Lieutenant Colonel Zaballa, please pick up the Gold Retrophone. No, the GOLD Retrophone.
This is one of those “talking head” pages we all dread, but I did my best to make it interesting. And although the segue is a bit of a cliché, I do hope you’ll forgive me – I couldn’t resist. As for drawing this page, it actually went remarkably smoothly compared to last week, even when I found at the last minute that I had to put in more backgrounding to avoid that “lonely” look I so greatly fear in comics. But anyway.
The end of the chapter is now a mere four pages away! Can you stand it? Can you STAND it? I can’t. I’m basically freaking out, because I’ve seen some of the guest art that’s coming up when this baby finishes, and it is so totally awesome that I basically had a whole freak-out session when I saw it. And so although we’re going on an end-of-season hiatus for the spring and summer, let me just tell you that it is still going to be one hell of a lot of fun for you all. I’m seriously.
In the meantime, I’ve gone ahead and posted the next two-page spread (last week and the week before) over on topwebcomics.com, and I have to say, for all the trials and tribulations of getting my act together on that, it’s one of my better spreads. So pop on over, cast a vote, and see it in all its glory!
And other than that, I’m just going to take out the garbage and go to bed, like I always do. And so I’ll just be seeing you all next week! Be well, folks!
Now this gets interesting…LTC Zaballa is also a Ph.D? Now am wondering if perhaps the plan he and Hauley have put together was not as chaotic as it first appeared?
I would assume the next chapter is going to bring up some choice answers, but right now I can’t wait to see how this ending for ch. 3 is going to play out.
He is! And it may well be! I always try to end with a hook for the next chapter.
😀
–M
A call from Mike?
Mmmmmmmmmmaybe…
Wait and see!
😀
–M
Since the phone is golden/yellow it left me stuck with that awful “Banana phone”-song in my mind.
Suffice to say it gave the current episode a quite unique new perspective.
Regarding the book Zaballa tossed away in the previous strip: It can be read online here:
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=9291898
Thanks, Ulrich…this should make interesting reading.
Yep! I have to admit I found it pretty dry reading, though not as dry as some books on the subject. Remarkably, though I found Kahn’s “On Thermonuclear War” and “On Escalation” to be pretty easy reads!
–M
ooo, a call from the mayo clinic!
Mike needs some medicine for his Creamy Middle.
–M
“Just atomics” he says.
Scares me that he views his nice shiny new weapon as dwarfing the previous massive weapons of war.
Since when is a thermonuclear weapon just a shiny new toy?
I’d say that dwarfs your plain old fission-type bomb by a long shot. Doesn’t throw out as much radiation, but the initial boom is a hell of a lot bigger. And keep in mind in the 6-Commando world, hydrogen bombs aren’t in military use, at least for the time being.
I’m really glad you both got this. “Just Atomics” was exactly the point – hydrogen weapons are whole orders of magnitude more powerful than atomic bombs, and can effectively be built to unlimited size, the only real limit being the means of delivery.
–M
Oh. So that’s where the huge AI tanks come in? Just load up the biggest hydrogen bomb they can make and roll far enough into enemy territory and close enough to the target?
Maybe as a last resort. It’d be an incredibly wasteful tactic, as Rumblers cost in the tens of billions of dollars, and would probably not even be worth it were there not a severe manpower shortage in the UNA countries. However, loading atomic missiles with dial-up yields on Boomers (A.I. submarines) is a major UNA strategy, especially for the Canadian, American and Japanese fleets. This ensures some retaliatory capability as they can remain silent, inert and on station for years at a time. Bump those atomic missiles to lighter, more powerful thermonuclear warheads, and you are where WE are today… But with robots.
–M
Time to meet Mike! 🙂
Or their maker!
–M
Is there a difference?
I hope that’s not Mike on the phone–he might crush it.
Oooooooo… I always appreciate a good pun. Or an awful one! 😉
–M
>>> CONASUR has it’s own version of Rhumblers/Bolos, right?
Not for military applications. They have five automated industrial platforms that mine bauxite ore in Brazil for the company ZTE Industria. They’re planning more but the AI is not sophisticated enough to operate a military vehicle.
–M