Page 17 – Come On, Major! (Part 2)
And here’s the second half of the spread, as promised. To see the whole thing all at once, you can either save these files to your desktop, fire up Adobe Photoshop, and knit them together, or, (which is much, MUCH easier) you can nip over and cast a vote for this comic on topwebcomics.com, by clicking on the banner below.
Yes, this one!
So yes. In all honesty, landscapes like this are easier for me to draw, as I can take a much more natural and rough hand with it, and the fact that the color palette is so limited made this spread possible on a tight schedule. But it worked pretty well I think, and accomplished two goals at once. First, I was able to squeeze in an extra page for all the loyal readers, and second, I was able to move the story forward by a week in less time than usual. And this marks the halfway point of chapter 2, as well! So, yeah!
I liked the outcome of this sequence a lot, mainly because it was refreshing to think of two pages at once where usually I do one at a time. In chapter 1, there was that long banner sequence with the planes and the bombs and what have you, but I drew that piece by piece. This set of pages was really only possible in the computer, because it gave me a virtual paper to draw on that was far more flexible than bristol would have been. And the result was really quite satisfactory – so much so that I may try it again soon, if the opportunity presents itself storywise.
So yes. Thanks everyone for all the patience, the comments, the support, everything! And to all citizens of the United States, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. See you next week!
It’s aliiive!
or to quote the heavy weapons guy,
I am booolett prooof!
😀
To quote my own character, “He is a tough sumbish!”
–M
Hm… Traks leading out of the crater look really drammatic…
Though I wonder what damage did MIKE take… The missle pods are missing (fortunately for MIKE they were already depleted, or else they might have blown up adding to the damage list). The turret… the turret has a low profile so it might still be there. Probably jammed, but not for sure. The barrel is gone or croacked. External antennas are gone. External cams are most likely destroyed.
But I do belive MIKE would be mobile after that. Not a combatant, but still mobile and with the ability to find direction on the map. After all he might me EMP-resistant not only on paper. And if so th emaps in his memory are intact and have marked locations of nearby UN troops he might want to contact. Also he is likely to have a working compass and several inertial path-counters to compute where he is moving, even without seeing the surrounding area.
((And something hint me that “joining with neares UN forces” is NOT where MIKE is going… 🙂 Maybe that is because the UNs were shown to the left and tracks lead down. 🙂
You have an excellent eye, Hilvon. And to be sure, however badly damaged Mike turns out to be, his biggest strength is intact as long as he’s rolling: he’s five hundred Imperial tons of metal on wheels, and that’s plenty to get the job done.
–M
Actually no matter how heavy MIKE is, with only his mass and wheels intact he is helpless against… fortified infantry. Because men can hide in dug-out lines (not sure what is the word in english. The russian is “окоп” or “траншея”) and just throw grenades at him.
Plus he is “moving target practice” for any airstrikes now… (Though to be hones – he always was. As long as he’s meving without AA cover support units.)
Probably true on all points. But he’s in so far now I doubt he’s thinking very clearly. Interestingly, in the board game “Ogre,” to which this comic owes much in terms of its origins, battles could often be decided by infantry in difficult terrain – they could seriously chew up even the heaviest tanks, including the eponymous “Ogres,” (cybernetic tanks similar to Mike, only much, MUCH larger, and not as friendly).
By the way, I think the word you’re searching for is “trench.” And the word is particularly apt, as, in English at least, it’s tied very closely in its usage to the First World War; i.e., in the term “trench warfare,” which conjures up thoughts of endless, wasteful battles being fought over churned-up, useless territory.
–M
Oh dear! MIKE has been exposed to a huge dose of gamma ray radiation which somehow proved non-leathal. This can only mean one thing:
MIKE has super powers now! 😛
I want to like your comment, darnet. XD
Also…like Mike NEEDS super powers??
Actually, you raise an interesting point, though – Mike’s “creamy middle” is a cube of synthetic protein gel – technically he’s semi-organic. So if any of the radiation got through it might have had unpredictable effects. They’d take a very long time to manifest, though. I never thought about it but I wonder if he could get “sick” because of that? Hmm…
–M
You sure worked your but off last week, 2, 5 pages! Love the spread, I wouldn’t mind if you made some more. I also really like panel 3, when you look into a heavy fire the things in it seem to liquefy and that is exactly what I see happening here. Overall a great spread!
