Todd Dezago Talks The Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under #5

The final installment of the latest Perhapanauts miniseries, The Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under, hit the stands on Wednesday and while there's not another volume solicited just yet, the series ended on quite a cliffhanger. Minor spoilers ahead--but more major ones throughout the conversation, which is a commentary track meant for fans who have already read the issue. If you haven't, why not go buy it and read along with us? The issue is a nice place to leave off until Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau (both of whom are generally pretty busy with work-for-hire projects) can pick up with the characters again. While the last time their series ended, it did so with half of the principal cast missing, this time those characters are back in play--but not without showing the mileage from what's happened to them in the interim. Meanwhile, of course, there was a complex, interwoven narrative that had been built up over the first four issues of this miniseries that needed to be dealt with. As ever, Dezago joined us to talk about The Perhapanauts: Danger Down Under #5 and what to expect from the future of the 'Haps.

ComicBook.com: I've missed my friends the 'Haps terribly these last few months, and now the miniseries is over and I've likely got an even longer wait. Is there any hope on the horizon to resolve this cliffhanger? Todd Dezago: Well, WE'VE already resolved the cliffhanger. We know what happens next...Now all we've got to do is find the time (and the money) to get a chance to tell the story. (And it's AWESOME, by the way...) ComicBook.com: This issue probably did best if you re-read the previous mateiral. There was a LOT all coming together here, and the delay made me forget pieces. Dezago: We highly recommended that Readers re-read the first four issues before diving into 5. But you're right, Russ--There were a lot of references to previous plots and story arcs as well. Despite being broken up into these various miniseries and such, The Perhapanauts is a vast and fairly cohesive single story with lots of moving parts. More is revealed with each visit. ComicBook.com: I think I like Gef's "I can see you" even better than Animal Man's. What made you guys decide to do that? Dezago: I think I simply wanted to remind Readers that Gef is, at times, operating on several different levels at once and thought that, by making it personal, it might help drive the concept home. Plus, that's funny.

How much of a story like this--where you rely so much on the presence of a water sprite--is written becuase you wanted to have her there, versus her being introduced in service of the plot? Dezago: What are you saying, Russ...? You're saying Merrow's involvement in the resolution was too convenient? Too coincidental?! That her participation seemed contrived?!? Do these earbuds make me look fat?!? Actually, Merrow's role in the story was mapped out from the beginning. I like to throw all the characters into a situation and imagine who could and would step up with abilities and suggestions. Her getting the tranquilizers to the appropriate parties seemed to me just a thing they would try. ComicBook.com: It's not just my imagination, right? MG didn't have those metal arms before... Dezago: No. A LOT has happened to our hapless travelers prior to their shocking reappearance there on page 28. A. Lot. ComicBook.com: This was a chaotic issue. What were the challenges of writing/drawing a story where so much stuff was being wrapped up but the action was just nonstop and you had to be able to do both at once? Dezago: The hope/plan was, over the first four issues, to build to an all-out, action-packed, pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat climax that just shifted gears from page to page. I think Craig and Eric did a FANTASTIC job of stepping up the momentum from sequence to sequence and making it all flow together in a steady deluge of insanity. ComicBook.com: Any faces we should recognize in the backgrounds of this issue? We've seen a number of friends and fans up til now. Dezago: Ha~! Yeah, we like sticking our friends in rough places...We've, of course, seen our pals Biotech/Bioneering Tech Scott Weinstein and CRICKET Commander (Unit C) Brian Mulcahy in previous issues/story arcs. New to the ever-increasing cast this series were our Didatech Supervisor and Security Warren Newsom and our Com/Sec Chief Kieran Chapman. ComicBook.com: Isn't Nessie gonna be upset when she finds out Big is making eyes with Sampaquita? Dezago: I don't think that Big and Nessie like each other that way.