Behind the scenes on Assimilation2 #2

J.K. Woodward has posted a cool blog post detailing how he designed the Dai-Ai, the new aquatic aliens scene in last week's second issue of Assimilation². He was given room to do his own thing in the script, and even came up with a bit of cultural back-story:

Though the Dai-Ai are amphibious, they are actually air breathers. From what we understand, they are in a symbiotic relationship with a species of near microscopic sea slugs called(place name in Dai-Ai language here) which come exclusively from the (Dai-Ai word) caves in the (Dai-Ai word) hemesphere. These slugs form a membrane over the Dai-Ai that in addition to protection from heat and cold, provides oxygen to their cells when they are underwater and not able to take air. The (Dai-Ai word) slugs are attached to the Dai-Ai young after their 7th year, in a ceromony known as the (place yet another Dai-Ai word here). In this ceremony the Dai-Ai yong are fitted with rings around their wrists, neck, ankles and along each side of their dorsal fins. These rings vibrate with the same electromagnetic resonance as the walls of the (Dai-Ai word) caves where these (Dai Ai word) slugs are found. The young must remain in these caves for 3 days as the (Dai Ai word) slugs are drawn to the area between these rings, creating a membrane between the rings leaving the only hands, head feet and dorsal fin exposed.

2x a year that same group of children that recieved their membranes in the (Dai Ai word) ceremony(this group is known as a (Dai Ai word) ) ,must travel back to the same cave together so that their membranes can fertilise the the female (Dai-Ai word) slugs and maintain the population. The ( group of children that did the ceremony together and travel back 2x year- known as a Dai Ai word ) is for the most part the pinacle of their social lives. In fact it is rare in the Dai-Ai society that a Dai-Ai will mate outside their ( group of children that did the ceremony together and travel back 2x year- known as a Dai Ai word )
Most of their culture seems to be based on these (Dai-Ai word)slugs and they seem to view them with an extreme If reverence, but little more is known since the Dai-Ai are an extremely private people.

You can read more about the desing process for the Dai-Ai on Woodward's original post. Meanwhile Joe Corroney has also posted work related the the second issue in the series, revealing his very cool cover for the issue, sans-titles: