Difference between revisions of "The Naked and the Dead"

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(Undo edit by Kvenom (Talk) (3855545) This is speculation, it's only implied that it might be for bad purposes but it's not enough to definitively say so)
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{{stub|''Requires transcript for the rest of the comic+short synopsis. Only [[User:Archrelico|some people]] are working on this currently.''}}
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{{Comic infobox
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| preview        = TheNakedandtheDead001.png
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{{Infobox comics
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| release-date    = January 10th, 2017
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  | preview        = TheNakedandtheDead001.png
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| number-of-pages = 274
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  | release-date    = January 10th, 2017
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| artist          = [[Heather Campbell|Heather "makani" Campbell]]
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  | number-of-pages = 274
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| writer          = [[Jay Pinkerton]] & [[Erik Wolpaw]]
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  | artist          = Heather "[http://makani.deviantart.com/ makani]" Campbell
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| colorist        = [[Maren Marmulla|Maren "rennerei" Marmulla]]
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  | writer          = Jay Pinkerton & Erik Wolpaw
 
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  | colorist        = Maren Marmulla
 
 
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}}
  
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==Synopsis==
 
==Synopsis==
−
The comic begins with [[Miss Pauling]]'s hallucination, while she is bleeding out and unconscious after the attack of the [[Team Fortress Classic|Classic Team's]] leech robots. She wakes up in a desert with a disembodied door before her, which she enters. Behind this door is the [[Administrator]]'s control room. After a brief exchange, Miss Pauling admits her failure to obtain the final stash of [[Australium]] to the Administrator, and questions the Administrator about what she truly wants; however, Miss Pauling is revived abruptly by the [[Medic]], who saves her by placing the blood drained from the robots back in her body, and then proceeds to revive [[Soldier]] in a similar manner. When Miss Pauling questions Medic on how he managed it, [[Demoman]] is seen fighting and destroying the rest of the robots, and the Medic responds that the robots have been poisoned and weakened by the high alcoholic-content of Demoman's blood. In Demoman's own hallucination, his liver is revealed to be functional again, while the rest of the body tries to distill its own alcohol.
+
The comic begins with [[Miss Pauling]] hallucinating while she is bleeding out and unconscious after the attack of the [[Team Fortress Classic|Classic Team's]] leech robots. She wakes up in a desert with a disembodied door before her, which she enters. Behind this door is the [[Administrator]]'s control room. After a brief exchange, Miss Pauling admits her failure to obtain the final stash of [[Australium]] to the Administrator, and questions the Administrator about what she truly wants; however, Miss Pauling is revived abruptly by the [[Medic]], who saves her by placing the blood drained from the robots back in her body, and then proceeds to revive [[Soldier]] in a similar manner. When Miss Pauling questions Medic on how he managed it, [[Demoman]] is seen fighting and destroying the rest of the robots, and the Medic responds that the robots have been poisoned and weakened by the high alcoholic content of Demoman's blood. In Demoman's own hallucination, he has successfully reassigned his body's organs to distill its own alcohol out of his vital fluids, and even his liver returns to reconcile.
  
 
Meanwhile, the Classic Mercenaries confront [[Heavy Weapons Guy (Classic)|TFC Heavy]] about how they will receive their payment after he killed [[Non-player characters#Gray Mann|Gray Mann]]. TFC Heavy angrily persuades them that the Life-Extender device was worth going without pay, but the [[Engineer (Classic)|TFC Engineer]] is reluctant to agree. Frustrated, TFC Heavy commands the TFC Engineer to reactivate the rest of Gray's [[Robots]] to kill the current mercenaries, and he complies.
 
Meanwhile, the Classic Mercenaries confront [[Heavy Weapons Guy (Classic)|TFC Heavy]] about how they will receive their payment after he killed [[Non-player characters#Gray Mann|Gray Mann]]. TFC Heavy angrily persuades them that the Life-Extender device was worth going without pay, but the [[Engineer (Classic)|TFC Engineer]] is reluctant to agree. Frustrated, TFC Heavy commands the TFC Engineer to reactivate the rest of Gray's [[Robots]] to kill the current mercenaries, and he complies.
  
