We’re Both In This Together
Happy Hallowe’en, everyone! And in honor of Hallowe’en, I present this page, which I would have presented anyway. But here we have a mystery, eh? The plot thickens? And so forth?
Well, at any rate, it gave me, finally, an excuse to put a map of the 6-Commando world in an actual page, which I’ve been dying to do.. Colonel Haulley’s office here is based loosely on the introduction to The Prisoner, by the way. That’s à propos of nothing, really, just a little homage. As is the line from The Big Lebowski, which, try as I might, I could not find a good substitute for.
ANY-way, this was rather an uneventful week, all told. I did have one totally non-comics related breakthrough when I finally discovered, after twenty some-odd years, who the Agents of Thr.I.L.L. were. But I’ll be posting an appreciation over on my blog sometime soon, which will reveal all the secrets about it you didn’t know you wanted to know, so I won’t waste your time right now. We got snow in New England, which is very odd for October. That was also interesting. Lessee, what else, what else…
Nothing, comes to mind. So until next week, be well, and all that rot!
Oh, of course! The first Makingcomics.com podcast is live today, so go listen to it! I think you’ll get a charge out of it. The response to the site has been terrific so far, and I should tell you Jason asked me (and I’ve accepted) to help out as an editor for the site’s content, so I’ve something of a stake in the whole thing, and I think, false modesty aside, that it’s turning into something really great!
So yeah. Have a good week, folks!
Project? …Interesting
Was the plane a metaphor or has one more thing just hit the fan?
Oh it’s just a metaphor. Like they need more things to go wrong! 🙂
–M
That’s definitely a confusing metaphor. I thought their project was to look for a crashed plane. Ten pages from now I would have been asking “where’s the damn plane?”
See this is why putting a comic online is so useful. I will definitely have to change that line, it’s clearly too ambiguous.
–M
I notice in the region north of the Korean peninsula, that you have “Manchukuo” as part of the UNA. Did that region become a UNA member after WW2 in your alternate timeline since the Japanese had occupied that region from 1934-1945?
Manchukuo was occupied by the Japanese (in the 6-Commando universe) until 1955, when it was granted independence by Japan as part of a deal to give Japan a permanent seat on the UNA Security Council. It’s now the Republic of Manchuria, and is independent, though it still has a very complicated and often tumultuous relationship with Japan, as does the Republic of Korea, which was the Cho-Sen Prefecture until it unilaterally declared independence in 1956.
The areas of mainland China are partly “Mandates” of the United Nations, but most are under the control of the Republic of China, which reached a cease-fire with the Chinese People’s Federative Socialist Republic in 1949 after the Japanese intervened, with American support. This was as close as the 6-Commando world got to a Pacific War. There’s a long-standing movement in the UNA General Assembly to reunify Manchuria and the Republic of China, but it has yet to go anywhere, and the start of World War II, in the story, is likely to make it rather difficult.
–M
I’m sure everyone takes this for what it’s worth as a work of fiction, but I feel I should hasten to add that none of this represents my thoughts and feelings about what SHOULD have happened – a disunified China put upon by Imperialist powers is by no means a desirable historical outcome to me, on any level. It’s simply the result that seems most logical given the initial divergence I took as the starting point for the story. Without a general reckoning like World War II, the world would never have come to terms with its own mortality, and colonialism and imperialism could well have continued, even if in an altered form, for decades. Note also that the United States is not the leading power in the world in this story, either: Canada is. The USA has a much smaller military in the 6-Commando universe, the Continental Army, and it maintains no overseas bases of its own – it provides personnel to the UNA for that role.
–M
This will be interesting.
Map could use some adjustments to iron out some plot-based inacucracies. ^^
Oh ho! Now it’s you who have piqued MY interest! I’m trying to think of what I missed… Hmm.
–M
There was no major war in the 6-Commando universe yet, right? Or maybe: Where is the “cut” between our universe and the 6-Commando one?
Hint: They made the same error in “C&C: Red Alert”. ^^
Hmm… They did have a Great War but no Second World War. There were major political shifts in the 1970s though. Perhaps you are referring to the shape of Germany and Poland, in re: the position of Gdansk and East Prussia?
