Okay, so what’s my excuse this week? It’s this: the first draft of this page got to the final stages before I realized it was all wrong. Proportion, detail, scene and setting – none of it worked. So I did the only thing I could think of: I scrapped it and started over. And this happened yesterday afternoon, and normally by then I’m coloring. So knowing that that was just not an option, my best idea was to make the inks look as good as I was able to do, and so, well, there we are.
Anyhow, I ended up with a page I am really happy with in a day and a half, despite the lack of color, so I call it a good compromise. And to be honest, it almost stands alone in black and white – better than many of the previous ones at any rate. So I will just set to my task and add this to the “to-be-colored” queue, and ask for another week’s forebearance. Also, I have yet to letter it, because I’m in the process of making a new font for 6-Commando at the moment, as Komika, which I had been using, does not appear to exist in a Mac format, and I’m now on a Mac (see below). And in addition to that Komika has begun to bore me. So I’m making my own.
This page ended up being WAY more manga-esque than I had originally anticipated, and more than I’d generally be comfortable with, but, well, I think it’s established enough that I can embrace it just as it is. It’s not reaching for a Japanese style, I don’t think, nor am I using any Manga tropes, but there are some aspects of the Manga “look” that are undoubtedly visually appealing, and I think it’d be silly not to take advantage of them if they are useful and effective. But no dragons, magic, empires, or swordplay. That much I can state categorically.
Anyway, this page was an opportunity to add in a few details I really like. For starters, the soldier at right is carrying an AK-74M, which I thought was a fun thing to have alongside suits of powered armor. Again this goes to the semi-retro equipment I’ve given the Federates. You my also notice that the FSR power armor gun has gotten a lot more detailed – the original design was not threatening enough, so I added the grenade launcher, the flash suppressor, and a secondary weapon coaxial to the first – the idea being that that the larger gun fires heavy penetrator rounds for defeating power armor and light vehicles, while the smaller one is purely antipersonnel. The gun has also been designed to allow it to fire Californium rounds, which are a form of Tactical Atomic device which both the FSR and the UNA are attempting to create, but have not been able to make into a practical weapon so far (for an interesting and slightly terrifying discussion of this and other such nuclear potentialites in the real world, read Hermann Kahn’s On Thermonuclear War, Chapter 10: Present and Future).
On a less violent note, the FSR trooper in the back is wearing a medical suit, which is mainly notable for its lack of weapons and the multifunction mediglove on the right hand, which contains a lot of cool gadgetry. He’s basically a field surgeon and can perform a large variety of medical procedures with high dexterity and speed. He’s supported in the foreground by two medical officers without suits, also unarmed (the FSR obeys the Geneva Conventions), and with geiger counter. Note the symbol on their helmets (and the armored medic’s pauldron) – in the 6-Commando universe, the international symbol for medical relief is the Red Helix, which is actually a stylized caduceus. It’s also the symbol of the International Committee of the Red Helix, or I.C.R.H. (C.I.H.R. in Swiss French – the Comité International de l’Hélix Rouge), which except for symbology is functionally identical to the Red Cross, except that it is far more independent, since it acts independently of any national organization, and all the major power blocs recognize the Red Helix as neutral and inviolate.
Anyhow, this is where we are now. On the technical side, I have made the switch from PC to Mac, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Much faster, smoother, and Photoshop et al run beautifully. Also, with the addition of a Wacom Cintiq tablet, new opportunities are opening up, and I’m very quickly getting used to the idea of being able to draw directly on the screen, so hopefully, this week’s hiccup aside, I’ll be able to pick up the pace a little as things go forward. And also, I will soon add a little featurette to incentivize voting, called “Five Days to 6-Commando,” where each week I’ll post progress sketches, refinements, inks and colors as voting incentives on topwebcomics.com, to give you a little daily sneak peek at what goes into a week’s work on this comic.
So yes, things are coming back to the usual circumstances here, so I look forward to 6-Commando getting back to normal shortly. Until then, I thank you all for the good wishes and the words of support – it’s been a bit of a rough patch for the comic, but I’m getting over it. And so until next week, be well, all!
A good page. Really.
((Mekes me a little curious where to is the medic pointing… A chopper where to carry the wounded? Or where to search further…))
On a side-note: I really wounder what modifications came to AK-74M to make it do without aiming planks… A cybernetic aim-helper would look… strange becaule of below than 100% reliability…
And even if the helper is implemented the manual aim would still be in place “for extreme ocasions”… so I am curious.
