Pex: Guess Who's Coming for Christmas Dinner?

 Here at last, the third Xmas special for 2024, and another long-in-the-tooth Eratoon.

This time it's from Pex, and it's weird to think that in the original series this story marked the halfway point of Cyberleader Krang's appearance in the strip in TSV. After this there were two stories over four parts, and that was that for Krang and Pex, revisited and expanded years later in the pages of Reverse the Polarity. It was disappointing to end things as they were at the time - there's much more to  do with Krang, and I hope to be able to do them this time 'round. IN the mean-time, here's the return of an old strip, the debut of Pex's brother Kern, and the last strip for this year. Thanks for reading!

Christmas With a Dalek 2024

 Lordy, this took a while to make its return.

This story (under the same title) had its genesis way back in the very late 1990s - perhaps even 1999, and is pretty much as you see here, albeit a page shorter, and with a different end-reveal. The original I Want To Spend My Xmas kicked off a sort of arc around a weird and unexplained beef between the Karkus and Santa Claus that ultimately ended the strip's run in Time-Space Visualiser. You'll see here that, as with The Sevillian Job (which had also been part of the Santa arc), tweaks have erased that storyline - or perhaps eased it off for now. I regret nothing, and the revision also gave me a chance to improve on the original, the artwork, and the story's pacing. I don't have the indulgence of my 1999 audience. hell, I hardly even have my 1999 audience - but I do most of this for me, anyway. I hope you enjoy it along the way, dear Reader.

And for those of you wondering if this starts a new, replacement story arc? Hmm... 

Christmas With a Dalek 2023

 ...Yes, I know. A WHOLE YEAR late?

You shouldn't really be surprised. You should be surprised it's finished at all!

A rhyming Erato story is almost as good as a musical one (your mileage may vary on either, of course) - and believe it or don't, this is one of two rhyming Erato stories. The second one hasn't been done yet.

There's not much else to add here - I enjoyed writing the story, it does of course lean heavily on the old favourites, as well as Dr Seuss' Yertle the Turtle, and yes, it was originally slated to appear in Christmas 2023, the only Eratoverse Christmas Without a Dalek. How about that, fact fans?

Interrogator-aid

 

Hark- a Shark!

 

I'm sorry. The Shape of Water was a terrific movie - but I needed a story idea, so I stole two.