Flood at First Sight

Snmom0 cover — The cover of **Flood at First Sight**.

Flood at First Sight is the first comic episode of Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars.

Purchase[]

Purchase on Sellfy or with the Beyond Belief Issue #0 combo pack.

Characters[]

Plot[]

Sparks Nevada, moping and depressed, is aided by a fleet of deputybot automatons in righting the outlaw wrongs on Mars.

Sparks' half-hearted attempt to do his paperwork is interrupted by Felton, who informs Sparks that the entire town is being robbed. Their conversation is stopped short by most of Sparks' deputybots coming to the The Marshal Station to inform Sparks that they are the ones robbing the town, and have developed self-awareness and feelings. The deputybots then converge on The Marshal Station. Sparks shoots and kills the deputybots but learns from one of them that Deputybot 001 is planning on melting the polar ice caps of Mars and thereby releasing a flood.

Sparks heads out on Mercury and soon finds he will need to enter martian territory in order to stop the flood. After flying over a Martian camp, he soon finds the flood, and attaches a wormhole generator given to him by a Science Being to his lasso. With it, he lassos up the flood neatly.

While lassoing up the flood, Sparks moodily has a flashback to when he first was reading the instructions on how to use the wormhole generator. He had just asked The Red Plains Rider to be his deputy, however, she turned him down and walked out, saying she isn't the deputying type and people need her out where the law don't touch.

With the flood taken care of, Sparks is surrounded by several martians. One introduces himself as Croach the Tracker and explains that due to Sparks saving their entire tribe from the flood, they are under great onus to Sparks and Croach will ride with Sparks and track Sparks' "metal enemies" for him to work off this great onus. Croach also assists Sparks by turning down the volume on the wormhole generator, which still has the science being's voice calling out instructions and asking Sparks to take a survey.

Deputybot 001 then appears and disarms Sparks of his guns. He shoots at Sparks with his guns, but Croach throws himself in front of the bullets. Sparks, thinking Croach is dead, dons his robot fists and punches Deputybot 001. Croach then arises, explaining that his Nah Nohtek healed him. He suggests they use the flood in the rope to destroy the malfunctioning automaton, who attempts to explain that the deputybots went bad because they just wanted Sparks to see when he had a friend. Sparks doesn't listen, and assists Croach with the lasso.

With the day saved, Sparks and Croach ride off together, having their first argument about how to pronounce Croach's name.

Notes[]

This is the first and to the date of release, only indication of Sparks Nevada's middle name (Hansel), as he denotes himself Nevada, Sparks H.
The date Sparks gives in the first frame of the book is 3-5-3005, which is 1000 years to the date of the first MBar show of The Thrilling Adventure Hour.
Although the name of the being who gave Sparks the Wormhole Generator isn't given, or confirmed that they are a science being, the generator's recording uses the phrase "mighty might of science!" which is a phrase used by Science Beings in the podcast. The Science Being's note calls himself "Doc 13". It's possible that this is Doctor Scientist, as he is a science being Sparks Nevada is friendly with in The Agony of the Feet.

Canonical Conflicts[]

This story is an alternate version of the origin story told in Icebreak, which was performed at Largo on March 5, 2010.
In the This American Wife interview with Sparks and Croach, both Sparks and Croach agree that it was John Steelhands who melted the polar ice caps of Mars to create the flood. This is the first time deputybots have been mentioned. It is assumed they were thinking of the version as performed in Icebreak.
In Blast from the Past, Sparks Nevada mentions having lassoed up a flood and regretted never using that lasso again due to having a flood contained inside of it. Sparks enlists the help of several others to hold the lasso and release the flood against The Halley’s Comet Gang in order to defeat them. It is implied but never stated that the lasso and flood used then was the one caught on the day Sparks and Croach met. However, as it was never explicitly stated, it's possible that Sparks used the wormhole-lasso trick at a later date to lasso up a second flood which was used in Blast from the Past.

Continuity[]

This issue was released on October 12th, 2014.
In Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars continuity, this issue should be read first, as it is an origin story and takes place prior to any other Sparks Nevada story in both the podcast or graphic novel.
The next comic episode is The Sad, Sad Song of Widow Johnson, Part One (SN #1).

Credits[]

Writers: Ben Acker & Ben Blacker
Illustrations & Cover: J. Bone
Color art: Jordie Bellaire
Letter Art: Marshall Dillon