One (or, янки-отель-браво Redux)
Well, there it is, folks, the finale of Season 1 of 6-Commando. I have to say, I was really surprised and kind of pleased with how the Russian Kill-bots turned out. I’ve been drawing them every which way for about a year now, and I think they finally came out right. I had particular fun distressing the armor and the paint, to make them look battle-worn. Ahh, yes, what a pleasure to finish out a successful first season with a page that was pure joy to draw, from start to finish.
And to everyone here, I have to say I owe you a HUGE debt of gratitude for watching this long. This is a major milestone for me, getting to the end of the first book, and your feedback, encouragement, suggestions and critiques have really helped me develop an enormous amount. I couldn’t be happier with where this story is going, or with how far it’s come in the last three years.
Now although the first “Season” as I’m calling it (admittedly, in a quixotically hopeful way) is over, it is not, as it were, done with. And my project from now until the end of the summer is to go back to the start and digitally remaster the whole thing. Which is, let me tell you, a rather titanic job. But I’m determined to do it, and do it right. Mike won’t let me do it any other way.
So while I’m doing that, do we go into reruns? Not really, as a mater of fact. First up, I have some extras for you that will start next week. Yes! Extras! WhatEVER can they be? Tune in next week to see. And then, after that, there will come Guest Art. O yes. But I won’t wreck that for you just yet. But is shall be awesome, mark my words. Not to be missed.
And after that, if time still is not on my side, I’ll begin showing you bits of the “Special Edition” version of 6-Commando as I work to get it done.
And then, we’ll start Chapter 4.
So the weekly updates will be continuing – the site will not lag, I promise. But for now, I will just sit back and enjoy a proper end to part 1 of my first graphic novel.
Ahh.
See you all next week, folks!
Mike’s friend. And he brought a few pals to wreck up the place!
Big hands for crushing, small hands for smashing.
–M
And tiny hands concealed in a secret compartment for petting kittens (only when noone is looking). ^^
…OH, CRAP!
O yes.
–M
It’s even dry-washing it’s sub-hands like your textbook commie spy.
i noticed that too, hehe
but have to admit, the first thing i thought when i saw this panel was…
“do want!”
;D
What’s the robot equivalent of “MWUHAHAHAHAHA!”
–M
Or punching his palms, in preparation for a rumble. Either way, this is very strange to see an AI making such a gesture. I was under the impression that Russian AI technology wasn’t as advanced as that used in Mike and that even Mike wouldn’t display such mannerisms even if he were equipped to do so.
If these are indeed mechs, they are acting very strangely. That said, I do love the design on them, especially the small sub-arms on the one up front, to allow it to manipulate objects and possibly operate human-scaled devices without crushing them.
Incidently, it also gives me another sci-fi flashback, this time to Aliens.
Now I feel bad for putting off Chapter 4 for the summer. But the book… the BOOK!
–M
My guess is they used some UNA AI samples to kickstart their own work. Not to start from a blank sheet.
That would also explayn why those bots would answer to YHB broadcast. 🙂
;D
–M
russian killbot isnt killy enough… its missing something…something….like a 3 barrelled 30mm chaingun? yeaaaaa =D
They’re modular, actually (this has little bearing on anything so I don’t mind telling you) so they can mount a whole lot of different kinds of weapons. But a tribarrel 30mm minigun is a cool idea… sketch sketch sketch.
Maybe for the Killbot T-Shirt? “Killbots of the World, Unite!”
–M
Please make that shirt.
Right now I have three in mind: the traditional “I Like Mike,” that one, and “Kill-Bots Are People Too.”
–M
perfect! now I can start planning my world domination scheme! muhaha MUHAHAHAHAAAA
i mean, how else would you do it without a shirt which says: “Kill-bots are people too.”
and kittens
“Have YOU Hugged a Killbot Today?”
The possibilities are limitless.
–M
and a kill-bot with 2 open sets of arms on the front of the shirt along with the text
(and perhaps some squishy human squished into jelly on the back of the shirt *whistles*
Notice the unit designation on the Killa Kans “heads”. 9761 to 9767. I guess there are at least a dozen or so of them in one Killa Kan combat platoon. Maybe more.
Now here’s the real question: Where did they come from? Seems like the FSR was just as eager to escalate the situation in the CDZ as the UNA was. And why are they here now? One would think the nuclear escalation earlier would have wiped out most of the FSR forces left in the area.
