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The Ring of Saturn~ Our very first Novae universe comic
🕑 Added 2025-01-18 03:08:11 +0000 UTCDownload the PDF below or download from the dropbox.
Hello Starlights,
We've been avoiding posting this for a long time because it contained heavy spoilers for the time jump. But now that we've reached the big twist, we're happy to share this story with you all.
This was our very first Novae universe comic. It came about because we had submitted a proposal for Novae to this small publisher called Chromatic press. They liked the idea, but they thought it was very ambitious and wanted to try something shorter. So we all decided to do a short story within the universe. Jen and I quickly brainstormed the story and they approved.
The story takes place in WW1 era England and follows a student of Holst (The Planets) who is struggling with her musical endeavors. While trying to understand the piece she's learning, she runs into Rasim (Raziol) and they quickly become friends.
If the pages look weird because of the tones, try adjusting the size. The dang moiré effect is one reason I'll never work in tones again haha...
Thoughts and spoilers ahead, read after the comic:
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It's been 11 years since this was released.
You'll notice the art is very different from our current style. This was my first comic longer that 15 pages so I learned a whole lot. But I'm still very proud of it. ❤ If I could go back though, I'd make the ending more drawn out. (And maybe make some of the messages more clear.)
Raziol's reaction may be a bit of a shock at the end, and yeah, he was definitely a jerk. But, since we only see Miriam's POV it's hard to know what Raz was thinking. This was a point in his life when he was pretty jaded about his long life and Miriam bringing up the death of her friend only made Raziol realize that his friendship with Miriam wouldn't last. So in a way, he's saying those words to himself. "What did you expect." 😣 Raz you dumb butt.
Miriam's thoughts at the end are also a little vague. The piece she was struggling with was "Saturn: The bringer of old age". It's a slow and contemplative piece, and lacks the optimism and vigor that Jupiter has (Jupiter was also a patriotic song at the time). In the beginning Miriam is very much like Jupiter but after experiencing the loss of her friend, starts to understand what it means to live without really knowing where the future will lead. This helps her understand the piece because she herself has felt that she has aged due to the events in her life involving the war.
Though we've both grown a lot as artists and storytellers this story still has one of my favorite double page spreads we've ever done:
Comments
thedistortedeye
I have never been much for classical music. I think it's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I've always found songs more enjoyable than music lacking lyrics. I've read this comic a few times and enjoyed it but never before have I had the patience to sit down and let the music play along it. Today, I finally did. What an extraordinary piece, and I understand both her and Raz's feelings about it all so much better now, as well as definitely having picked up a newfound appreciation for the music in of itself.
S Mcnamara
I hope they can go see the premier of Star Wars together so they can experience the next take on Holst’s music 💕🎶🪐
Lauren Sparks
I have been so intrigued to read this, and so happy that now I have!! I am GIDDY to see a story taking place with Holst's students. (And 19-teens fashion!! AHH!! 😍) Every time the classical radio station plays St. Paul's Suite, the DJ talks about how it was written for his students to perform, and I always wondered what it'd be like to be learning music from a working composer, and performing his new works. I know Holst himself isn't the focus here, but I LOVE how Raziol is drawn in by the music; I always feel the same way 🥰🥰🥰 Obligatory cheer for wguc.org, the classical radio station in Cincinnati where I first heard Holst's music 💖
theStarfly
I finally went through and read this and oh my goodness! It's like they were having a conversation with each other throughout the years without knowing it.
Cindy
I find this remarkable, because I read this online several years ago before Novae on my radar! I actually found Novae by Googling webcomic about Holst The Planets or some sort, leading me to what presence you all had online, and now here I am. xD <3 I love the new insight about this story. And realizing Sulvain and Raz were in it the whole darn time?! Ah! Perfection.
