Strip 624 -- First Seen: 2011-01-27
Escape From Terra is updated with new pages every Monday through Friday.

What Comes Next

The war is over, but This Means War has a ways to go. Novo Paolo/Bubbleopolis is still in a nebula/stellar nursery, no one knows what happened to the planet Sharen (center of the Intergalactic Council), and the status of the now-surrendered Invaders is yet to be resolved. What will they do when they learn their homeworld is basically destroyed? Will Alyss and Li be re-united? How about Diana (the real one) and Otto?

These questions will be resolved in the next few weeks, before This Means War part 3 wraps in late May.

After that, I plan to go BACK in time about 400 years, to when Alyss and Li left their home in the Sol System to colonize a new world on the far side of the galaxy. As one might expect, hijinks ensue. New subtitle yet to be determined, start date sometime in around the start of July. Stay tuned!

A Little House Cleaning

I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone who backed our Kickstarter project. One small matter remains: a couple of you have yet to provide your shipping address for your rewards. As soon as possible, please either fill out the Kickstarter survey request found on the Kickstarter site, or simply send us an email Orders address and we will ship your reward soon after. If you're wondering why you haven't received a notice about this via email, please check your spam folder.

The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
Babbette and Reggie stroll through the streets of Ares City. Imagine something like Times Square, only more high-tech with holographic signage, and the buildings mostly have rounded corners. A mix of pedestrian and light-vehicular traffic. This time, though, most of the people around them are males of ages ranging from 20 to 70.
In Mars' .38g gravity, walking looks more like it does on Earth but people still lean slightly forward.
Reggie: Still a lot more men than women.
Babbette: Okay, old man, I'm going to let you off the hook and explain why the Sadie Hawkins was full of women.
Babbette: Simply put, Mars needs women.

Panel 2
Babbette and Reggie continue strolling along a street, passing shop windows.
Babbette: The ratio has improved, but the 'early adopters' were mostly male.
Babbette: So, Mars Inc. has sponsored a sort of mail-order-bride program, where they advance fares to Mars for eligible women.

Panel 3
Close two-shot of Reggie and Babbette, leave extra room for the extra dialogue.
Babbette: The loans are repaid either by the men they hook up with, or if they don't find someone they like, they can leave after they repay the loan.
Babbette: Work is easy to find here, although for many women, the highest paying work is on their backs – and other entertaining positions.
Reggie: That's a great idea!

Panel 4
Babbette casts a dubious glance at Reggie, who explains himself.
Reggie: I mean, we need a program like that to bring women to the Belt. Since the men way outnumber the women, a woman's odds are good.
Babbette: True, but all too often, the goods are odd.