The journey begins!

 [Edit 2021 - The shockwave file is available HERE on my Patreon]

I've just finished a new Zooniverse animation based on the theme of "future".
[WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Tubba taking a bio-break. Still from the animation

This sequence was taken from page 11 of the Zooniverse movie script that I wrote back in 2005. A few years earlier, Helen Maier and I would have weekly meetings on the Fox studio lot in Los Angeles, with long time friend Richard Raynis who Produces on the Simpsons animation. His office used to be Shirley Temple's bedroom in the little house built for her amongst the giant sound stages. It is now the Simpson offices where the writers meet each season to hash out episodes. Richard, Helen and myself would throw around ideas and brainstorm for the Zooniverse movie, I would bring storyboards that we would discuss and rework. However once Helen and I became full time on Tutenstein our meetings were permanently interrupted. Sometime after I was laid off I began work on the script on my own so that I could maintain a clear vision, keeping Richard and Helen's guidance and suggestions in mind of course.

The Zooniverse script from 2005, and the Zoonimini #3 mock up from 2012

One sequence that Richard wasn't too keen on was the one I've just completed for my latest loop. He felt the '2001: a space odyssey' theme was overplayed and cliched. As much as I agreed with him I was disappointed to throw out a whole sequence that appealed to my sense of humor and one that I had so lovingly storyboarded back in the year 2000. I'm happy to have finally completed it, simply for my personal amusement if nothing else.

Panels from the Zooniverse movie storyboards drawn in 2000

The three Surveyor characters were designed back in 1999. The Zooniverse movie was to be fully CG and I began models for all of the main characters, I also sculpted a CG version of the Surveyor's spaceship, which I've dusted off and have been rendering shots and then hand tracing over them in Flash.

The original sketch of Tubba from 1999

Last Saturday (10th of November) I mocked up the third issue of the Zooniverse mini comic this is a huge breakthrough for me, I haven't been able to focus on roughing out a comic for years, let alone settle on a Zooniverse story to begin new work. I had too many places to start from, I did a coin toss which ended up at the movie script. Then I gave three choices to fans on my Facebook Zooniverse Comic page, the decision was unanimous, they chose:-
Option 2: "How the Kren Patrol met up (which is based off the movie script)". 

So there you have it, Zoonimini #3 will be the movie story, and one sequence from the script (yes I kept the 2001: Space Odyssey sequence) is now my latest Loop De Loop animation for the "future" theme. The new Zooniverse comic has begun... with a bum. Somehow it seems appropriate, like I'm mooning Hollywood or something.

Zooniverse Minicomic #2

It is official! Helen Maier and I now own a publishing house!  
We took the plunge through our new Australian company Zoonitoons, printing two comics:- Zooniverse mini #2 and a reprint of issue #1. Launching them at the Armageddon Comic Expo in Melbourne. Halfway through Saturday we recovered our printing costs.
We are sincerely grateful to everyone who supported us by buying copies! 

Introducing Zooniverse minicomic #2 . . . a little bit of Australian comic history
This issue collects some my pre-Zooniverse comics published in Melbourne around 1983-84 and nine illustrations I did for the UK at the same time. All of the artwork in this issue was rescued last June after 15 years mouldering in a Queensland garage. Back in our possession we were shocked to discover the poor condition of what remains. Luckily we found a few old bromide copies and although most of the out-of-print mint copies I had of Australian comics containing my work were nicked a decade ago by our light-fingered ex-employees, a couple of original comic magazines survived. It was important to get this work scanned and printed before the originals deteriorated further, becoming unusable. 

Please keep in mind that all the line art was done before computers, using brushes and metal nibs dipped in ink bottles!

The Cover of Zooniverse mini comic #2 Available at www.zoonitoons.com

The cover for Zoonimini #2 is a huge coup to finally have this art printed after waiting almost three decades. It was originally done, when I was 21 years old, as a wrap-around cover for Inkspots issue #5 back in 1984 (the year Helen and I met). Unfortunately the comic magazine was abandoned by it's publisher and the original art was either lost or stolen. All that was left to work with was a single twenty eight year old bromide. I was so happy to finally scan it and digitally colored it! Seeing as we were getting posters printed we have an A3 version that will be available for purchase on the Zoonitoons' website. The poster includes the 3 zoons that were cropped out so that the Kren Patrol could be featured on the above cover.

Here is how the Inkspots cover looked back in 1984...

