Ex Astris

Ex Astris on the Move!

2009-07-03T23:55:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to report that, as part of ongoing developments for our Ex Astris, we've finally activated our proper site (www.exastris.co.uk) and blog (http://blog.exastris.co.uk/) for the comic. The site offers a guide to the strip and there's some free stuff over there, too - at the moment, four smashing desktop wallpapers for your computer designed by Mike.

The new blog utilises some of the options afforded by a Wordpress plugin known as ComicPress which we think will help us better deliver the web version of the strip to fns who've found us via Bulletproof Comics, Spaceship Away or ROK Comics.

As a consequence, this blog becomes a piece of history, but rather than delete it we leave it here (unless Google/Blogger decide it has to go at some point) and would like to thank Google for their service.

• Visit www.exastris.co.uk

Ex Astris Artist Celebrates Moon Landings

2009-07-02T05:05:00.001-07:00

Mike Nicoll has just sent me this fab piece of art to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first human moon landing, which forms part of a gallery of art marking the event over on thedownthetubes forum.

Several artists have contributed images so far, including Doctor Who illustrator Colin Howard, Space Age Magazine editor Bob Bello and the Etherington Brothers.

More contributions are welcome.

If you're a fan of Mike's art, you may be interested to know we have four Ex Astris wallpapers for PCs available as free downloads over on the revamped web site: www.exastris.co.uk. After being a simple "redirect" for a couple of years, we've just launched the site proper and more on the strip and regularly updated strip posts are to feature soon.

Ex Astris: Homecoming Story Online

2009-06-30T13:44:00.001-07:00

After discussion between myself and Mike, we've decided to publish a web version Ex: Astris Homecoming, which first appeared in Bulletproof Comics #2, using the myebook platform. Click on the image on the right to view the comic or follow this link.

This standalone story is set in 2511, and links in with the strips published on ROK Comics and Clickwheel.net.

Included in this myebook is a one page article with some background on the origins of the strip.

This is our first use of myebook, so please leave comments and let us know what you think!

myebook aims to revolutionise the way you can create, publish and share ebook content online. Built on a feature-rich social platform, complete with free-to-use powerful, browser-based, builder software, and a slick reader environment, it's an easy way for anyone and everyone to 'get it out there', and several independent publishers are using the platform to promote their projects. You'll find books such as new Garth by Huw-J, The Fat Man by Thomas Cochrane, previews of Marksoia titles, and comics from Orang Utan Comics, Insomnia Unico Comics and many others.

If you want to read Ex Astris: Homecoming in print, then head over to the Bulletproof web site and order a copy of #2, an 80-page anthology which also features strips such as Slumbertown by Rik Hoskin & Thomas Crielly, Simba Khan by Paul Birch & Jon Haward, Love Hurts by David Hailwood & Stuart Giddings, Sideburns by Jim Alexander & Jon Haward and Redstitch by Lee Langford & Klaus Belarski.

• Bulletproof Comics: www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk

• Read Ex Astris: Homecoming on myebook.com

Ex Astris To Return to Spaceship Away

2009-06-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to report that although the upcoming issue of Spaceship Away, on sale soon, brings the first Ex Astris 'prequel' story to a close, the strip will return to the Magazine next year - and this time, it will be for an ongoing run.

"We'll be back with Issue 21," says writer John Freeman. "We're delighted the editors of Spaceship Away have committed to a further series of stories: it's a testament to Mike Nicoll's creation and his stunning work that the strip has proved a success in the Magazine."

It looks like it's going to be an interesting year ahead for the SF comic magazine: in addition to continuing Dan Dare stories and more, Issue 19 will see the arrival of the Daily Mirror's classic strip Garth, coloured by John Ridgway - a story that has never been reprinted in the UK.

Talks are also going on with Sydney Jordan about completing the Dan Dare story he started
in the Planet on Sunday.

