Trekker Talk Episode 42: What Dreams May Come / Homefronts

0:00Thank you very much. Welcome and thank you for listening to Tracker Talk, a fan podcast devoted to the adventures of the 23rd century bounty hunter, Mercy St. Clair, from the Pages of Tracker by writer and artist Ron Randall. I'm Ruth. I'm Darren and this is a fan podcast. We're not affiliated with Ron Randall and the opinions expressed are just hours.

1:02We do this podcast simply because we enjoy reading and talking about Tracker and any of Ron Randall's other comics. Please consider visiting Trackercomic.com. That's Ron Randall's official site dedicated to Mercy St. Clair. It features an archive of great Tracker material so you can sample the stories and we're sure that will make anyone a fan of the series. Trackercomic.com also has a link to his Patreon page where it is easy to donate and help support the brand new Tracker material if you'd like. Ron Randall's awesome Tracker trade paperbacks usually include a main story along with one or two backup stories and in this episode we're covering the short stories what dreams may come and home fronts that were included in the battlefield's collection. We hope everyone is picked up the book which was published through Kickstarter so it's entirely thanks to Tracker fans like you that this book exists. And if you want to hear our coverage of the main story from the book just check out our previous episode. And speaking of Kickstarter, Ron Randall is currently running a campaign for the newest Tracker book title The Ties That Bind and when this episode drops there should be about

2:07a week left for the Kickstarter. The current campaign has already unlocked several stretch goals including prints, bookmarks and trading cards that are only available through the campaign. So if you want to grab the newest book or pick up any of the previous books that you've missed be sure to check out the Kickstarter before it ends. We always enjoy hearing from other Tracker fans and we know the podcast is more fun for everyone when we include your comments so please take a moment and write in and let us know your thoughts. You could share your Tracker origin story or just let us know what you like most about the series or the characters. Just listen for our email address and other ways to contact us at the end of the episode. Our talk is part of the Red Adventures Podcast Network. If you enjoyed the show please consider checking out our other podcasts that are available through most podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music as well as YouTube. Warlord Worlds is devoted to the comic creations of writer and artist Mike Grail including the Warlord, John Sable, Green Arrow and more. And Zenozo Zenofiles covers the post-apocalyptic adventure series Zenozoic Tales featuring

3:12Cadillac and Dinosaurs by writer and artist Mark Schultz. Ron Randall, Mark Schultz and Mike Grail are our favorite comic creators. Their stories are always filled with adventure and interesting characters and their art is excellent. We hope you'll try our other shows and you'll find links to those podcasts in our show notes. But now it's time for Tracker right after this promo for another podcast you might enjoy. Crises would live, worlds would die and DC comics would never be the same again. Crisis and Infinite Earths, the crossover so epic it reached every corner of the DC multiverse. Join DC Dave. And Doug Owens and as we discuss the Monitor tapes at Crisis and Infinite Earths Podcast. Find us on your favorite pod catcher and join the discussion at TheMonitorTapes.com. What dreams may come, story art colors and lettering by Ron Randall, color assist,

4:18Caitlin Lyke, cover colors, Jeremy Colwell, editor Alyssa Salah, production, Rihanna and Russ Moose and Silverstein and Allison Wilsey. Our story opens in the medical sick bay of the rightful ship from the end of battlefields. Jason Bolt and Sarvose are watching over Mercy St. Clair who is finally resting following the harrowing battles from the previous story. As the two talk they wonder what dreams might haunt this bounty hunter and we the readers suddenly find ourselves inside of one of Mercy St. Clair's dreams. Mercy and Molly are flying in a skimmer over what looks like the city of New Geliff when Mercy notices an out-of-control cycle flying toward them. Just before it hits their skimmer, Mercy and Molly leap from their vehicle and plunge toward the ground only to notice that instead of city streets, there's a barren wasteland below them. Once on the ground, Mercy realizes she's suddenly dressed in her trekker uniform and when she sees a pack of carnivorous call chocks encircling them, she realizes they are back

