Welcome back to Guest Art Week on Zik! Today’s stunning action portrait of Tanaka was sent to us by the amazing, incredible, phenominal Adam Black of Locus Comics! Adam has been featured in the comic before! In real life, Adam is one of my art teachers and best friends. He’s always there for me and to be frank, Zik wouldn’t be what it is today without his guidance. He’s a huge Tanaka fan and I really love this take on him! We’ll see Tanaka doing pretty much exactly this in the near future!
Do yourself a favor and check out Adam’s comics! If you can handle something that’s violent, bloody, has boobs, bad language and a phenominal story, start with Locus: Lilitu and dive into the astounding universe that Adam has created!
Welcome back to Guest Art Week! Here’s another fun one! Corey Kramer of Wonder Weenies sent us this great toon inspired by The Family Circus! I want some Zozstess Fruit Pies now… Check out Corey’s great comic strip about people working at a fast food restaurant!
Welcome back to Guest Art Week! Today we’ve got a GINORMOUS Queen Elcyra holding a star by Barry Linck of Phineus Magician For Hire! Barry has been drawing Phineus since ! He’s got thousands of pages of comics on his site, all full of magic and mayhem and Lovecraftian monsters! So if that’s something you’d dig, today’s your lucky day because you’ll be able to dive into a legend int he making.
Zik turns to James Anchor and thanks him again for arriving in the nick of time. Our heroes seem to have gotten away! But Zik thinks it may have been too easy. Think about it: Queen Elcyra wasn’t aiming her torpedoes properly, and she all but ceased fire right after the Kodiak landed its first shot. Zik thinks she let them go! But why?
Meanwhile, Trent and Amelia have arrived on the bridge in their new space suits! This will keep them much safer while traveling in the dangerous environment of space! (Seriously, why the heck do people on Star Trek wear pajamas to work?)
And, clinging to the hull, deader than a doornail, is the clonoid that Queen Elcyra planted on the hull of the Kodiak…
WOW! It’s the end of the first chapter of Zik, The Gallant Defender of Zoz! Prison Planet has been quite an epic tale, clocking in at 147 pages! I’d like to take a moment to thank the people who have supported me in getting here, especially Adam Black and Raven Perez for their art and story-writing advice. These guys are great coaches! Also, all the great readers who have been tuning in every week to see the continuing adventures of their favorite space hero, and especially the awesome site members who have signed up to get the extras. And lastly, my awesome family for being supportive as I spend countless hours drawing and drawing and drawing. Thanks!
Episode 2 starts very shortly! Next week I will be featuring some amazing fan art that up until now has only been available for site members. The week after that, a whole new Zik adventure begins, along with a major shift! Stay tuned, you’ll be blown away!
Zik has gotten a direct hit on Queen Elcyra’s massive ship! James Anchor notices that it’s had the desired effect: the rate of fire from Queen Elcyra’s ship has dropped off dramatically! That means it’s time to get the heck out of here, and he gives that order to the helmsman Gerald. James also gives Zik the green light to cover their escape with a few more rounds from the Kodiak’s howitzers! Boom! How do you like that, you tyrant?! Elcyra’s ship is now leaking air from three big holes!
Queen Elcyra’s ship is damaged! As the air rushes out of the new hole Zik punched into her hull, more torpedoes keep launching. One torpedo approaches, but is badly aimed and thus escapes the barrage of point defense fire coming from the Kodiak. Or was it really aimed just right?
As the torpedo passes close to the Kodiak, it bursts open, revealing a clonoid drone! The clonoid, carrying a mysterious cylinder in his hand, drifts down through space to the hull of the Kodiak. It releases the cylinder, which bursts open and encases the clonoid in a film which glues it to the hull! The now dead clonoid has become a tracking device!
The Kodiak fires its cannons in point defense mode and destroys the torpedoes as they approach, but there are so many of them!
Tactical officer Emma notices that not all the torpedoes are aimed accurately, as if Elcyra is shooting from the hip! James Anchor orders her to flag the torpedoes that are a threat in the targeting computer so that weapons officer Jason knows which torpedoes to prioritize. He then gives the order to return fire with the main guns!
Zik takes a seat at an auxiliary station and offers to man the howitzers so that Jason can concentrate on the cloud of incoming torpedoes. He fires the massive front howitzer! James Anchor orders the Chadee fighter pilots to stay in their hangar bay, but to be ready to launch – escape is their objective, not destruction!
Meanwhile, Fiona has found a space suit for both Trent and Amelia, and helps them to learn how to put them on properly. If a torpedo gets through the defenses and hits the ship, you definitely want a space suit on!
Zik’s howitzer shot is a direct hit on the hull of Elcyra’s massive capital ship! Will our heroes make good their escape?
Tactical officer Emma makes the urgent announcement: Queen Elcyra has launched a barrage of torpedoes at the Kodiak! Captain James Anchor gives helmsman Gerald and weapons officer Jason some quick commands, and then announces an alert to the rest of the ship! Zik gets his crash helmet ready and moves to the secondary weapons console.
Meanwhile, there’s nothing Queen Elcyra likes better than crushing her enemies! She cackles with glee, giving Zik’s nickname for her more truthfulness than he probably anticipated!
Down in the medical bay, Fiona is helping Vera into a medical diagnostic pod. It doubles as an escape pod in case the attack goes badly for our heroes! Trent and Amelia aren’t sure what the alarm means, but Fiona explains it quickly. She’ll have to get some proper space-worthy clothing for Amelia and Trent! You don’t want to get sucked out a hull breach wearing a t-shirt or a robe! Fiona has a spare flight suit that should fit Amelia, and she offers Trent some body armor. Will the Kodiak survive the onslaught?
Queen Elcyra seems quite put out that an entire ship of people would laugh at the opportunity to escort her illustrious person to meet with their leaders.
Zik can’t take her arrogance any longer, and cuts her off mid-sentence! He gives her a piece of his mind and lets her know that Zoz has no leaders, nor does it want any! The long and violent history of humanity since the dawn of civilization has proven the point: people who submit to authority inevitably get tyranny!
The crafty, crazy Queen doesn’t seem too bothered by Ziks tirade. She orders her Clonoids to open fire on the Kodiak!
Queen Elcyra has arrived! She opens her first official dialogue with a Zozian vessel by mocking the Zozians. Diplomacy isn’t important to a tyrant!
James Anchor gives a polite response with a stoney expression. Zik isn’t impressed either, but for him things are already personal – after all, Elcyra just killed a bunch of his new friends!
Elcyra introduces herself with the grandiose titles she has bestowed upon herself and tells the Zozians that they can have the honor of escorting her to meet with their leaders.
Zik and James look at each other with bemused expressions. Did she really just say “Take me to your leader” to a ship full of people with no rulers? The situation is too ludicrous for words, and everyone on the bridge cracks up laughing!
