Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say! Though I suppose leaping into a giant underground lake is the exact opposite of a fire, so perhaps that saying bears little resemblance to what’s happening here. Speaking of which, I love how Jerome handled the lighting of the water on this page. With the torchlight gone, we’re thrust back into the gloomy Limbo-esque darkness of the underground, with the slightest hint of light from above barely piercing the top few feet of the lake before giving way to pitch black.

I also love the physicality of the water–from the random air bubbles in the first panel to the way it clings to Cain in panels 3, 4 and 5, it feels very real. I like it!

Either way, Cain is likely resting easy with the knowledge that sandskimmers cannot skim water. If they could, wow, that would be pretty terrifying, don’t you think? They’d be able to conquer land and sea! Nothing could stop them–save for a bumbling pair of idiots who somehow manage to keep escaping from them.

There isn’t much new news to report on the Kickstarter front, save for the fact that Kickstarter funds are about to transferred to our bank–which will allow us to do things like pay for stuff, like the books and merchandise we said we wanted to make. More updates as that happens!

For guest art this week, here’s a fun piece of a guy we haven’t seen in the comic for a while! I’d say he’s due for a return–but he’s definitely the sort to wait for just the right moment to make the grandest possible entrance. And by “grandest” I mean “the entrance that makes it easiest for him to murder people.”

You’re right, Hardin! That’s the problem, we really don’t! But you keep killing people and that’s problematic, so…maybe you should stay over there, where you are right now.

Seriously though, I’ve made little attempt to hide my love for Shay’s wonderful artwork, and I love seeing Hardin in their style–which very much makes me feel like Western Deep could visually work as an animated television series.

A super belated thank you for the wonderful work, Shay! I hope you decide to do more characters down the road :)