Back yesterday on this post, reader Frank mentioned, in regard to Ellie’s perceived ESP, that “the implications of NASA having had the technology – thirty years ago – to know what a brain is doing…are just too terrifying to contemplate.” I explained that it wasn’t NASA, but The Strang Institute, where Mission Control is located, that launched Ellie into space so long ago. The Strang Institute was also involved in all manner of scientific research (much of it classified) from the 60’s to the early 90’s when the good Dr. Cornelius Strang disappeared (it was in all the papers if you recall). After that they just kept a skeleton crew on to monitor Ellie’s progress until we started receiving her signals from Planet X (we’ve got a full crew on staff now). Anyway, I said I’d head down to the basement to see what kind of goodies I could find concerning the Institute’s past. So I grabbed a flashlight and hopped the elevator to the dusty, musty lower levels to see what I could see.
The basement hasn’t been cleaned up since then and most of the lights were out, but I was able to find a few interesting things. I forgot that The Strang Institute had a consumer division back then. Some of you might remember the personal time machines they used to sell. I always wanted one but never did get one. I got that Atari for Christmas instead. Anyway, here’s a few scans from an old instruction manual I found in a (previously) locked file cabinet.
There’s a few locked doors down there too. If I can find the keys I’ll see what other fun stuff is in there!
A little over a year ago I was approached by artist/writer Tyler Niccum to do the colors for his impressive 250 page graphic novel Hinterlife. He’d seen some of my art on the Flight Comics forums and thought our art styles would be a good fit. I’d seen his work on there as well and thought the same. Hinterlife is autobiographical in nature, covering Tyler’s decision to leave his home and best friend behind to ride the rails as a vagabond. It’s full of insights into friendship, love, and personal tragedy. He’s one prolific writer and artist — it was all I could do to keep up. You can download the whole thing right here for free! Find the rest of Tyler Niccum’s work at thedeafguy.com.