• Spaceship Away Part 18 is being distributed to existing subscribers. For more about the issue, click here
• To order Spaceship Away, click here

Creating Crowd Scene in CGI

2009-05-14T03:02:00.000-07:00

Over on the downthetubes forum, Ex Astris creator Mike Nicoll has been talking about creating crowd scenes in CGI, responding to comments from veteran artist John Ridgway that the medium isn't really good for such things.

Mike's response was pretty interesting, so I thought I'd re-post them in an edited form here.

"The problem with CGI work is the characters," argues John Ridgway. "In order to produce the necessary pictures, characters have to be created, posed, lit and their expressions arranged to suit the story. All this takes time. Mike Nicoll, on Ex Astris, manages this exceptionally well. But the number of characters in their scenes are limited. Imagine producing a number of crowd scenes...

"My solution to this is to draw the characters and use cgi for the backgrounds and spacecraft," says John. "It's then up to the individual reader and being given the time for this mixture to be accepted. No-one objected to the use of flat coloured line drawings against fully-painted backgrounds in the old Disney films, and apparently didn't even notice that the ballroom in Disney's Beauty and the Beast was CGI work."

Mike thinks John Makes a good point about crowd scenes although so far as Ex Astris is concerned the reason for a lack of major crowd scenes is simply down to the fact that the script(s) as written haven't actually called for any - yet.

"We did create a one-pager called Ex Astris: Floods [which was adapted for mobile for ROK Comics] which had a crowd storming an escaping space ship," he points out, "and the EA: Homecoming 10 pager we did for Bulletproof Comics had between four and seven characters in many panels and the main storyline which we're working on at present will have a mob of townspeople attacking our heroes which will be fun to do (memo to John Freeman - let's have lots of close-ups!).

"The problem may be simply that much CGI work is, as pointed out elsewhere, created by technicians who may be adept at computer skills but not in the art of comic creation," Mike argues. "That's not to denegrate the creators, it's simply that as someone who is as happy hand-drawing a page as CGI-ing it I have an extra batch of creative skills which many CGI artists lack.

"When I create a CGI scene there is frankly as much Photoshop and hand-rendered post-production work as there is pure CGI rendering. I almost never render a complete scene and pop it into place (if only it were that easy!!). Instead, I sketch the image first then render each element separately via the alpha channel, then compose the panel with every item on a separate layer.

"It may seem like a lot of extra work but it gives me maximum control over lighting, colour balance, contrast etc., but the point I'm trying rather laboriously to make is that it's just as easy for me to make a scene with two people as 22 people in CGI. All it costs you is a little extra time but if I were to hand-draw the crowd then I'm taking extra time as well but in the long run I'm saving time by not having to ink and colour the panels.

"That said, I feel the ideal way to go about solving the problem is, as John says, to hand-draw the characters but use CGI backgrounds in the same way as actors are shot against greenscreen in the movies. However, as shown to great effect in the movie Titan AE, this can result in a bit of a mess because the line art and flat colour jars terribly against the rendered backgrounds.

"My solution is to hand-paint the characters with no line-art involved - at least no black line-art which I feel is the main problem. Fully painted characters against CGI backgrounds (which also have no line art of course) blend in better and make a much more satifsying composite I feel.

"I'll be using this technique on a Dan Dare wallpaper which I'm doing for fun and if it gives satifactory results I'll be using it for my forthcoming Saffyre Blue graphic novel so I'll pop up some sample art a bit later for some constructive criticism."

• Read the whole discussion on the downthetubes forum

Secrets of Ceres Part 2 Features in new Spaceship Away

2009-01-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

On sale in all good comic shops soon is the latest issue of Rod Barzilay’s Spaceship Away comic magazine, featuring all-new comic strip starring the original Dan Dare and a variety of other SF strips including the second part of Ex Astris: Secrets of Ceres, a prequel strip to the story featured on ROK Comics and Clickwheel.

Other strips in the magazone include Rocket Pilot by Keith Page, Nick Hazard by Philip Harbottle and Ron Turner, coloured by John Ridgway, and many more.