B.t.w. how’s the editing of chapter 1 coming along?
Glad you liked it, Joost. A lot of what let me do it was that it was essentially a landscape, which have always been much easier for me to draw. Getting two pages assembled at once was a challenge, but it also was kind of a cool way of looking at the project and I think I will be more willing to do that in the future.
Chapter 1 is going very slowly at the moment – I really only have time to do a little bit each week. It means most of the revisions will have to be stored up for when I put the first three chapters together in one book, but I guess it can’t be helped. As you of all people know, this kind of thing is not a small undertaking, so you kind of have to be willing to get in it for the long haul.
–M
I’m in it for the long haul, you know that ;). Just curious how you handle it, since my revision time and next story is just around the corner.
Well, I just meant to say that it goes slowly, particularly right now while I’m trying to get new stuff done at the same time. Basically, I’ve resigned myself to not making a whole lot of headway on it until the end of chapter two at the earliest. I think you have the easier job than I, as Semmie is pretty much consistent throughout, and fairly clean. Chapter one here has a lot of modeling problems, and more than a few pages I want to totally redraw. But that’s the nature of the work, I suppose! I only wish I had as steady a hand as you do!
–M
I can assure you my hand is just as steady as yours, when I look at my early pages I really have to suppress the urge to redraw everything :). I guess where just our own worst critic.
Mike survived THAT!!!!????
Well, it’d be a shame to vaporize a main character so early on. And I do enjoy drawing Mike. So yeah, I may need to count on the suspension of disbelief a little, but still. I don’t think anyone minds. We all love Mike.
–M
It is possible mike is not really damaged as might be believed. form what I know massive blasts, the centre of the A or H-bomb is not as destructive as the heat and shock way around the main detonation. IE the Hirosima memorial was central aiming spot and has survived since that day in 1945.
As well, given the cold war like war; I’m sure MIKEs designers has properly Nuke proofed MIKE as much as possible ( harden electronics, multiple back ups, radiation ambosring materials on the outsider and inside EMP shielding on multiple levels, cellular ammo stroage in case his interial rounds cooked off). As well I think MIKE might just be operating on basic systems, IIRC from that coded message to the Major is very basic but his still going to try and save Sarah, nuke or no nuke.
can;t wait to see how that going to turn out. which reminds me, is their a crew area in MIKE?
True… the heat in the hypocentre of the explosion is more of a problem that a blastwawe… But in that case MIKE’s externas are most likely melted… and stuck.
Mike has ceramic plating layered into his armor to dissipate heat, but the heat from an atomic explosion approaches that of the surface of the sun, and even he is unlikely to have gotten out completely intact. But he is still rolling. Somehow. And that’s all part of the story so mum’s the word!
–M
Well… the theory was if you were sufficiantly close to the epicenter of the blast it was a “survivable” experience. Wish I had the specs and calculations to play with, wish that armor was available for my pickup. LOL
Cue the music…
Crazy Old Soldier Lyrics
(Johnny Cash)
I`ve had fame and fortune
Women come knock on my door
I`ve lived to the limit
Maybe a little bit more
There are so many stories
About how i got out of control
Some say its a woman
Some say its my troubled soul
I`m like a crazy old soldier
Fighting a war on my own
Just me and the wiskey
and the bottles are ten thousand strong
You`d think I`d give up as many times I`ve been hit
but like a crazy old soldier
I just dont know when to quit
(Ray Charles)
Barrooms and bedrooms
are just faces and places and names
Once for the pleasure
and lord knows once for the pain
I`ve tried to forget her
and all the things that we`ve done
but as long as there are memories
I`ll never hang up my gun
(Johnny Cash & Ray Charles)
I`m like a crazy old soldier
Fighting a war on my own
Just me and the wiskey
and the bottles are ten thousand strong
You`d think I`d give up as many times as Ive been hit
But like a crazy old soilder
I just dont know when to quit
Others have probably stated it but I will too, Even a nuke couldn’t stop that thing!!