–M
Precisley. Which would also affect Hoffmann’s rank design and national flag. ^^
You might note that the Russian claim goes well beyond the Curzon Line. Poland was one of the areas where the first revolution broke out in 1918, and its brand of socialism is much more wrapped up in Polish nationalism, such that it has been variously partitioned by its neighbors throughout the XX century when it has been troublesome to the rest of the Odessa Compact nations. Also, Germany’s small size is due largely to the fact that the Germans, along with the French, British, Portuguese and Dutch, were among the more die-hard nations during the Scarlet Revolution, and came under more or less direct Federate occupation.
–M
I see.
Be sure to exchange the German flag (the one of the “Federal Republic” for the “Weimar Republic” one once you add the final touch(es)). ^^
You mean the black, red, and white tricolor? Was that the Weimar flag? They always taught us it was the black, red and gold, and that’s why the FRG used it, to show that the Republicvhad been restored. I put the Weimar crest on Hoffman’s patch, to indicate that the Germans in exile consider themselves at war with the Communists. The French exiles wear the Cross of Lorraine for the same reason.
For the Dutch, whose country was annexed to the DDR after the Scarlet Revolution, just wearing the national flag is an act of resistance, I might add, while we’re discussing flag symbolism for Westerners.
–M
I could have sworn it was the other one, but after checking the facts: You’re right!
My bad, please continue. ^^
BTW, is this Lt. Col. Zaballa or his adjutant?
What, so, all South Americans look the same to you?! 😉
Just kidding, of course… This is always the risk putting people in uniform. They start to look the same. It is Zaballa, as a matter of fact.
–M
Didn’t he have grey temples?
Whoops! Man I really missed some details here…
Gosh, I better touch this up tonight.
–M
That’s what I call customer service! 😀
We’re here to serve!
–M
I noticed that you have Korea and Manchuria colored blue…I would assume Japan still has those territories and it must be an interesting subplot there where they are facing off against the FSR in that region.
Does Australia still have control of New Guinea in this universe?
New Guinea is, in fact, controlled by Australia. Manchuria and Korea became independent in 1955 and 1956, respectively. Manchuria retains a relationship to Japan somewhat similar to that which Canada had with Britain, although there remains a great deal of unresolved resentment about the colonial period; Korea is openly hostile to Japan, but nevertheless works with them through the UNA because of the greater threat posed by the FSR.
–M
Heh, looks like the Colonel is trying to cover something up by wiping Mike’s memory. Conspiracy theory much?
Mmmmmmmaybe…
–M
Alright, I give up. I can’t figure out which line is from The Big Lebowski. I’ve seen the movie a hundred times, this is driving me nuts.
Zaballa’s original line was “The goddamn plane has crashed into the mountain!” I changed it to “We just started the Second World War!” due to the potential misunderstanding in the metaphor.
This way is a bit more direct but clearer in meaning in context.
–M
Ok firstly I really like this comic and where it is going. So keep it up!
Secondly noting that there was no WW2 until this moment why didn’t it occur in this universe prior? Was there no Hitler and the Japanese never attacked the US? Why not in this universe?
The main point is that the U.S. never intervened in World War I, and so it dragged on until the mid-1920’s, and morphed into a war over the containment of revolutonary socialism, when the Russian Revolution spread to Austro-Hungary (where it took hold) and Germany (where it did not). Fears over the expansion of socialist regimes catalyzed the creation of the United Nations, and also gave nations like Japan much more latitude to build colonial empires, which were tolerated so long as they helped contain the “Red Menace.” These policies were mitigated somewhat when the US finally joined the UNA, and brought political pressure to bear, mainly on Japan and France, to decolonize (the results being the independence of Korea, Manchuria, Indochina and such). Other countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain held onto their colonies as semi-autonomous “dominions,” leading to the trouble 6-Commando finds itself in now, in the former Belgian Congo.
