Song of the Week

Billy Vicente, “Above the Ground”

Good morning!

We’ve arrived at the end of the month again, so if you’re signed up for the newsletter, it will be going out noon my time (US Central) on Friday. If you’re not signed up and would like to be, put your email in the box at this link. Be sure to check your inbox for a confirmation afterward.

Tomorrow will be the last page of Chapter Four of this volume of Last Watch Before Dawn, and on Friday I’ll have some bonus art, which will be available for paid subscribers on Patreon (and, eventually, in the published version of this volume). The fifth and final chapter will begin next week.

Here are a couple of petitions I’ve signed, and you might want to too:

Via Amnesty International: Close the Dilley detention center

Via Campaign for a New Myanmar: Support TPS for Burma

Via No Business With Genocide: Stop the UAE from funding genocide in Sudan

That’s what I’ve got for you today. Take care and have an excellent week.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 70

Thumbnail of Panel 2, described below.

There’s another trope at work here, in addition to the Only One Bed, but I’m not sure what it’s called. Awkward Domesticity?

Also, I love edge lighting.

Next page will conclude this chapter, then we’re on to our last bonus art and the last chapter!

Full page below:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 69

Thumbnail of Panel 4, described below.

Two more pages in this chapter. I have enjoyed the comparatively lesser amount of work that four-panel pages represent as compared to eight-panel ones.

Also, someday I will get the sword on the shoulder to look right, but not today.

Full page below:

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Song of the Week

Vas, “Amrita”

Good morning! Or afternoon, I guess.

I am writing to you from within a cloud of wildfire smoke today, so I hope you are well and staying safe.

Two more pages of Last Watch Before Dawn this week. This chapter should conclude on Tuesday of next week, and then we’re on to the last one! The end of this volume is in sight!

After this volume is edited and published, I want to start the second volume and a new book. I don’t know how that will work with my schedule, but I plan to figure it out. We’ll talk about the new book soon; I want to get your opinions, so please overcome your fear of answering poll questions and leaving comments. I’m nice, I promise.

A couple petitions:

Via Amnesty International: Get ICE out of our communities and Help stop the bloodshed in Sudan

Via The Workers Circle: Protect over 350,000 Haitian refugees from deportation

That’s all I have for you today. I love you, please take care, and stop by again soon.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 68

Thumbnail of Panel 1, described below.

More fun with shadows!

These next couple of pages will be pretty low-key, as we’re winding down this chapter and getting ready for the last one, in which we’ll meet the other two members of the squad and have a big fight scene.

On another note: it would be very easy, I think, for the relationship between Resunotek and Ichiro to remain very one-sided, because of how they met and who Resunotek is as a person. Ichiro also doesn’t really know how to take care of people outside of sort of survival basics, but I wanted to show at this juncture that he has the impulse to return some of the care he’s been receiving, even if he can’t do much about it now.

Full page below:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 67

Thumbnail of Panel 4, described below.

Here is a pattern that repeats.

Resunotek: Do you need medical attention?
Ichiro: I am able to continue physical exertion.
Resunotek: That’s not what I asked.

I might need to cut one or more iterations of this if it gets too repetitive.

In the meantime, onward and forward!

Full page below:

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Song of the Week

Stormclouds, “Cassilda’s Song” (from The King in Yellow)

Today’s post is late because I had a family event to attend, but here it is! Also, my car is working. There’s some brief nudity in the video as it goes through the artist’s tarot deck, just so you know. This is my favorite version of Cassilda’s Song, and one of the few human-made versions to be found on the internet.

New comic pages this week! I think we’re five away from the end of this chapter.

Here are all of the petitions I’ve collected to free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention. He has been tortured and believes himself to be close to death:

MPower Action

Amnesty International

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights

Institute for Middle East Understanding

That’s what I’ve got for you today. I love you; take care of yourselves.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 66

Thumbnail of Panel 1, described below.

Find someone who looks at you the way Resunotek looks at weird bugs.

There’s a little voice in Ichiro’s head that says, “Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to look strong all the time? To enjoy looking at weird bugs? To let someone take care of you?”

He’s doing his best not to listen to it.

Full page below:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 65

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We’re moving on!

This page includes a larger-than-average bug with lots of legs, if that’s something that bothers you.

Full page below:

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Song of the Week

Buckethead, Azam Ali, and Serj Tankian, “Coma”

Good morning!

Well, it happened: the battery in my tablet pen finally died. I sent my husband on a quest for AAAA batteries, which I wasn’t aware existed until owning this pen. They’re very tiny.

So, now that I have those, I’ll have a new page of Last Watch Before Dawn for you tomorrow and Friday. Our protagonists are on the move!

A couple of petitions:

Via Native Organizers Alliance: protect Two-Spirit and trans people, immigrants, bodily and Tribal sovereignty, and organizations receiving federal funding

Via Daily Kos: Close cruel detention centers

Via Demand Progress: Reject $3.3 billion in taxpayer funding for Israel’s military

That’s all for today. Take care of yourselves, and have an excellent week.