This week was one of those sublime coincidences that, as I like to say, happen only in real life and great fiction. And being as how a large portion of my life is a work of fiction, well, we’re dead-on this time.
You see, this minimalist page coincided with a very important trip I had to take. I’m not actually in my command bunker this week. As a matter of fact, I am, as we say in the United States, Out West, on the edge of the Empire so to speak, attending a very remote wedding for the real Captain Santelli, who is not really a captain, nor does he wear a suit of powered armor. Not to my knowledge, anyway. However, this page was one I planned since the start – a subdued, minimal, but, I hope, expressive moment – the moment at which the atomic bomb detonates. This is what all that tension led to. I knew from the start how I wanted to present this one – it’s why every other page has that black background. And it displays, in my mind, the enormity of what’s just happened.
I know I lost some readers building this up so much, winding the story so tight for so long. And I know some people may quibble with the minimalism of this presentation. But look at any film or photo of an atomic detonation, and the moment it happens – it really does look like this. And in a way I feel good that I stuck to my guns on this one (no pun intended), as to rush into a scene that culminates in an atomic bomb detonating… well, it just didn’t seem right to me. Every other way I tried to pace this out, it came off like one of those stories children often write, ending with “I’m running out of paper now, so this is the end.” An A-Bomb is a major thing, and it deserved to be framed as it is. Doing it, I thought “People aren’t going to wait for this.” But sometimes you just have to follow your instinct and forge ahead. And here I am. After all.
So I’m weathering the downturn in readership, drawing the chapter to a close, and still managing to make a three-thousand-mile trip through the Great Plains. Sometimes, you really can have it all. But to you hard-core readers, let me take this opportunity to really, seriously, totally thank you for bearing with me as I wade my way through this artistic and literary experiment of mine. I know it is hard only seeing one page a week, and I know that is kind of a turn off to the casual reader. But all the votes, all the emails, all the comments, even the ones that may seem abstract or nitpicky, poke holes in my plot, or anything, are an enormous joy to me, and are enough to make me feel like a rockstar – and to get me to the drawing board after ten hours in my office!
So all the best to everyone! And next week, the penultimate page of the chapter. Until then, may a bomber not drop an A-bomb on your house!
Minimalist in the extreme! It takes cojones to post a blank white page, my friend. I thought my browser was broken.
Heh heh heh… I actually wondered how this would be received. My rational side figured people would think it was a cop-out. I considered, actually, releasing both this page and the next, to be sure people knew what it all meant. But in the end, I just ran with it. I’m glad it was effective!
–M
boom!
What else can be said?
Jason
I would recommend a “scorced Border look to indicate the intensity of the blast and heat. This would help people to realize that this pure white page was intentional.
Just a thought.
Jason
There actually IS a subtle gradient of color on the page, from pure white to a bright yellow at the edges, but I think it came out too subtly – you need a high-gain monitor (or to be in a darkened room) to really see it. I might push the colors a little later, but for now I’m too busy working up page 31!
–M
LOL ya got me, i refreshed like 4 times before I thought of scrolling down. It does make the point though doesn’t it…
It also gives me the chance to spread this final scene out over three pages, really to boost the drama of it. This was why I pushed the first chapter to 32 from its original 24 pages – to build tension and then deliver. And the next page is going really well so far, so…
–M
LOL this one is a keeper. I really thought that the page wasnt loading. Awesome! Oh and btw this is much better then a soppy scene where people cry and hug each other as the end nears.
Indeed so. Frankly, something like this is much more sudden and momentary. I liked the idea of the blast just cutting everything short, right in the middle of a sentence, as a matter of fact. Most movies depict this kind of thing as something expected, or at least anticipated. And though it’s pretty much known here what’s going on, I doubt anyone, on either side, really believed it was going to happen, and so suddenly.
Checked out your blog, by the way – I did some writing for DP9 back in the old days, actually! I have a few comments for you on your latest (the new direction for Heavy Gear), but I’ll post them there instead of here.
–M
[continuing from last week’s comment] …and there it goes.
Now is usually the time to skip forward several months/years into the nuclear war-torn land where Mike is working with the remains of a great army to survive. But knowing your style, you’ll probably just switch to a different party in the present time line or great straight to whatever happens after the Bomb.
I want to comment on that, but that would be to reveal the rest of the story – and then, what’d be the point? I actually never realized what a challenge it would be to keep my ideas a secret for story purposes – I usually blab about them at length. But that’d wreck it for the readers, so I can’t.
Glad you’re sticking with it, though – the support is terriffic!
–M
Wow!
My first thought: Damn, page broken, nothing to see until tomorrow or whenever.
Then I looked closer and saw the little (c) in the corner.
Blasted! I won’t quit here, I want to see how the story unfolds after this!
That was the exact reaction I was going for, actually. Just a total, abrupt scene cut to completely jar the whole story out of synch. I’m glad it worked!
–M
Its not Mike I’m worried about, its the little people in the big topheavy truck with the door open facing the blast.
