Zik has to use his grappling hook to make it the rest of the way to Ramesh’s crashed ship, but he finally gets there! He discovers that his friend is alive, but unconscious. Tying Ramesh to his back, Zik prepares for the trip back. But before he leaves, he sets the ship to fire its engines once per revolution of the asteroid so as to push it in a uniform direction, as well as to slow it’s rate of spin. That accomplished, Zik starts to haul himself back to his own ship with Ramesh in tow. Upon his return, he stows his friend in the bunk, which Zik explains doubles as an escape pod for the mining ship.

Hey Zik pals! Do you use Webtoons to read comics? Well, Zik is now on Webtoons as well!  I’m reformatting my back catalog of pages and uploading them as soon as they’re ready, so it’s a good opportunity to rediscover Episode 1: Prison Planet. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you know when a new page is up!

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!

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!

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 starts his ship and gives Seamus access to monitor the systems to keep an eye on the damaged engines. Meanwhile, Amelia has a million questions about the ship and how it works! Zik promises to teach her to fly when they get back home to Zoz. Speaking of heading home, it’s time to start that journey! The small fleet of ships takes off, heading for orbit, while the Zernabian prison factory burns in the distance. They have to travel carefully, trimming the use of the main engines once the ship gets high enough to go the rest of the way on the auxiliary maneuvering thrusters. They approach the Kodiak, which is drifting in orbit waiting for them, surrounded by the wreckage of some more Zernabian patrol ships! It seems the pilot, Gerald, has been busy!

Meanwhile, many light years away, The surviving ships of a very recent space battle exit the debris field. There isn’t even a scratch on Queen Elcyra’s flagship! That should give you a hint as to its sheer destructive power. But whose fleet is now in ruins?

Our impressive hero roasts his foe in the face!