In a story really for another time, by 2001 I was almost burned out on The Karkus. I'd reached the end of a little mini-arc setting him up against a powerful enemy (Santa Claus), and I'd also worked the second Erato strip, Pex, towards a conclusion. But I wasn't entirely burned out on Erato- I just wanted to bring in some new characters.
The replacement strips would be three-fold, because I am a sucker for punishment. Ky-Mutt was a spin-off from Pex, the misadventures of Pex's penpal, who just happened to be half-Mutt, half-human, and could change form when things got too much for him. Like so many shape-changers in Doctor Who, however (c.f. the TARDIS, Frobisher the Whifferdill), he pretty much stayed in one form.
Altos Loves Yartek was new and set in Morphoton, on Marinus. Essentially an inversion of Pex, it was a hate-love relationship between a hopeless invader (Yartek, leader of the alien Voord) and the last remaining human in Morphoton, the reality-challenged idiot Altos. It was the longest-running of the three.
Lastly, there was Nord, tetchy biker from The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Nomad Warrior Of The Black Hole Margins. Alas, poor Nord...
All four stories should have worked. One of them did, as far as I'm concerned. But Nord himself was the greatest tragedy, an undeveloped character in search of a plot, a literal drifter in the Eratoverse without no looming backstory in a non-existent future to draw on (and we'll draw a veil over that tantalising observation for now).
All four stories should have worked. One of them did, as far as I'm concerned. But Nord himself was the greatest tragedy, an undeveloped character in search of a plot, a literal drifter in the Eratoverse without no looming backstory in a non-existent future to draw on (and we'll draw a veil over that tantalising observation for now).
The two most 'recent' Karkus stories on Eratoland - The Karkus Drips Dry and The Shane Of It All were previously Nord stories, and have been re-purposed and re-written. I think they're the better for it. If you're curious about the Nord-era versions, they're to be found in TSV issues 68 and 66, respectively.
Nord's story - and potentially Ky's as well, is not yet done; but when he returns he'll be tweaked, too. There's mileage in that idea - just not as done previously.
But that's not all! Lest anyone think this is a case of Eratoland eating its young, I can assure you, gentle reader, that The Karkus Drips Dry IS the original storyline and title, including all of the characters in the Karkus story presented here - not so much re-invention as restoration!
Further recycling may occur - but not that much!
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