Did you see this coming? Yeah, you probably did. But here he is, after his long, dramatic absence: Mike-One-Echo, looking more than a little bit the worse for wear. But having been hit by a minimum of two atomic weapons in one day (and probably more, since he was at ground zero of the start of World War, er, Two) I guess I couldn’t expect him to look like he just rolled out of the factory. And as for his line, I admit that it’s from one of my favorite, most underrated sci-fi movies, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and is a reference to HAL-9000. I mean, you expected as much. At least he’s not singing “Daisy.”
So last week was a continuous blaze of work mixed with general economic crisis in New York City. For those who don’t know, we had a slow-motion stock market crash over the past five days, throwing the nation’s financial situation into total disarray, and so now there’s real fear and panic among those who watch such things. And yet, strangely enough, if you look at small businesses like there are in my neighborhood, you’d think everything was just fine. The guy on the corner can’t cook burgers fast enough, a new shop opened down the street to sell ice cream to hot beachgoers… it’s weird. Makes me wonder whether this is the start of a new, smaller-scale economy, being brought about by market forces. For the sake of my neighbors, and my own desire to see capitalist microeconomics vindicated, I hope it is. I’d also like to be able to make a living as a “local architect,” someday, though nothing of the kind now exists. But we just have to wait and see.
As for the rest of it, the panic and a heavy deadline at work basically made me suspend all but the bare essentials of 6-Commando, i.e. the promised but still secret merchandise. I limited it to sending out a few advance samples to certain individuals (if you’re reading this, guys, don’t spill it, but let me know if you got it or not, and how long it took!) But I am still not licensed to sell them yet, so I have to just keep on that. Hopefully I’ll be able to make time to file the proper paperwork this week. Once that’s done, of course, the ensuing series of “things” will be a lot easier for me to send out and I have a number of them planned. So stay tuned, and try to set aside a couple dollars (or Euros, Yen, Yuan, Rubles or whatever) to help support 6-Commando this summer!
Other than that, I’ve put the next full spread up on topwebcomics.com as a voting incentive, so by all means cast your votes and see it as it was meant to be seen! And other than that, take care, and I’ll see you next week!
It’s hard to not like Mike… though he did start a World War.
I woudl argue that the Russian’s massive over reaction to a single tank (albeit a very big tank) had a lot to do with it too. I think they bare more responsability than Mike does.
Well in their defense, the FSR thought it was a first strike attempt on their atomic missiles by the UNA. During the Cold war something like that would have easily caused nuclear war. Not to mention that even though the FSR dropped the first tactical nuke, the UNA were the ones who took the attack onto a global scale because of Mike’s call for a nuclear retaliation.
Heh, nothing a new paint job and a polish won’t fix!
🙂
How the heck did he manage to do that to his main gun? Looks like the Atom bomb blew up IN the barrel…
Let’s chalk it up to dramatic license for the artist. 🙂
Usually a safe bet with me! 🙂
–M
If I rmember it right – MIKE had no ordinary gun, but magneticaly enhanced supervelocity gun… So the barrel wal not just a hollow pipe… there were bound to be some dovices that could meltfunction and blow up in the EMP chaos of near atomic explosion… 🙂
Also, a shell could have cooked off while in the barrel during the blast.
Yeah, but if a shell did explode in the barrel, it would have blown the turret up, not the end of the barrel. It looks a lot like in cartoons when someone sticks their finger in the barrel of a gun end the gun blows up ^.^
I’ve seen that kind of damge to a barrel (in a museum) where they set explosives in teh gun in order to ruin the weapon. The same could happen if an A-bomb went off near mike and the baster wnet into the barrel and overpressurized it until it went BOOM. As well, looking at the where the break is, the Magnets in the gun ( since mikes main gun is a hybred gunpower/rail gun) could have blown,
It look to me that Mikes designs got the surviving an Atom blast desgin down, all mike needs is a total overhaul ( with ALOT of radiation scrubbing)
It’s called “spiking” and yeah, it would look like this, if it had been done deliberately. It would also, possibly, look like this if there were a huge overpressure front that hit the barrel head-on: it would create a pressure differential that would burst the barrel from inside. That’s why, in Nuclear Procedures manuals, tanks are supposed to turn their turrets away from an expected blast, to keep the barrels from shattering in the shockwave. Mike must not have been quick enough.
–M
Next comment from the guy in the armor..”Control…I think i need to change my diaper.”
Catheter.
So, yeah. Ouch.
–M
More likely “I am SO glad there is a built-in recycling system here…” 🙂
If Mikes A.I. is self repairing and he has those last memory recording we saw from previous pages floating around…. man I feel sorry for whoever else gets in his way.
Each time I look at Mike’s front two sentences cross my mind:
“All of this has happened before.”
and
“By your command!”
Well, he did start a world war (and a possible nuclear holocaust), but he is a machine, created by man. He was supposed to make war easier for UNA. He malfunctioned…
The sad thing is Mike did what he did trying to save two comrades.
It will be very interesting to see if Mike can comprehend that he indirectly killed the one person he was trying so hard to rescue.
Killed? Whom? Do not belive they are dead unleas you see their bodies buried. 🙂
The Cylons didn’t malfunction so much as they evolved. They were designed to learn and improve over time to better do their jobs and eventually they developed to the point that they realised, they would never reach their full potential so long as they were slaves to humans and that the only way they would ever be free to reach that potential was if humanity went away.
Mike didn’t so much Malfunction as follow his programming a little too litterally.
Oh, c’mon! I was just rephrasing the BSG intro to fit with 6 Commando.
My AutoCAD workstation does the same thing and it’s REALLY annoying. Gad, it makes my day feel SO long, sometimes!
–M
when will Joost’s cameo appear?… unless it already has
It’s coming, I promise!
–M
The Colonel’s first name isn’t ‘Dave’ is it?
Also, how sentient is Mike considered to be? I mean, can he be held accountable for these events, or as his commander, would the burden of blame fall on the colonel.
Also… how did Mike get there? When we last saw him, he was in the middle of the Russian camp, which I presumed was somewhere deep in the African bush, but now he appears to be on the remains of a highway and by the looks of it, he drove there judging by the car crushed under his treads.
It also occurs that having survived multiple atomic blasts, being right at ground zero of one of them, would make Mike massively useful for propaganda purposes… if he hadn’t just triggered atomic war and therefor been indriectly responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people.
Hmm I’m thinking he retrieved sarah and has her inside of him (no innuendo intended), judging by the fact that the last time we saw him he was mugging those FSR scientists for her, and now he’s in the middle of nowhere. Seems unlike him to just leave her behind, so either his memory purged and he forgot her, or he already helped her and (maybe) attempted to get help, ending up where he currently is.
It’s Conrad, actually. You know I don’t think I have any characters named “Dave.” Or “Frank,” for that matter. Interesting.
–M
Anyone else wondering why these people are talking about his barrel when if you think about it… That is the only damage he took after a NUKE was dropped on him
The ONLY damage? Have you really LOOKED at him? Mike’s pretty much gonna have to be rebuilt from the tracks up before he can even move again, much less fight.
It may make me a bad person, but I saw the “UnbeLIEVABLE” speech balloon, and immediately thought of this: http://i52.tinypic.com/262b6vq.gif
BZZZ! BZZZZZZZZZZZ!
–M