Joel, and two more characters who were never introduced. Blake, Tricia, and Joel got into the whole thing by accidentally signing onto a pirate ship, and through a Forrest Gump-style series of events, bringing them to justice.
It's February in-universe, which was the month this strip ran, and judging by the calendar, apparently there are only five days to a week.
Febraury 4, 2010 – Ha, I haven't officially said what the guy's name is yet, have I? That's due to appear in #4. Some of you already know it though. ;)
October 6, 2010 – Blaaaaaaah. Exposition. Not funny. Smack me if I ever run anything this dull again.
Archive commentary – While rather unfunny and wordy, this strip provides a lot of setup for later down the line, while beginning to establish the characters of Blake and Tricia. Blake's company which folded shows up later when we are introduced to the Starside, the ship which the strip was named after and ironically never featured, as the company which built it. In fact, Blake worked on the Starside, which was part of the reason Captain Anderson hired Blake.
February 8, 2010 – I'm pretty pleased with this. The last two panels were drawn in black-on-white, then reversed after scanning. Also, I did this in one pass — pencil and ink at the same time, on the same paper. It only took two(!) hours. The previous two were pencil, then traced on another sheet with ink — very slow, and made the lettering hard.
Of course, at this point, I have no backlog, so I need to get that done before Thursday, and also, the scanner has been acting up, so it's entirely possible that #4 won't make it to the site by Thursday. We'll see.
October 7, 2010 – The second panel and the box with holes are made of win. Blake's deformed legs, the ugly space brick ship, and the fact that I had to edit my siggy in afterwards because I forgot it are not.
Archive commentary – I originally typoed "box" as "poxes" in the rerun commentary, which I have taken the liberty of correcting here. I have no idea what is in the box, but it doesn't belong to Blake, and probably isn't good.
In case you couldn't tell from the fact that they hire people on the spot, apparently one after another, Teach's Space Freighters is not a reputable company. However, space elevators! The future is now! I did, in fact, do my homework on this one, and put the elevator at the equator, so that the satellite it connects to can be in geosynchronous orbit.
February 11, 2010 – Hey hey. Apparently, I succeeded in getting this scanned, drawn, and shaded, by Thursday. What do you think of the shading?
Trivia: Level J is not actually the 10th level on this particular ship. For 20 points, come up with either the correct reason, or an interesting and/or funny one.
October 8, 2010 – The art for the ship's interior is fun to draw.
I dislike the dialogue. There are too many words. And Tricia's hair is messed up, never going to draw it like that again.
Archive commentary – As I mentioned in the rerun commentary, this was actually great fun to draw. The graffiti on door 19-J says "NJM", and is a shout-out to my friend Nathaniel M. "JDP" are of course my initials. In later strips, I tended to work my name into the graffiti, if present, which I have done here, and then redundantly signed anyway. The stick-figure man in the pirate hat in panel two labeled "cap" is another hint that something pirate-related is going on.
Also, note that the ship "shunts" into hyperspace, rather than jumping, implying a more sideways motion in line with how I imagined the physics to work.
Part of Blake's bum is missing in panel 3. Apparently I can't draw.
February 15, 2010 – (No commentary)
October 9, 2010 – (No commentary)
Archive commentary – Apparently I thought that this strip spoke for itself, because I never wrote any commentary before now. All I have to say this time around is that I still like the line "Bad luck, I'm your supervisor." The attitude behind it sums up Joel Mackenzie pretty much perfectly.
March 1, 2010 – Hi. I haven't been posting these, have I? Anyway, here's the strip.
