ENDNOTES & DIGRESSIONS:

1. Words, pencils and inks by Mike Russell; inks and colors by Bill Mudron.

2. “Whiteout” hits theaters on Friday, Sept. 11. You can find a trailer and such at http://whiteoutmovie.warnerbros.com.

3. You can also learn more about the original comics (very solid reads) at Steve Lieber’s Web site, www.SteveLieber.com/whiteout.

4. Also: Here's a link to the raw text of my full hour-and-a-half conversation with Lieber -- about "Whiteout," how to draw Antarctica, Lieber's almost supernaturally Zen attitude about the Hollywood development process, obsessive research, amateur spelunking, how to extract payment from difficult publishers, how to make a 100-page comic in 20 days, horrible teaching experiences, designing Hello Kitty floats, working for a literal ton of food, and why a 3-D map of Gotham City might be a nice way to appease the continuity gods.

Lettering too small? You can download a high-rez PDF of this comic by clicking right here.