A highlight of the issue must surely be an all-new Dan Dare centrespread by veteran artist Mike Noble, perhaps best known for his work on TV Century 21 and Look-In – his first SF art, we believe, in years.

But that’s not all, because the issue also includes Frank Hampson's original Operation Saturn Dan Dare story outline that's just been rediscovered by his son, Peter Hampson; science fiction author Stephen Baxter has written an article comparing Eagle and TV21; ace downthetubes' contributor Jeremy Briggs has a look at Dan's Anastasia and cutaway king Graham Bleathman tackles the craft's cockpit - a difficult job as the details kept changing in the strip!

Plus, artist Don Harley talks about working with Frank Bellamy; a debate about SF writer Arthur C. Clarke's involvement in the creation of Dan Dare continues; and the magazine lifts the lid on a hidden bit of Dan Dare Red Moon artwork.

As usual, it's a packed issue with plenty to keep Dan Dare and SF comic fans happy!

• To order online visit: http://spaceshipaway.org.uk

Secrets of Ceres Episode 2 Preview!

2009-01-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Mike and I have just completed work on the second episode of Secrets of Ceres, the Ex Astris prequel strip running in science fiction comic magazine Spaceship Away, which goes to the printers soon.

There were some last minute hiccups thanks to a glaring proofing error over one of the character's names -- Sarah Blake, our hardwired space investigator suddenly started to be called by a different name, a subconscious link between her and the Ex Astris main strip that was almost revealed by accident! Special thanks to Des Shaw and Rod Barzilay for not only spotting it at the last minute but also giving us chance to put things right.

Hope you enjoy the low resolution preview of the episode's first page, above.

The next issue of Spaceship Away includes an article by acclaimed SF author Stephen Baxter and features a new centre-spread painted by Mike Noble, perhaps best known for his work on TV Century 21 and is his first SF artwork for a while. There's also another painting by top illustrator Graham Bleathman and the magazine will also be looking at the connection between Dan Dare artists and Gerry Anderson's world. More info on the issue, on sale soon, from the Spaceship Away web site!

In other EA news, Episode 7 of the strip is now also on Clickwheel.

Ex Astris on Clickwheel

2009-01-08T06:53:00.001-08:00

The Ex Astris strips first featured on ROK Comics are now appearing on Rebellion's iPod and iPhone service Clickwheel.

Clickwheel is a young, UK-based company with big ambitions featuring the online version of 2000AD and Active Images superb Elephantmen comic, written by former Marvel UK editor in chief Richard Starkings (the print edition of Elephantmen #15 is out in specialist stores next week).

All the strips on the service are offered in downlaodable iComics, which can be viewed on iPod and iPhones, and .cbz, adapted zip files whcih can be viewed in a .cbz reader such as Comic Book Lover.

Other strips include Sword of Dracula by Jason Henderson, featuring the art of Greg Scott, William Belk, Terry Palloy and Tony Harris and many others, encompassing a wide range of styles and genres.

• To view Ex Astris on Clickwheel click here: www.clickwheel.net/features/256

Top British Comic Creator Praises Ex Astris

2008-12-19T03:25:00.000-08:00

In these days of media overload you sometimes miss something important, and in our case we completely missed a review of the Ex Astris strip that featured in the UK comics magazine Bulletproof #2, released earlier this year.

Over on his brilliant Blimey! It's Another Blog About Comics, cartoonist and writer Lew Stringer reviewed Bulletproof #2 at the end of November and was generous in his praise for the strip.

Noting publisher Matt Yeo's new British adventure anthology is "a rarity these days so it's good to see the second issue of Bulletproof finally appear", he offered high praise for many of the strips in the issue, arguing "the strength of Bulletproof is that it uses both new creators and established professionals. It's always good to see new talent emerging and it'll be interesting to see them develop.