Unprinted wrap-around cover for Inkspots #5

The stories inside Zoonimini #2 include "Sproat Fanbunder & Spleen Sphincter: the infamous repairmen" which was originally printed as a two parter in Reverie comic magazine issues #6 in 1983 and #7 in 1984 (I did the second installment while working on the original Zooniverse series). Below is the front page for the story, the original art was never returned from the printer, so I assume that puts it in the stolen category.

The front page for the "The infamous repairmen" in Zooniverse mini comic #2

Below is the cover for issue #7 as it was printed in 1984. I had to do the colors by hand separation, which meant a separate piece of art for each CMYK color, it was tricky to guess the right combination of values to make a subtle color. I no longer have this original art or my mint copies of Reverie, so I relied on the help of fellow veteran cartoonist Ian Thomas to send me a scan of the cover which I repaired as shown above. Without Ian's gracious help this art would have been lost forever.

The original Reverie #7 cover featuring "The infamous repairmen" from 1984

The story for the infamous repairmen on the surface seems to be a flippant and shameless plug I did back then for the upcoming Zooniverse comic, but it is actually deeply personal allegory for my childhood. With Spleen representing my father, Sproat my mother, Snok as me and the Clone-a-gram as my art (Zooniverse). My two younger brothers don't make an appearance but they were essentially treated the same as me, so Snok could easily represent them too. I'll leave you to figure out the rest should you get your hands on this story. 

The first appearance of a Clone-a-gram from "The infamous repairmen" 1983

The second story in Zoonimini #2 is "Sacred Stripture". For this one I set myself a ludicrous challenge. I wanted to combine old illustrations with my recent "History" animation so that the story looped between the comic and the animation. The animation shows the Sacred Text scrolling in the background and the comic is the Sacred Text! I had to turn the old illustrations from 1983 into a Holy Stripture, within less than a week due to the printing schedule!

Below is the introductory page. I had trouble incorporating it into the story until woke up one morning realizing that the artist portrayed in the image is the Notator:- the zoon who wrote the Stripture! I've always loved this image which at the time summed up my personal feelings about being an artist. It was a bold experiment before I found my "Zooniverse" style. I was choosing a direction here, the pig drawing was an old comfortable look that I'd used for my earlier "TimeTree" comic. The spooks were an entirely new style of mine that has never been published and the "Notator" character was halfway between my previous Asphyxiation work and the emerging Zooniverse technique. Again, the original art was never returned from the printer, and presumed stolen, so I scanned and restored the image from the printed cover.

The front page for the "Sacred Stripture" in Zooniverse mini comic #2

The image above was originally published in 1984 as the cover for Fox Comics issue #4 shown below, I'm pretty sure that I did the art in 1983. Obviously I've flipped it for story flow, but I've always liked that the original cover made little sense until the back cover revealed the artist character...

Original wrap-around cover for Fox comics issue #4

"Sacred Stripture" includes new art that I took from the "History" animated loop, I also made new panels with assets created in Flash (below left). The Rector and his innocent Supplelicant are recent artwork, the rest (below right) was originally done in 1983 when I was twenty years old for two publications in England. These random images were pre-Zooniverse and gave me a chance to experiment with inking styles while creating strange environments over which the publisher pasted badly photocopied code for the Spectrum (an early home computer that was released in the UK).

Old and new art combined in "Sacred Stripture" the second Zoonimini story.

Below is the second book of "Astounding Arcade Games" which was published exclusively in England in 1984. I had finished the art a year before for issue #1 and the publisher reused my art without my permission for the second book, this time cutting images up to make it look like new work. The cover below is a mash up of two pieces of art, and no I didn't color it. I once possessed a mint copy of the first book but it's long gone now so I can't verify it's exact name.

Cover for Astounding Arcade games for your Spectrum issue #2 printed in the UK

I now have the original illustrations in my care and used most of them for the Sacred Stripture. I scanned them shuffling them around until some semblance of a theme came into view. I now have a Zooniverse based Holy Scripture to form religions and philosophies off with Zoons misinterpreting and misquoting the texts. This is going to be fun!

The beginning of the Talsark Wars

[Edit 2021 - The Shockwave file is available HERE on my Patreon]

For those of you familiar with the original Zooniverse series, the Talsark Wars may ring a bell. I always intended to reveal what the wars were about, but never had the chance.
Now in my latest animation I can at least introduce how it all began.

