ABOUT THIS COMIC ================ "The Publishing Machine" turns the real NITETIME.NET comic workflow into a garage-built sequence of visible machines. DJRC types an Ace-and-Jack idea into Codex. The idea expands into artwork and a self-documenting release containing a transcript, alt text, notes, credits, metadata, and checksums. Ace and Jack file the completed package in the local Nitetime Files archive before anything travels. Syncthing publishes that same release to files.nitetime.net. A separate automatic Gopher publisher then reads MANIFEST.json, confirms the release is public, and constructs Gopher's own reading-room material: menus, indexes, transcript access, and a route back to the complete Files release. Gopher sync publishes that view at gopher.nitetime.net. The two services are not competing copies. Files preserves the complete release; Gopher creates an old-Internet front door from the package that was already completed and published.