Of Ex Astris, Lew wrote: "This CGI strip is my personal favourite in the issue. The computer generated art is very professsional and impressive, and John's script is tight and well told. (Readers may also be aware that a different Ex Astris adventure, also by Freeman and Nicoll, has just started running in Spaceship Away, - another UK adventure comic worth your money.)"

Coming from a British comics professional of such high standing, whose credits range from the much-loved Combat Colin to Sonic the Hedgehog and who currently draws strips for TOXIC and The Beano, this is high praise indeed for the strip. Our belated thanks to Lew for his kind words.

"All in all, Bulletproof is an interesting package and I'm looking forward to future issues," says Lew of the magazine.

• Bulletproof is not available in newsagents but can be ordered through comics speciality shops or buy it direct from the Bulletproof website here: www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk/online-store

• Check out the rest of the impressive Bulletproof site for creator profiles, news of future issues, and more: www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk

Ex Astris Episode 16

2008-11-18T06:44:00.001-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 15

2008-11-18T06:43:00.002-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 14

2008-11-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 13

2008-11-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 12

2008-11-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 11

2008-11-18T06:40:00.002-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 10

2008-11-18T06:40:00.001-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 9

2008-11-18T06:39:00.002-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 8

2008-11-18T06:39:00.001-08:00

Ex Astris Episode 7

2008-11-18T06:36:00.000-08:00

Ex Astris Writer Interviewed

2008-11-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

John Freeman, keeper of downthetubes.net and writer of Ex Astris, was recently interviewed by his local paper, the Morecambe Visitor, who did British comics proud with a two page spread.

John reports how Ex Astris has already attracted high acclaim from comic insiders with Doctor Who comic artist John Ridgway even suggesting it should be a TV series.

"Ex Astris reflects my love of the kind of sci-fi space adventures I grew up reading," explains John.

"I was a sucker for the work of Asimov, EE Doc Smith, Robert Heinlein and others, the kind of sci-fi I'd say Charles Stross and others are continuing to this day."

John's also reveals his partnership with artist Mike Nicoll is an unconventional one, because writer and artist have never actually met in person.

"Everything these days is done by e-mail and telephone," explains John.

• You can read the interview "Comic Book Heroes are Fighting Back" online.

ROK COMICS Now on iPhone

2008-10-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

ROK Comics has launched ROK Comics as an application on the Apple iPhone.

The ROK Comics application, the first of a planned series of applications currently in development by ROK for the iPhone, enables iPhone-owners to read a selection of strips from the huge and fast-growing ROK Comics portfolio, to include such strips as Anomaly (by Kennedy Rose), Crumb (by David Fletcher), Reddickulous (by David Reddick), sci-fi strip Crazy Mary (by Mike Colbert, Edward Woodward and others) and gothic comic Ligeia (by Rodrigo D. Ricci).

"We felt we should offer variety in our comics offering and this selection reflects the diversity of strips available on ROK Comics to include humour, adventure and sci-fi" ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman commented. "We will constantly be evaluating, adapting and looking at new features while adding further strips in future versions of the application."

More information about the new application can be found at: www.rokcomics.com/iphone

"The iPhone is having a far-reaching effect in transforming access to - and use of - mobile entertainment," added ROK's Creative Director Graham Baines, "and we at ROK are focussed on deploying ever-more interesting, engaging and easy-to-use content services and applications into this fast-growing channel".

This week, the New York Times reported that Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones in the last quarter in the US alone and has already surpassed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones during 2008, according to Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs.

"This is an exciting development for us," said ROK’s Group CEO, Laurence Alexander "and reflects our ongoing commitment to develop and deploy engaging entertainment services to mobile phones globally."

ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com) provides comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS) with creators receiving up to 50% of the available revenue on every sale.

Bulletproofed Ex Astris!

2008-10-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

An all-new adventure set on the ravaged Earth of Ex Astris
is just part of an all-star line up to Bulletproof Comics Issue 2, on sale now from British indie publisher Bulletproof Comics.