A Talsark Temple priest educates a tender young Supplelicant. A still from the animation

The Talsark Wars are an old idea so I'm glad to finally have it in existence.  Basically I wanted to invent a ridiculously stupid reason for starting a war and decided to make it over a pencil. The more established and historically rich Inner Rimworlds and the crassly resource rich Outer Rimworlds were basically itching to fight each other over something and the apparent theft of a pencil was all that was needed to set it off. In truth Poader Glister just put it absent mindedly in his pocket. As you do.

Poader Glister, from my sketch book for the movie version of Zooniverse I was working on in LA

Poader Glister is an aging pop star from the Outer Rmworlds, he was doing a quick flit of the Inner Rimworlds tourist attractions, mainly for publicity. He just happen to inadvertently start a war. Poader represents all that the Inner Rimworld inhabitants hate about the Outies, he's tacky, rich and cultureless. I had a lot of fun creating him.

Rough sketch for the animation

 Helen and I are currently in the last two weeks of a Government sanctioned Business Course (NEIS). It has been grueling to say the least, it's eating so badly into our creative work time that I barely got this month's loop done. However I was able to knock out some character designs in class, yes I can draw and listen!

Spak's back story

[Edit 2021 - The shockwave file is available HERE at my Patreon]

The Loop De Loop animation challenge for this month was "Mad", so I had to do something on Spak! 
[SPOILERS AHEAD...]

Due to commitments coloring Rex Vectar, another comic of mine, for Clubhouse Comics and the Australian government making me run around for a week so that bureaucratic boxes could be checked, I ended up with only four days to produce this entire loop, including writing the script and editing the audio with Helen Maier's wonderful musical score. Somehow I got it done and two days later it was screened at the Loop Bar. I was overjoyed!

Spak in happier times. Still from the animation.

This animation deals with a some of Spak's back story: how his lover died 2100 years ago.
In the early stages of the War Between the Sexes, the four races of the Motherhood Empire escaped their domineering male counterparts to live peacefully on their fem-constructed worldship, they called Girlaxia. Being a single sex meant that clonebirthing was the Foremothers only means of reproduction, but biologically many femzoons needed male companionship and sexplay, so they created the Plastoid race, a genetically obedient population of synthetic malezoons. Using their own DNA the Foremothers batched male duplicates of themselves in living plastic, the game was to find their copy. Girlaxia was so enormous that it dwarfed giant gas planets so often the copies never met, some found each other and formed deep friendships, but quite a few bonded.

Althra was clonedbirthed into flesh from her own ancient genes when Spak was over 900 years old. (Plastoids are non-biodegradable by the way). The two copies found each other and fell in deeply in love.

A moment of horror. A still from the animation.

Spak and Althra were both Scy-Borraine warriors, fighting side by side during the height of the War Between the Sexes. When Girlaxia fell they were still holding back hordes of fleshmales on the planet Asu-Assala. Plastoids don't eat or sleep, Althra simply couldn't keep up. Overwhelmed she was skewered and paraded around until Spak could reach and protect her shredded corpse.

Above is the original panel from issue #3 of the Zooniverse series from 1986 (Entox is in the foreground by the way). I traced a lot of this comic art for the animation, trying to keep it as acurate as possible. The image on the left is the original painted art that I've scanned and not adjusted in any way, yes the paints have survived for twenty six years. The image on the right I scanned from the comic so that you could see how it printed. For the animation I took my color cues from the printed version. The deeper red suggested a bloodbath without me having to stoop to showing gore.

Spak seethes. A still from the animation.

I love the above image, the moment when Spak cracks!
I made a last minute decision to include the image below in the animation. Meeting the deadline, meant that I had to work all night. The image was traced from my 1991 roughs for page 30 of the unpublished book Age Old Enemies. I'm glad that it has finally seen the light of day!

Spak takes his revenge. A still from the animation.

 Above is another panel from issue #3 of the original Zooniverse series. It shows Spak during his banishment on Asu-Assala by the Plastoid Society who decide to hide until the Foremothers return. Spak is worshiped as the Dead God Krantrak by the locals, who Spak ritually kills.... it's an even longer story. Again the original paints on the left, the printed version on the right.

The Birth of the Zooniverse

[Edit 2021 - The shockwave file is available HERE on my Patreon]

Last month's Loop De Loop animation challenge theme was "elements" which gave me the opportunity to animate the birth of the Zooniverse.

The scientist who becomes the Zooniverse. Still from the animation.

The animations were traced from comic panels from Lifeworks. For more background on the origin story go to this earlier post.

Zooniverse Minicomic #1

Zooniverse is back in print!! Here is the cover which is artwork I did back in 1986 while still working on the original series.

