As Zik and Amelia finish listening to Metallica, they get back into Zik’s story about the deadly spinning asteroid and it’s direct trajectory towards his home planet Zoz.

Zik’s strategy to spin his ship to match the rotation of the asteroid and land at the pole worked! He was able to land safely, anchor his mining ship, and fire up the powerful engines to begin pushing the asteroid on a new trajectory to hopefully nudge it away from Zoz.

In the meantime, though, his friend Ramesh is in serious trouble after that crash landing! Zik is unable to get into contact with Ramesh, meaning that he’s incapacitated somehow.  Quickly donning his breathing and grappling gear, Zik prepares to save Ramesh!

Just in case his mining ship gets dislodged from the asteroid, Zik anchors himself to the hull. He carefully makes his way across the surface of the asteroid.  It’s spinning so quickly that the stars appear to be whizzing through the heavens! Indeed, the closer he gets to the equator, the faster the rotation is, and eventually there isn’t even any gravel or stones left on the ground.

By the time Zik is near Ramesh’s ship, the force of the spin pulling him away from the asteroid is greater that it’s limited gravity, and up and down have reversed themselves! Zik is now fighting to stay attached to the asteroid, hoping that his grappling gear is strong enough to hold him!

Your favorite space hero Zik pauses in his narrative of the tale of the spinning asteroid because this part of the story reminds him of a song. He’s twisting, turning through space trying to land on an asteroid, and the lyrics to an Old Earth song by Metallica fit quite nicely! He sets the ship on autopilot and loads up the tune so that Amelia can hear it.

For those curious, here’s the song:

Meanwhile, on the Kodiak, James Anchor is on the bridge watching Amelia’s flying lessons with amusement. She certainly seems to be having fun out there! Gerald, currently at the helm, agrees.

Tactical officer Emma has been busy analyzing the recent battle with Queen Elcyra in the hopes of discovering all she can about Zernabian technology. She gives Captain Anchor an update, and he asks her to focus on the torpedoes for now. It’s very odd that guided torpedoes could miss the only target in the area, and James wants to know why.

But first, he needs coffee! Incidentally, coffee is a great beverage to enjoy awesome space adventure comics with! Grab a cup with me! Mmmmm, that’s good stuff.

Zik continues the story of the giant spinning asteroid! As he and Ramesh arrive, they see that it’s rotating very quickly, making the asteroid much more difficult to land on. Ramesh tries to match the spin speed with his ship, but even hurtling around it at top speed isn’t enough, and he crashes in front of Zik’s eyes!

Your favorite space hero tries a different tactic; he will try to land at the pole, where the speed of rotation is so great! By rotating his ship, he hopes to achieve a gentle touchdown on a very difficult target. Will he make it? Stay tuned!

It’s story time! Zik starts telling Amelia the tale of how he saved the entire planet of Zoz. The story begins with a distress call from some scientists who had been studying a recent gravitational anomaly in the Zozian solar system. They noticed during their observations that a large asteroid was heading straight for Zoz!

Zik and his friend Ramesh happen to be fairly close to the asteroid in question, so they anchor the ore they were mining and set off to investigate. But when they arrive, they notice something highly unusual: the asteroid is spinning extremely rapidly! What will our hero do?

Zik is helping Amelia learn how to fly! He instructs her on how to ease out of the barrel roll she was just doing. She’s certainly having the time of her life!

The two ships are heading back towards Zoz, and Amelia wants to know how long it will take to get to her new home. Zik tells her that it’s pretty far, so it’ll take a couple of days to traverse all those light years. Plus, they’re not heading straight to Zoz – they need to make a stop somewhere else first.

Changing the subject, Amelia asks a personal question. She’s noticed that the other Zozians treat Zik as if he’s really famous, and she wants to know if she’s imagining it. As it turns out, Zik is quite famous back home! He begins the story of the time he saved the entire planet…

Look out, universe! Amelia is behind the wheel of Zik’s ship and she’s having a blast! Flying is awesome!

In the distance, the Kodiak also makes its way back to Zoz. It’s a long trip, and a perfect opportunity for Zik to give Amelia her first flying lesson. She looks like she was born flying!

WELCOME TO ZIK EPISODE 2! And look at that! Zik is in full color now! That’s right, from this chapter onward you’ll get to enjoy the adventures of your favorite space hero in color. The first episode was in greyscale because I’m still learning the craft of comic making, and I wanted to focus on other aspects first without having to learn color on top of it. It’s also cheaper to print, so that will allow me to get episode 1 into a book sooner!

Buckle up, let’s get this episode soaring into the stars!