Page 26 – We Will Not Stand For It!
Another week, another page, and this one I think came our remarkably cleanly – things feel smooth, slick and readable, and I think that the whole action progresses as I wanted it to. Which is funny considering that it’s a direct progression from last week, really, and at the time I was not happy with that one. Over the course of the week, I liked it more, and decided to follow its logic to this page as well.
I am particularly happy with the top panel, for several reasons. Primarily, it has a clear east/west conflict depicted in microcosm, which was a pretty good outcome for something that’s basically talking heads. But also, I’ve heard it said that in this kind of drama, where nearly everything has already been done before, you have to try to do the same thing, but in an unexpected way. I think that having the Federate soldier get the upper hand in the argument, basically shouting down Major Rucker, is kind of unique. And I don’t know about you, but I identify with him. We start, here, to see things more and more from the “other side,” which is blurring the good guy/bad guy distinction in a way that I’ve been aiming for from the start.
Beyond that, there is a lot I want to say about the page, and the chapter as a whole, but I think it will reveal too much at this point, so I’ll hold off on my artistic analysis until the end of the chapter. I’m actively engaged in twisting and turning the plot in directions people may not quite expect, and I don’t want to give away too much and wreck the story on you. And to that end, also, please forgive me if in response to some more specific posts I’m forced to write, for the moment, “No comment – keep reading and you’ll find out!” But we’re six pages from the end of chapter one, and it’d be a bummber to ruin the ending for you at this point!
In any case, I’m off to my much-needed rest. But before I go, one final and additional “thank you” to everyone who posted their many encouragements last week. I try to avoid fishing for compliments, which a lot of self-deprecating artists do, particularly the really good ones. But I still do appreciate all the kind words, and so thanks, and thank you for the continued support, readership, and of course, the votes! We’re SO close to breaking the top 200! And considering that just three months ago I was in the middle-1000’s, that’s a big leap, and so I thank you!
Anyhow, I’m going to get my laundry out of the dryer, make my bed and then go to it. Have a great week, folks!
I have only one thing to ask. Why is he trying to reason with a prisoner officer? Have Feds developed some sord of combined mind? A far better option to get Feds informed about “how to stob Mike with minimal loses” (IMHO it is a bit late for that anyway and Feds would demand Mike being irreversibly dismatled for the assault or start a War anyway…) would be airing what he said on some unencripted open channel. Feds must be conducting radio inteceptions and their HQ would get the message. But this way…
Also the nuke confuses me a bit. The “two key” system is generally used for ballistic missles. And the bomb shown is inside a plane… And if it is inside a plane and they want to use it – the plane must be in the air already and that means that High HQ already game all clearances and permissions (or the plane would not start at all) and all that is needed to drop – one word on the radio.
And I am not sure how far the HQ is from Mike, but they seem to have planty of ther ons troops in 10km area…
You bring up some very good points, and some of it gets to part of the plot we haven’t gotten to yet, but I’ll answer what I feel I can.
First up, you’re quite right. Rucker is probably wasting his time trying to reason with his enemy, and refusing to face up to the fact that the war he’s trying to prevent is really already happening. But that’s part of his nature. His hope is probably that he can use the captured political officer as a channel to the Federate commander, to get them to send the prisoners back, which he thinks will make Mike withdraw. You’ll have to wait and see what happens as a result.
About the key-control system, you’re also correct, if this were the real world. Key-control is usually connected to a missile in a silo or on a ship, as part of the ignition circuit. In this case, though, it’s the kill-switch for the command and control computers that monitor the atomic weapons attached to the unit. I was of two minds whether to do it this way, because it’s not strictly-speaking “realistic,” but as there’s no dialogue in that bottom progression, and “turning the key” has a universally understood connection to nuclear weapons, it seemed to me the most dramatic way to indicate the climax of this particular scene.