−
The comic cuts back to the original group, with [[Scout]] and [[Heavy]] parachuting down to Miss Pauling. As Scout hugs Pauling, Medic reveals that she should no longer be hugged as the action squeezes some of the replaced blood out of her eyes. Heavy greets his sister Zhanna, but is surprised that she had lost a hand, and then gets annoyed at the realization that she had become engaged with Soldier, and they plan to have children. Scout reveals to Pauling about the discovery of the Australium being stolen, and that [[Saxton Hale]] and his partner [[Non-player characters#Maggie|Maggie]] were on the island as well, presumably having jumped off the plane at the same time as him and Heavy. However, they are rudely interrupted upon turning around, a hoard of reactivated Gray Mann robots approaching and Saxton Hale and Maggie nowhere to be seen.
+
The comic cuts back to the original group, with [[Scout]] and [[Heavy]] parachuting down to Miss Pauling. As Scout hugs Pauling, Medic reveals that she should no longer be hugged as the action squeezes some of the replaced blood out of her eyes. Heavy greets his sister Zhanna, but is surprised that she had lost a hand, and then gets annoyed at the realization that she is engaged to Soldier, and they plan to have children. Scout reveals to Pauling about the discovery of the Australium being stolen, and that [[Saxton Hale]] and his partner [[Non-player characters#Maggie|Maggie]] were on the island as well, presumably having jumped off the plane at the same time as him and Heavy. However, upon turning around, they are rudely interrupted by a hoard of reactivated Gray Mann robots approaching and Saxton Hale and Maggie nowhere to be seen.
 +
 
 +
The comic cuts to Saxton Hale and Maggie in Hale's plane, too engrossed with reminiscing over their past adventures to follow Scout and Heavy, who had jumped off an hour ago. After their pilot [[Non-player characters#Jerry|Jerry]] notifies them that they are out of fuel, Hale and Mags drop [[Mann Co.]] ammunition and weapon crates to the mercenaries below, before jumping from the plane (along with Jerry) to aid them in fighting the robots. Unfortunately, [[Sniper (Classic)|TFC Sniper]] is watching the battle and preparing to shoot Heavy, before a knock at the door from the TFC Engineer distracts him. TFC Engineer claims that TFC Heavy has ordered him to pull back, while outside, [[Sniper]] is standing outside the door and ready to ambush his TFC counterpart. However, TFC Sniper shoots TFC Engineer in the knee, revealing him to be the [[Spy]] in [[disguise]]. In the following conversation, he tells how the TFC Engineer had replaced his original eyeballs with mechanical ones that saw past the disguise. Sniper runs to another room and breaks the window to escape, losing his remaining clothing in the process, and climbs around the building's exterior naked, while the Spy distracts TFC Sniper by asking him for a cigarette as a final request. This buys enough time for Sniper to enter a window, take TFC Sniper's rifle, and kill TFC Sniper with a [[headshot]] without any hesitation. Spy and Sniper share a moment to [[Sniper vs. Spy Update|mock each other over their shared rivalry]].
 +
 
 +
Back at the battleground, Demoman takes cover while Medic stitches up a wound in his leg. It is revealed that Demoman has a cursed eye socket which causes any replacement eye the Medic gives him to mutate on [[Halloween]] night, attacking the team in [[MONOCULUS|various ways]]. To prevent Demoman from questioning him, Medic also reveals that he had removed the part of Demoman's brain which remembers the events. After promptly forgetting the recent events, Demoman walks away, giving TFC Heavy an opportunity to threaten Medic into placing the Life-Extender device into him. Medic instead attacks him with his [[Ubersaw]], but fails to kill him. Heavy attempts to save Medic, but TFC Heavy shoots Medic fatally with a Pistol. Enraged, Heavy attacks him.
  