This is another 80-page beast of an issue, but this time around the title has 33 pages of full colour!

Here’s a breakdown of the stori and their respective creators: Marren Kane - Dave Hailwood & Tony Suleri; Sideburns - Jim Alexander & Jon Haward; Bunk Mates - Dave Hailwood & Paul Harrison-Davies; Game Over - Bulent Yusef & Dave Thomson; Funguys - Alan Grant & Alan Burrows; Last Orders - Dave Hailwood & Stuart Giddings; Redstitch - Lee Langford & Klaus Belarski; Ex Astris - John Freeman & Mike Nicoll; Love Hurts - Dave Hailwood & Stuart Giddings; and Slumbertown - Rik Hoskin, Thomas Crielly & John Doran

• Check the Bulletproof web site for more details, a new Ex Astris web comic and more.

Spaceship Away On Sale Now

2008-10-09T04:30:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of the Dan Dare-inspired comics magazine Spaceship Away is on sale now via the official web site, featuring no less than eleven strips - including part one Secrets of Ceres, an all-new Ex Astris adventure by downthetubes editor John Freeman and artist Mike Nicoll.

The issue also features a Dan Dare 'prequel' strip, Rocket Pilot, written and drawn by top Commando artist Keith Page; the first episode of a beautifully coloured version of Nick Hazard, Intersteallar Agent, drawn by Ron Turner (colouring supplied by John Ridgway); and two more continuing original Dan Dare strips, Green Nemesis and The Gates of Eden.

Editor Rod Barzilay sees the issue as a 'jumping on point' for new readers, with Ian McLumpha's Space Girls and Eric Chilton's Journey into Space (drawn by Tacconi) just two more strips in the jam-packed line up, complemented by a range of features on the making of the original Dan Dare stories.

Published three times a year,this full colour, glossy magazine started out as a way to get a newly created 1950’s ‘old Eagle’ style Dan Dare strip story (Drawn by Keith Watson and Don Harley) in print, along with how it was done.

The magazine has grown from 24 to 48 pages a time, and is now moving sideways into other science fiction.

"Spaceship Away is evolving all the time," says dedicated editor Rod Barzilay, "and there are more new things already in the pipeline."

• To get the magazine delivered to your door, go straight to Spaceship Away Order Page
• More about Ex Astris at www.exastris.co.uk

Mike Nicoll: From behind the drawing board...

2008-09-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

... or perhaps that should be the computer screen, this being a "CGI strip". Have to say that I'm not normally one for blogging as I never seem to have enough time to devote to it but, for obvious reasons, I'll try to keep this one up to date!

The question I get asked most often is: "why use CGI for the strip instead of drawing it in the traditional way? Does that mean you can't draw very well?"

Well, the second part of that I will leave for others to judge as there are a few hand-drawn projects of mine due to see the light of day quite soon and you can decide for yourself.
As for the "why...?", I had taught myself how to use CGI software and was very impressed with the results - but they weren't exactly what I hoped for. I have to say right away that I don't profess to be an expert in the area and I know that I use certain software in ways that it wasn't meant to be used but what the hell - it's my party. Also, if you look closely, the strip is not all CGI - there is a hell of a lot of Photoshop/Painter and scanned hand-drawn art in there as well.

Thing is, CGI is far from being the "magic bullet" that popular mythology would have us believe and it's not possible to simply click a few buttons and create an image that looks the way it's meant to - or at least the way I meant it to - so I take the base render and fiddle about with it, adding colour layers, smoothing edges, overlaying cutouts from other renders etc. and that's the way I like to work.

To call Ex Astris a CGI or 3d strip is only half the story - it's a pastiche strip inasmuch as I will use any and all available material to create the look I want. For example, starfields never look very good when I render them - probably my fault for not using the software correctly but if I spent all my time reading "How to..." manuals I'd never get anything done - so I painted a piece of card pure black and spattered white paint across it from a toothbrush which gives a truly random effect, scanned it, knocked out the black and overlaid the remaining white dots on the image - instant starfield! I then add "blobs" of virtual paint, blur, distort and generally mess about with them using filters and add some photo's I took of sunsets/rises (and the odd section of a pic I nicked fron NASA, but please don't tell them!!), merge the whole shebang together and use the resulting image.

