On pages 91-94, Bryan the robot wanders in the West Texas desert. A stegosaurus-looking creature stares at him, and he responds: "Stop. I'm not good for you to eat."

Two men spy on Bryan from a distance with binoculars: "It's in trouble...That desert dino-dog will tear it to pieces."

"We can't help it from this distance. We can only wait and see what happens."

On the next two pages, Bryan proves perfectly capable of self-defense. He zaps the dino with electricity, and it lopes away. Bryan then enters a ravine which dead-ends into an intricately carved wall.

On pages 95-99, Andrew Bacon relaxes with three sex-bots. He has built a mansion in the desert, anticipating that his dam projects soon will turn it into valuable and beautiful property.

On pages 100-113, Nathan infiltrates Powell's office in the dam, Mission Impossible-style. He steals data and also notices a strange plant preserved in a tube.

On pages 114-122, the stolen data reveals that Bacon's dam project is not viable for the long term. It's sucking its sources dry. Water output is falling and soon will endanger New Alamo. The politicians try to deflect blame onto the saboteurs.

On pages 123-129, Nathan visits Bacon, who insults Branko's Mutate origins.

On pages 130-139, Alpha Agency's science whiz Sigmund has cracked Powell's files and discovered the location of the titular Hidden Spring. Branko grabs some family time with his wife May Frayn and his daughter Kay.

On pages 140-144, Nathan goes with Branko and May to the desert ravine where we previously saw Bryan the robot. Frost and a strike team follow Nathan at a discreet distance.

American readers can probably imagine how each of these story beats could have been depicted in one or two pages. Italians clearly enjoy more decompressed stories, filled with dialogue rather than plot summaries and nonstop action. American stories must seem hurried in comparison.

The two bottom panels remind me of partial silhouette techniques I've seen Alex Toth use. Zoom in on the last panel, and you can see how the man’s face was drawn (including bushy mustache) and then blacked out.

This story about a failing municipal water supply finds its basis in world history. Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea, located east of the Caspian Sea, was the world's third largest lake, with a surface area larger than West Virginia. But the Soviet Union's agricultural projects accidentally emptied it, and now it's known as the Aralkum Desert.

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