Instants - 1. Spirits clash
Front cover
The page is in a 3:4 format. On top of the page there's the logo of the series: on the left a Medicine Wheel in silver, with the five colored gems of the american tradition, partly covered by the STRIX text, also metallic. A simple "vs" apparently hand-written separates the first symbol from a fiery text quoting "Enquire".
At the bottom of the page there's the episode title: I (representing the first cycle, the east one, in roman numerals) separated with a dot from 3 (representing the fourth number of native american numerology, the power of the South). After a hyphen we find the real title: The Research Center.
The rest of the page, to avoid any spoiler about the comic plot, presents the inside front cover.
Inside cover page
This panel, designed primarily for the print version, reproduces the text that the reader can also find on this page, with a short summary of the previous episodes.
It also reminds about the possibility of reading the story as if one were one of the characters, or in a linear fashion following the various instants.
At the bottom of the panel, the icons of the main characters present appear, indicating the first panel where the story begins as far as they know: Vydia (1), Nicholas (1), Vasjèmh (9), Tri (10), Jachob (12), Alina (22), Gianluca (26). At the end of their instant, it will be indicated which panel to jump to, or that the story is currently finished for that character.
Inside front cover
The page show a portion of a circular gradient from a dim red (the east color for druidic celts) to a sun yellow (the east color for native americans).
On the lower part, superimposed on the gradient background, we find the lower half of an elliptic silver badge in a 4:3 ratio. The badge has a golden symbol which should be a V-arrow but, due to the badge shape it is more similar to a scythe: it represents the reference direction of the character linked to the badge.
For the east we have a horizontal line: it's a dot on the left side widening toward the right. When it reaches the other side, it turns clockwise, following the badge shape.
Within the badge, a golden stylized shape represents the Totemic Animal of the character to whom the badge belongs: a snake.
Superimposed on the badge, and covering most of its details, the lower half of Vydia appears, in a red armored spandex, with details resembling a snake.
On the bottom left angle another badge can be seen and, superimposed on the badge, covering most of its details, a few details of a person appear, in a red armored spandex.
The whole image is the exact detail of the section, in the mosaic used by Enquire to map the possible S.T.R.I.X. members, corresponding to third row and fifth column (3,5).
