Beyond the Western Deep

As always, Rook’s bluntness has put into sharp focus the real topic of the conversation. Polcan ex-pirates aren’t generally renowned for understanding the nuance of Navrani politics–they’re just really good at cutting to the chase for everyone else. And in this case “trade consulares” is a bit of a loaded term for those in the know (by the way, “consulares” is the plural of consular? Every day I’m learning something new!)

You might remember Mitra and Janik being introduced all the way back in the beginning of Chapter 3 with a little conversation that foreshadowed…something like this.

I was pleased at the time to see a lot of readers squinting at this exchange with a fair degree of skepticism and analysis, wondering what if any subtext could have been buried in Mitra’s words. It’s taken a bit of time to pay it off, but finally we’re getting a nice little look into Mitra’s past.

Right about when we were wrapping up our second volume’s Kickstarter campaign, you might remember that Lackadaisy Cats creator Tracy Butler was in the midst of her own crowdfunding campaign for an animated pilot based on her Eisner-nominated webcomic.

Well, of course I backed it! Lackadaisy was one of the first successful long-form comics that Rachel or I had ever seen, and it served as one of many inspirations for Beyond the Western Deep becoming a webcomic in the first place.

Coincidentally, Tracy had just done a piece for Volume 2 of several ermehn characters (Hardin, Rathik, and Rhosyn) and the physical pencil work was one of the rewards in our campaign. I swear, sending that out was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done!

BUT Tracy was kind enough to offer a Western Deep-themed piece as a thank-you for backing the project. The subject? Well, after Hardin, Rhosyn, and Rathik, I kiiiinda wanted to see a certain hooded rogue in Tracy’s style…

Tracy’s take on Bevan just completely blew us away–deftly capturing both his sense of showmanship and deadly expertise.

In my initial request to Tracy, I’d mentioned that I thought he might be a fun subject to draw. In a letter sent alongside the physical pencils of the piece (which now hang framed on my wall) Tracy replied that she did indeed have a great deal of fun bringing Bevan to life. We couldn’t be more grateful for it!

Thank you so much, Tracy! And best of luck on completing the work on the animated pilot for Lackadaisy!