For those of you who don’t know or can’t tell, I have, for the past three years, been aspiring to match the graphic mastery shown by Jim Francis in his comic Outsider, and his style is one from which I freely admit that I draw my greatest inspiration. I do not lie when I say that I envy his skills as a comic artist very deeply. And as a matter of fact, it was Jim’s early advice and technical assistance that got 6-Commando off the ground, so it’s no exaggeration to say that this comic would probably not be were it not for his help and inspiration. Needless to say, then, when he agreed to chip in a page for this guest comic, I was thrilled in a way that a grown man ought not to be. And the result, has left me simply astonished. He’s drawn the most convincing Howlers I’ve ever seen – and that includes my own! If you want to see more of his superb work, jet on over to his website and read Outsider. It’s one of the comics I vote Most In Need Of An Animated Series, and I oughtta know!
Nor have I been idle this week! As has been the habit, you can jet over to vote for 6-Commando to see what the week’s page is – the finally and at-long-last completed opening spread for 6-Commando, Season 1. In yet another coincidence, there are Howlers involved there, as well! Funny the parallels, there. This page took a HUGE effort, so please take a look!
And lastly, many of you know of my deep and abiding interest in games of all kinds, and I happened upon one that really sums up what I love most about them. It’s easy to dismiss games as an idle waste of time, but this one is so artful, the figures such beautiful works of sculpture, the artwork so emotive, and the themes so heartbreaking and human in spite of there not being a human in them at all, that I simply had to draw your attention to it. Games, like comics, can be serious works of art, and this is the proof. The game is This Quar’s War, and depicts a World War I-like milieu on an alien world, being fought by a race called the Quar, who are short, stout, anteater-like creatures who have been at war with themselves for over seven hundred years. It’s so carefully realized and so beautiful in its execution that I could hardly stand it, even just looking at it. It’s fine art in games form. I was amazed, and if you have any interest in those kinds of things, I think you will be, too.
So that’s it from me, for this week. On to the next revision – work work work!
Why are you telling people about Outsider? It’s not on hiatus; it’s a dead site.
Actually its not, the last update was on 14 June, it slow updated but not dead by far. The forums are alive too, and the author stop and post there fairly often.
Huh? It still updates. Albeit not often (about a page a month).
I was going to say…?
–M
Maybe he’s thinking of the outsidercomic.com domain, which is currently not working. However, the comic is still up, and available at http://well-of-souls.com/outsider/.
I’m assuming the FSR left the villagers with a few ‘Advisers’ to operate those SAM launchers, because they seem a little too technical to just leave to a buch of guys who try to cut open a Rumbler with a butane hand-torch.
Seriously though, I can see a mobile SAM battery, along with radar tracking and communications vehicles, presumeably in addition to AAA Guns that were implied before. Those are some very complex hunks of equipment and not the kind of thing you can just roll up to the village with, toss them the keys and tell them ‘Have Fun’.
It’d require the FSR to have people on the ground for a considerable time to train the villagers to operate them, if not have FSR personelle on hand to do it themselves.
Also, I just noticed that in the two Howlers we can see into the cockpits of on the last panel, there is no one in the back seat, which I presume is the Gunner’s seat. Is this an Art-Derp, or is there some kind of automated targeting system that lets the pilot just designate a target on a HUD and the turret just tracks it automatically without needing a gunner?
I can see how this would be useful for reducing crew numbers, but is still not nearly as flexible as having a real gunner in the back seat and would increase the workload on the pilot, who is already doing a very complicated job as it is, especially at low altitudes that the Howlers operate at.
Arguably if the howlers have been sent as first response on a (partially) search and rescue mission, it would make sense to have a spare seat or two.
Kind of a shame to crash in all guns blazing just to say “I’ll call you a taxi” 😉
Also true. I like your rationalization better than mine.
😀
–M
Howler crews are normally two, a pilot and a DSO, or Defensive Systems Operator. However, there is also an onboard computer, called an RTR (Range and Target Rectification) which can operate the turret and feed firing information directly to the pilot’s HUD inside the helmet visor. It’s not the preferred method but it is considered an open option and about a third of Howler missions can be run solo for that reason. If your goal is to reduce personnel exposure, it’s a good option.
