So, everybody, a little applause, please for Héctor Rodriguez, creator of El Peso Hero, who leaped into the breach, and saved the guest storyline from certain doom! He also did so in a gratifyingly large scale – most of the artists who participated in this stuck to my personal dimensions, but a few, determined to color outside the lines, went their own way, and I really think it’s cool to see 6-Commando in such a different perspective! So thanks to Héc for stepping in, and folks, if you want to see a comic that confronts some of the most pressing issues of the day in a very unusual and unexpected way, check out El Peso Hero. With a rough style that matches perfectly the hard-edged world of the U.S.-Mexico border, its inhabitants, and its criminals, Héc takes one of the most unique views of the superhero myth in American culture and applies it to current events in a way that will surprise you. It’s good work and an excellent story! So read on, folks!
And on my end of the bargain, the most recent two-page unit was a real rough time. The jungles… my GOD, the JUNGLES! I know it’s just a visual abstraction of a part of the world where I’ve never been, but jeez, why did I have to choose a place with so much foliage? But anyway, you can see it all now, as before, by casting a little vote.
So that puts us back on track. And now I must rest. But there’s more good stuff coming very soon, so keep tuning in, folks!
Oh, and by the way, to all robot lovers who don’t know yet: Curiosity, the NASA mars rover, made a flawless combined retrothrust cable descent on Mars this morning. Godspeed, little buddy!
Aww, but they should have named him Mike. 😉
… and this is how MIKE became self-aware.
// Genesis
Maybe it is. I wonder if Mike knows what his first sapient thought was. For most of us, it was probably “I will poop now.” Wonder what it was for him.
–M
“Hey sexy momma, wanna kill all humans?”
Mike is like a small kid in a lot of ways… In particular, how he seems to get bigger everytime we see him.
I mean JEEBUS MAN, look at him! His track assemblies have gotta be at least 30 feet high and I’m estimating very roughly 120-150 feet long. Forget him levelling the village in one salvo, he could just drive over it.
Mike gas only recently found his final actual size in my own work. One of these days I’ll draw a full blueprint of him.
–M
Mike is the most advance military combat system. I imagine him like a more realistic “Metal Gear”. I really wanted to portray the overwhelming show of humanitarian support. I had a lot of fun drawing these panels. I hope you guys enjoy!
-HEC
If by ‘Humanitarian Support’ you mean the ability to completely sterilise an area the size of Nebrasca of all life. Good job on Mike though, I think Rumbler is no longer appropriate and think I would call Mike a ‘Titan’ now
I like everyone’s take on Mike so far. He’s just a badass, no matter how you slice it. But he still has a tiny concealed robot hand for patting kittens. Oh, his heart of gold.
–M
Every giant murderous robot should be required to pet a kitten at least once a day.
Even on the march to victory there is time to pet a kitten!
=> http://i.eatliver.com/2007/2284.jpg
Possibly a more litteral ‘heart of gold’ or rather a central nervous system of gold, since gold is actually used in modern electronics, for its ductile properties and chemacle non-reactivity making it just about indestructable in a chemestry sense, so I imagine their would be a fair ammount used in Mike’s systems.
We learned earlier that MIKEs CPU/brain is a gelled mass of protein wetware. A small part of him is – in fact – in a fashion and in the words of biology: alive.
I remember that part about the Protean wetware, but even if Mike’s brain is at least in part organic, that still leave a lot of conventional electronics making up the rest of his systems.
This is why I call is a central Nervous system of gold. That said, just what kind of power plant is Mike using? I’d call that his heart and if I’d just seen Mike for the first time I’d assume he was shipping around somekind of neuclear reactor for power, but since ATomic weapons are a brand new invention, I’d assume that neuclear power was only just developed too, if not still under development.
I >think< Mr. Average mentioned that MIKE runs with nuclear fuel.
Mike has a nuclear reactor, yes. Technically, it’s called a Integrated Radioisotope Power Coupling, which generates electricity by transducing heat from decaying Uranium isotopes.
Or something.
😀
–M
Mike’s a bloody Bolo! He’ll have problems dealing with standard infantry, humans are just to small. Howlers gotta be a pain to pilot with no vertical stablizers.
Was that a shot or an internal explosion. [url]http://www.viciousprint.com/6commando/?p=1008[/url] given this I wouldn’t be to surprised if this was an intentional flight problem. “As they say want something done right do it yourself.”
Yes, Mike is not to be trifled with.
And yes, he does take a great deal of inspiration from Laumer’s BOLO’s.
–M
Gold is also a very conductor of electrons, the reason copper gets used more is that its cheaper
Not cheaper any more. Nowadays we use aluminum more often than not. Only problem is it’s temperature has to be modulated to make it conduct. Too bad we can’t use gold. Or platinum.
–M
I think Mike probably does have a lot of gold in him, because I get the feeling that money was no object when the Rumblers were designed and built
Another reason gold isn’t used beyond a plating layer is that it is too ductile to stand up to vibrational stresses well. Its too flexible and leads to connector shape changes if not plated on a base metal like brass. Copper is still cheaper than gold or silver. One problem with aluminum is that it is too efficient at ducting heat which makes it a real pain to join with solders. Aluminum also oxidizes like mad.
A nuclear sub costs about 2.5-3 billion. Considering the size and weaponry of a Rumbler. I estimate about 3-5 billion per unit.
That’s about right. Note, however, that it’s Canadian dollars we’re talking about, though, which is the primary reserve currency if the UNA. In US dollars it would be about 2.5 billion for an Echo class Rumbler, or about 6 billion Mexican pesos.
–M
Joe Kubert has passed away…
Yeah, I just saw that. He was the last of the greats. It’s the end of an era.
–M