−
The comic cuts to Saxton Hale and Maggie in Hale's plane, who were too engrossed with talking to follow Scout and Heavy, who had jumped off an hour ago. After their pilot [[Non-player characters#Jerry|Jerry]] notifies them that they were out of fuel, Hale and Mags drop [[Mann Co.]] ammunition and weapon crates to the mercenaries below, before jumping from the plane (along with Jerry) to aid them in fighting the robots. Unfortunately, [[Sniper (Classic)|TFC Sniper]] is watching the battle and preparing to shoot Heavy, before a knock at the door from [[Spy]] disguised as TFC Engineer distracts him, in an attempt to bait him into being ambushed by [[Sniper]], who was standing outside the door. Due to TFC Sniper's mechanical eyes, Spy's disguise fails to trick him, and TFC Sniper shoots Spy in the knee. Sniper runs to another room, breaks the window and tries to climb round the building to surprise TFC Sniper. The Spy distracts TFC Sniper by asking him for a cigarette as a final request, which buys enough time for Sniper to enter a window, take TFC Sniper's rifle, and kill TFC Sniper with a [[headshot]] without any hesitance.
+
The comic moves to [[Soldier (Classic)|TFC Soldier]] and [[Scout (Classic)|TFC Scout]] in a weapons storage room, discussing the present nature of events. TFC Scout points out the futility of the situation, noting that TFC Heavy has gone insane, they are losing the battle, and the money they have accumulated has not bought them happiness. TFC Scout reminds TFC Soldier of the dream they shared to own an orphanage, but soon discovers they have been somehow coated in gasoline as the Pyro reveals their presence.
  
−
Back at the battleground, Demoman takes cover while Medic stitches up a wound in his leg. It is revealed that Demoman has a cursed eye socket which causes any replacement eye the Medic gives him to mutate on [[Halloween]] night, attacking the team in [[MONOCULUS|various ways]]. To prevent Demoman from questioning him, Medic also reveals that he had removed part of Demoman's brain which remembers the events. After promptly forgetting the recent events, Demoman walks away, giving TFC heavy an opportunity to threaten Medic into placing the Life-Extender device into him. Medic instead attacks him with his [[Ubersaw]], but fails to kill him. Heavy attempts to save Medic, but TFC Heavy shoots Medic fatally with a Pistol. Enraged, Heavy attacks him.
+
Outside, Scout and Ms. Pauling fight off robots, noting the absence of Spy and Pyro, until the loud explosion behind them from Pyro's attack indicates otherwise. They subsequently notice Soldier and Zhanna, who have inexplicably stripped down and covered themselves with honey to fight the robots, prompting Scout to retreat to somewhere "less naked". Saxton Hale and Maggie likewise fight off robots, albeit with their clothes on.
  
−
The comic moves to [[Soldier (Classic)|TFC Soldier]] and [[Scout (Classic)|TFC Scout]] in a weapons storage room, who are presumably killed by [[Pyro]] as seen by the giant fire in the background.
+
The comic cuts to a more violent side as Heavy, in a burst of outrage, starts brutally beating TFC Heavy, despite TFC Heavy's efforts to negotiate his way through. As Heavy starts to finish the job and states that he doesn't care if he has an immortality machine; TFC Heavy killed his friend, the Medic. TFC Heavy suddenly recovers, revealing that he simply pushed the immortality machine into his body, which was apparently enough for it to work.  
  
