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Faced with a scene I’d written that was all one big back-story speech, with nothing particularly interesting going on otherwise, I decided a graffiti mural would be a great way to show more about Mars without actually going there. This is our first chance to see the Kakure, as well. And best of all, it was a chance to experiment with one of comics’ best tools, closure– in this case, creating a detailed image in your head of the whole mural, without ever actually showing you the whole thing at once on the page.
That said, I did have to plan the whole thing out carefully in order to do this scene, so here is the only copy of the entire mural:
↓ Transcript
Panel 1: Maida and Tahmaseb walk into a tunnel underneath an overpass. The wall of the tunnel has been painted with a mural to commemorate the situation on Mars, with the phrase "Pray 4 Mangala" written in Yingish, Martian Swahili, and Hindi. Maida: "Well. Phobos and Deimos are even more hostile to life than the planets."
Panel 2: The mural shows two Kakure, dressed in masks, carrying swords, with long, distended limbs. Maida: "So yeah, the people who live there have been augmented dramatically."
Panel 3: The mural shows a goddess holding the globe of terraformed Mars. Maida: "They're cowards, though. Opportunists. They only attacked Mars 'cause we were already at war with ourselves."
Panel 4: The mural shows Martians of all backgrounds joining hands in cooperation, with rockets rising behind them. Maida: "The Highlands and Lowlands have always been different from each other. For most of our history, that wasn't a problem."
Panel 5: The mural shows the same Martians joining hands, with a domed city below. Maida: "You have to work together on a colony planet, where the planet itself is trying to kill you. Competition is catastrophe. Venus proves that."
Panel 6: The mural shows nuclear power plant style cooling towers releasing clean air into the atmosphere. Maida: "Mars bleeds atmosphere into space. We're the smallest planet with an open sky, and our gravity can't hold on to it well. There are oxygen towers everywhere to replenish it as quickly as it disappears..."
Panel 2: The mural shows two Kakure, dressed in masks, carrying swords, with long, distended limbs. Maida: "So yeah, the people who live there have been augmented dramatically."
Panel 3: The mural shows a goddess holding the globe of terraformed Mars. Maida: "They're cowards, though. Opportunists. They only attacked Mars 'cause we were already at war with ourselves."
Panel 4: The mural shows Martians of all backgrounds joining hands in cooperation, with rockets rising behind them. Maida: "The Highlands and Lowlands have always been different from each other. For most of our history, that wasn't a problem."
Panel 5: The mural shows the same Martians joining hands, with a domed city below. Maida: "You have to work together on a colony planet, where the planet itself is trying to kill you. Competition is catastrophe. Venus proves that."
Panel 6: The mural shows nuclear power plant style cooling towers releasing clean air into the atmosphere. Maida: "Mars bleeds atmosphere into space. We're the smallest planet with an open sky, and our gravity can't hold on to it well. There are oxygen towers everywhere to replenish it as quickly as it disappears..."
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