Cover of Zoonimini issue #1 artwork from 1986

The Zoonimini's are intended to pave the way towards the 200 page collected album of the Zooniverse series! They will elaborate on concepts I was unable to cover in the series. This first issue reveals the Animoid Rimworlds in relative position to the Hub for example.

Also included is the comic story "Zoons at the Ozcon" which was included in the program given away at the 1997 Australian Comic Convention held in Sydney. "Zoons at the Ozcon" is a very biting commentary on the activities of earlier OzCons that I had attended. Not much has changed so it seemed more than fortuitous to relaunch this comic, fifteen years later, at the first OzCon to be held in Melbourne.

Zoons attend an Australian Comic Convention in 1997

Included in this story is a timeline summarizing most of the animated shows that I've been Lead Character Designer on. The left page below was from the original comic, but I've created a new page that updates the timeline to include shows after Extreme Ghostbusters.

A sampling of animated TV shows that I've been Lead Character Designer on. From 1986 to2008

Our intention with this first issue was to introduce a new readers to my work both in comics and animation. With subsequent issues of Zoonimini's we hope to put all Zoon related material into print most of which was never seen beyond the shores of Australia.

Missy Mossy

[Edit 2021 - The shockwave file is available HERE on my Patreon]

I've just completed a new animation for Loop De Loop.
I recommend that you watch the animation before continuing reading this post....

A still from the Animation for Loop De Loop for the theme "Play".

If you've had a look and my animation, here is some background info....
The Voidhauler Captain first appeared in his bath of Kloob Fluid in issue two of the original Zooniverse series. His job is to lug uninhabited planetorbs across the void for attachment to the Animoid Rimworlds. It's boring work as most of the flight is done on auto pilot, so the driver has to find ways to occupy his time. This Captain plays with puppets while inebriating himself by sucking on Kloob Fluid fermented by his own perspiration.

The Voidhauler driver from issue #2 of the Zooniverse series.

In 1990 I composed a Missy Mossy poem and dearly wanted to see it in comic form.
Now, twenty two years later I have gone one step better by animating it.
Here is the poem as I originally wrote it...

The Missy Mossy poem as I wrote it when I was 27 years old.

So what is Kloob fluid made from? Kloobs of course! A race of sentient plantoids. Their berries are pressed into a juice that is sold through illegal markets. I've been working on a story where the Kren Patrol infiltrate the trade on killing Kloobs for their tasty and highly addictive juice.

A Kloob, poachers are pushing their population towards extinction.

Preparation for war

[Edit 2021 - The shockwave file is available HERE at my Patreon]

The latest animation has been posted on Loop De Loop for the theme "one".
For this loop I've returned to the Spirit Realm focusing on the behind the scenes preparations for the Talsark Wars. Soulbeings wishing to experience combat are congregating around the Gatherers. Two opposing sides have been created for the conflict, the older and more historic planets of the Inner Rimworlds verses the younger and wealthier Outer Rimworld planets. The twin Gatherers are ancient beings who rally souls for incarnation, they are neutral and care little for the outcome of the conflict ahead. The Gatherers only concern is to attract participants to the correct side before incarnation.

The Outer Rimworld Gatherer calls for Incarnates. Reworked from the animation assets.

Tensions and ill-content have been building up for the last few hundred years between the Inner and Outer Rimworld who are now about to erupt into multiplanetary conflict. These coarse emotions have been carefully fostered by the poisonous whirlpool of hatred fed by the Warweavers who mindlessly do the bidding of "The Empty". The Warweavers are transformers stepping down the will of The Empty knitting it into the fabric of the Zooniverse' Spirit Realm. These unintelligible beings originated from beyond the Zooniverse. Their whirlpool draws unwary soulbeings into their influence. These soulbeings incarnate bringing the poison to the Physical Realm, often lusting for power and fostering greed they become liars and misguiders seeking positions that hold the greatest influence over the masses.

The War Weavers do the bidding of "The Empty". Reworked from the animation assets.

War is nothing new to the Zooniverse, and many Soulbeings have killed and murdered for their various causes in past incarnations. These beings have become burdened with painful Karmabunkles and Lymphets which are molluscs native to the Spirit Realm that feed off negativity adhering to the bodyform of beings who have acted destructively towards other Zoons during incarnation. The burden of these feeding molluscs add up over life experiences to the point that multitudes of souls are weighed down, unable to move without pain.

Sketch of a Spiritbeing inflicted with Karmabunkles and Lymphets.

