Cat Comixz 164

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First contact always seems to be a huge moment in any serious. I decided that, at least for this comic, I didn't want to go that route.  

The alien here was one I came up with quite a while back along with the Tecktrins. They are called the Malgent, and they changed a TON since being introduced here. Originally, they were planned to be much more cat-like in appearance... but since I moved their design over to Cat Comixz, it seemed a little redundant to have two major species that are cat-like. Instead, their physical design comes mostly from the Batarians (from Mass Effect) mixed with Four Arms from Ben 10. Their top set of arms are closer to the front of their chests, while their bottom set are more centered on their sides.

Their home planet is very rocky, so the extra set of arms helped them get around while they evolved. I imagine that they all have wildly different skin tones and markings. Culturally, I imagine them as being extremely bureaucratic, but with a fun dry sense of humor. Their ship is clearly based on a traditional flying saucer, but I added two giant pillars to the top part. 

I have no idea how nobody woke up from all of the randomly changing lights on its ship. It's just lucky that Leon was awake for this encounter to happen!

PHEW. Man this comic was a TON of work for me. I tried a WHOLE BUNCH of new stuff in terms of panel shaping and general formatting. The pencils turned out great, but the coloring didn't work out as well as I'd hope. I'll have to figure out how to work on dark scenes using colored pencils in the future. 

Still though, I'm mega proud of how it turned out overall. I'm so happy with how the tall panel worked out. It took me out of my comfort zone, but it worked out well! I'm also really happy with the final set of panels on the second page. I LOVE the effect and sense of depth. 

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Subtitles
BWOON
Leon: What the-
HOLY CARP.
HOLY CARP!
HERLY KERP!
HOLY CARP!
^{Holy carp.
*click*}
Leon: Um... h-hello, uh... alien visitor. 
My name is Leon of this planet... Earth. I mean you no harm, uh... you can't understand me, can you? Of course not...
Alien: Hello, Leon.
Leon: Whoa, you speak English!?
Alien: Only as a second language, but yes. 
Leon: Oh, um, cool! Well, um, welcome to Eart-
Alien: No need for greetings. My kind have visited this planet COUNTLESS times in the past few years.
We've been monitoring you in secret, waiting to determine whether or not you should be allowed to join together with the rest of the species in the universe.
Things are looking good for you so far. But it'll probably still be a couple years minimum until you're allowed to be uplifted.
^*blip*
Leon: You... do know I could tell everyone about this, right?
Alien: I'm sure your species will take you very seriously when you do. 
Leon: They will when I show them pictur-
Alien: Memory wipe and force shutdown.
*Tsst*
Leon: HEY!!
...
This is not at ALL how I expected first contact to go...
Alien: We COULD have just invaded your planet, you know. Is it too much to ask for a little gratitude?