Nula! Naked and Alone! (comic story)
Nula! Naked and Alone!, also rendered as Nula, Naked and Alone, was the fourth full-length story in the Kaza's Mate, Gwenna webcomic, directly continuing the Philosopher's Stone story arc begun in the preceding story, The Danger, the Diamond, and the Dowager. Written and drawn by Jay Epps, it continued nudity as typical of the series, making it NSFW. The adventure spanned twenty main pages as well as a one-page April Fools' Day comic depicting a fanciful lie asserted by a character at that point in the plot, and slotting between Pages 18 and 19 — entitled She did say she had quite a story….
Contents
Plot
While Nula watches the flaming village, the captured Kaza asks the Skull what could be so valuable about Solomon's Diamond as to be worth bringing a whole private army of mercenaries to secure it, prompting the Skull to gloat that it is far more than an ordinary jewel. Refusing to elaborate, he makes Kaza and Gwenna climb into his tank, with Kaza in the hold and Gwenna in the cabin with him. Meanwhile, George Wimberley and Kiana are leading a group of survivors from the fire to the nearby Koravi village; they cross paths with Nula, and inform her that Smedley has been captured.
She, meanwhile, confesses that she knew the Skull's thugs were after the diamond, but hoped that she had “lost them in Istanbul”. She explains that according to legend, the Diamond is none other than the Philosopher's Stone. In the tank, as they near the Skull's stronghold (the “old Kaitaran Temple”), a gloating Skull gives the same explanation to Gwenna, who mocks him for believing that his “superior-humans cult” can hold on to it any better than the likes of Alexander the Great and Caesar. At that moment, Kaza manages to free himself from his bond and get the drop on the undisciplined mercenaries watch him, knocking both out. Hearing the commotion and assuming it must be Kaza freeing himself, Gwenna similarly lands a good kick on the Skull and knocks him out. Together, they manage to put the entire tank crew out of commission; they hop out as it crashes into a tree, with Gwenna catching Kaza up on what she's learned.
Things turn sour for Wimberley, Nula and Kiana's party, however, when, shortly after capturing the disarmed Mitchell, they are ambushed from above by the Skull's airships, which turn out to be commanded by the Skull's chief scientist, Professor Morag. Taken aboard as prisoners, they are reunited with Smedley. Initially embarrassed to explain why she's naked, Nula spins a ridiculous story about being briefly abducted by aliens, but soon has to admit that she was simply skinny-dipping when the crisis occurred. Finally, everything comes to a head as the free Kaza and Gwenna reach the Temple just as the prisoners do. There, the Professor orders Nula taken to the laboratory instead of being placed in the holding cells like the others; much to Nula's apprehension, he explains that as she has been exposed to the Diamond for decades, he wants to see if it had any effects on her and “if she is a suitable candidate for the secondary project” as the Skull has been hoping.
Worldbuilding
Universes
- This story takes place in Reality Z-25 31-H.
Other
- According to legend, the Philosopher's Stone, a.k.a. Solomon's Diamond, was created by “the alchemists and levite priests of Israel”. Alexander the Great conquered Persia to claim it, but died too soon to take advantage of it, and it was claimed by Ptolemy of Egypt, whose descendants kept it safe until Cleopatra, who, when Augustus threatened to depose her, had her handmaid send it “up the Nile, into the jungle”, leading to its current position.
Continuity
- This story is a direct sequel to COMIC: The Danger, the Diamond, and the Dowager, serving as the second part of a Philosopher's Stone trilogy which would then be concluded in COMIC: Temple of Turmoil.
Behind the scenes
Background
The April Fools' Day bonus page, with its narrative of Laura Bush having been abducted by aliens “years ago”, is a reference to a similarly off-the-wall two-page comic from unrelated webcomic Four More Years!!!, released on November 13th, 2004, where aliens from the Planet Zorog made first contact with the United States of America, only for Dick Cheney to strike a deal with them for advanced technology in exchange for the abduction of the First Lady (without constuling with Bush first). Given that Nula's story is a random fabrication, this does not necessarily mean that Four More Years!!! should be taken as sharing a universe with Kaza's Mate, Gwenna.
Page 1 of the referenced Four More Years!!! comic.
Page 2 of the referenced Four More Years!' comic.
Read online
The story can be read on the Kaza's Mate, Gwenna website starting here.
