Issue 1, Page 20
We see Sera in her Captain's quarters, surrounded by antiques and Wizard of Oz memorabilia. Mommy is going over Sera's accounts and she's coming in at a loss for the year, due to having lost a cargo shipment and having paid her crew bonuses for rescuing her from a Vidoru prison. She and her crew escaped in two different directions to confuse the indecisive Vidoru. Mommy wonders at the wisdom in this, since Sera is now without a crew, and without her second mate, Shon, whom Mommy teases Sera had feelings for. Sera denies having feelings for someone who is a "killer and a thief," but Mommy turns it around on her, accusing Sera of having stolen Azzi's ring. Sera rationalizes that Azzi must have stolen it from someone else, and reveals her big plan: return Azzi to the Ohm Megacorporation and return the ring to the family of the proper owner, whom she believes Azzi must have killed.So lots of information on this page, and what I hope is another feast for the eyes. We have Sera in a lovely nightgown, palming the ring she swiped from Azzi and we have all this priceless clutter around her, from the Tiffany lamp to Dorothy's ruby slippers, from figurines to snowglobes, from miniature replicas, particularly Rodin's Thinker, to a tailor's dummy sporting something 19th century, all intending to give the air of serious collector, and yet someone unafraid to be girly. Driving that point is her dresser of parfums and jewelry chest, and of course the four poster bed. On the bed is a small panda bear, inspired by my own bear, Chicco, that I had throughout my childhood. (In retrospect, I should have made this bear the one that floats out of Azzi's space tomb on page three.)
We've also got a checkbook graphic showing the names of a few of her crew, and in the panel below that, we actually get a shot of three of her bridge crew--the Soulless Shon and Kurk, and the Delven Zuzu--keeping the Vidoru space pirates at bay.
Bridging the second, third and fourth panels is an oval-framed pencil drawing of Shon, Sera's second mate and insinuated love interest. I thought the pencils gave it an air of age and authenticity, like an old cameo, brooch or the inside of a locket.
I truly wish there was more room in the script to tell more of his and his company's story, but it's pretty packed as it is. I'm toying with a
Tales from Forsaken Stars anthology series, but one comic at a time...
You can check out more of Mari's wonderful work at her deviantART page! 
We've been out in space for the last twenty pages, in what could be for some people a rather claustrophobic environment (I suppose that's why I never really gave Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a chance--not just sets that were too cramped and smokey, but the idea of a whole show wrapped around a single space station seemed the antithesis of a show named Star Trek.) so I thought it was time to cut to a lavish vista, a lush world, and hopefully tease you the readers with what you'll see in the next issue. We have the introduction of the Council of Others, a United Nations if you will of peoples from across the galaxy who came together to explore the mystery that is our Solar System, and why the refugees from said system have claimed that the One True God has returned to said system, particularly this tiny planet called Earth, and sequestered it from the rest of the universe for the last thousand years. And what's more, it seems that the tales of these refugees--since dubbed the Soulless--have a hint of truth in them, because there are signs and portents that the universe is crumbling. "The Thousand Years of Peace, of Heaven on Earth are over, and God is set to take his Chosen and leave this universe, presumably for Heaven Proper." Uh-oh. What does this mean for the rest of the sentient beings in the galaxy? The Council of Others is bound and determined to find out, and they are hoping XTL, a "Prophet Ambassador" is about to give them good news.
So this is a bit of craziness, inspired by the X-Men films' Cerebro and Astonishing X-Men's Danger Room. This is the interior of the big sphere that is the Bluebird's power source and main source of normal space propulsion, the fission chamber. I thought it would make a great set piece. It sets up Azzi for some intense, Christ-on-the-cross-style suffering, which you'll see in issue two. A vampire in a fission chamber? It's like a matchstick in a brush fire. So why would he agree to this? Maybe he sees it as part of his atonement, a requirement on his road to redemption, the only choice Sera, and perhaps fate, left him with.