In #4, I asked you to guess why Level J isn't level 10. None of you got it 100% right, but I liked Kai's answer best. So there we go. The out-of-universe explanation is that J is my first initial, and I sort of absent-mindedly used it as the name of that level; Kai's answer was not 100% right because this is not the command level; it's maintenance and computers. To explain in-universe: on a carrier, all levels would be present, and this would be the 10th level. J always refers to the first (and in this case, only) maintenance and computers level. This particular model of cargo ship lacks levels C, E and I, making this this the 8th level, which is on the 6th deck. (Decks are numbered from the bottom up, meaning that RiffMaxx is actually a bit right too.) 8th, not 7th, because there's a level AB housing escape pods. I'll post some ASCII-art diagrams illustrating the full layout of both a carrier and this cargo ship some other time when I don't have a comic to post.
More trivia: much easier, for 5 points, is what the title of this particular strip is from. Using search engines is cheating. For another 5 points, correctly identify the item floating in the vat in the last panel.
October 9, 2010 – Final strip before Starside went on hiatus. This one actually has a punchline.
The title is from David Bowie's "Major Tom", in case you didn't figure out the first time around.
Expect fresh content.
Archive commentary – That is a tesseract in the vat, which my brother got immediately. Chalk it up to having to live with me. It's the core of the ship's hyperdrive, allowing it to shunt itself through the 5th (4th spatial) dimension. "Hyperspace" is the 4-dimensional space which all interstellar ships exist in, and due to the odd curvatures of space within the galaxy, vastly reduces travel times.
This ship is quite an old model, and the engine systems are a blend of neo-steampunk piping and systems reminicent of those found on the Nostromo in the movie Alien, with the big difference that this ship does not contain a giant man-eating alien.
October 10, 2010 – WOOOO COMIC.
Experimenting with doing the speech bubbles on the computer. Verdict: The text might be okay. However, I think I'll stick to drawing speech bubbles. Also, I don't like this layout. So I will also go back to the 4-panel row.
I think I prefer it unshaded though. What do you think?
EDIT – It's worth noting that these won't be regular. I've been packing them into slivers of time, like in the car or waiting for class. The next two were done at the dentist a few months ago.
Archive commentary – The first new strip post-hiatus. It was actually drawn after the following two. Apparently I decided that I needed another strip in between them.
On the screens in panel three, from left to right: PONG (Mackenzie is winning), some sort of alert, the computer having a "what the heck" moment, another alert (inspired by the readouts on Anakin's podracer from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), and a memo with instructions that all personnel must change their socks every 36 hours as a minimum, or something equally banal.
Intercom: ...1, 0. - [beat panel] - Blake: Well, none of the alarms are going off." - Joel: I can't wait until we try the shift drive. I'm not even sure that model has failsafes.
Joel: Incredibly enough, I think the shift drive actually works. Blake: Only one way to find out. - LATER - Intercom: Bridge to engineering. Actinius here. You clowns better be ready for shift, over. - Blake: [from off panel] Mr. Mackenzie, you can tell him that it works as long as he doesn't mind sparks and smoke. - Joel: Bridge. Everything is working perfectly, out.
Archive commentary – Here's some previously unpublished material. I feel like the art in these is, by and large, much better than in the previous strips. Strip #8 had the huge advantage that I only had to draw half of the panels; I could just edit in the other two afterwards by cloning panel one! Lazy comics ftw.
These were my notes for all the characters - both the ones who made it into the strip, and the ones we were never introduced to.
Main cast:
Blake Lee Trilby – Often very laid back, sometimes despairing of his position in life and his younger sister Tricia. An engineer by trade, he has to get a job after his friend's startup goes bankrupt. He gets a position on cargo ship 17, which kicks off a series of misadventures.
Patricia "Tricia" Laura Trilby – Excitable, cheerful, adoring of her big brother Blake. Computer genius. Her run aboard cargo ship 17 is her first real job, and also the first time she's been offworld. Responsible for the Starside's sapience. Frighteningly proficient at first-person shooter games.
Joel Mackenzie – An extremely short, grumpy, chainsmoking engineer hailing from Jupiter's moon colonies who is Blake's immediate supervisor aboard cargo ship 17. He is quite pessimistic, and is initially somewhat unfriendly towards Blake. After an incident in the engine room, however, he admits that Blake might actually be a competent engineer and befriends him. Is the first one to twig that not everything is what it seems aboard cargo ship 17.
