Another update – I’m afraid I fell ever so slightly short this week, so the next page will be delayed by 24 hours. It’s almost done, just not quite. And I learned my lesson about posting half-assed pages lately, so I’m going to hold off and make sure it’s right. So sorry for the delay – tune in again tomorrow!
An update to share with you! There’s a new voting incentive over at topwebcomics.com! An earlier broken link has been fixed, so now you can see a sketch of some of the background and extra material I’m working on for the first 6-Commando book. So pop on over and cast a quick vote to see it, and pass the word on to any other 6-Commando fans you know!
I don’t have a lot to say about this page, but that it seems to have worked out more or less correctly the first time through. A lot of that had to do with the fact that most of the heavy lifting with the colors for this scene were already done on the last page, and since this one is mostly close-up, it was a bit easier in the backgrounding department. I will say, however, that the varied hand movements and gestures were pretty interesting to try to work out. I used a lot of reference photos to study the various positions and such – and as a matter of fact, I ended up basing Major Rucker’s hands largely on those of President Obama. Funny, huh? Also, I have completely adjusted to hand-lettering the comic now, and I am finding that it is far more satisfactory than any font I had previously been using. I think it’s legible at its current size (I set it to display at 3/32″ when posted on the site) – if it ever happens not to be, let me know, though.
It’s kind of a shame that Captain Dacosta has to be basically just a minor character, as she really does get to be a voice of reason that sometimes is lacking in science fiction. I like that someone is doing a “reality check” in the midst of all this. I’m not sure what will become of her in the long run. But I don’t want to give away too much, so I’ll just say that she does have a background story, albeit a brief one: she’s from the Azores, a Portuguese exile who fled the country with her family in the late 1970’s when the Communists staged a coup. Portugal is one of the European countries (the others being Britain, France, Spain the Netherlands and Germany) with a sizable exile community in North and Central America, though most of the Portuguese loyalists ended up in Brazil, much as most of the Dutch loyalists moved to South Africa and the Caribbean. Oh, and by the way, for those who don’t know, “Plan R” is a little homage to Kubrick’s brilliant film Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which has been one of my favorite films for, well… it seems like forever, but if I recall correctly it was my friends Matt and Justin who showed it to me in college.
So anyhow, there you go.
A couple of interesting side notes, though. First, I’ve been doing some preliminary editorial work on Chapter 1, and it’s going okay, but not at all quickly. Ultimately I do want to print this, though it will probably be through Print-On-Demand, rather than the more grand versions of such more-successful comics as reMind, Moon Town, et al. At present the plan is four three-chapter volumes, covering the four “acts” of the storyline, which would put them as 96-to-120-page sets, which I would probably try to make available in both hardcover and perfect-bound through Kablaam or ComiXpress (I’ve been steered towards the former by Knowledgeable Persons).
At the same time, there is additional material I’m working up and have long since been promising, such as maps, histories, graphical timelines and the like, as well as stuff for my fellow “players of games,” so to speak. I also sketched the beginnings of what may well become a separate publication, if interest and time allow, being a full “6-Commando Field Manual.” That’s on the farther horizon though.
All that is just by way of saying that, though I am continually promising these things and seemingly not delivering, I’m not forgetting – it’s just taking longer than I’d anticipated. But 6-Commando is moving ahead apace, and even though it’s likely to remain “in the works” for the foreseeable future, this will see the light of day, even if only in a very limited way.
So there we are! Another one down, folks. Be well, keep voting, and I’ll see you next week!
I would ask about plan R but that wouldn’t get me far would it? Intead, what does ‘Hypocenter’ mean?
The hypocenter is the absolute point on the ground over which a nuclear bomb detonates. It struck me as a more precise way of saying that Mike was at “ground zero,” since the latter term has been expanded to mean anywhere in the primary blast, and because it seemed to have too loaded of a meaning now because of its association with the World Trade Center attack in 2001.
The point is that Mike might have been designed to survive close to the center of a blast but not actually exactly underneath the bomb itself.
Nothing could survive that. Could it?
–M
YES! Another “Dr. Strangelove” reference! I love it! Almost as much as I love exclamation points!!!! 😉
To be honest, I forget what the first one was! Given the circumstances, though, it seemed appropriate. Over the internet it’s hard to judge sincerity, so I’ll just go with it and say thanks, and I’m glad you get where I’m coming from with this!
–M
“What’s Plan R?”
“Plan R means ‘screw this war, I’m going home to watch rated R movies’.”
Joking, but this plan R is a curiosity. 😛
It should all become clear shortly, I hope. Though if they started tossing a-bombs at me, well, I’d be inclined to do as you suggest.
–M
I actually doubt Mike likes R rated movies much. While he understands violence, I don’t get the impression that he enjoys it, and I seriously doubt he’s interested in sex. I think he’s more of a “chick flick” kind of guy.
Its obviously an order planted by the shadow government AKA: The Enclave to order the army into an all out fervent assault on the red menace, boosted by the drugs they have been secretly fed through their rations. Once the Feds are provoked enough an all out nuclear war will ensue, leaving only irradiated mutants, and pristine Americans left who have been building vast underground vaults in preparation for this time. Whoever survived the vaults which are secretly social experiments for a giant space ship will be permitted to go settle a new planet in a galaxy far far away.
Well, I think we should hold off judgement on a thing like that until all the facts are in!
But God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural… fluids.
–M
President who? I know there is a President Obama Junior, but I don’t know a President Obama.
Those hand gestures really are good! Hands are so difficult the panels where Major Rucker catches and flips through the codebook are excellent.
Great page!
I was thinking of printing my comic through Lulu.com basically because they have a Dutch part of their organization, which saves shipping costs. Have you ever seen comics from these printers first hand?
I’ve had mixed reports on lulu.com. I have never really seen the product from them so I couldn’t really say for certain. If you’re going with print-on-demand, time ceases to be too much of an element unless you’re ordering a lot for sale in person at some near-future event. And if that were the case I’d think it more cost effective to find a piece printer, especially with the need to get Semmie printed up with the colors and layouts just right.
I’ve heard good things about Kablaam, and am leaning towards them as their range of services seem to be expanding. Lulu has something of a reputation for being overpriced from the limited knowledge I’ve had of it, and their services are not all that extensive, nor are they geared towards comics in the same way.
–M
I’ve just read some horrible stories about comiXpress on Penciljack.com. I guess I better let different parties make me a single copy of Semmie the Forest Gnome so I can compare them and choose the best.
thetensionisKILLLIIINNNGGGMMMMEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Delayed by 24 hours! Average! This is Below Average! Such disrespect for the audience! Such condescension, normally unimaginable from the classical everyman such as yourself! Oh, how the humble have risen, heaping scorn upon us petty readers. You shall reap what you sow, Mr. Average! After such an insult, I shall travel this site no more.
Yeah, no man, its all good, its your comic anyways.
Hehehe. Wouldn’t “You shall reap what you sow” merely involve you waiting 24 additional hours to read a comic after learning that it had been posted, though? ;-P