UPDATE: 10.24.2011
This is what happens when you post things right before going to bed: the obvious totally escapes you. There IS news for this week, and for some inane reason I totally forgot to add it to my post last night. It’s even sillier that I forgot it when you see how cool and big it is, too.
Jason Brubaker (of reMIND) and Dan Lieske (of The Wormworld Saga) have started the process of consolidating their now-famous comics how-to’s into a single clearinghouse for comics creators online: MakingComics.com. The site launched last week, and already is garnering a great deal of attention. Like everything I’ve seen these guys do so far, this has the potential to be something really unique and enormous for a comics community that, to my mind, is really in need of something unique and enormous. Jason and Dan have consistently been among the most encouraging and positive voices in the comics community over the past three years, and I think you guys should all check it out, bookmark it, subscribe to it, and support it in every way you are able. I’m doing so myself: this week’s first article is by me, as a matter of fact, Hand-Lettering a Digital Comic, and in addition to the occasional article or series, I’ll be helping out with the editorial work around the site; they’re soon launching a podcast, as well, and the guests they have lined up are absolute dynamite!
Seriously, guys, I know I get excited easily, but this could be big big big, and it’s super-cool that it’s happening right at our proverbial ground zero (no offense to Mike, of course!). To be invited to have some small part in facilitating it is really an enormous pleasure for me, as well, and if it encourages more cartoonists and comic artists to undertake the adventure of comic writing, it will be well worth the effort! So head over and check it out!
Original Post: 10.23.2011: Finally, the big reveal! This is one of the more cinematic pages I’ve done so far – a little abstract maybe, but I think it came out pretty well. I know it’s a bit of a cliché for Tom to be drinking in this situation – I originally gave him a glass of water, and it still looked like liquor, so I thought I might as well just go with it. I know he isn’t supposed to have alcohol in the field, but he’s a senior officer who’s been at his post for more than two years, so I figured he’d have found ways to bend the rules. By the way, if anyone can spot the movie reference in this one, I’ll be really pleased!
So this was an exceptionally long week. I know I say that all the time, but this one really felt long. I was doing a lot of really detailed work in the studio, and so I was really consistently busy the whole way through. And so I don’t really have anything interesting to report at the moment. Except that I have a bunch of 6-Commando decals left over from NYCC and if anyone wants one, I’ll let you know where to send me a self-addressed stamped envelope. Spread the word!
Oh, also, I’ve posted this two-page spread over on TWC, and you can as always vote to see it. I really like this one, I have to say!
Otherwise, I’m off to my rest, in the hope of rising again, when it comes time for work tomorrow! Be well, folks!
>>> I know it’s a bit of a cliché for Tom to be drinking in this situation […]
I found myself drinking in similar situations and it’s perfectly acceptable. No need for the aqua-Garibaldi way around it.
Regarding those stickers: I’d like one or two.
You got it. Email me.
–M
Drinking under stress is a bad idea in any case. And it did feel like a typical “movie” situation – especially films noirs, in which people are always reaching for bottles of scotch at the drop of a hat. But you know, it just kind of fit the scene, even so.
–M
Check out “Caprica” (which is sort-of film-noir). Hitting the bottle AND heavy chain-smoking. All this in a 19040ties-style SciFi-setting. One word: Awesome!
Its just medicinal Brandy to help you sleep. Doctors orders. Of course it might affect your reactions dealing with M1K’s hacking your terminal. I suspect there will be protocol changes after this is over to prevent a reoccurrence.
HAH! Brandy! I’m a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I find it endlessly amusing that Dr. Watson is constantly prescribing brandy for everything. Like seriously, he’s dispensing brandy on every page, like a Victorian wonder-drug.
–M
MIKE!!!
Yaay!
Hacking terminals again :3
Oh, Mike, you so crayzeh…
🙂
–M
The doctor is [in]
In the Command Post Alpha mainframe?
–M
Im in ur base hackin ur terminoolz
All your base are… No, I… I can’t!
–M
Great page and great spread. love the pose and expression of Tom’s head in panel 3. Great article on makingcomics.com too.
Thanks, Joost! This was a bit of a challenge, all the faces and expressions, but I really think the result was quite effective. It’s an interesting comics moment that happened here: when I originally drew Major Bronniford she had a much less stylized look, but that seemed fake compared to the cartoony, slightly exaggerated expression she has now, which felt more “real.” But Major Rucker was the reverse, in the panel you pointed to – he looked mire convincing with a slightly more “real” look. Weird, huh?