Only possible consolation, that retarded-fall bomb appears to have been unguided, and since none of the other air-launched weapons were retarded, if the plane flew from behind mike they may have dropped the bomb well behind him. Including the fact that mike is moving forward at a great rate of speed, it is probable that the bomb fell well short of mike.
We also have a rationale (a good one, too) for why Mike did not shoot down the bomb. Given the time it takes for the bomb to fall, Mike might have enough time to get close to the truck. If he knew the trajectory, he would be able to know where to put himself to shield the truck, and Major Sarah in particular, from the blast.
Looking at the shape of the bomb, I’d say it is probably a Uranium gun-type bomb. Plutonium-implosion bombs are fat and bulbous, and considering that thermonuclear bombs have not been invented then I would say that the best rational for making a nuclear bomb so long and slender would be if it were a gun type bomb.
A gun type bomb is somewhat more robust in its functioning than an implosion type bomb. While an implosion bomb requires the simultaneous detonation of several dozen explosive lenses, a gun type bomb only requires that two masses of Uranium combine to form a supercritical mass. If Mike used his laser, he potentially could have detonated the propelling charge for the “bullet,” causing the bomb to airburst. While Mike could shield the truck if the bomb exploded at ground level, he could not interpose himself between the truck and a midair explosion.
I’m not a nuclear engineer, so anybody who can fault that logic please speak up. A nuclear blast is not especially dangerous to an armored vehicle, it must be pointed out, though. See Obyekt 279, the Russian prototype nuclear-blast protected tank, or the tests of surface blasts against battleships.
I must admit, though, until you mentioned that they were lasers I thought that those domes were armored cameras. It does seem a bit peculiar that mike only appears to have one optical camera and that it is coaxial with the turret, and on the face of the turret. A lot of sensors on modern MBTs, especially the rangefinder, are mounted on the main gun, since the main gun is very hard to hit and they are protected from splinters from shots that hit the front of the turret.
I may be partially mistaken about the sensors on the bun barrel thing. I don’t know; I think it would look cool.
The nice thing with mike is that while other people have to stay the way they are Mike can have field upgrades made, so you can change his style to suit your fancy to a limited extent.
All excellent points. The bomb is a neutron-source gun, which in addition to being more robust is also adjustable for yield in a way that’s more complicated the more delicate implosion-type weapons. The fall-retarders looked better than actual drogue chutes, and also allowed me to add a teeny bit of visual metaphor into the scene. And the idea is to slow the bomb’s fall to allow the plane a few extra seconds to get away from the blast. Probably the best way to hit a tank with an atom bomb would be to fuse it for a close airburst, and allow the heat and overpressure to crush the target. Mike’s designed to withstand an awful lot, but can he withstand a A-bomb? Well…
As to the rest, no comment as of now – tune in Monday!
Oh, and by the way, I’m considering retconning the lasers out of Mike’s design. They’re causing plot problems I don’t feel like resolving. Like the air filters on the UNA power armor helmets. Maybe I shouldn’t admit to that, but there it is.
–M
That’s the thing with mike; you now have an excuse to remove his lasers.
For the filters, make them removable. Seriously, who would design powered armor without any though to NBC? Make the filters optional field improvements.
Hmmm… me thinks Dear Artist that your web-comic is slowly become the domain of your fans, soon you may not need to do anyresearch or writing, just tweak it to follow the desired storyline you began.
The sign of a popular project. Congradulations.
We’ll do his merchandising for him too.
(Scale mike plushy up to Mike-shaped beanbag chair. Yes.)
(no screw that that’s ridiculous.)
(although it would be pretty comfy, and very unique)
Just up to a beanbag? I want a Mike for rush hour traffic. Just imagine listening to that idiot in the news chopper now. *WHEE* 😉
How’s that saying go again…”To crush your enemy, chase them before you and hear the lamentation of their women.” Oooohh… 10 points to whoever can name the movie quote!
Conan the Barbarian. One of my guilty pleasures.
And let me be the first to say that I would LOVE to ride Mike to work. When a four-storey-tall atomic-powered tank tells you to turn off that bloody reggaeton music, you’d DO it! And then you’d wet yourself.
–M
Mike-shaped beanbag. Well, that had literally never occurred to me.
But what the heck? I’ll add it to the list.
–M
You didn’t foresee the Mike plushy doll either. Seriously, Mike is by far the most sympathetic character to arise so far. He needs to get a hug as soon as this is done. He deserves it.
It really is quite impressive how you managed to separate the character Mike from the body M1E. Mike has become such a sympathetic character that I don’t actually notice his cold exterior. He is a person who is absolutely selfless, loyal to his friends, and a bit naive. We can’t help but like him.
Well, thanks! Frankly, the outpouring of support is wonderful, and the fact that 6-Commando is starting to appear on gearhead and gamer forums is a real pleasure to see. The nitpicking is great, too – to me, it’s a good sign that something is WORTH looking at that closely!
Thanks!
