And here we are again. Yahoo!
In the United States, it’s Labor Day, and yet an inordinate number of people seem to be laboring in spite of this. I guess this is what they mean by that stupid cliche “The New Normal.” But at any rate, I have the day off, thank goodness, and here’s a page to prove it! It’s yet another one of those pages which in itself seems a bit minimal, but works much better as a spread with the page opposite, compositionally. But this week, I won’t be asking you to vote to see the spread – for a reason!
There’s some fun stuff coming up. First and foremost, the impromptu trip last week, though made under duress because of the storm, really helped me to lighten up a little bit. Which I really needed to do. And in my exuberance, I have done some stuff. First up, I signed on to attend the New York Comic Convention in October. Once again, I will be there as a simple observer, but this year I will have with me some cool stuff for the discerning 6-Commando fan, if you can find me in the mix. If people will be attending and want to get some free 6-Commando stuff, say so and I’ll arrange a place in the Great Hall of Comics Nonsense where you can link up with me at some given time.
Aside from that, it’s basically full steam ahead on the book and revisions as we launch unto Autumn, and the official third year of 6-C0mmando dawns upon us. That’s right, 29 August was the second anniversary of 6-Commando going online! Hooray! And to show you that it isn’t all smoke and mirrors, I’ve posted a special bonus for you – one of the pages I’m working on revising, to give you an idea of what I actually mean by “revising.” Just cast a teeny tiny vote over at topwebcomics.com, and you can see the work in progress!
Other than that, I hope you all have a good holiday, if you’re in the States, and a good week elsewhere. I know this has been an awfully rough summer for a lot of people, and if 6-Commando has allowed you all to get just a little bit of quality entertainment each week, I consider the past two years to have been time well spent. And here goes Year Three!
Oh Mike, you and your emergent sapience.
Isn’t it the cutest thing when your gigantic Robot tank asks you awkward questions? Our little Mike is growing up!
😀
–M
“Sorry, I can’t do that, Colonel”. 0_0
Why don’t you gentlemen calm down, take a stress pill, and just think things through?
–M
Daisies, daisies….
Es un problema GIGANTE!
Yes, but not Sábado Gigante – don’t be confused!
–M
Since Zaballa was featured in the “Personnel”-page I knew he had a more important place in the entire plot. Now I’m intrigued what’s going on. Especially since obviously one of his guys doesn’t seem to be what he looks like…
The revised page looks awesome. The armor/ bodysuit looks great and I like the helmet/ visor combination. Reminds me of the pictures in the BattleTech technical manuals, but in far superior quality.
😀
Yeah, this is kind of an ensemble cast here, but everyone has their place! The character who’s changed the most since I started, actually, is Mike himself – and that’s due to reader feedback. He was always important, of course, but I admit I have been surprised at how much everyone liked him, and so he has gotten a lot more screen time.
–M
Oh mike, why didn’t you say something BEFORE we started discussing snipping your brain…?
One has to hope he has his reasons…
–M
If mike is somewhat like the Tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell, he might have thought the idea sounded like fun.
Well he does clearly have a personality. To what extent it’s artificial or genuine is hard to say…
–M
The best part of this scene is that the techs don’t know ‘how’ he’s working.
Johnny 5/Mike is alive 😉
Yeah one of the main themes is technology getting ahead of its inventors. Don’t want to ruin it for you, though!
–M
Hilvon wouldn’t happen to be half-Russian half-Spanish, would he?
I think it would be cool if Mike aimed his eyes at different targets, but just knowing that he has an iris that shows where he’s looking makes him a lot more interesting.
Whelp at least he hasn’t gone into murder-mode yet.
You know I tried that but it made him look goofy. I imagine he scans them around, but focusses them on important things. He is also programmed for social graces like politeness, saying please and thank you, using honorifics with superior officers. One of those little subroutines tells him people respond better when you look them in the eye. The fact that he has three eyes doesn’t seem to matter to him though.
–M
I have but one complaint however for the suits…
PUALDRONS!!!!!! SO! MANY! PAULDRONS!
Let this be a lesson to you, if you ever draw your own comic: whenever you design something it sets a precedent, and then appears that way forever. I now have to draw those suits dozens of times, from every conceivable angle. So I mean, the pauldrons are now part of the canon, and let me tell you…
On the other hand, if you trip and fall in a three hundred pound biosuit, you’re going to want something to keep your shoulders from dislocating. 😉
–M
Trying to invoke the Primarch Pauldronius are you?
I dont know which is worse. A dislocated shoulder or the inability to use my peripheral vision.
His name is PALDROR!
Yeah, well, I happen to find them useful for concealing the very awkward joint between the rotator cuff and the collarbone, which is tough to cover with armor – just ask every armorer from 234 BC onwards. The Federate version, by the way, is far more complex, you might notice – a multi-piece unit that snaps onto the breastplate with a large rotating joint. I based that on a suit of Russian armor I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art once.
And you gotta admit, like in WH40K, it’s a great place to put a logo. 😉
–M
Or like in Mutant Chronicles/ Warzone. ^^
I loved Warzone, I miss that game so much.! At least I still have Battletech.
Hmmmm, I wonder if anyone would be interested in a 6-Commando game 😉
IN… the works.
I actually happen to be a HUGE Battletech fan. I was thrilled when they finally re-issued the rules for Battleforce. Who doesn’t want to command a whole battalion of Mechs at once? I don’t want to meet the person…
–M
As long as you ditch the ablative armor and hitpoints mechanics, I’m in.
It will probably not be on an individual-vehicle scale, and likely more abstract than Battletech. But I’ve been working on the idea for some time, and am considering a lot of options.
–M
BattleTech is a classic and created a whole world of awesome SciFi. I actually never played it, but love the setting.
Warzone was rather cheesy and too much of a Warhammer 40.000 rip-off to be good. Miniatures used to be goofy. The ones made by Target Games were pretty good, though and the rules made for nice and fast games. Too bad it all went downhill afterwards and now faces the fate of the clicky-games just like BattleTech.
“Ground Control” does cry for a 6-Commando mod…
Oh, MAN, Ground Control was a great game, but really hard! The friendly fire thing was realistic but SO annoying! One false move and you were totaled!
–M
It’s great to hear Mike say something after all this time 🙂
That’s quite a radical revision you made on page one, very detailed suit Major Sarah is wearing in comparison to the first version. Are you also planning to put in all that detail in all the other panels where this type of suit is worn?
I love it by the way, I think the helmet is really cool and here pose is way better than the first one.
Thanks, man! I’m actually finding it refreshing to retread older pages with updated techniques. It may seem odd to say, since I draw for a living, but I have REALLY learned a lot about drawing from this project, and my style has changed significantly as I’ve gone along. But what I like about the early pages was how spontaneous they were – I jund of just dove in and figured it out as I went. And although I’m taking the opportunity to bulk out a few previous scenes I was never really happy with, I’m trying very hard to stick to that original design.
–M