Next Exit

Millicent Retrab

The comic centers on her and her friend and travelling companion Markesh, trying to find an exit from the dreamworld Alkaline. The mainstory line of Next Exit is a chain of events started when Retrab wins an Exit Map, one of the most valuable and rare artifacts of Alkaline, in a high-stakes chess game.

Retrab lead an abusive childhood in the real world, where she was often the victim of her mother's carelessness and anger. She was very close to her little brother Tony, who she was often left alone to take care of. He died when he fell from the balcony of their apartment while Retrab's mother was out. She blames herself for this, a feeling which was doubled by the blame and punishment of her mother. She became increasingly unstable mentally and was place on an unknown but probably fictional medication for her instability, and eventually attempted suicide by overdosing on them, and it is unknown whether or not this killed her, although it is almost definitely the event that took her to Akaline. Some amount of time after this she met Markesh, and spent most of the past few years with him in Alkaline, although she knows virtually nothing about his past.

Markesh Arcadia

Markesh is a skilled alchemist, and has a mysterious past. His partner (the female protagonist) is Retrab. Together the two seek escape from Alkaline, the world of dream-stuff. Although he is a printed character by Slave Labor Graphics He and Retrab made the first public appearance as the stars of Christy Lijewski's runner up entry in Rising Stars of Manga.

Markesh is serious, dignified, and very protective. He has a strong sense of duty, and is perhaps more than anything else, secretive. He is so much more careful and serious than Retrab that it seems nearly impossible that she is 5 years older than he is. He is an excellent fighter and alchemist. He likes spicy food, nature, and sleep, hates sweets, crowds, and bright lights. It is revealed in issue six of the manga that Markesh's face looks almost exactly like his father's, except for two distinguishing scars above and below his left eye.

Race West

A man with one eye in the middle of his forehead. He and Retrab have similar personalities, and become friends almost as soon as they meet. She allows him to call her "Millie" as long as she can call him "Captain Wombastic McFlingFlang the Third." Upon describing his occupation, Retrab gets the impression that he is a treasure hunter, but Markesh states bluntly that Race is a thief. Race sells what he finds in Academy ruins. He is well-travelled and amuses Retrab with jokes.

Race is looking for an exit map himself, which is the whole reason he started exploring the academy ruins in the first place. His reason is that because he has one eye, humans hate him because they think he is a figment; and figments hate him because they know he is not. He wishes to get back home because people didn’t judge him on his appearance.

Race also is wanted by the group Logos for possession of his alchemic weapon. His weapon was created by the academy out of mutated mass so that even people with no innate “alchemic pharmakeia” could transmute them. This ability however comes with a price, and the user must make a bond with and become one with it. Once it stabilizes itself into a solid mass, it apparently lives off the user like a parasite.

Cara

A skilled alchemist and Syndoll engineer, she is an old friend of Markesh, and knows at least some of what he's hiding. She is a narcissistic self-proclaimed genius. Built Mortimer among countless others. She is also, apparently, a member of logos and is on field duty.

Professor Sevi

An alchemist and scientist, as well as a friend and rival of Cara's, who was killed by LOGOS. Mary Alice is his orphaned "daughter," actually a Syndoll. His pregnant wife died eighteen years prior to Next Exit. Physically he resembles Isshin Kurosaki from Bleach, Lijewski's favorite manga. Professor Sevi could also be said to resemble Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist, whose daughter was his pride and joy, just like how Mary Alice was to Sevi.

Queenie, The Mayor

She likes to wear just enough clothes to cover her breasts. She wants the head of her beloved syndoll Mortimer back.

Mortimer

Queenie's Syndoll, he has the numbers 0069 on his missing head. Mary Alice names him "Holmes." He was Queenie's lover.

Mary Alice, "The Guilliotine"

Professor Sevi's Daughter, a hermit girl with some mysterious happenings. She actually a syndoll, one who can perform alchemy, and the creator of Holmes and Watson, alchemic chimera or Frankenstein. She was nicknamed "The Guilliotine" because she was a murderer who beheaded syndolls for her chimeras. She wanted to make a human to replace her dead father. Mary Alice's character is based on the author's friend M. Alice LeGrow, who also works in comics (see Bizenghast).

Abraxas Arcadia

First Captain of the Illuminati, an unspecified but probably combat division of LOGOS. His hair is milky white, and eyes are blue. He is Markesh's older brother. There may be bad blood in their past. It is strongly implied that he killed Mary Alice's father, Professor Sevi. His pupils become slits when he is threatening.

Ren Cobalt

A Member of Illuminati, he is the shortest and youngest of the characters profiled in Volume 1. He is Abraxas' Vice Captain, implying the Illumnati as system that may be similar to the Gotei 13 in Bleach.

Franz the Cat

A talking cat. His body looks like a sac because his back legs are not drawn. He is a friend of Cara. He enjoys hats and cute girls. He has a cousin who looks identical but wears a monocle instead of a hat.

Although very similar, the differences between the two stories are noticeable. The art differs the least, the only change being slight alterations to Retrab's visor. The characters are less well-developed in Doors. Retrab seems a bit more useful in a fight in Doors. The alchemy is present in Doors, but lacks any major development.

Doors, being a short story, has an ending. The change from doors to exits could mean that the ways out are more abstract in Next Exit (in Doors, it is implied that every door is in fact a household door.) The term "exit" has not been defined; exits are simply ways of leaving Alkaline.