5:22in Chapel Town. Suddenly, fellow bounty hunters Wrath and Dara appear out of nowhere and help drive away the giant lizard-like creatures. Then Mercy and Molly are suddenly in the middle of an escape from gray wall where Mercy was imprisoned in the book The Dark Star's Zephyr and they're being assisted by someone dressed like Sheriff Pell who calls himself Walters. As the two rush towards safety, they find themselves in the middle of a fight with the Amber Swarm in the city of Krolas, along with Sergeant Rink. And as they leap for safety, Mercy wakes and jumps from her sick bed. And Jason Bolt, who is still watching over her, realizes it's going to be a very long trip trying to get Mercy St. Clare to rest. What dreams may come is one of those stories that fans could pledge to be included in, which is always a popular pledge level in Ron's books. Ron likes to make sure these stories fit within the current trekker storyline, but aren't

6:22integral to the main plot. And this dream sequence is a perfect way to achieve that goal. It's a fun little side story for fans to enjoy and a great way to be an immortal part of trekker. One of the benefits of these stories is that those who pledge receive the original page in which they appear. The story serves as a nice recap and reminder of some of Mercy's recent adventures, from the earliest stories back in New Gellif, to the frontier town of Chapel Town, to the Dark Star's Zephyr and on to battlefields. That's really fun, and the art is great as always. I particularly like the image of Mercy Amali and the skimmer above New Gellif. I love the blade-runner feel of those early stories, and the cityscapes shown here are terrific. I love the way each page is a different setting, showing how fluid dreams can be, as this wild ride quickly moves from one action-packed adventure to another. And I love the different perspectives used in the art, from looking past the razor-like claws of the call chalks, to racing down the corridor and gray wall, to leaping away from the amber swarm, from battlefields.

7:23What dreams may come is definitely a fun and fast-paced little short story. I like it. Homefronts Story, Art, Colors, and Lettering by Ron Randall. Color assists, Katelyn like. Cover colors, Jeremy Colwell. The story picks up back on Quig's home planet of Eliam V, with Molly and Skuff, where Molly has been helping to teach the villagers and local natives she met in the earlier story, but deviled, to understand each other's language. While chatting with Emily, Molly says that she thinks training her ear from music might have helped her pick up the different languages easier than some, as she joins her new friends

8:27at a celebratory festival. Back on the dark star's efer, Mercy is continuing her recovery, and she's making life difficult for Alibar Quig and Jason Bolt, who want her to continue to rest so that she can fully recover. To occupy her attention for a few minutes, Jason Bolt shares the story of how he escaped the explosion of the starliner. He explains that after Mercy blasted off in the escape pod, but before the starliner exploded, Bolt found an environmental suit. He knew the suit was only designed for short spacewalks for routine maintenance, but he didn't have much of a choice. He managed to escape the starliner in the EV suit and activate his location beacon before the explosion, but was exposed to the resulting radiation wave, which led to his older appearance and white hair. He explains that a ritual rescue ship found him several days later and treated him for the radiation exposure. Bolt can tell that Mercy wants more answers, but she falls asleep before she can ask any

9:29more questions. Later Mercy is continuing her physical therapy rehab, and she tells Bolt she needs to recover faster, so she can go after the amber swarm who slaughtered the platoon on the planet Voolel. Bolt tries to explain the stakes are higher than her personal feud, and that there is a resistance rising up against the council. However, Mercy doesn't believe in Rigel's nonviolent approach to the resistance. Bolt tries to convince her by reminding her of the return of Jekka and Wisu to the rightful place on Skane as one of their triumphs, but Mercy doesn't share his optimism. Meanwhile, on Skane, Jekka and Wisu are discussing the fleet of spaceships being built. Both are torn between their traditional ways, and knowing that they must be ready to defend themselves against the council. As the current voice of Skane, Wisu is proud to see the strong and confident woman that

10:31Jekka has become, and is comforted to know she will be the planet's future leader. Meanwhile, on the planet Nathul, which is the seat of the council, the amber swarm is preparing for their next encounter with Mercy St. Clair. The council is once again dismissing any worry about Mercy St. Clair, who they consider to be a lone balmy hunter destined to live and die alone. A wanderer who trusts no one, who has no one to turn to, who has no one to love. That's all she is, they say, and nothing in the universe can change that. But our story ends with the smiling face of Molly sundown are staring into the sky, where the Dark Star Zephyr is approaching, and we realize that we know more than the council does. Wow, that last page is so powerful. I love how it's laid out in panels showing Molly and Scuff as the Dark Star Zephyr approaches, and in each panel we have a text box of the different statements the council is sharing about Mercy, being a loner, and wanderer who trusts no one, and nothing can change