Moriah Camille Magellan – The pilot of the Starside. Into manga, anime, and anything Tolkien. Shy. Skeptical of the rest of the crew that Captain Anderson hires. Likes wearing stripes and black. Friends with Maximus.
Maximus / The Starside – An AI that Tricia is working on. Runs on the mainframe of a modified XS-89 prototype long-range stealth-enabled scout ship (otherwise known as a Really Cool and Fast Spaceship) which is purchased by Captain Anderson at great expense from Blake's friend's company after it goes bankcrupt. Has taken the name "Maximus", which he (the AI) considers the coolest name ever, to distinguish his software from the hardware he runs on. Somewhat naive. Good friends with Moriah, though does not see much in comics. While techincally genderless, prefers the masculine gender since Tricia added a number of traditionally masculine characteristics. (Apparently, she thinks that "men, with a single-track mind and less focus on interpersonal relationships, are easier to implement". Blake and Joel would take offense at this, but are too busy nurturing Maximus' interest in strategy games to care very much.) Very confusing, since the Starside itself is a "she", like all ships. Extremely good at chess, because of the raw number-crunching ability he gets from his computer base. Is much less proficient at, but much more interested in, "non-algorithmic chess", i.e. chess which he uses his general-purpose neural net to play without aid of his hardware-accelerated mental calculator. Is a rotten pilot, and lacks a certain amount of common sense, which is why Moriah is not rendered obsolete.
Supporting cast:
Captain Oscar Joseph Merriwether Anderson – Captain of the Starside. An eccentric millionaire vigilante pirate hunter with a Federation commission and a seemingly limitless supply of wealth and a shadowy past. After the events aboard cargo ship 17, he becomes Blake, Tricia, Joel, and Moriah's employer and commanding officer. He dislikes being called "Captain Anderson" by his crew and associates, and insists being called "Captain Joe" or just "Captain" by them (pirates and politicians, however, are expected to call him "Captain Anderson Sir"). Signs himself as Captain OJM Anderson, because he thinks it sounds dignified and befitting. He is getting too old to be hunting pirates in his opinion, and so sets about training the Trilbys & co. to take his place. Very good at poker, which makes this the one game the rest of the crew can agree on most often, so that they can try to beat him. Supposedly dies, but the body is never found, which Joel finds rather suspicious. Leaves his wealth in the hands of the Starside team to continue their mission (at least, until he inevitably reappears).
Lieutenant Robert "Bob" Maynard – Member of the Federation Space Force, and the Starside crew's contact for pirate sightings, tips, and useful military tech. Used to serve alongside Anderson before the latter left the military to make his fortune.
Villains:
Captain Actinius – Captain of cargo ship 17. Has now aquired a proper pirate ship, the Black Phoenix, and is attempting to destroy the Starside and crew so that he can go about being a pirate with less hassle. Cunning, egotisitical, monologue-prone, insecure, and somewhat effeminate, to the disgust of his first mate.
Jade Onera – First mate of cargo ship 17, and later the Black Phoenix. Is probably plotting to off Actinius and replace him, or at the very least get her own ship - preferably the Starside.
"The Admiral" – The owner of the imaginitively-named cover company Teach's Space Freighters, and the Big Bad who Captain Actinius, Onera and a number of other pirate captains are reporting to. Apparently wishes to turn the major spacelanes into tollways under his control, and work from there.
Standard levels for a carrier. Main levels have one-letter names. Half-levels have two-letter names. Decks are numbered.