To remove their invertebrate burdens these souls need to balance each selfish destructive and hateful act with ones of sacrifice and love, which the molluscs dislike and detach. One way is to offer themselves as innocent victims in the upcoming wars, where the deed they did to another Zoon will be done to them. The Gatherer of Victims is the where they congregate to prepare for their life of sacrifice. 
 

The Gatherer of Victims. Reworked still from the 'One' animation.

The Mother Gatherer is not shown, but souls wishing to dedicate their incarnation to help build up the populations for all the participants in the wars will join her call. This path is viewed as one of the higher devotional sacrifices.

Observing the whole parade of souls choosing their roles for the conflict are Lokki and Alia. They are already incarnated at this point, but while their bodies sleep, they return to their true form to assess what is to come. Lokki is concerned that such a vast spectacle can be halted by his own actions. He is the only Zoon who is destined to stop the war.

Lokki and Alia ponder the future. Still from the 'One' animation.

These well respected souls have yet to meet in the Physical Realm, but they will fall in love as they have done before, marry and join the Pacifist Army as the Kren Patrol.

Pirateers

[Edit 2021 - Shockwave file available HERE on my Patreon]

It is illegal to scour mine living planets in the Zooniverse, but that doesn't stop Pirateers from hiding in dust clouds picking off newborn orbs spat out by the Birthbone in the Nursery Region. Sifting through rock for precious minerals and metals, the Pirateers work in clans often made up of mercenaries. The most popular clans have the best medical benefits, the largest clan also offers dental coverage. The fact that most Pirateers are terrified of Dentists doesn't seem to be a deterrent, they just seem to like the concept of a dental plan even though none of them take advantage of the offer. It turns out that clanzoon Dentists are more bloodthirsty than the meanest Pirateer.

A still taken from the Zooniverse animation on LoopDeLoop's Rock theme 2012

Below is the original sketch for the Pirateer from the animation he is loosely based off a Studio Head that I once had the misfortune to work for.

Original design of the Pirateer.

Another still from the Rock animation at LoopDeLoop. Showing a scour miner in action. It was quite a big moment to see this image moving after having it in my files for so long. These giant ships, almost the size of a planetoid, are so vast that entire clans can live inside them. These factory vehicles often carry armies of craftzoons who produce dazzlingly beautiful artifacts from the raw ores. A steady flow of shipments are freighted from the Scouring vessels to the black markets and illegal auction houses. Any unusable rock dust is vented into the void, further cloaking their operation.

The original images below were printed in issue #4 of my self published Zoonimedia Magazine in 1995, the magazine was renamed Artopia Quarterly for issue #5.

Original art created in 1991, but published in 1995 in Zoonimedia Magazine.

The Birthbone

[Edit 2021 - shockwave file now available HERE on my Patreon] 

The Birthbone is a tree like structure that runs the length of the Zooniverse and is the source of all planets and suns which grow like boils on it's surface as eggs. After hatching the protective membrane shell breaks off, or absorbed, and the infant planet bursts into life, or the proto-sun ignites for the first time. The Birthbone concept is a very old idea that I've always wanted to explain in more detail, my latest animation on LoopDeLoop serves as a basic introduction to it's workings.

The Birthbone. A still from the animated short 2012.

The first reference to the Birthbone in print was in issue six of the mini-series. I've reworked this panel to give you a taste of how I want to recolor the original series digitally and republish it as a collected book. No publishers are interested yet.

A panel from the Zooniverse comic series 1987

In the above panel you can clearly see baby planets forming on the surface of the Birthbone. The panel below was from the first page of the follow up book Age Old Enemies, that was unpublished. Here you can see a boil being formed on the lower right branch. I'm still coloring this page, but I'll show you what I have so far. French publisher Guy Delcourt was in possession of the original line art which I left with him in good faith as I hoped he would be publishing the book. Unfortunately I only have a photocopy to work from. I'm assuming the original art has been long discarded.

An unpublished panel from Age Old Enemies 1991

Liquid Information

Mere hours ago I completed the third Zooniverse animation. [Edit 2021 - Moved HERE to Patreon]. It explains a little more about Liquid Information, the way that data is transferred in the Zooniverse. I've incorporated images that I've had banging around in my folders for a while now that were prepared for Age old Enemies. It's really gratifying not only to see them in color but also to see them move.

Coasting along a tranquil sea of data at the Halls Of Record. Still from the animated short.

