I was simply blown away by the great discussion last week, guys! What a fantastic exchange! And also, thank you and welcome to the many people who commented for the first time last week as well! I’m super glad to have you!
So here we go, the next half of the spread. I made some minor tweaks to the last page, as well, but I think they’re mainly for print. I shall shortly put the spread up for your viewing pleasure, as is my habit, for the cost of nothing but a vote on topwebcomics.com.
So yeah, you guys made my week last week with all the interesting talk. And last week was a great week for me, as well – work went smoothly, comic got good reception, makingcomics.com is taking off and THEN some. And I even got a couple more fan emails. Which I love, because they make me feel like a total superstar, so thanks to all of you who take the time to offer words of support and encouragement – you are all the best!
So it was very good. And so I am now moving ahead towards the next milestone, which is a week’s vacation at the end of November, my first extended time off in close to a year. Which will be nice! I love autumn and winter in New England, and it’s a great time to take a vacation. It’ll be especially well-placed for me, as I am in need of some time to sit and work out some more stuff for the comic, and continue planning and revising for the print version I alluded to last week, which will be coming soon (not TOO soon, but soon) in digitally-remastered format. And if I can drum up enough support for it, there may even be a Deluxe Edition in hardcover, with all the goodies science fiction buffs love, like sketches, blueprints, maps, and other fun stuff. So if you know someone who’d like 6-C0mmando, do pass the word along. Things are starting to get interesting!
Ah. Well, I’m off for now. Keep on truckin’, folks!
Great work on the first three mini-panels – they do the dialogue justice.
Nice tension build-up, too. Changing scenes between Rucker moping and the Haulley-Zaballa confrontation. I really wonder what the project is… and what kind of conspiracy and treason goes on.
As for spreading the word: You really should consider a dedicated Facebook-page.
Thanks! It’s a fine line with Haulley, as he could so easily become an action movie stereotype. I liked the idea that he would get very calm and direct when he’s angry, and I think this sequence with him muscling Zaballa like this hit GIS character just about as I wanted it.
You aren’t the first person to suggest a Facebook page. I don’t know what’s holding me back. Mental inertia I guess. I should get over it and just do it.
–M
Col. Haulley sports are previous version of the Canadian flag, right?
[Yes, I did the research, because I was wondering. I had no idea the Maple Leaf flag was a more recent design.]
Right you are. It’s the Dominion Ensign. And if you look VERY closely at the Mexicans, you’ll see that they have the flag of the Mexican Republic, not the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Little things, here and there…
–M
Also, there are fifty-one United States, and Alaska isn’t one of them! But only a cartographer knows for sure! 😉
–M
Wait, if Alaska isn’t part of the united states, and on the map it has a border between it and Canada, is it a separate country?
And what about India?
Alaska is a military district administered under U.S. Colonial Law by the Continental Army. And India is a federation of India, Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Ceylon and the Maldive Islands, nominally part of the Nonaligned Movement but with a positive web of ties to the FSR.
Hey man. If you put out a graphic novel for this, I’m buying it. You’ve put a lot of creative thought and effort into this comic and its backstory, and it shows. (Assuming you don’t have a book out already and I didn’t see the link.)
That is really good to hear. I’m seriously. Printing a book for q comic like this is kind of a risk I’m taking, and it is really nice to know there are people who’ll go for it. I’m exploring lots of options to fund it (to answer your query, I have not put anything in print yet) but its kind of like, what if I give a party and nobody comes? To say nothing of the fact that I’m a lot more serious about this project now than I was two years ago, and so the artwork has gotten a lot more refined. So there’s a lot of work to do to get it all ready. Like, originally this was just something to get me working consistently, so the early pages are pretty slack compared to now.
At any rate, I seriously appreciate the confidence, and I am definitely working towards print now! So thanks!
–M
Consider this comment a pre-order 😉
You the man! I’m planning to start a funding campaign in the New Year, both to raise capital and to light a fire under my ass to get the editorial work done, so I’ll keep you posted as soon as REAL preorders become possible!
–M
I’ve run through about thirty possible scenarios for what this mysterious “project” could be, and honestly I can’t wait to figure it out!
