#silver rush

Notes:

Finally! IKROAH returns! And man does it return with a bang, right.

This has been a very busy summer for both me and @yesjejunus​​ which is why the comic sort of fell into hiatus for a little bit, but now I think everything’s back in order. You can expect new issues of IKROAH every two or four weeks on a regular basis like usual again, because believe me, nobody hates it more when this thing falls behind schedule than me. I have exactly one hundred issues of story to tell here, and I’d really like to get it done in my lifetime!

But anyway, YJJ fucking blew this issue out of the water. You may remember him from his grayscale art on IKROAH #11 (the Searchlight issue, one that remains very personal to me) but the sheer volume of talent in the colors of these pages is astonishing. He’s one of my favorite artists to collaborate with because of how much we get each other, and it’s with immense pleasure I finally get to show you all these pages we’ve been putting together for so long.

Also don’t miss ABV! I worked hard on those seven thousand words and I hope that you enjoy it (if you’re over the age of eighteen). The bittersweet thing about the vignette structure and visual medium of IKROAH issues is I don’t get so much room to really get into characters’ heads, so expanding upon certain moments in the comic with companion pieces is a really great exercise. ABV also contains a lot that, like the Searchlight issue, is really meaningful to me, and I think you’ll find ABV to be a story that really carves deep into the nature of how Agnes and Cass relate to each other.

Original Pencils (click for full size):

I love it when artists volunteer to do full art for me because it means I get to go wild on little pencils like these without any of the pressure to polish them. Check YJJ’s blog sometime soon after this and I think he’ll be posting side-by-sides...it’s really amazing what that man can do to my layouts.

May the unnamed guard of the Silver Rush, affectionately dubbed Door Guard-kun by YJJ and I, rest in peace. We felt so bad about it because YJJ drew him so goddamn attractive. YJJ wound up basing his depiction of him on a specific model at my suggestion, a no-prize to whoever can guess who that model was. Your hint is that it’s a very embarrassing internet microcelebrity crush of mine.

The absolute hardest part of drawing this issue, the part that we came back to dozens of times, was the panel where Agnes plants the bomb on the Silver Rush Guard. We went through so many different takes of Agnes’ pose because it was very hard to make it look like she was planting a bomb on the guy while feigning a flinch, and not just stiff-arming Door Guard-kun for no reason. I’m pleased with the final result.

Anyway, we’ll have another amazing guest artist doing full guest art for me next issue, so you’ll get to see more pencils like these when that comes out. See you then!

Transcript

EXT. FREESIDE, the run-down outskirts of NEW VEGAS. This is where the refugees from the NCR and Mojave meet the people too poor to get into the shining city itself.

A scruffy-looking DOOR GUARD stands vigilantly outside of the SILVER RUSH, formerly a pre-war gambling hall but now the largest commercial supplier of energy weapons in the region, thanks to its proprietors the VAN GRAFF siblings.

From around the corner, AGNES SANDS approaches the GUARD.

AGNES: Excuse me, do you know how to get to the Mormon Fort from here?

GUARD: What? Yeah, a few blocks north.

Suddenly, with a shattering CRASH, a glass bottle breaks against the street, having been tossed from somewhere in the shadows. AGNES and the GUARD both recoil in surprise; AGNES leans her arm against the GUARD to catch herself from falling, but seems to slip something into one of his bandolier pouches as she does.

GUARD: Hey!

The GUARD flips his laser rifle up to a ready position and scans the dark street around him.

GUARD: Damn punks, always throwing shit.

The GUARD turns his attention back to AGNES.

GUARD: Are you new here, man? Watch your back.

AGNES gives a light wave to the GUARD as she departs back down the street from whence she came.

AGNES: Thanks. You too.

MEANWHILE on the top floor of the building across the street, ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY has been observing the entire interaction. AGNES appears behind her from the stairs leading up to her perch, and sits down against the crumbled wall overlooking the street. She starts to light a cigarette.

CASS: Alright, so now what?

AGNES: Wait for the change in guard.

CASS: Looks like it's changing now. He's going inside.

AGNES: Oh!? Shit, good timing then.

CASS pulls a small black device out from her back pocket.

CASS: And you're sure the thing is—

AGNES: Yeah, when you threw the bottle.

CASS: Shit, you are good. Think Crimson Caravan knows we stole it?

AGNES: I'd hope they have bigger things to worry about right now. Now hurry, we don't have much time to—

CASS presses the button on the device.

SFX: CLIK!

THE SILVER RUSH EXPLODES. An enormous fireball erupts from within the building, blowing out the windows and sending shards of glass and steel in every direction down the street. The sheer force of the blast throws whole firearms into the street and rends all the SILVER RUSH PERSONNEL inside, the VAN GRAFFS included. CASS holds onto her hat to keep it from flying off her head, while AGNES’ cigarette flies out of her hands.

AGNES carefully stands up. The SILVER RUSH is a hollow smoldering box of brick and mortar.

AGNES: Fuck, Cass, you could have warned me first.

CASS stares into the flames across the street. They reflect in her eyes like something haunted.

AGNES: Cass?

CASS glances sidelong at AGNES. She doesn’t turn away from the fire.

CASS: You know, I wanted to make her know it was me. To make her die scared. Like McLafferty. But now that it's done...Fuck it, there's almost something poetic about it, right? Gloria Van Graff burned my caravan to ash. Now her and all her fucking laser guns and hired thugs are nothing but ashes in that...inferno.

The SILVER RUSH continues to burn. There are no survivors of which to speak of that could run out from the flames.

CASS: Dust to fucking dust, you bitch.

AGNES looks across the street and watches the armory burn beside CASS. She looks over to her companion softly.

AGNES: Are you alright?

CASS glances over at AGNES and they hold each other’s gaze for a moment. She turns back to the fire before replying.

CASS: Yeah. I’m alright.

CASS turns away from the window and walks towards the stairs that descend out of the building.

CASS: Let’s get out of here.

AGNES remains by the window a moment, watching CASS leave. Then she turns back towards the SILVER RUSH again as the flames and smoke continue to pour out of the building.

Finally, she turns around herself, and follows CASS down the stairs.