Yes, they seem to be unarmed for now (if you don’t count the obvious missile launch ports in their “chests”). Nonetheless their sheer size and mega strength will cause a serious threat to Command Post Alpha. Guess who’s knocking at (or more like down) your armored doors?
50€ says they have been summoned by MIKE to assist him in whatever he is up to OR they volunteered to help him on their own design. Since the humans aren’t willing to settle down, take a breath and talk things over maybe the differently sentient (henceforth referred to as DS) need to take things in their own – mechanical – hands… not to think what might be going on if the DS “conspiracy” spreads to other units, nations and continents…
Of course a whole swarm of Killa Kans or any other DS going loose has “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” all written over it. I pity the poor suckers who’ll be send out to fight them off.
O, if only I could do more than say “You’ll find out in Season 2!”
😀
–M
Incidently, you didn’t happen to just reference Warhammer 40K by calling them ‘Killa Kans’ did you?
I do believe he did!
–M
Dreadnaught would have been a bit too much of the honours, eh?
Those are not likely to be missle pods. There should be a lot of space there used for shoulder joints, se there just will not be enought to put a decent missle there…
My guess is there are some additional scanners there. Maybe infra-sound acustics. Because a single visor would definetly not be enough to provide good spacial orientation.
I’m not sure what they are, I’ll admit. Something that looked cool. Batteries maybe? Fuel rods? Some kind of plot device?
–M
Antenna elements for a phased-array millimetric-wave radar.
I’ll buy that!
–M
it’s a plot hole generator! quick! snap them before they create weird plot holes!
I have to say that without reading the comments I would have thought they were manned “Power Suits” (more like tanks I suppose) or Heavy Gears – they would do splendid in a miniatures game! 😀
The way the smaller arms are aligned I think is not really a gesture but a convenient way of putting the arms out of the way. BTW, my association was with Appleseed and other manga by Masamune Shirow. 😉
They’re actually about the size of Heavy Gears, interesting you mention it. But the eyes and the speech are giveaways if you read the story straight through.
On the other hand, you point to the fact that you don’t REALLY need to have read all the comments to “get” what’s going on – you seem to have gotten the idea perfectly, at least what my intent was to a new reader: “Who are these guys, what are they, robots, vehicles? What’s REALLY going on?” Ah, the essence of the cliffhanger.
–M
By the way it’s funny you mention Heavy Gear, as I once did some writing for Dream Pod Nine, in a past life. Go figure.
–M
Great ending page! I really like the wear and tear on the Ruskis. When I build a model I always try and make it look like it’s seen some action.
Thanks, man! I was really happy with this page. Came out just the way I wanted.
–M
Congratulations on the Milestone! You did it! Now, get to work!
Thanks a mil, Chris! And yeah, for real, I have a huge task ahead of me now. Getting right to it!
–M
I like the killbots, but as stated before, seems like they’d have more heavy weaponry, given the name. They look more like repurposed construction robots or something, with the scaled down arms and such.
You’ll find out the truth in Season 2!
🙂
–M
Actually, if they were repurposed construction bots, that would make an awful lot of sense. Why go to all the trouble and expense of designing and producing a purpose built mech, when you already have a perfectly good robot you could modify for your purpose? Install a new AI, retrofit it with armour and sensors and make what ever modifications to the tool-mounts to make them accept weapons.
When you consider that the very first battle-tanks were converted from agricultural tractors, its really not a great leap of imagination to think of a very similar example of turning plowshares into swords, by converting a heavy contruction bot into a combat Mech.
True, given the general requirements of construction tools and weapons are pretty similar, ie, reliable, stable, accurate in actions etc.
Seems kind of ironic now that I think of it.
I love the gesture for the first one: “Oh, goodness me. I think I just stepped on something fragile. I hope they aren’t offended, I couldn’t bear to offend the hosts!”
A very dainty little Kill-bot, isn’t he?
–M
Are the antennas retractable?
Otherwise they’re kind of dead giveaway when you’re masked behind something only a little taller than le killbot.
That said, I’m diggin’ their freight-train-on-legs look. The fact that they’re bipedal gives ’em a sense that they are technologically advanced, without feeling like they’re going to turn into some sort of wunder-bot, nor do they look utterly out of place next to the rest of the hardware we’ve seen so far.
So, yeah, kudos on the kill bots. Or not kill bots, that wrench behind the the star could, conceivably, suggest that this particular unit is an S&R unit.
The logo was used by the FSR troops encountered earlier. I guess it’s just tbheir individual unit patch.
Thanks, man! I like them, too. One of the most worked-over designs so far. Except for Mike himself.
