Convexity Hunter

- First up, Stormtroopers from Star Wars. Possibly the first example of space nazi that comes to mind, considering the name itself is a variation of Sturmtruppen and how the shape of Darth Vader's helmet parodies the German stahlhelm. Many weapons in the series are also inspired by real life German weapons, such as the MG42 or the C96 pistol.

- The woman is Diana (Jane Badler) from the '80s show V - Visitors. Beautiful, cold-hearted and manipulative, she commands the fleet of the "Visitors", reptilian aliens who wear a human suit to hide themselves and their less-than-benevolent intentions. Their regime and symbol are very much inspired by Nazifascism, while the guinea pig is a nod to the iconic scene in which Diana eats it.

- And lastly, a major antagonist from the '70s anime Grendizer, Commander Blaki (Hydargos in the Italian dub). Along with the classic primary goal to invade Earth because "It'S OuRS by RiGhT!1!1!", he's sometimes seen daydreaming about receiving a suspiciously iron cross-shaped medal. And he does the roman salute on a few occasions too.

And fun fact nobody asked for, the more I look at Diana and Blaki, the more I realize how similar they are.

-Both have their HQ on the far side of the moon.

-Both are willing to kill fellow soldiers they perceive as threats or obstacles without the slightest hesitation. "Just because we're on the same side, doesn't mean we're friends" logic.

-Both are cruel, ambitious and manipulative, and are not above brainwashing unruly subordinates/prisoners. They will gladly oversee torture out of pure sadistic pleasure.

-Both of their homeworlds are dying, and purely by chance, Earth is the perfect new resource (Casually ignoring all the other inhabitable planets that they've already conquered...)

-Both have a strained relationship with their direct superiors. Mutual tension, hatred, breathing down their neck, trying to discredit them so they can look better...

-Both are almost always slippery. You cannot contain Diana for more than 5 minutes because she WILL find a way out, but in the case of Blaki, he's much more cowardly and will stay out of reach or run away/retreat after a defeat. He still fought in first person a few times later in the series, if only because of his worsening obsession with Grendizer.

I specifically checked the chapters where she gets her hawk, Icarus (Notice similarities?), to see how my old approach would compare to my current plans for TWOB... Well, I had no idea how to write a hawk.

Starting off with the context for that particular story: after a recent major victory for Hunter, existence was cool for approximately three seconds, because of course someone else wanted to bother her. Who? None other than the "Black King", a massive black wolf from another dimension, who was obsessed with conquering territories even across universes. A literal dictator that was oh-so-infamous that had never been mentioned until that point... And this story was supposed to be the fifth in that universe!

Anyway, nobody knew why, but somehow he was captured, kept in a max security dungeon on EARTH and even more inexplicably, he ESCAPED. When Hunter smelled the global-level threat from literal miles away, she obviously knew she had to gather everyone to address the impending danger. And by everyone, I also mean her enemies, because SURELY they would be convinced to cooperate (And yes they did, because the plot needed tension and inevitable betrayals, but I was just a kid with free time and an overly encouraging friend).

Very calmly, they addressed the issue and Hunter's top priority was to increase the security of her army. How? Well, obviously by getting a hawk! She literally just told a friend who lived on a mountain to catch one for her (Very poor way of befriending a bird). A brilliant war genius, right?

But here's where things gets interesting. Likely influenced by the current Icarus, I kept picturing a large hawk while reading (The species was never mentioned or described in the original), but when I checked my old reference pics in a long lost folder, I discovered that I'd actually picked... A kestrel. The tiniest, most adorable little falcon. I'm sure the Black King felt incredibly threatened by such a tiny floofball.

Anyway, I stopped reading out of cringe. Turns out 13-year-old me knew zero about falconry, even basic notions such as "But kestrels are much harder to keep than RTHs and less forgiving of beginner mistakes!". So here's how this drawing came to be. I'm so glad I'm doing actual research for TWOB now, so my storytelling doesn't end up like "Somehow Palpatine returned".

Also, I tried lineless! I kinda like the result, but it took way longer than it would have if I'd went for my classic style. I may bring it again, but definitely not often. And yes, this is the "Kestrel vs Harris hawk" meme.

1) The Kamikaze Clan village, particularly the dojo (Page 2), was mostly inspired by the village level in Mini Ninjas, another game I adored as a kid. The background of the Yuki+Father reference is, you guessed it, an image of said level, while all the other refs have Yaiba concept art as backgrounds.