−
Then the comic moves to Scout moving to a "less naked fighting place" while Pauline just gawks in awe as Zhanna and Soldier fight while nude and covered in Honey. Saxton and Maggie follow suit, just with clothes on and only using fists.  
+
The comic takes a shift as Sniper and Spy come across some dead Spy-bots. Spy remarks on Sniper's nudity, but refuses to lend Sniper his expensive suit, and both come across a tragic discovery: Scout is close to death. Comforting Scout, Spy disguises himself as [[Non-player characters#Tom Jones|Tom Jones]] and gives Scout his dream passing with a story of Tom Jones being Scout's proud but [[Storyline#The Scout's parentage|secret father]].
  
−
The comic turns to the more violent side as Heavy, in a burst of outrage starts brutally beating TFC Heavy, despite TFC heavy's efforts to negotiate his way through. As Heavy starts to finish the job and states that he doesn't care if he has an immortality machine, TFC heavy killed his friend and pal Medic. TFC Heavy then inserts the Australium machine into his body giving him some power, enough to start brutally beating Heavy to the ground.  
+
The comic cuts to black and comes back to Scout, who is now in Heaven. God (or at least Scout's hallucination of him) begins to lavish praises on Scout, but after hearing that not every woman has slept with Scout (as he was supposed to be God's gift to them) decides to destroy all of humanity until Scout talks him into an alternative - to send him back to the world of the living until his time comes (after assuring Scout that Tom Jones is his father). In reality, Sniper and Spy discuss what to do with Scout's body, but discover that Scout has revived, much to Sniper's reassurance and Spy's horrified disgust.  
  
−
The comic takes a shift as Sniper and Spy come across some dead spy-bots. Sniper asks about Spy's suit, and both come across a drastic discovery: Scout is close to death. Not knowing what to do, Spy disguises himself as Tom Jones and gives Scout his dream passing. Spy reveals that he is in fact Scout's father, and he tried to avoid Scout for 27 years, and he regrets that entirely. He is finally overall proud of what he believes scout had become as he passed.
+
Zhanna and Soldier prepare for another wave of robots. Soldier asks Zhanna for another jar of honey, but to their surprise, there is none. Instead, Zhanna finds gasoline and both of them consider lighting themselves on fire whilst fight the mass. This is cut short as Miss Pauling's phone starts to ring and Zhanna lifts her from underneath a pile of robot corpses. The person on the other end of the line is [[Engineer]], whom states that he is with the Administrator and he asks for what's left of the Australium, to which Miss Pauling says there is none. She requests to talk to the Administrator, but Engineer explains that the Administrator has died and puts down the phone, promising to ask the Administrator to call back. Zhanna approaches Ms. Pauling to ask her who she was talking to, and Ms. Pauling admits the truth of the matter: she was talking with her boss over something her boss had planned for her whole life, but Ms. Pauling has "screwed it all up". Zhanna reassures her that the team will help, finally acknowledging Ms. Pauling as a part of the team and apologizes for the suspicion she regarded Ms. Pauling with. However, Zhanna warns Ms. Pauling to stay away from Soldier, who has been listening in and joins Zhanna in insinuating that Ms. Pauling was taking advantage of Soldier's nudity. Angry, Ms. Pauling is about to complain until she realizes that Sniper, still naked, has walked onto the scene, with Spy supporting Scout.
−
The comic cuts to black and comes back to Scout, who is now in heaven. God (or at least Scout's interpretation of him) says that he didn't create scout to live just so he would blow off all the time and not bang a girl, in which Scout comes back to reality and Spy gets scout off his feet and over to Medic so that he can heal scout. Begrudgingly.  
 
  
 +
As TFC Heavy continues to beat up Heavy, Medic's soul is in Hell, having signed a contract with the Devil years prior. The Devil prepares to send Medic to Hell for eternity as per the terms of the contract, but Medic points out a clause written into it: he can only go to Hell if the Devil owns a majority of his soul, and reveals that he had additional souls surgically grafted into himself, leaving the Devil with no claim. Medic negotiates with the Devil, asking to be allowed to return to Earth for an amount of time, enough for the Devil to claim his other eight souls. The Devil eventually agrees, and lets Medic trade one of his souls for the Devil's pen.
  