And by the way, the cogwheel-and-spanner is the 6-Commando universe’s version of the hammer and sickle. I didn’t want to use that symbol, as it has connotations to me which are a little too… Well I won’t go there. So I came up with this instead. It’s the national symbol of the Federated Socialist Republics.
–M
WTF o_0 ?
I don’t want to be facing these things.
Not in the dark. Those glowing eyes!
–M
Hm…
No visible armaments. Small arms fitted for “delicate” work… Spanner on the logo…
My bet is those three particular bots are engneering unit. You know, repairs… fortification…demolishing…
Also strange that bigger arms are made with fingers. They look too big to be used for any delicate work… and for any orther use a standirtised multy-purpose plug can be designed in many less compley ways…
Looks really tough though :).
Mostly accurate, but the spanner and cogwheel is just the general symbol of the FSR military, not specific to their engineering corps.
And the hands are modular – they can swap out so other tools and equipment can be plugged in.
–M
I hereby name the Larry, Curly, and Moe. Nyuk nyuk nyuk!
Oh, and Curly, the meme is One Tiny Hand, not two.
http://onetinyhand.com/
Honestly, I was thinking of Huey, Dewey and Louie. But that’ll do as well, I suppose.
–M
Do they run silent throught the nuclear valley where MIKE awaits them in his forge?
Yes. 😀
They can’t blow up this forest.
–M
doh whats that reference again? cant put my finger on it…
A 70ties SciFi movie called “Silent Running”.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067756/
Hey!
Do not forget they are Russians… So ther names are Ilya Muromets, Dobrinya Nikitich and Alesha Popovich.
Ilya, Dobrinya and Alesha… Hmmm… Might just WORK.
–M
At first, A disney reference, except when applied to robots, in which is becomes a reference to the movie Silent Running.
Educated crowd here.
What strikes me first was those eyes… why mass produced bots have different eye colors ?
I think they are bringing the lights and sound systems to Mike’s little party in the basement.
Anyway, what starts as a Command&Conquer-like comic, with evil communists and nuclear weapons, now seems to become a fallout-like comic, with… evil communists and nuclear weapons.
what next? zombies? aliens? ninjas? dragons? more evil communists and nuclear weapons (that would be fun 🙂 )?
Great job so far, and good luck for the remastering job. While re-reading the story I came across something that also bothered me the first time I discovered 6-commando :
in page 5 -Don’t you guys sweat? Major Bronninford say “Ah,MAIS!”, as a french raeder I would like to say that it doesn’t really fit in… although I don’t know if people from quebec speak like that, but it really seems strange to me.
I honestly couldn’t tell you where I picked up that phrase but it was somewhere in the Northeast I think, and I’ve been using it for years with the force of a mild oath like “Good grief!” I have no idea if it’s regional or totally made up. French is my second language, after all, and the variety I speak is not “true” French, but what I’d call Français Américain, so it may not measure up in a lot of ways.
Literally it just means “Oh, but!” So there must be some regionalism there. But I honestly don’t know.
–M
GAH CANNOT WAIT FOR CHAPTER 4!!
time to go reread the first three chapters like 5 times…. :3
keep up the good work!
That’s actually what I love to hear! It’s taking an enormous effort not to just go forward with the next chapter, but I do believe the book will be better for a decent revision. I’m already up to my neck in it by the way, so no turning back!
I hope you can stand the wait – there is some awesome stuff coming in between though, I promise!
–M
Mathieu – This is so cool looking!
Thanks, Denny! I was really happy with how it turned out. All the details were really fun, too, instead of being a chore. I don’t know what that’s a sign of, but it was really fun to draw!
–M
I haven’t read this in a while and had to go back quite a few pages to find out what the three words are that the FSR killbots keep repeating. And I noticed there was someone in an armored suit with the name Zamyatin on it. Have “We” been reading obscure anti-utopian books Mr. Average? …:-D
Oh-ho-HO! Another easter egg discovered! Yes, Zamyatin is one of my favorite writers, and his work presaged the work of MORE of my favorite writers, like Orwell, Dick and Huxley. Making him a battlesuit trooper seemed the least I could do.
😀
–M
Russian (SciFi) writers are vastly overlooked. Especially from the Cold War era. I have to admit I can’t name notable ones, but I *did* attend a rather unique SciFi-flick festival once which featured many cold war era Soviet Union SciFi movies and I enoyed each and every one of them.
Sure, the socialist touch they had could be a little annoying here and there, but the rather positive view they had on the future of mankind was qiute refreshing.