Here is the original art I worked from, I followed it as closely as possible. This page was one of a few that revisited the Halls Of Record, the artificial planet that was made by the mono-sex race of women called the Shadan. One of the original four mother races who created the Plastoids, synthetic male counterparts which include Spak and Entox from the Kren patrol. Three thousand years years later the Shadan have renounced the mere concept that they ever needed male counterparts.

Original unpublished art from Age Old Enemies. Ink, brush and nib.

Spak animated!

[Edit 2021 - Posted HERE on my Patreon because Loop De Loop removed their old content] 

See Spak animated!!  This month's theme was "Idiots" so he had plenty to say.

Spak introduces the Animoid Rimworlds in his own eloquent way.

 Helen Maier composed the music.
I'll tell you more about this piece after the screening when the votes are counted.

Zoons! Zoons! Zoons! : A Four Page Short

I originally did the four page comic "Zoons! Zoons! Zoons!" in 1995 as an experiment with short Zooniverse stories that was hoping to self publish. It was eventually printed in issue #10 through my Australian company's magazine, Artopia Quarterly, in 2001.

A panel from "Zoons!" published in 2001

It will be reprinted through Image comics on the 22nd of Feb appearing in the back of Prophet issue #22 which Brandon Graham has been working tirelessly to make a success. Brandon has been a great source of encouragement and support in my efforts to get back into comics. I wish him all the best with this title and his own creation King City.

The cover from Prophet issue #22 by Simon Roy

Lifeworks: Book Twelve

"Lifeworks" was intended to be the last of the twelve albums that I had planned. It was an origin story telling about how a scientist deconstructs his body into a cloud of living sub-matter and reforms it into the Zooniverse.

This highly symbolic cover was printed with a summary for part 2 of Lifeworks in 1994. Colored here for the 1st time (Click to Enlarge).

In 1993 fellow Australian cartoonist Gary Chaloner approached me to contribute to his publication Cyclone Comics Quarterly.  I had been trying to get a publisher interested in "Lifeworks" a few years earlier, so I jumped at the chance to have a deadline to work towards. A total of twenty pages were published in issues #3 and #4 in black and white, unfortunately Cyclone ran out of funds and I never had a chance to complete the story.

The Originie, the first child of the Zooniverse. Painted with gouache on board in 1994

Above is one of two covers that I prepared for Cyclone, unfortunately both were rejected, this image of the Originie has never been published. The Originie, the first Zoon, reappears in my first Zooniverse animation shown here on LoopDeLoop.

Story overview:
Lifeworks was tricky conceptually and I would write it differently today. It was intended as an analogy for my own creative relationship to the Zooniverse concept. The scientist in the future who turns his body into the living Zooniverse shares my name, and has successfully created a microscopic test Zoon from his own matter, called the Originie. Young, energetic the Originie is kept safe in a sphere hung around this future Fil Barlow's neck. The Originie has the ability to form his own playground inside the sphere from the same pre-matter that he is made from.

Based on a dream I once had, an assembly of virtual characters appear to witness the actual birth of the physical Zooniverse. The scientist Fil pulls his soul out of his body, which is able to form a face on a soul sensitive screen behind him to prove that he is still living (see top cover), his body is encased in a protective, computerized ball and stripped down to a sub atomic pre-matter, the soul re-enters this new etheric cloud to form it into what ever it desires.

The Originie safely inside his sphere, which is now inside the larger ball, realizes that a big change has happened to his father and gets so upset that the Zooniverse, being sensitive to extreme emotions, has no choice except to release him. Disaster strikes as the Originie is blinded by the piercing light of the proto-Zooniverse, and he runs screaming, his panic calcifies the pre-mater around him creating the Birthbone. The Zooniverse puts the Originie to sleep to save itself. Millions of paraspan pass before the Originie reawakens, horrified to find that he is blind, ancient and trapped by the calcified roots of the Birthbone.

A being called The Observant was created by the dreaming Originie to be his eyes upon awakening, but so many millennia have passed that there is no life left to observe in this ancient end of the Zooniverse. The Observant is now so old he can barely serve the Originie, but sets out to find some sentient being who can shed some light on the current state of the Zooniverse.

Zeroy marooned from page 14 of Lifeworks published in 1994

The Observant discovers Zeroy who has been marooned on an isolated planetoid. For the last eight paraspan Zeroy has been waiting for an event that opens up a wormhole allowing him to return to his own Nebulaxy.

... and here the published comic ends.

Zeroy bids farewell to the Kren Patrol this is the last time they are together and their last printed panel. Page 20 of Lifeworks published in 1994