11:33that. And we know that they're wrong, because Molly is the key they know nothing about. I agree, and while you're reading it, that page sends a chill of excitement running up your spine. It's an amazing page. I really like the way the story pulls together so many elements from recent stories. Though this isn't an action-packed trek or adventure, you can see how Ron Randall is pulling those past stories together. Suddenly, as a reader, you realize these haven't been separate adventures, but instead are a series of connected stories leading to a unified central storyline. You really see it all start to come together in this short story. I agree. While we're seeing Mercy go through her daily routine of physical therapy on her road to recovery, we also visit with Jekka and Wisu. I really like those two characters, and it makes me happy to see them coming back into the story and knowing that they will be an integral part of what's to come. It's also great to get the backstory to how Jason Bolt survived the Starliner explosion. I remember how very disappointed we were when we first thought he had perished, and then

12:38how equally surprised we were when he returned. Ron keeps it simple here, which I always think is the best way for bringing about a surprise return like this. It reminds me of how Arthur Conan Doyle brought back Sherlock Holmes, a simple little moment in time we didn't see in the initial story, but learned about in a flashback. Getting it simple like that makes it so much more believable than using a convoluted or overly complex explanation that stretches believability. Bravo, Ron. Turning to the art, I love the way Ron bookends the story with Molly on Elium 5, surrounded by lush green vegetation and beautiful landscapes. Molly's warmth and optimism represent everything being fought for. While in between those bookends, we see the cold of outer space, along with the pain that Mercy is enduring. That's a great way to contrast the different parts of the story. Some of my favorite art includes the lonely image of the Dark Star's Zephyr flying through the vastness of space at the bottom of page 96, and maneuvering past the Ring of Asteroids

13:40on page 99. Page 100 is another favorite because of seeing Jack and Wisu, seeing the conflicted, but determined looks on their faces as they talk really conveys the weight of the story. I love seeing Molly and her friends walking through the lush jungle on page 91, and really like the atmosphere created by the celebration on page 92. I like the scenes of the village and the fire light, and my favorite page has to be the final page 102. I love following scuff, traipsing through the vegetation in the first few panels, and leaping into Molly's arms as she looks up into the sky and smiles. It's an awesome page. In addition to the main story and the two backup stories, the Battlefield's book also contains a section of excellent bonus content, which is appropriately titled Battle Plans in the back of the book. There is a gallery of character design sketches, including new casual wear for Mercy and Molly, as well as Mercy's battle gear for this action-packed book.

14:41We also get designs for many of the new characters, from if a janaiasu who joins our team of heroes, as well as designs for the soldiers who fight alongside Mercy, plus the amber swarm who deal our heroes a tragic blow with the end of the main story in Battlefield's. There is also a section on page process, which shows a page of script along with a development of the art from the initial thumbnail sketches to the final completed page. This section includes those details for seven different pages. I always find it amazing to see this wonderful behind-the-scenes look into the development of the book. Those who follow Ron's Patreon regularly get to see these details for most new pages of Tracker. On the cleverly titled Cover Me bonus page, Ron shares his thoughts on developing the worn, weary soldier look of Mercy that is used for the cover of the book. It's really interesting to read. And I love the biosection about Ron, where he explains he fell in love with science fiction through Flash Gordon, Star Trek, and Johnny Quest as a tiny cartoonist and has yet to recover,

15:42and he doesn't know why his wife Lynn puts up with him. That's so sweet. The section also includes short biographies for Caitlin Lake, Jeremy Cowell, and Alyssa Sala. Battlefield's is another awesome Tracker adventure, packed with action and suspense. I loved it the first time I read it and enjoyed it even more when rereading it for the podcast, and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. And with that, we wrap up our coverage of the Battlefield's book. We hope you all enjoyed our coverage. First up is Tracker Transmissions, where we share the listener feedback we've received since last time. Your feedback adds so much to the show, so a big thank you to everyone who took the time to ride in or to get in touch through social media. Ron Randall shared our post about the previous episode on social media. He wrote, aw, cool, another new podcast episode about Tracker. I'm so thrilled that there are fans that like Tracker enough that they've actually made a podcast about the series.