I've never created a CGI render which I felt was good enough to use without doing some post-production work and to that extent there's as much hand-created art as there is CGI in Ex Astris.

Why use CGI at all? There are two main reasons:

Firstly it's a matter of speed. I create the art for Ex Astris alone, so if I had to hand-draw a complicated design such as the Armstrong every time it appears in the strip It would take forever. (Before I discovered CGI, I actually built a metre-long model of the ship to photograph and draw from, so I know what I'm talkin' bout dude!)

This way, I have to spend some time creating the original mesh but after that's done I can relax and let the computer do the work whilst I work on the next panel.

Speed is of the essence in strip creation - you can look at magazines like Imagine FX and see pages of CGI-created artwork which looks much better than mine but if you look at the amount of time these artists take to create one single image, albeit a bloody brilliant one, it would take years to create a single comic.

Second reason - because it's there. I'm not being flippant - it's just that if artists only ever used the materials available at the time them we'd still be painting in cow's blood on cave walls. I see the potential in CGI to create a new style of art which I personally like the look of - and at the end of the day that's all I care about because I didn't create Ex Astris as a commercial venture - it was just a hobby that I would work on when I had the time and it wasn't until John Freeman said that he felt it had some potential that I even thought about it that way.

I know there are problems with CGI in creating traditional comic style exaggerated expressions and poses - they just don't look right in CGI -- so if I want that style of strip, I revert to hand-drawn. Ex Astris isn't meant to be a superhero strip, it's more like an adaptation of work by Arthur C. Clarke or Greg Bear, and so far, touch wood, people seem to like the way it looks. Long may it last!!

Okay - out of time as usual - see you in the funny pages!!!

Mike Nicoll

Secrets of Ceres joins Spaceship Away

2008-09-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Were delighted to report that Secrets of Ceres, the first part of a new Ex Astris strip drawn by Mike Nicoll and written by John Freeman, will feature in the next issue of the Dan Dare-inspired comics magazine Spaceship Away, now at the printers and which editor Rod Barzilay tells us will soon be shipped to subscribers.

Secrets of Ceres is a three part-story set in the Ex Astris universe created by Mike, set some years before the strip available as a free to view comic on ROK Comics and the one-off strip Homecoming, appearing in another independent UK comics title, Bulletproof Comics, which will be available from that publisher's Online Store soon.

Secrets of Ceres is set in the mid 21st Century, at a time when the race to space has been rekindled, borne from both the need for raw materials and a desire to explore. With bases on the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, humankind has truly expanded beyond the confines of home planet Earth... but is this fast expansion driven by other needs, unknown to the general public at large?

By 2040, the major asteroid Ceres has been selected as staging post for the mineral exploitation of the Asteroid Belt, with big corporations paying for the base in return for property rights. By 2050, Ceres base is fully up and running -- moved using giant ram jets into Mars orbit to better exploit its resources.

But beneath the surface of Ceres secrets are about to be uncovered - secrets investigator Sarah Blake may not live to reveal...

Spaceship Away (a three times a year, full colour, glossy magazine) started out as a way to get a newly created 1950’s ‘old Eagle’ style Dan Dare strip story (Drawn by Keith Watson and Don Harley) in print, along with how it was done. However, it didn’t stop there! Soon, other new Dan Dare stories - some serious, some not, and features joined the title, including plans, cutaway drawings, development notes, real science connections, custom-built models, foreign DD, readers' chat-back and background write-ups.

The magazine has grown from 24 to 48 pages over its five year publishing history and is now moving sideways into other SF comicsas well. Of the latest issue's 11 regular strips, five are non-Dan Dare, including Charles Chilton's Journey into Space, Space Girls and Ron Turner's Nick Hazard Interstellar Agent - Mission to Vorga.

