Cydonia

Issue 24 features the very welcome return of Peter Adamson's Ice Warrior epic Cydonia, clocking in with Book IV—The Book of the Titans. Like all of the previous 'Books' as published in RTP!, again the comic takes another step up in storytelling and artwork, which is pretty amazing given those standards were set pretty high in the first place! This time around we finally reach the beginning of Haaga's journey that led him to where we found him at the beginning (some three years ago in RTP!, or even longer if you've been reading since Telos). It is a sad tale that deftly blends violence, loneliness, desperation, and fear in what seems to be Haaga's descent into the darkness.

My first encounter with Peter's Ice Warrior comic came in the form of Matt Kamstra's copy of Telos #12 some time after said zine had folded. That was part of the original single page installment version that had been gracing the fanzine for some time. It was something of a revelation for a playing-at-being-an-artist like myself. I had been envious of Peter's ability with a pencil and pen for some time by that point, jealousy striking from the moment I saw his first TSV work in issue 38. But his Cydonia art just elevated that to burning jealousy! It was in a style very different to his regular art in TSV and seemed so clear and simple, yet detailed at the same time. It has served the comic well.

Cydonia had been mentioned as a potential for the zine by Matt on occasion when the pair of us were editing together (Matt and Wade Campbell as readers of Telos being more familiar with the comic than myself), but back then Peter had never sounded too keen about completing the comic in the fanzine from the e-mails we got from him. At that point in time he seemed to be lining the comic up to appear in the pages of TSV. That seemed to change around the time I was living in Japan, and roughly a year later the first 'Book' appeared in issue 17 (March 2004). Whether that was a change in plans on Peter's part, or a reaction to changes with TSV I am uncertain, but it was certainly to RTP!'s benefit.