As for Hitler, he did exist, but was seen as a fringe fanatic and never gained wide support, his professed anti-communism aside. Because of the danger of socialism, the treaty of Versailles was far more lenient and the allies (Britain, France and Italy) actively propped up the Weimar government in order to keep Germany viable as an ally against an expected Communist invasion. Thus there was no great economic crisis in Germany, no simmering resentment or feeling of encirclement – the Nazis naver gained traction and were essentially defunct as a political party by 1938. By the late 1940’s, Germany was an equal member of the UNA (though not a permanent Security Council member).
Because there was no World War II, however, atomic power and atomic weapons were not developed until the late 1970s. Instead of a total war, there has been a gradual ramping-up of military power throughout the XX century, leading to a divergence of technology, such that military equipment is vastly advanced, but domestic technology is closer to that of the 1960’s. The internet exists only in an underdeveloped network for the armed forces called AFSCON. Mike is controlled by protein wetware, but nobody has considered applying it to a domestic market. Lasers and powered armor exist, but there’s no global communications system, and only the most rudimentary satellites – no space stations, no space race, no NASA or Roskosmos, no Moon landing. The 6-Commando world is simultaneously super-advanced and terribly backward.
–M
–M
Interesting. So in this system I presume the US never gained shaky economic power in the 20’s which led to the depression of the 30’s and invigorated many of these fascist movements in our world. Though in this case it would proabably just strengthen the position of the Communists and lead to earlier European dominion. Yes?
I’m curious though, what inspired you to craft a world along these lines?
There was, in fact, something similar to the Great Depression, (only they don’t call it that, they call it the “Great Slump,”) brought on mainly by industrial contraction due to a manpower shortage after the Great War. The United States recovered much faster then Europe by exercising sound fiscal policy (the Continental Reserve Bank floated the money supply and allowed the Dollar to keep pace with currency demand, shortening the banking crisis), and the fact that they had been neutral and so did not experience the same shortage of skilled labor that Europe and Russia did.
As to your second question, the idea came to me when someone suggested to me that the modern world would not exist but for the United States’ intervention in Europe and elsewhere. That’s as may be, of course, but it made me wonder about the potential outcome of a global superpower conflict in which the United States was NOT one of the primary players; where it was, in fact, taking much more of a back seat to nations which were, in the 1930’s and 1940’s, on far more strident and internationalist trajectories, like Canada, South Africa, Japan and Australia. It’s easy to forget that it was the Canadians who stormed Juno Beach on D-Day; nowadays, they are much better known (in the US, at any rate) for being modest and measured, with much less of a tendency to use military force than countries like the US, Britain and France. But with a superpower gap, there’s every reason to suppose that Canada could have stepped up as a global military and political powerhouse, flexing its international muscles the way the US does today. That idea fascinated me, and so I followed it to one possible conclusion.
–M
“There’s no reason this situation can’t be contained.”
You know, I’m not sure the word “contained” can be used in any situation that includes a nuclear “spasm” exchange….
Well, “containing” a nuclear exchange of even a limited nature is rather a doubtful proposition. Winning a nuclear war is mostly a matter of not taking as much damage as the enemy, rather than making any kind of decisive strike. Although I tend to adhere to the theories of Hermann Kahn, who theorized that a nuclear war could be considered winnable on those terms, assuming the nations involved made preparations for a proper recovery. Many people confuse that with his saying that nuclear war was a good or desirable thing, which was NOT true.
–M
Wait..SECOND World War? Just when did the timelines diverge here..?
Read comments above for details.
There’s also been some explication of the subject in the comments accompanying Chapter 1, I think, though I can’t seem to locate the just at the moment.
I’m glad, however, that you got the main idea, which is that he’s saying “Second World War” with the same force that we say “Third World War,” that is “Totally Destructive Unstoppable Global Storm Of Burning Ka-Ka.” Which is what they think a second Great War would be, their only experience with world war having been a decade-long trench war that killed well over twenty million soldiers.
–M
I suggest we try to collect all those pieces of information in one place – maybe a overhaul of the “The World of 6-Commando”-page.
If you feel ambitious, you could make it a small pictured editorial, like the ones we can find in history books.
If I can secure sufficient interest, funding, space, etc., it will be in the 6- Commando deluxe edition when the first print instalment comes out. I’m “info discussions” (read: trying to figure out how to get it done) even as we speak. So if you want to see all this good stuff in the book, spread the word!
–M