• More about Spaceship Away at spaceshipaway.org.uk
• More about Ex Astris at www.exastris.co.uk

Ex Astris: Episode 6

2008-07-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Mike says he worked darned hard on making "The Neural Chair" look right without looking silly!

Ex Astris: Part Five

2008-06-19T03:14:00.000-07:00

I've been involved in some online discussion on creating WebComics over the past few days on a couple of comic creator forums, so I've done a bit of digging around and compiled a brief article for my web site, downthetubes, about Creating WebComics.

It includes some other links I found along the way which may be of interest to would be or indeed existing webcomic creators.

If you've got any thoughts on the subject yourself, please feel free to leave your comments here.

And talking of webcomics, in addition to Ex Astris appearing on ROK Comics, we're also going to be doing a version for the Bulletproof web site, to complement EA's appearance in Bulletproof #2 soon!

Ex Astris Part Four

2008-06-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

Trouble below decks aboard the spaceship Armstrong...

Secrets of Ceres: Character Design

2008-06-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here's one of Mike's early designs for Sarah Blake, a major character in our three-part story Secrets of Ceres, which will be published later in the year in the brilliant SF comic magazine, Spaceship Away.

The story is set in an earlier time period than the main story running on ROK Comics and as featured in the Homecoming story that will run in Bulletproof #2. Here's the promotional copy for the tale...

By the mid 21st Century, the race to space has been rekindled, borne from both the need for raw materials and a desire to explore. With bases on the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, humankind has truly expanded beyond the confines of home planet Earth... but is this fast expansion driven by other needs, unknown to the general public at large?

By 2040, the major asteroid Ceres had been selected as staging post for the mineral exploitation of the Asteroid Belt, with big corporations paying for the base in return for property rights. By 2050, Ceres base is fully up and running -- moved using giant ram jets into Mars orbit to better exploit its resources.

But beneath the surface of Ceres secrets are about to be uncovered - secrets investigator Sarah Blake may not live to reveal!

John Freeman (writer of The Science Service, and once group editor at Marvel UK) and Mike Nicoll (artist of top adult comic Saffyre Blue) bring their space odyssey Ex Astris to the pages of Spaceship Away, with a tale that sets the scene for a story that spans not just space - but centuries!

Ex Astris Part Three

2008-06-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ex Astris Part Two

2008-06-03T04:49:00.001-07:00

Ex Astris Part One

2008-06-03T04:46:00.000-07:00

• More information on this strip at www.exastris.co.uk

About Ex Astris

2008-06-03T04:43:00.001-07:00

Ex Astris is a new science fiction adventure created by Mike Nicoll, scripted by John Freeman. The strip will feature in Bulletproof and Spaceship Away later in 2008. It also features on the comics on mobile service ROK Comics.

In the 22nd century it was finally accepted that the Earth was dying due to a combination of factors including global warming, breakdown of the ozone layer, depletion of natural resources and a recent "flipping" of the planet's magnetic fields which will leave the surface open to the solar winds - as scientists now believe happened on Mars.

In response, a global conglomerate funded the construction of the ARK, a city-sized space ship in which is stored genetic samples of all life on Earth, together with the brightest and best of the population - 100,000 of them - all cryogenically frozen. The plan was to launch the ship into a vast eliptical orbit around the solar system, in search of a new habitable planet to colonise.

It is now the 24th century. The Ark is at the end of a 200 year journey, having found a new homeworld for its precious cargo, and is heading back to Earth in order to collect more survivors and transport them to the new world. They have sent a scout ship ahead - THE ARMSTRONG - a military-style ship, about the size of an aircraft carrier.

Her mission is one of reconnaissance - to check the status of Earth and report back to the ARK where decisions will be made about the next stage of the programme.

As the story opens the crew of the "Armstrong" are entering the Solar System on a heading for Earth...