Oh my goodness, you’re right! I totally forgot the sights! And I think you’re correct that even with some kind of advanced technology they’d leave on a manual sight, like a guttersnipe or post-and-groove, just in case all else failed. I’ll make a note to fix that shortly!
Thanks for pointing it out!
–M
I think the Medic is pointing at Milo. If he had been looking at the patient that would have been nice, but he was bored. When he pointed out Milo, Milo ran, and a powered trooper jumped out of the sun at him while shooting sparks that fly past Milo and Sarah but for some reason do not appear in the space between Milo and Sarah.
Needless to say, I’m not a fan of the final panel. I would have preferred a background, unless he really is jumping out of the sun and shooting sparks, which I doubt.
Of course, I doubt that Milo dragging Sarah can outrun a guy in powered armor across a flat and barren wasteland, so I foresee the imminent appearance of Mike.
Chacun à son goût.
–M
Well… Actually IMHO power armors no matter how high-tech they are will result in serious encubarence (sorry if I misspelled that), slow down the operator and limit his/her ability to use cover… So Sarah and Mile are quite likely to outrun the armored soldier… but are really less likely to outrun his bullets, so yes, Mike (or UNA rescue team) is likelly to show up soon.
I tend to agree. They can make you strong and protect you pretty well, but agility is bound to go down. In 6-Commando, power armor is really meant as a middle ground between regular infantry and tanks. The UNA is heavily technology-dependent so they have wider distribution of armored suits, while the FSR is likelier to field their armored infantry in support of conventional troops, rather like light vehicles, actually.
–M
Fair enough. If you tried to make powered armor with 1990’s technology, it would likely be low performance. I guess I assumed that it would be Starship-Trooper-esque (the book, ofc) powered armor–expensive, high mobility, extremely deadly, special unit type things. If it is a type of “Heavy” infantry then I guess it makes sense.
Still, the FSR has helicopters.
Also…yeah, I just don’t like the fact that there isn’t even a semblance of a background in the final panel. The soldier also seems posed weird, like he is balancing on his leg instead of running, but I think its the background that gets to me.
Also, yes, three of the spark-trails don’t continue through the gap between Sarah and Milo, in case you did not notice.
Great without colour!
Leave it this way until they are out of the radiation zone!
You know that was an idea that had literally not even occurred to me. I think I kind of already set the precedent that this is happening in color with page 1, but still, you present an interesting idea, which I will file away for future reference…
Thanks!
–M
Every new page is getting more elaborate than the previous one! Especially the left side of this page is really well done! I said this before, but I really like your new line art.
I understand what you’re doing with the last panel, the use of these straight lines really indicate speed and it is really clear that major Sarah and Milo need to get away from that FSR dude fast.
What you might want to consider revising when you color this page is the gradual change from white to dark grey in the background of the last panel. It looks a bit to Photoshop where the rest of your work does not.
But in the end this still is an extremely strong page.
I think you’re probably right – it is a little “photoshoppy” to have that gradient. And actually I was trying to combine motion with the sense of a brght light getting you full in the eyes but maybe the representation is diluted that way, and I should just intensify the one abstraction over the other.
–M
I guess that’s what I was trying to say, but Joost said it better. The background gradient in 4 is kinda bland; I think it would be nice to have *some* details there.
What you could do is paint in the gradient, somewhat like you did with the fire in the banner at the top of this page.
Or separate the lines from the bright light and somehow bring those lines to the background, then the speed is maintained and the light gets more “full in your face”. Just a thought though.
PS. I read that you’ve bought a cintiq, I am so jealous right now ;).
Come to think of it, it seems strange that the gun was designed to fire pocket nukes. They were apparently still under development, and looking at wikipedia, creating the requisite quantities of Californium would be resource intensive. It seems more logical to develop a dedicated weapon to handle Californium rounds when they come out, instead of equipping every soldier with the modified weapon. Besides, when the first generation of pocket nukes comes out it will likely be quite large, so a dedicated rocket or oversize grenade launcher (60mm?) for each platoon seems more practical.
Silly Russians.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the CDAM’s (Californium-Derivative Atomic Munitions) were designed to be fired from the weapon, rather than the reverse, so perhaps I misstated the case. The gun, by the way, for those interested, is an Arma-Chelyavinsk Model 202. Chelyavinsk Design Bureau is responsible for all of the FSR’s power armor designs and derivatives.
–M
That would be a fascinating page for your header–the Military Industrial complex of the world of 6-commando.
Not at all a bad idea!
–M