–M
Chris’ script specifically mentioned that the back seat of Sarah’s howler is empty. The other howler in the near background does have a gunner in the back seat, though it’s hard to see.
Sarah’s gunner is Milo, the guy who was just getting beat up on a couple of pages ago. She isn’t comfortable working with anyone else.
Cameron, those are not the weapons that you think they are, though Jim did such a good job making them look like real world weapons, I can see why you would think that this is the case. The weapons that the FSR gave the villagers are every bit as fictional as howlers, rumblers, and mechanized combat suits. They may look and act like certain real world weapons but they aren’t operated like them. The me technical aspects of operating the machine are either automated or handled remotely by a member of the FSR who is in a realtime vr battlestation. They can see what the villagers are seeing and assist them without being on site.
To say nothing of the fact that both sides in this universe are a lot less shy about supplying arms to third parties than we and the Soviets were (and are). So well armed mercenaries are right in line with the setting.
–M
Love the comic in general and REALLY love this guest page. I am also a fan of Outsider and agree with you wholeheartedly. I would love to see Outsider made into either an animated or even live action movie. It is EPIC! It is cool to hear how you are related as well.
Indeed so, Outsider has long been a favorite of mine, and Arioch did a superb job on this one!
–M
On the topwebcomics preview: Holy smokes that foliage! GREAT work.
Thanks, man! Even with all the digital tricks is was a very tough slog. I really wish I knew why I set this story in a subtropical jungle/scrubland and not a desert. Deserts are so easy to draw.
–M
Perhaps your next webcomic could be a desert type setting. Here’s an idea for a title – “MarsWarOne”
Wow….Just spent the last few hours reading this from the start after the link was posted on Arioch’s (Jim Francis) forum, and I like! Can’t wait to see the next instalment! 🙂
I’m thrilled that you like it! I’m doubly thrilled that Antioch and I share such a solid readership base, as we seem to do.
–M
Its great 🙂 Arioch’s comic seems to attract a solid reading core to his forum, from there its pretty easy to find good comics, like this one! Only reason I hadn’t started reading sooner was that I just didn’t have time to, but since I’m between terms right now, I’ve got all of this month to myself!
Whoa! This page got knocked out of the ballpark! I’m definitely going to check out OUTSIDER.
Can’t possibly recommend it highly enough! Really excellent comic. Arioch’s modesty forbid, but I aspire to his level of proficiency, and I think my admiration for his style must be pretty evident in my own.
–M
I can see some definite similarities in you’re work, looking back on it there alot more obvious now, I was wondering what seemed so familiar!
After looking at this and the preview of next week, I was thinking that those Howlers have some design deficiencies. It looks like the pilots would have trouble seeing to the side since the intakes for the engines are so far forward, and, what have the gun/missile turret on top? I assume it’s supposed to be a ‘flying tank’, but wouldn’t it be better to have it on the bottom?
I still love the artwork though, and your well thought out alternate universe.
I believe its a flaying hover tank, so it would typically be employed on the ground hence the gun/missile emplacement on top. As for the air intakes on the side, I assume that there’s a HUD system of some kind in the cockpit that lets you see what’s on the other side of the intake, or something like that any way.
😀 “FLAYING Hover Tank 😀 (yeah, I know it’s just a typo)
Good explanation though. I did think of a HUD, but pilots still like to use the Mark 1 eyeball. 😉
Yes, the HUD is one a screen inside the helmet, actually. But yes, Howler pilots do still like to “flip up.” Actually, interesting point: an old friend of mine, who was trained to fly F-101 Voodoo fighters during the Cold War, has told me that most pilots and air war planners dismiss the idea that manned aircraft can ever be totally eclipsed, since a pilot’s judgement and ability to assess a situation in the air based on small visual and sensory cues is not something that can be replicated by a machine. So they say, anyway. Still I can understand wanting to get “eyes open” on a thing, even with a sophisticated computer close at hand. Very often, I print and sketch drawings by hand for my architectural work, since the CAD workstation I use is always, at best, an approximation. And sometimes a dangerous one at that, since it has with it the shroud of infallibility: “It’s on the computer, it must be accurate.”
Anyway. That was a much wordier way of saying “Yes, a HUD is how it works.”
–M