UPDATE: I know that I have a few readers in Russia, so I wanted to add this: I was really shocked and saddened to hear about the terrorist attack in Moscow yesterday. I don’t want to be lugubrious or sentimental or anything, but I do want to express my solidarity with the Russian people in their fight against terrorism, which is in many ways far fiercer and more dangerous than that being waged by the United States. Attacks upon the unarmed and the innocent are disgraceful, and I deplore the loss of life in Moscow yesterday. God willing, there will come a day when war and killing will be looked back on as the barbarism of the deep past – I hope that the people of that time will have the luxury of wondering, in peace, how we could do this to each other, because we simply can’t go on like this. I don’t have any answers, of course. Maybe nobody does. But I continue to live in hope.
Here we go again! And in case you were getting sick of this dream sequence, be assured, it’s moving forward. But you knew poor Sarah wouldn’t be able to let herself be too happy and contented for too long. Remember this guy? His name, by the way, though as yet not spoken, is Vissarionov. Good, solid Russian name for a SMERSH agent, I think. But that’s neither here nor there. As a menacing presence in Sarah’s mind, he does pretty well. Personally, I feel he’s badly misunderstood. But that’s a discussion for another time.
So, nothing really to report this week. Work, and all that. Had some side projects this weekend, doing a little graphic design for a show on Broadway (yay!) but I can;t get specific until after it opens, and it was a really small little thing anyway. But still, it was fun to do.
And also, I’m going to try another round of advertising soon. The sad reality of comics is that visibility counts, and you have to promote yourself to make a real throw of it. So promote myself I shall, and thankfully, I have a little extra money laid aside for this purpose. But you all can help, too! In fact, just by reading, you already do! But if you feel like this is a good comic, and you know others who you think would enjoy it, pass the word! Or if you’re a reviewer of some stripe and you want to write this up, by all means let me know. Or anything, whatever you like – it all helps.
So yeah. Another week, another page! Be well, folks, and see you next Monday!
Oh, and by the way, I’ve finally updated the voting incentive. It was going to be the sketch from the last page, but it was too embarrassing, so I just threw something together with robots. Vote and enjoy!
Well… Hm…
The “-ov” ending means it is a Surname…
And the only occurance of such “name-root” (Vissarion) I know is Iosif Vissarionovich… and here it is plased as a “Father name” not Surname… ((Though is is well known thar neither part of this name of this person is real…))
Still is works for me. 🙂
And it is way better that Dazdraperma (A REAL girl name derived from “Да Здравствует Первое Мая”)
🙂
Very true. I had meant his first name to be Pyotr, actually – an underused name in Western literature depicting Russians. And if I understand the convention rightly, the patronymic “Vissarionovich” would mean his father’s name was Vissarion, and then he’d have a family name. Most family names in Russian are untranslatable. I thought to give him an unusual name that was somewhere on the border seemed interesting, as he’s a character whose impact on the story changes depending on your point of view.
–M
Actually most of Russian family name have a pretty translatable root. 🙂 For Example My family name Zhdanov is derived from Ждать (wait) or more likely Жданный (awaiten).
Stalin is derived from Сталь(steel) And by the way (like I said in the previovs post Stalins Name, Family name and patrynomyc were ALL fictional. Stalin was really afraid that if his real name was known some people could use it for some magical nasty things, curses and such…
Putin is derived from Путь (Path / road)
Medvedev is derived from Медведь (bear)
Actually is a Russian family name is NOT translatable it most likely means it descends from some antient nobility, or foreign immigrants (or both…).
Indeed, the names with the “-slav” suffix, like Vladyslav, Vyacheslav, etc. Old Boyars. And of course, poor old Dzugashvili didn’t think the name was manly enough for a dictator. I think Hitler was originally Schickelgruber, as well. What is it with dictators and name changes?
–M
The -slav and -mir ending personal names are old slavan names… and they are really a minority of actually used russian names. The majority of names came with Chistyanity…. and thus were taken frm greek and roman names. That happened because with the Cross also came a tradition to name children after saints and martyrs… and wery few of those had “slavan” names… 🙂
Pyetr for example is a greek name. Meaning “Stone/Rock”
And as for “underused” names… If you want some I’d recommend Kirill, Valeriy, Gleb… if you need some random names – just ask. I can even try to fit a name to a character (btw Pyetr fits this SMERSH pretty well! 🙂 )
*sings* Awkwaaaard!
😀
–M
Loving the detail on your human figures. Espically considering the best figures I can draw are stick men…
Also my hatred of the reds continues to grow it seems.
Well, it all starts with stick figures, you know. And as for the Reds – if you’re my age, you grew up with Communists being the big threat, and paranoia about nuclear war at nearly a fever pitch. So using them as the “baddies” wasn’t totally out of the question. You know I remember being a kid and being aware of theories that the US and the USSR would be at war by 1990. Freaky.
–M
Vissarionov knows how to deal with the bourgeois seductress.
You’d expect nothing less.
–M
I fear that there will always be psychopaths.
You know… it IS hard to be a soldier and not turn into a psychopats. Most of those who do not die…
Mercy and humanism are good words… but if you see a person that can porbably kill you someday in the future… Or kill some of your friends… or already did… or some of his/her friend arleady did…
Besides… this particular “psycho” is not a real Pyetr Vissarionov, but his image in the mind of major… and hes actions in her dream means she sees those actions as probable and acceptable towards an enemy prisoner herself…
Well said. I think he was referring to the events in Moscow, but well said in any case. The impact of combat is very profound and unpredictable, and can make otherwise reasonable people behave in bizarre and erratic ways. One’s frame of reference changes. And frankly I think you understand Vissarionov pretty well.
But still, understanding it is not the same as saying it’s okay. Its why we have courts-martial.
–M
“incidents in moscow”? Yo mean bombing at the airport?
Yes, the bombing at the airport. I made reference to it above and I don’t want to belabor the point, but basically, my own Star Trek-style utopainism aside, it’s just a sad but unavoidable thing that this kind of violence catches up with the innocent, either in Russia, the US, the Middle East or anywhere. But as asdfasdf says, there are always going to be crazy people.
–M
Aahwwww! The kiss is over all ready? Poor Sarah 🙁
Good story telling though, to yank us readers back into the darkside of the story. This is afterall not a pleasant situation for Major Bronniford.
Good artistic job on panel three too, My own hair starts to hurt when I look at it!
Yeah, none of these guys have it easy, even in their dreams!
–M
Hey man, I love your comic, but you need to get an RSS feed.
Yeah, no kidding – the whole site needs a major overhaul. But you are square on the RSS. To be honest I think it’s in the code somewhere but just not as visible as it ought to be. Worth checking into.
–M
Oh, hey whattaya know? I’ve been publishing RSS data all along. But now I’ve made it a lot easier to find. Just click on AGITPROP at the right, there, and you’re home!
–M
So far, a really good inception for the world of Steve Jackson’s OGRE/G.E.V…
😀
Ogre is one of my great favorite games and science fiction backgrounds. Ogre was a game I played endlessly in my younger years, and Ogre, of course was itself a reworking of Keith Laumer’s BOLOS, which was a modern take on H.G. Wells’ The Land Ironclads. I like to think of myself as being a link in a long chain of Giant Tank literature.
–M