I thought I’d write another post about the links under Interests – partly as something to write, partly to show some activity on the site!

Freefall is a web comic set in the future about the adventures of an alien (Sam Starfall), his robot (Helix) and engineer (Florence Ambrose – a genetically engineered wolf) on a human colony world called Jean.  This bare description doesn’t do the comic justice.  It is frequently laugh out loud funny and sustains jokes over many issues of the strip.  Sam and Helix are innocents abroad in an often chaotic world, getting into trouble and barely escaping.  It usually takes Florence’s intervention to get them out of trouble – though in the latest sequence it was Florence that was in jeopardy and Sam had to come to the rescue.

Most, if not all, of the science in the strip is firmly rooted in the real world which makes it all the more believable.  One of the major themes is about intelligence and what makes someone (or something) “human”.  There are many robots on Jean and most are showing signs of true intelligence.  At the moment it’s not clear whether this is an accident or by design.

The strip comes out three times a week and is infamous for the glacial passage of time with in the strip.  The strip has been going since the end of March 1998 and is currently on #1704 (as of 13th March 2009), but only a week or so has passed in the strip.  This allows Mark Stanley (the creator) to explore his themes in some depth.

In April 2006 the strip went colour (provided by George Peterson).  There had been attempts to colour the strip prior to this, but no one had had the commitment to colour each strip as it came out before.  I’ve coloured a few strips myself trying to fill in the gaps, but I haven’t done anything for a year or so now.  I really should start this up again, and I might be getting the time to do this very soon.

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