A - Bridge (1-A is the main bridge)
AB - Escape pods for levels A and B
B - Officers' quarters & visitors' quarters
C - Second bridge
D - Lift shaft
E - Supplies
F - Galley
G - Upper crew quarters
H - Supplies, escape pods
I - Lower crew quarters
J, K, L - Maintenance, life support (some rooms span multiple decks) further
escape pods can also be found on levels J-L)
M, N, O - Engineering & coolant 1,2,3
P - Landing gear
Q, R, S, T - Hangars and staging (some rooms on these levels span multiple
decks. Cargo levels if ship doesn't carry planes)
U - Magazine
V - Battery
W - Tractor beams
X - Main computer & coolant 4
Y - Tactical computer & coolant 5
Z - Engines & engine access shafts
* marks an open area, outside the ship - not a level
_________________
|_____A___ AB _| 27-28
\___B___------| 25-26
CARRIER: TCR-2/27N "OLD SOUTH" |_____C_____| 24
_/ D&E \ 22-23
___/_________| 20-21
____________________________________________/________F_____\_____ 19
/ Q |_______________G__________/ 17-18
/ R |_______________H__________|_ 15-16
| ________ ______S__vvv__|_______________I__| | 13-14
\_______T______| | Y | ^^^ J | | 11-12
\ K | X |____| K | _| 9-10
\__L___|________|______________________________L__| Z |_ 7-8
|_____________U_ ___________| M | | 5-6
/ V |________\ \ N | | 3-4
|___________|___W____| \_________O__|_________| 1-2
\__________P_________/ \____P__________| 0
CARGO SHIP: XGO-659/17Y
_________________________________________
|_A___|___(A)____|D|B|____G________|__F__/ 8
_________|_AB_/_____*_____\____H_________________/ 7
/ 1Q \___J______|____M_____|_ 6
/ 2Q \_X_/ | | 5
/ 1R | _| 4
| 2R | Z |_ 3
\ 1S | | 2
\ 2S |______| 1
\_______T_________________________________________| 0
Ship numbers
Terran Federation ships have ship numbers following this pattern: the letter of the world of origin, two letters designating type of spaceship, dash, division number, slash, internal serial number, affiliation letter
Worlds:
T = Terra (Sol 4)
M = Mars (Sol 5)
C = Capitan (Alpha Centari 5)
X = Low population worlds lumped together
...
Types: (when suffixed with an X, indicates an experimental ship. P suffix is prototype)
CR = carrier [hyperdrive, large crew, carries other ships, may have weapons]
CU = cruiser [hyperdrive, large crew, weapons]
F = fighter [no hyperdrive, weapons, one- or two-man]
SC = scout [hyperdrive, small crew, weapons]
Y = yacht [no hyperdrive, small crew, no weapons]
YH = yacht [hyperdrive, small crew, no weapons]
TR = train [hyperdrive, small crew, passengers, no weapons]
L = liner [hyperdrive, large crew, passengers, no weapons]
GO = cargo [hyperdrive, medium-large crew, no weapons, large cargo bay]
ST = station [orbiting, may have weapons]
OP = outpost [immobile, weapons]
DK = dock [orbiting, tethered, may have weapons]
...
Affiliation:
N = Navy
G = General government
P = Private
C = Corporate
Y = Company
...
K = Pirate or criminal. Not official - a convention used by pirate ships that
wish to be known as such - similar to a skull and crossbones. In this case,
division number is the next one not taken by another pirate.
Notable numbers:
TCR-2/27N - The carrier "Old South" - Navy carrier built on Terra, 2nd division, ship 27
XGO-659/17C - aka "Cargo Ship 17" - Company cargo ship built on a colony world, company 659, ship 17
MSCX-2592/9P - The "Starside" - Private experimental scout ship built on Mars, owner 2592, ship 9
XCU-79/1K - The "Black Phoenix" - Pirate cruiser built on a colony world, probably 79th pirate captain, 1st ship.
TDK-4/3G - The spacedock 3 - Government spacedock built on Terra, 4th division, ship 3
Copyright © 2010-2011 Jonathan Page. Some rights reserved under terms of the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.