16:43So if you'd like to get a quick filling for the book, this podcast is a great way to get introduced. Do check it out. Thank you very much for that shout out, Ron. John Baker got in touch to say, what's so delightful about this episode is the palpable excitement you both had when talking about the work overall, and about certain pages or storylines. It's fun as a fan to see people express a passionate excitement for the work they are talking about. In this episode, it really came through, and I caught myself thinking those two are really into this particular issue, and it's so much fun to hear. You are so kind, John. We always appreciate you listening to our episodes and sharing your thoughts and observations along the way. You have a great way with words, and we always look forward to what you have to say. Thanks. And our friend, Austin Applebee, let us know he was excited to have the chance to catch up on our podcast recently, and that he really enjoyed our review of Battlefields. We always appreciate hearing Austin's enthusiasm for Ron Randall's Tracker. Thank you to everyone for sharing your comments with us. We sincerely appreciate it.

17:48Next we want to extend our Trekker thanks to everyone who supported us on social media since the last episode. These are people who liked or shared posts from us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and we sincerely appreciate all of your support. Before we start, let me say if we miss a name, please let us know and we'll correct that in the next episode. And also, forgive us if we mispronounce your name. Just email us and let us know and we'll correct that next time as well. And Austin Applebee, Phil Beer, Brian Eing, Brian Mulvey, Carmen Bullock-Bailes, Clinton Robson, Collins Stapleton, Daredevil 1972, David Dow, Ed and Terry Moore, Aaron, Gene Hendrix, Jeff Mullins, James Williams, Jared Durham, Jeff Messer, Joel Meadows, John Baker, John Copenhaver, Justin Fish, Karen Williams, Carl Kiesel, Carrie Crimson, Mani DeCosta, Paul Keane, Paul Sputero, Ron and Lynn Randall, Ron Cherier, Ruth Rice, Scott Garrison, Steve

18:52Matson, Tim Elliott, Tim Price, and Warren Montgomery. Thank you again everyone and we'll be right back after this promo for another podcast that you might enjoy. A long time ago, in a comic book rack far, far away. During the years between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Marvel Comics kept the Star Wars magic alive, delivering bold news stories, expanding the mythology and taking our favorite heroes and villains on unforgettable adventures. Now join me, the irredeemable shag, and an ever-changing roster of guest hosts as we journey back to this incredible era. We begin with a comic adaptation of the Empire Strikes Back and continue through the thrilling tales leading up to Return of the Jedi. If you're a seasoned Star Wars veteran who knows your share of breath from your Hoogibs or a brave explorer venturing into these comics for the first time, this is your hyperspace

19:53lane to classic Star Wars adventure. Join us for Marvel Star Wars from Empire to Jedi, every other month on the Fire and Water Podcast Network. Before we go, we want to provide our contact information. If you want to contact us directly or have something you would like to have read on the show, then please send an email to trekkertalkatgmail.com. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Blue Sky as Trekker Talk and you can visit our website at trekkertalk.com for links to all of our social media pages. You can listen to our show through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and most other podcast apps. And all of our Ron Randall themed episodes are always available at trekkertalk.com. You can also find the show on YouTube as part of the Rad Adventures Network that's Rad, RAD, which is short for Ruth and Darren.

20:54On the Rad Adventures YouTube channel and at RadAdventuresNetwork.com, you'll find all of the episodes of all of our podcasts, including Trekker Talk, as well as Zenozoic Zenophiles about the Cadillacs and Dinosaurs series Zenozoic Tales by Mark Schultz and Warlord Worlds about the comic creations of Mike Grill, including the Warlord, John Sabel, and Green Arrow. If you like the show, please consider leaving a review. Every review helps the podcast be more likely to show up in search results. And on YouTube, we hope you'll subscribe to the channel and give us some likes on the videos. Remember, at trekkercomic.com, you'll find an archival trekker material along with links to all the ways you can follow Ron Randall. Thank you so very much for listening. We hope you'll come back next time for another new episode of Trekker Talk.

21:55Trekker Talk is a proud member of the comics podcast network. For more information, visit comicspodcast.com. We are not affiliated with Dark Horse Comics or Ron Randall. The music's pressed on the show are solely ours. Music is taken from the album royalty-free music movies and videos from the royalty-free music club. We make no money from this podcast and no copyright infringement is intended.