Comic for Monday, January 8th
Jan08
Still sick. Feeling somewhat better though, between sick and busy its been meh.
So many words and tired… 🙁 I think I will have some regrets about my scene choice when people find all the mistakes I probably made. Should have shown a scene about a dragon eating someone or someone punching someone instead. 😀
Anyway… we will get back to all that soon enough.
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While we’re noting typos: this comic is labeled as being for *December* 8, not *January* 8.
Hmm. Controlling the narrative….
I’ll take Peter’s….second most likely expected guess, third best scenario….mix the two, and place my bet on that. (Not highest ranked on either, since they haven’t gone exactly as he’s expected, but second and third seem like good odds. ^.^)
The action to dialogue ratio in this comic is so skewed toward the dialogue side that it’s almost completely dialogue. The current practice is quite the opposite in both the mainstream and most of the web groups out there.
And yet, despite this bucking of the current trend, I find myself far more engrossed in this comic than in most of its contemporaries.Especially since the action, when it comes, is always perfectly executed.
Well done, PastUtopia. This is a fantastic story.
Not quite comic, not quite novel… I guess I’ve made a picture book 😀
In all seriousness though… It’s my favorite thing about this that people enjoy reading along; the readers and the commenters have been the driving factor in keeping it going; I started this with only a vague notion of how to write and no notion at all of how to draw, and that so many have put up with me all this way is a ceaseless source of amazment and wellspring of motivation for me that I’m quite thankful for.
Ya’ll are the real heroes. 😉
We like your story telling. We like the twisted, manipulative ways that Peter works over, around, and through belligerent bureaucracies and petty administrators.
We especially like the crutches he has created for himself to work around his weaknesses.
So, sure, without us you would not keep this going, but without you none of us is prepared to keep it going at all!
An interesting direction. Karov has proved to be too indecisive already, but we do not know much about Ricci beyond that he likely belongs to the faction that at very least takes Arron seriously.
Personally I am not sure that Otte is right to start with though. Kally was doing a pretty good job of chewing through Monster Hunters before, and that was when she was likely trying to avoid actually hurting them.
Add in Tyler, Naomi, and few of the Malsan mages, and I think the IDS is seriously underestimating exactly how much firepower can be brought against them.
Not to mention that why Mium seems to take them seriously, he also does not seem to actually have that much trouble beating them if has to. Ila was at a disadvantage against two of them in a close range battle, but if she is able to use her long range attack it would probably be a no contest. She can just pick off their dropships from long range. That said, from all appearances the IDS really do not know about Mium/Ila yet, which is interesting in their own right considering that Atter seemed to acknowledge that he had heard of Mium (right before drastically underestimating him, but at least that he had heard of him), and Nathan seems to not only know that Mium exists, but has at least an inkling what he is.
This means that Nathan’s higher powers are probably not these people, even if he is an IDS Special Agent, Ervon is likely a parallel command structure. He reports to Arron and holds a military rank (the “classified” one), but does not actually seem to report up those chains.
Really though, this conversation seems like a funeral for Biana and Sophie. They already seemed like they were out gunned, and now Ricci is going is probably going to help Arron. Peter’s plan was clearly for Arron to win the IDS power struggle, but… that said, from what we have seen, Peter might be working with Kyle, but is probably not working with Arron in the direct sense.
Situation Containment has the info that there are other forces in Malsa capable of contesting monster hunters, thanks to the engagement with Ila that starts here:
http://pastutopia.com/?comic=comic-for-monday-june-6th
And subsequently discovered Mium’s hacking abilities when they shot Naomi:
http://pastutopia.com/?comic=comic-for-friday-december-2nd
But it seems like David didn’t pass on the relevant information in the debriefing, since they were too focused on blameshifting. As far as Sophie knows, Kally was the only relevant opposition:
http://pastutopia.com/?comic=comic-for-monday-january-2nd
And even if they did know, they definitely wouldn’t pass it on to Karov or Ricci.
Looking at those links makes me feel that a change of naming structure is going to be very sorely needed in a few years when it’s possible that a new comic is on the same day and date as an old comic. (Hence so many comics using the YYYYMMDD format.)
That’d probably be smarter yeah. I honestly have no idea why I name the way I do, besides I guess habit.