 +
In the realm of the living, TFC Heavy prepares to kill Heavy, but is distracted by the Medic, who has revived and is holding the Devil's modified pen. Medic claims that the pen has been modified to instantly induce labor in the TFC Heavy, and cause the baboon fetuses developing inside the surgically grafted uterus to fully mature, tearing TFC Heavy apart from the inside. Stunned, TFC Heavy calls Medic's bluff, which Medic confirms - the entire exchange was a distraction for Heavy to rip out the immortality machine from TFC Heavy's abdomen, killing him. Heavy and Medic reunite. Medic reveals that while the pen was a fake, he has the actual device in his medical kit, which he then activates.
 +
 +
As the last of the robots are destroyed, Ms. Pauling despairs over the destroyed immortality machine, realizing that all possible sources of Australium on Earth have now been lost. In his dying moments, TFC Heavy expresses his bewilderment that his team lost, given the superiority of the Classic mercenaries. Ms. Pauling admits that she has no idea, but boldly declares that it doesn't matter: her team was victorious. Scowling, TFC Heavy dies, and Spy and Ms. Pauling share a moment over her giving a speech to a dying man before he passed away.
 +
 +
Elsewhere, the Administrator's immortality machine jumpstarts, reviving her. Engineer reveals that she was dead for four hours before she was revived again, and confirms that besides the small vial of Australium he's holding on for her, all global supplies of Australium have been exhausted. In denial and frustration, the Administrator punches the glass window, before calming down and asking Engineer to escort her to her private room. Handing her the vial, Engineer points out that she could still live for six months on her current supply, at which the Administrator brings up her vendetta. Engineer asks about her "old debt", pointing out that he'd never asked her in the long time his family had worked for her, and expresses his sympathy that the Administrator did not get to settle her debt before death, suggesting that she let go.
 +
 +
The Administrator acknowledges that she has been carrying her "debt" for a long time, since she was a child - and now she is nearing the end of her life, she has decided to end everything while "looking her best". The remark causes Engineer to realize that the Administrator has consumed all of the Australium to restore her age to that of a young woman; horrified, the Engineer exclaims that the Administrator's reckless usage has left her with only an hour to live at best. With her eyes glowing from the effect of the element, the Administrator claims that she has more than enough time left, and promises to "end this, once and for all".
  
 
{{clr}}
 
{{clr}}
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
−
<small>Due to the length of this comic, a transcript is necessary. The transcript has been sectioned into smaller story events for convenience.</small>
+
{{/Transcript}}
−
{| class="wikitable collapsi
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 +
== Pages ==
 +
{{/Gallery}}
 +
 
 +
== Notes ==
 +
* As of the end of this comic, the [[Engineer (Classic)|TFC Engineer]] and the [[Medic (Classic)|TFC Medic]] are the only Team Fortress Classic mercenaries who are not shown to be killed. Although the [[Spy]] had disguised himself as the TFC Engineer during his attempt to distract the [[Sniper (Classic)|TFC Sniper]], it is unknown whether the actual TFC Engineer was killed beforehand. The TFC Medic remains mysteriously absent from the comics.
 +
 
 +
;Continuity
 +
* In this comic, Gray Mann's [[Life Extender Machine]] is depicted as mostly intact with Australium (until the Australium in is depleted by the TFC Heavy); but, on [[:File:Oldwounds19.jpg|page 19]] of [[Old Wounds]], the TFC Heavy pulled out the vial of Australium, possibly destroying the rest of the device.
 +
 
 +
; Name reveals
 +
* Parts of two classes' names are mentioned for the first time:
 +
** The Spy calls the [[Scout]] "Jeremy" while he is disguised as [[Non-player characters#Tom Jones|Tom Jones]].
 +
** The "Devil" addresses the [[Medic]] as Mr. Ludwig, a common German name.
 +
 