Rin Sparrow
It’s crazy that that story highlights how people change (even in our limited lifetimes, let alone theirs!) and it makes me wonder how our boys will be in getting to know one another again- and knowing a lot more about each other now! 🤔
Rin Sparrow
I can see why that spread is a favorite!🖤
Mangsney
Oh what a fascinating piece! The first time we saw Sulvain, I remember thinking "Haha, he looks familiar, surely not." SURELY NOT??!! 😭🤣
Teh Teddae
IKR I HAD THE EXACT SAME THOUGHT
Kaiotee
I haven't read it yet, but The Planets is my favorite thing ever😭 Okay, i read it. Soo good. Absolutely breaks me that Sulvain and and Raz were so close to running into each other so many times (I assume so many times from that other point when they were at a Masquerade ball?) I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing! It was interesting to see this side of Raz. He is still similar to who he was, but he seems more tired? And cold, which is really fair, lol
Alys
How completely cool an experience to have!
germkind
Such a beautiful story!! ❤️ (unrelated but i also love Raz’s little spats and Sulvain’s little glasses 😆)
Abeille Femelle
That last page broke my heart 😭
Bethany BH
Just how many close calls did these poor souls have over the years?
Logan🇧🇸
Gosh it’s been so long since I’ve heard someone else mention Gustav Holst!! The Planets is such a wondrous collection of works and fits so perfectly with the story/universe of Novae
BT
So glad to finally be able to read this! I liked Miriam’s story a lot but gosh it’s such a teaser for Raz’s experience this whole time. Thanks so much for sharing and I’m so excited as always for what comes next
Dwam
I also read that one years ago, and somehow my memory blurred it and I was under the impression that Raziol and Sulvain were still together through time… So reading Novae, the whole time I was like “it’s fine they’ll be together soon anyway, I remember Rings of Saturn” THE SHOCK AND CONFUSION when I understood that no, 300 damn years has passed with them apart 🫢🥲🥲🥲🥲
Iselin
Raz and "jerk" in the same sentence made me wonder what the next chapter will bring.
Sarah Ash
Thank you so much for sharing this! It was the first work I ever read by you back in the day and I was so impressed for many reasons (the art, of course) but also the subject matter and the setting. I taught music at Holst's school (SPGS), sometimes in the Holst room, so the story resonates with me on so many levels. You really captured something of the atmosphere within the school which still lingered long after Holst and his pupils had departed.
astral projection
oh my! what a delicacy in the very morning!! thank you, KaiJu.
Sas (Milo's studio insulation funds)
Okay okay Wow Colder Raziol match with what I imagined he came through and yet he still has his enthusiasm. Even if he is very very tired. I'm wondering now if he, by this point, was still interested in studying and lost it later. I guess 60 years war after war is pushing technological advancement to the point of "the world has changed a lot and I have catching up to do" so that's checks out Oh dear, dear sweet Sulvain he is right here 😭😭 both missing eachother being in the same city? I'm going to explode. Good I know they've met already. Imagine this missing eachother and then all the misses from chapter 16 happen. I would eat my phone from frustration 🤣 The cold Raziol was like a slap. "What did you expect" RAZIOL??? HELLO? WHAT IS THAT Lalalala🎶 music Saturn so good 😊😊 war? What did you expect 😑😒 Sidjdjfjf I don't know if what I wrote has much sense. I'm typing my thoughts on the go Edit: I have read your comment from the "spoiler part" and okay Okay Raziol you've not been exactly forgiven for being an insensitive butt but I get you and I want to hug you. But you are insensitive butt. But I know why
Sas (Milo's studio insulation funds)
🎉🎉🥳🥳🎉🎉
KaiJu
Yes it’s canon 😁 and thank you!! ❤️
Levy
Wow, this is amazing. Is it canon within the current novae story? Or more of an alternate universe?