You can actually see what happens when they overlap on the next page 😐
I think I just realized something important. Past has said it multiple times, but something in the 1st panel made it kinda cleared it up for me.
They really have no respect for Malsa. Like, almost nothing. This is an interstellar nation watching as a terrestrial nation demands the interstellar leave their “country”
and sends people to secure the businesses to try to show off how clever they are. Biana doesn’t care about how Malsa will react to Skyhammer because it doesn’t matter. They still have all the technology, they still have all the power. What does it matter if the locals are pissed at you? They can’t harm you and they can’t afford to not buy from you. They already think of you as the aggressor and seem to be attacking you, even if it is so far beneath your notice that quite literally don’t care. Kill the one arming them and bam, you’ve won the war before it began.
Is it still reckless and ham-fisted? Yes. Does it make more sense in that regard? Also yes.
Good analysis. I think part of it is they do seem to have some extremely powerful mages, and a few pieces of tech. The other half is they feel insulated from what’s going on. What gets me is Skyhammer was used against a civilian target. At this point, I’d be concerned about someone nuking their position.
Then again, larger country messes around with smaller ones happens in real life all the time.
Biana IS an idiot, and she needs to die, horribly, so that she learns honor is NOT old-fashioned, first hand.
Yeah, Sophie needs to be removed from control of the Monster Hunters too.
Peter, if this was your plan… FRACKING GENIUS!
I do like how even the IDS is doubting that Peter is actually ROGUE. The mostly REDACTED line suggests someone with a LOT of power is at least in part covering for him. And by lot of power, I mean the ability to honestly hide facts from a shit ton of people. Like ALL the Malsan based IDS.
The powerful people hiding facts are likely Peter / Mium / Miko.
I suspect its his Father and his uncle. Send him on a clandestine mission and then secure the information would just be logical.
> I suspect its his Father and his uncle.
You and every character in todays strip. However, what we’ve seen so far seems to indicate that Peter really is Rouge.
It’s not as surprising as you’d think. The Minus Years strips show us that Peter’s goals are to go after those who think they’re above it all. Of course, that doesn’t include him. Then again, by his own admission he’s not a good person.
Either way, Peter is an interesting person, and people are right to be wary of him.
Peter named a tactical weapon “Fluffy” and openly admitted that he took his current job to hunt corrupt officials for sport. The guy doesn’t think he’s above it all; he’s just the sort of person who would go around annoying gods and daring them to smite him for it.
Oh, no, no, no. HE doesn’t go around annoying gods and daring them to smite him. He sets it up so “gods” annoy each other and then goes in to pick up the pieces when it’s all over and done with. He’s very, very good at this, has a lot of experience doing it, and is accustomed to people blowing up the house they think he lives in.
Wait, why is he red?
Sometimes, facts are redacted because they embarrass the powers that be. Some of the redactions in Peter’s files are probably due to him having done something that was “perfectly innocent” or exactly within the scope of his job, which someone who isn’t related to him, isn’t friendly with him, really doesn’t want anyone else to know about.
“The following evening, Peter Kepler broke into the governor’s office with such ease it was as if the office hadn’t been secured, where he had a conversation with the governor.”
That would be embarrassing, though probably not in line with what I’m talking about.
“.. while the governor’s wife was in a six way with the five most influential members of the opposing party.”
Right there, that whole section’s redacted, along with anything that linked Peter to either the governor, the governor’s wife, or a significant portion of the opposing party. Also, without fanfare, Peter gained at least six more contracts on his life. But that never bothered him any…
Of course, exactly what things that would rise to that level actually happened is anyone’s guess. Muim and Peter aren’t talking. They might not even really understand which of the interactions Peter has had with other people would trigger those sorts of hostile redactions. Of course, them being them, they’re aware the redactions happened, and don’t mind them in the least. I just somehow imagine that they have an entirely different idea of what motivated them. Peter might not even be aware that the incriminating portion of the events happened, as they weren’t the aspect of those events he found interesting.
The fact that Peter’s very socially inept makes a strong case for not understanding why people would be hostile to him for walking in on a six-way orgy.
A dragon eating someone in a Santa hat.
We are fresh out of Santa Hats till next Christmas, unfortunately. Am happy to take drawing suggestions for the next vote incentive though… realize the one we have up is… a bit… uh… old. And off season. Though if I leave it much longer it’ll be back in season… 😉