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Astute readers will no doubt notice some similarity in aesthetic between this world and other worlds I’ve built for other comics. For example, these flags are just a LITTLE bit like the flags of the New Youth Movement in A Mad Tea-Party. I don’t want you to think this story is meant to take place in that world (it doesn’t). But I find the same visual language seeping in even when I don’t mean it to. You CAN safely assume that similar symbols will mean similar things when I repeat them. Heck, if I can’t plagiarize myself, who CAN I plagiarize?
↓ Transcript
Splash page: Caption: "Khemani Square." The square is actually an octagon formed by thirty-storey buildings on each side, enclosed by a geodesic dome as a ceiling. The buildings encompass a wide range of architectural styles and are decorated with patriotic slogans and the flag of the Republic (a white disc and laurel branches on a black field). People mill about on the floor of the square like ants. There is a park space in the middle of the square and a statue of a figure standing up from a throne with a dove alighting on his outstretched hand.
I find plagiarizing Alexander Pope to be quite useful. He’s caustically witty, obscure enough that most people won’t recognize the homage as not-mine, and dead enough not to sew me for IP theft.
Or sue. Whichever.