From a standpoint of military rationale, the FSR is operating on a particularly dangerous nuclear strategy called a “hair-trigger” or “default-to-launch” system, a variation of which was rumored to exist in both the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1970’s, and was popularized in the films Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Bomb. In this system, nuclear weapons are already distributed to various launch points, and in the event of loss of command and control, will either automatically launch, or the authority to launch them will devolve to local commanders. Under such a system, it’s entirely possible that bombers and missile bases would already have weapons ready to go, and as a hedge against accidents, the FSR has linked the fuses on these weapons to a CnC computer that only the unit’s commander and executive officer can access, with their keys and special codes.
There is another key point here that is discernible if you reread the older pages, but it comes up later on again so I don’t want to ruin it, so no comment for now.
I have to say though, I’m unbearably pleased that you’re thinking in such a detailed way about the situation – it’s enormously helpful to me, and keeps me on my toes. And also, I’m glad that the last panel was readable as a bomb in a plane, not a missile in a silo. I was afraid it wouldn’t come out right, but it did!
–M
Huh, a bit soon to launch the Big One, I think, but it’s your story. Mayhap that’ll explain the rather awesome tank pic I keep seeing in the bottom right corner of the page.
Also: “Wait, WHAT!?”
Ah, the humor of sudden assuming revelation. XD
Sudden revelation. Bingo.
Unfortunately, to answer your (implied) question, I’d have to reveal too much. But there are hints about “what’s really going on” earlier on in the story. Just know that it all is coming together deliberately, and nothing here has been random.
I will say, though, that in this world, there are a LOT more atomic weapons than there ever have been in the real world. Probably at least double. They never had a World War II, you see, so they never really came face-to-face with total mortality on a global scale in the way we did, as a result of the bombings of Japan and the crisis in Cuba. So their attitude towards atomic weapons is not as mature as ours is – and even so we have lots of people hankering after the damn things in our world.
–M
Important note here, haveing first hand experience, there are ecertain situations where a single key is used, and still is. No… I won’t say where or who, the why is both pragmatic and dogmatic, but please don’t think it is ever taken lightly, and the blocks needed to use those keys are nearly insurmountable to overcome. Think rabid marine told shoot first, burn the remains, file a report…then maybe ask why.
It may not be comforting to know but it’s a “they shot first, someone stop them before they shoot again” type of system. And there has to be a serious break in communication, includeing the Western Union guyon a bicycle, before it’s even brought up.
As for missile inside of an airplane… I don’t know it could be an in tube rail launch system, been used before.
And GOD I love those sudden revelations don”t you? LOL
I won’t ask you to be specific (the less I know, the less I have to testify to before Congress), but I can certainly imagine situations such as you describe, but they’d have to be pretty desperate. But again, here you have a situation like the Cuban Missile Crisis, with two forces facing each other down and on almost constant high alert for weeks on end. Situations like these can get out of hand far more easily than people might like to admit.
–M
Great page M! Top panel looks good, I like that it’s slightly smaller than the bottom panels. Makes the page very interesting to look at.
I also like that you’re blurring the line between good and bad, like most conflicts both sides are good and bad (except for a few wars off course). I guess that’s what makes conflicts so difficult to resolve.
Can’t wait to see how this plays out!
As ever, the comments are appreciated. Interesting that you noted the panel shapes – the lower panels run continuously as a long strip. Actuallky, because of slight variations in the size from page to page, the bottom panel got about 1/4″ narrower since it began on page 20, something I’ll have to make a graphic correction on before printing.
Overall I’m pretty happy with this whole sequence, which is far more restrictive in design than I normally do. But it’s been a good experiment so far.
Thanks for all the encouragement!
–M
This is the page where you know everything and everyone is fcked up
Oh.
Oh ****.
Here’s to hoping you’ve got countering systems for this…
Political officer, see also stupid propaganda spouting, indoctirnated true believer who will not trust in anything other than the fanatical viewpoint that was drilled and programed into them.