2) This was already mentioned in the respective page, but in the original, none of the shinobi students seem to notice that Yuki was dying... Despite the scene literally happening in front of them. So I gave the master and students some extra screen time, even if it was only reaction panels. I know these dudes are supposed to be unfazed and stoic, but there are limits?

3) While I was working on the scroll sequence, I realized that it doesn't make sense. Since I couldn't find an effective/believable way around it, I decided to have Yaiba point out the hypocrisy of the elders in page 12 like the smartass he is.

4) I had half an idea of drawing Yaiba's shozoku "intact" until the confrontation the elders, where he would have ripped it. This would have explained why he keeps going around with a ragged attire, as well as being a memento of his failure to save Yuki and a nod to the in-game Bloodlust mode ("Kamikaze family special. Also helpful in bed if you're up for some scientific observation~"). This idea was scrapped because I was already several pages in and too lazy to fix it.

5) Since during his clan years Yaiba obviously didn't have the Tempest Blade, I gave him and his sister ninjatos. They differ from katanas because they shorter and straight. I also added some variety in the Kamaitachi shinobi who attacked Keiko: naginata (The spear), wakizashi (The shorter sword), kusarigama (Sickle and chain).

6) Gorou's original design sports a purple robe. It was changed to grayish in my redraw due to the color-coded speech bubbles because Keiko is already dressed in purple. Keiko herself had a small makeover.

7) Not counting covers, the original comic is 24 pages long, 8 pages for chapter. Since this redraw has been lengthened with extra pages and better dialogue/storytelling, the amount of pages has been brought to 34. That's a whole 10 new pages!

8) Did you know there used to be a Yaiba website that advertised the game and offered many surprises and sneak peeks before the game came out? For unknown reasons it was taken down at some point, but you can still find it on Wayback machine (www.yaibangz.com). It includes a blog where Yaiba analyzed (Read: criticized) B-movies about ninjas and/or zombies in his typical style. I had the "pleasure" of seeing Ninja Assassin on TV by chance in February and having heard of Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead.

Yaiba's Weekly Backhand can be found on Fandom for an easier read: https://ninjagaiden.fandom.com/wiki/Yaiba%E2%80%99s_Weekly_Backhand

And that's all for now. I wish everyone a happy new year! Keep your fur babies inside tonight.

(Hunter's talons are deliberately not drawn in the bottom panel, for simplicity and not wanting to hurt Icarus).

Based off this meme and the confused/front-facing hawk meme.

Note: it should go without saying, but birds of any kind and cakes/sweets do not mix. Please do not feed sugar or salt to birds, it's very harmful. This is just a silly doodle I made in 20-ish minutes.

Ever seen Convexity Hunter without all that armor? Now you have, she just never takes it off. But for chill hunts with Icarus, she might make an exception. Cronchy leaves satisfy her Aspie mind.

While drawing this, I realized that right-handed falconers wear the glove on their left hand and viceversa, despite Sniper not being a leftie... She might have a spare left one, or maybe she feels more comfortable holding the hawk with her dominant hand, or both. It's up for interpretation.

Forest backgrounds are fun!

The characters, for whoever isn't familiar:

Riptor... But with feathers! Are you team "Dinos had scales" or "Dinos had feathers"? If the latter is true, then dinos received a massive nerf from evolution (But technically, that means I have a pet dinosaur. Neat!).

Fulgore frying an anthill with his laser eyes like the evil AI he is. Fun fact: I'll admit to trying something similar as a kid... But I loved the ants in my garden too much, so I simply used my dad's telescope and some paper. When it didn't work, I swapped the paper for a dry leaf. Six years old me expected a grandiose burst of flames, but received a microscopic hole in the leaf. Disappointing, 2/10.

Spinal being Spinal. I originally gravitated towards an "edgy skeleton" meme, but this idea ultimately won. I do love anything related to skeletons and Spooktober, probably because I had a pirate phase as a kid. My uncle loves pirates/skeletons as well, so if he ever played KI, Spinal will be 100% his favorite.

I've recently discovered a cool game called "The Werecleaner", in which the protagonist has to work night shifts as a janitor unexpectedly... But plot twist! He turns into a werewolf every night and he has to avoid being spotted by the workers, else he'll go into a murderous frenzy. The art style is adorable (Kinda reminds me of Animal Crossing) but since this is a KI tribute, have a cute Sabrewulf.

And finally, a bit of science with Cinder. If you remember some high school chemistry, you know what salts do on a bunsen beak. Apply that to a literal man of flames and boom, new colors. I'm imagining that this is how Cinder gained his skins in game and you can't stop me.

Happy birthday, KI!