–M
Panel Three: Why does it look like she’s in her underwear? Major Tom you sly fox!
Ho ho! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s just a tanktop. This is a family comic! So far, anyway. 😉
–M
I’m actually looking at that jet that Sarah is climing out of, which I presume to be a jump-jet of somekind and I can’t help but notice the unusal placement of the engines, right along each side of the cockpit. That suggest either the engines are very large for such a small aircraft or that UNA designers aren’t too concearned about the possibility of an engine blow-out, which in this case would rip right through the cabin.
It isn’t actuly a jet, it’s a wing-in ground effect hovercraft called a Howler, as seen in Chapter I. But it is jet powered, so perhaps you’re right. I admit I was not thinking much about its engineering properties when I designed it. You make an interesting point – it may well be a flawed design, as much military hardware is in wars and cold wars. Major Rucker’s Sentinel tanks have thin underbody armor, for example, and have to have additional plates welded on in the field to protect against landmines. And even Mike himself is vulnerable to air attack. So there could be a major problem with the Howler design itself! I’ll have to talk to the folks at SOMUA-Quebec AMD see what they have to say for themselves. 😉
–M
Far-forward engines would be a potential liability, but there may well be good structural/aerodynamic reasons to have far-forward intakes feeding more conventionally-placed engines. SAAB in particular seem to like that feature, either extending the wing root (in the Draken) or bringing the intake opening forward of the canard (in the Viggen and Gripen).
A craft which is designed for a lot of low flying may well have dust filters fitted as standard, which would need space. Having the intakes ahead of the front wheel (as well as evidently facing semi-upwards) would also reduce the chance of ‘eating’ any ground debris kicked up – which could be important if the Howler is to (be able to) operate from improvised forward bases rather than exclusively from well-prepared runways.
Is Mike some epxy of a Bolo Mk II with Nike’s psychotronics and Mk V armor? Seriously, that thing took a nuke to the face and didn’t die. It also completed the mission with immense risk to itself. Mike also NEVER QUIT, just like a Mk XXIII-B (Nike) and later marks. It also scared the hell of the Reds with only saying a few words…
Seriously… I like it and if you did intentilly did so, I aplad you having such a visable shout out to the Bolo series, especially ones like Nike.
Short answer “Yes, with an IF,” long answer “No, with a BUT.” Mike, and indeed all the Rumblers, owe a lot to Laumer’s BOLOs. They aren’t quite as advanced in their weaponry or technology (no hellbores, here) but I like to think they have a more developed personality than Laumer’s machines.
Good catch, though – the similarity to the BOLO has not been lost on people, and is quite correct.
–M
“Jason Brubaker … and Dan Lieske … have started the process of consolidating their now-famous comics how-to’s into a single clearinghouse for comics creators online: MakingComics.com.”
There is one fact that I really do not understand. Neither of these two have updated their comics in about a year. How are they claiming to be experts in web comics? With the lack of updates the reader can see they don’t practice what they preach.
If you like. That is a legitimate take. It’s not one I agree with, but it is legit. I know it can be disillusioning to have comics you like stop updating, or take long hiatuses (Hiati? Haitae? Come on, Moyen, you know Latin!)
My take, by contrast, is that I happen to think Jason and Daniel are both very upbeat and encouraging voices in the comics community, and they both have been very personally supportive of me and my work throughout. I also understand the kind of time and effort it takes to produce a comic like they do – they just do all the work on the front end and release it after a long pause, while I do a page every week. To say nothing of the fact that Makingcomics.com is open to, and receiving, contributions from many different cartoonists currently active in the indie world, myself included – whatever your opinion of any one of them, I think there will be something positive to be had from the site and its content. I do urge you to listen to their first podcast this Monday before you render a final judgement – but as we say (not sure if you’re an American, but the “we” is Americans) it’s a free country.
–M
Suffice to say I think it is a fair call to mention that Jason Brubaker’s and Dan Lieske’s work(s) are not the average run-of-the-mill webcomics. They are online graphic novels, which per-se have a higher standard than [most] other webcomics.
Same thing applies to 6-Commando, too.
Plural of hiatus is hiatus – pronounced with with a stron “u”.