I don’t know how you feel about it, and I don’t mean to belittle your previous work in any way (you are, after all, a professional who’s been drawing for a lifetime!), but I think your art on Justin Zane is continually getting better and better!  Episode 57 has a great layout that just feels completely organic while you’re reading it.  Your pages are a perfect marriage of design and content, man. And I find that truly impressive.  Episode 59 (like so many others) has an incredible amount of action packed into a small space. I love the composition of panels 2 & 3, especially, and all that good Kirbyosity of panel 7. I am constantly amazed by how Patreon requires you to make each one page installment look good on its own (while also telling the story), and how you consistently rise to that challenge and deliver. I mean, the three minute pop song, the three-panel comic strip, and haiku are other examples of limited forms that convey a lot of content, but not everybody can manage that. And you’ve mastered it. Serious props and kudos to you!
Other art-related things I have been enjoying: (1) The colors; (2) the character design work on the members of the Idle Reich; (3) The kid-style art when Justin is flashing back to his childhood (e.g. episodes 29 and 32). Thanks for making such good and interesting choices.

I also want to comment on what I think is going on thematically in Justin Zane.  Justin’s imprisonment in the Tombs, his interactions with Dr. Cranius, and his problems with epistemology and doubt have echoes for me of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” lp and almost everything I’ve read or seen from Philip K. Dick. I’m not sure if you have personal experience with therapy and the mental health establishment, but I think the discourse of Justin Zane echoes a lot of 20th century concerns about the potential for depersonalization under the regime of Modernity. Justin’s subjectivity – his self-esteem issues, his uncertainty about his identity, his inability to control his developing abilities – all of that feels like teenager stuff to me  As such, Justin is a very “relatable” character.  I can certainly identify with the thematic and emotional content of Justin Zane, and in that way it feels like it is pitched at me and other people of my g-g-g-generation (ha ha). But there’s also a hint of manga/anime stylings (especially with Glimmer and Catrina) that makes me think you are pitching it at younger people, or at least trying to make it appealing to them. Of course, I suppose you want as many people as possible to read and appreciate it.
One of the things that troubles me about American popular culture is that almost all of our narratives are based on the premise that the ends justify the means (which is by no means a settled matter). I'm pleased to see that is not the case here. Anyway, Mateo’s/Justin’s predicament hinges partly on his own assessment of his worth. Of course, the notion that a weakling babe possesses the secret to salvation is both iconic and timeless.

Another thing I like about Justin Zane is the way that the saga takes up with our title character hospitalized with amnesia, so that we discover his reality as he discovers it.
With Justin we have a powerful but vulnerable child-figure as our protagonist.  It is a story that seems to resonate thematically as if it were part of an eternal musical chord.  It is at one time both hauntingly familiar and deeply unique to the medium.
Please continue the adventures of Justin Zane and Glimmer Starborn beyond these first episodes.  I expect to follow their exploits for years.

Kenneth Anderson
12/28/2017