Sas (Milo's studio insulation funds)
While I will read it - can people who've read it long ago can tell me stories of what they were thinking this is all about? If KaiJu - and they are right - say they didn't want to re-upload it because of the spoiler. But lots of people have read it while Novae was deep in the plot
Teh Teddae
I remembered this and Inhabitant as a teen. Novae already hooked me in but it's those two stories that cemented me as a lifelong fan of your work. Teen me at the time was under the impression that Raz and Sul already met during that era and thought that Raz's cold words to her were about losing his own people in the war for some reason(???) I'm not too bright as you can tell haha. But as the story of novae progressed i was piecing things together and thought that Raz's mom being magoi had to do with him being immortal 😅 (I was half right!) Few stories and comics stayed in my mind as long as your work did (including the magical girl comic you did 😍😍😍)
Emily Rochester
Raz: I lost my boyfriend and don't know what became of him....... 😭 The boyfriend in question: literally running a drugstore two blocks over. He will continue to not know what became of him for 30 - 40 more years. :/
shy
these two boys make me cry so bad what do you mean they were both there this whole time 😭 “i know the feeling” SULVAIN. SULVAIN PLEASE MAN I CAN FEEL MY HEARTSTRINGS PULLING. PLEASE
Emily Rochester
On a more serious note, when the Presbyterian hymnal got an update about 20 years ago, one of the new additions we got is set to 'Jupiter'. It's a favorite, and I'm not surprised it was used for British patriotism during the war. It has the right sound, for sure.
B0ts baby!
Oh my god so he was just like, there the whole time??😭😭
Alys
I'm so happy to see this posted--I've said for years it's the reason I'm SUCH an adherent to your work. This is such a special, passionate story. I read it while I was working on my thesis, and one of the stories I'd just finished was about a violinist in 1913 Vienna--right on the cusp of war, and struggling with a push and pull in the Viennese music scene between bold, patriotic major themes, and subversive, strange avant-garde music. Then I read this and was like, pack it up boys, it's been done, and it's been done GOOD. I love the imperfect mystery of Rasim and Sulvain in the story--when I first read it I didn't really notice them at all as their current selves (I'd sort of glanced over Novae with a mental "return to this later" note, though technically I was caught up). Raz's callousness and intensity has always struck me--when I realized it was the same character as the fluttering, sweetheart Raziol, I was totally hooked. I'm so looking forward to seeing flashes of that harder, cynical side of him in the pages to come! It'll make the sweetness that much better and more hard-won. Gosh, THANK YOU for making this comic. I really adore it, and the first time I got to that double spread, I honestly did cry. Music is so cathartic, so personal--and so political, so big, so responsive to the world. You captured it so well that I'm honestly a little teary reading it back and writing this comment. SO GLAD to see it posted here so that all the fans you've accumulated over the last DECADE can come and admire it! And how special to get to look back on your first venture into long comics with so much love and affection, so contextualized by everything that came after. You guys are great. <3
B0ts baby!
Oh that spread is divine, something straight out of a modern art museum
superloveshine
Ok but you won’t regret reading this in the meantime!!
superloveshine
I did!! I can’t remember where but man I loved it so much. Thank you for making it available!
KaiJu
Oh maybe you did read it :D It was available on the sparkler monthly website a few years ago and it’s been available through comixology too. Thank you we hope you enjoy! ☺️💖
superloveshine
NO THIS IS DEFINITELY IT!!!
superloveshine
Maybe I just had heard about it and got excited about it, i felt like I remembered reading it but my memory sucks! Idk if this ever did get released anywhere
superloveshine
Oh my GOD did you guys read my mind???!!!! I swore I read this YEARS ago (or maybe I’d just wanted to) and I was looking so hard for it the past few months I literally dropped everything to download it just now!!! I’m so excited 😭
Nekochan
YESS
Nekochan
A “friend”, Rasim? 👀
KaiJu
Soon~ We just finished the script and are working on the cover ✨
Missiek43
Oh my gawd, thank you so so much for sharing this with us!!! I can't wait to read it and come back with my comments... One of my favorite things is conversing with my Novae family after reading the passage. 🥰
Bubbles
Stop playing the gamesss where are THE BOYSSSS
Nekochan
Yay! I’ve been checking often to see if it was posted! I can finally read it! Thank you KaiJu!
Sang Steppenwolf
THIS IS SO AWESOME!!!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