Wow that’s a lot of pressure! I hope it won’t disappoint!
–M
They should be looking for a plane! LOL.
You gettin’ smart with me, v? Don’t be gettin’ smart with me! I can… Draw a… A TANK at you! Don’t make me draw a tank at you!
😉
–M
GASP! I can see the headlines now!
“Random commenter killed by cartoon tank from disgruntled artist. More on this shocking story at 11:00”!
He just kept doodling, and wouldn’t stop! The crappy drawings… There were too many of them!
–M
Crushed by a 100 ton pile of quick sketches of a tank?
Sacrifices? Very tactful way to say “death toll.”
Euphemisms. You know it’s funny, someone sent me an email today saying that with the map behind him, Col. Haulley looks like a James Bond villain, and he sounds like one too, saying things like that.
–M
Incidentally, as a proud Canuck I’m a bit amused about the premise of an alternate Canada becoming a superpower to eclipse the United States. Obviously the events of history will shape a nation’s identity, but it doesn’t seem to me like Canadians were ever motivated at any point to be “the greatest country on earth”.
I’m just not sure there would be a lot of national will for drastic foreign intervention even in dark times; we’re peacekeepers, not peacemakers. We don’t fight for truth, justice and the Canadian way, we fight for people to live their own way, or at least that’s what my Ontario upbringing taught me. It’s kind of a tenet of Canadian culture to live and let live and not make a scene, we take pride in being humble up here. 🙂
Uh, it’s not that I have some kind of problem with Canada in the 6-Commando world BTW. It’s actually rather intriguing to see a Canada that’s quite different from the way she is usually portrayed. You might be a fellow Canuck yourself, which would be even more cool and unusual; even in fantasy most Canadians don’t imagine our nation as a heroic leader. Heh, there’s another reason to love this story: originality!
Well, you know, it’s been less than a century since the US and Canada viewed each other with enough suspicion to have generated war plans to fight over the North American frontiers. Look up Defense Plan #1 and War Plan Crimson if you don’t believe me! And if the U.S. didn’t step up to the plate as a superpower, Britain and its commonwealth would likely have retained their position of military ascendancy in the west, or at the very least would have tried to. If Britain were then to fall, that would leave Canada the most obvious successor to British global power, But you should know, Canada is running the show in the Congo, here, but there are other forces to be reckoned with. The Atomic Powers in the UNA (who are also the permanent members of the Security Council) are Canada, the US, Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Australia and South Africa. But Canada is the most powerful, yes.
Why Canada, though? Mainly because it’s most interesting for me to think about stereotypes from their opposites. I do have Canadian ancestry (my family comes from Acadie, as a matter of fact – hence an independent Québec and a Québecoise as a main character. But in the US as well as in Canada (apparently) the stereotype of Canada as a reclusive, non-confrontational nation seemed an interesting stereotype to break, as did the common misconception that there are only white Canadians (Col. Haulley is a Royal Canadian Marine from Toronto! And yes, I know there’s no real-world Royal Canadian Marine Corps.) But there have been plenty of strident, interventionist Canadians, as well. And some fine Canadian military leaders, too, and some you’d even call right-wing, or even authoritarian. It’s hard to see on the screen, but Col. Haulley has a photograph of Pierre Trudeau in his office, to the left of the map.
–M
So I was just sitting at my PC bored to death after a bit of CoD and I suddenly had this feeling that I had forgotten something. Something important. What could it be…
Oh Crap!!! 6-Commando.
Yeah so my old hardrive blew up on me, bad and I didn’t have the money to replace it also bad. My parents did though which is good however, all my favourites had been wiped and even though im sure my brain kept trying to tell me to re add this webcomic I forgot to.
Until today :).
Also yeah I might be low on funds right now but I wouldn’t mind robbing a bank to pre order 6-Commando when or if it becomes avaliable.
Right on, man! Glad you came back to it!
Now that I’m almost a hundred pages in, the story is getting a bit more accessible, I think, because you can read the whole thing from the start.
Oh and don’t worry about funds just yet – the book won’t be in print before next summer, on my present schedule. But it IS coming, so start saving your pennies!
–M