–M
Come to think of it, why did they build a hundred million dollar super tank, but not give it a crummy $50,000 air defence system?! It’s getting to the point where we can built ADS that can shoot down bomb and missiles. These people are what, ten or twenty years more advanced than us? Damn but someone on that design team should be fired! 😛
Plus the whole ‘immunity to conventional weapons = good idea’ logic. 🙂
In the end, nothing is 100% invincible. The Maginot Line was pretty-nearly impregnable, until the Germans went around it. The Battleship Yamato was the most powerful ship on the sea, until it ran into American torpedo bombers. And the Death Star… well, let’s not get into it.
Also, the 6-Commando universe is only more advanced in some respects. In others they’re woefully behind, even backwards. Now, Mike is a pretty advanced machine, sure, but he’s a machine. Every move has a countermove. And also, as I’ve said previously, the question is still open: if he can do it and he should do it, why isn’t he? There is a reason.
–M
At least it is more creative than the flag of Libya. But will this bomb set off the other bombs?
Or the flag of Magnitogorsk.
I’m not sure what you mean by set off the others – you mean the munitions Mike is carrying? To be honest that was a bit of collateral damage I’d never really thought about – would an atomic bomb’s heat and pressure cause conventional arms to detonate, as well? One’s so focussed on the initial horror of the bomb intelf that conventional weapons seem unimportant by comparison.
–M
–M
Modern tank design imploys blow out panels where munitions are stored, if there is a catastrophic accident (something go boom) the outer wall of the storage fails before the inner thus directing the explosion away from crew, it helps prevent crew flambe’ as it were.
Also, those missiles on the back could use insensitive explosives. They might require the fuses to go off. If lit on fire, they might simply smoulder.
Just a thought. Alternatively, Mike can take those things blowing up; hes got armor out the wazoo.
This is a really gutsy page for a webcomic man! I know it will look great when it’s printed (the effect will even be greater than online), but to actually post it online really takes some guts.
Just an idea, but if you gradually bring shapes and color back into the next page(s) you will maximize the effect even more. Any way it will be great and I can’t wait to see the next page
I appreciate the confidence a lot – it was a bit risky to do something this minimal on a page-per-week schedule. It was only because I knew I had a hard core of really die-hard readers that I could think about attempting it. And if this week’s commentary is any judge, I think it came off better than I’d hoped!
I don’t want to reveal what’s next for page 31, but I’ll say that you have a very good idea there, and leave it at that. 😉
And as you say, in print, it’ll all seem a lot more coherent – frankly, it’ll be a million times more readable just having another page after it to sort of frame the scene, you know? Right now, it’s still hanging.
–M
You definitely have a hard core fan base! I remember a comment I made not so long ago on one of your posts on the flight forum, saying that it wouldn’t take long before I would be one of many readers. Seems I was right about that. 😉
And you really got me excited about page 31 now!
I love this page, it inspired me to go back and read the whole story straight through. It has a much faster pace then I realized when reading it one page at a time, great job!
Good for you for sticking to your guns and not letting numbers on google analytics (or whatever you use to count your clicks) compromise your vision. I just went through a similar moment of doubt with my own comic. I was tempted to put in a prologue that would establish the overall mood of the story because it starts with one tone and evolves, with the characters into another tone. this was my intention all along but I began to worry that people wouldn’t hang on long enough to realize that they weren’t reading a gag-a-day slacker story only seeing the final moments of slackerdom for one of the characters. But I’m rambling about my story when I only intended to talk about yours… where was I? Oh yeah, the page a week in an ongoing series can be tough because you don’t want to lose people while your trying to build suspense but that’s the nature of the beast, in the end when people can see the whole story the best results will come from sticking to your guns. I am tempted to get rid of Google Analytics altogether but I’m afraid I’m addicted to it, I stay up till midnight just to see if I am going to go to bed happy or miserable based on the numbers, GA and I have an unhealthy relationship. In the end I would much prefer to see five new visitors read every page of the story then 500 new visitors that read one page of the story anyway.
Keep up the good work, I was reading regularly but this page really hooked me.
Wow. That was a really serious endorsement! Every point you make is a really good one, and I think you hit on the biggest problem of long-form comics like the kind we make, which is that they’re really meant to be read at a sitting, not over an extended period. But as you say, that’s the nature of the beast. And I think in the end, you just have to kind of swallow the self-doubt and force yourself to have confidence in your own work.
I’m glad you’re reading – I’ve been following AD, myself, and I think you definitely made the right choice leaving it as it was and sticking to your original plan.
–M
Thank you. All that rambling and I forgot I had a question, at this point in the story do we know where the bomb was dropped? I’m not all that familiar with war comics and am not sure if I either missed that info or if the location is a given or obvious to people more familiar with the genre.
I should clarify that my first thought was that the bomb was dropped on where the action has been so far but then I realized that the plane that dropped the bomb could be anywhere in the world.
I think the next page will clarify that – it’ll be up in a couple hours!
–M
hahah! I love it!
Oh, crap. 🙁
Now THIS, this is Art. With a capital A ;D
Wow