 +
; Cover
 +
* On the cover page, [[Non-playable characters#Barnabus Hale|Barnabus Hale]] is depicted without his mustache.
 +
 
 +
; Page 51
 +
* Of the unnamed mercenaries that Saxton Hale supposes are illiterate ([[The Contract]], [[:File:Thecontract11.jpg|Page 11]]), the Scout is the one most commonly having trouble with reading.
 +
* The scene in which [[Saxton Hale]] jumps out of his plane with [[Non-playable characters#Jerry|Jerry]] clinging onto [[Non-playable characters#Maggie|Maggie]] and screaming on the way down is a replay of the gag on [[:File:RingofFired07.png|Page 7]] of [[Ring of Fired]].
 +
 
 +
; Page 74
 +
* Despite the TFC Sniper claiming that his eyes can see through everything (even his own eyelids), he was unable to see the Sniper hiding and running around outside the room.
 +
 
 +
; Page 80
 +
* The Sniper is seen picking up his default [[Sniper Rifle]] from where the TFC Sniper was previously sitting, despite the TFC Sniper using a different Sniper Rifle (a jet-black one with a blue lens).
 +
 
 +
; Page 91
 +
* [[:File:TheNakedandtheDead091.png|"My Friend, I have given you your eye back at least eight times."]] ''Team Fortress 2'' had celebrated eight [[Halloween event]]s by the publication of this issue.
 +
 
 +
; Page 93
 +
* [[:File:TheNakedandtheDead093.png|"In my medical opinion ... that eye socket is Haunted."]] See [[Bombinomicon (comic)|Cautionary Tales of Reading]].
 +
 
 +
; Page 125
 +
* [[Soldier (Classic)|TFC Soldier]] calls [[Scout (Classic)|TFC Scout]] Greg. In the previous comic, the TFC Demoman gave expression to fear when Medic claimed to had put three baboon uteruses in Greg ([[A Cold Day in Hell]], [[:File:Acolddayinhell71.jpg|page 71]]), which indicates his name is Greg as well.
 +
 
 +
; Page 256
 +
* Zhanna is wearing the necklace made of ears. One of the ears is seemingly from a [[Robots|Robot]].
 +
* The Medic is cradling a bandana-wearing baby baboon in the background, suggesting another successful procedure of his induction of the baboon uteri the implanted in the Classic mercs (A Cold Day in Hell, [[:File:Acolddayinhell71.jpg|page 71]]) and the fate of the bandana-wearing [[Heavy Weapons Guy (Classic)|TFC Heavy]].
 +
 
 +
== Trivia ==
 +
; Cover
 +
* The comic's title is a reference to the [[w:The Naked and the Dead|1948 World War II novel by Norman Mailer of the same name]].
 +
* The cover page for this comic is based on the cover of the Marvel Comic Book Uncanny X-men #136
 +
* The background showcases nearly every notable character who has made an appearance in ''Team Fortress 2'' comics and media, excluding certain characters such as [[Non-playable characters#Francis the Talking France|Francis the Talking France]].
 +
** There is a lamp wearing a [[Magistrate's Mullet]] on the left side, above the [[Heavy Robot]]. This is a reference to [[:File:Unhappyreturns22.jpg|Page 22]] of [[Unhappy Returns]], where the Scout mentions that he once had a lamp for a public defender.
 +
** Notably, the cover showcases a bearded Engineer as he appears in this issue (to the right of the [[Administrator]]), but also showcases another clean-shaven Engineer as he appears in-game (to the left of the [[Director]]).
 +
** The Administrator is depicted, but [[Zepheniah Mann]]'s maidservant [[Elizabeth]], and the woman who approached [[Radigan Conagher]] in ''[[Loose Canon]]'', are not.
 +
 
 +
; Page 51
 +
* The [[SMG|Submachine gun]] is an unused weapon for the Scout.
 +
 
 +
; Page 88
 +
* The Demoman is seen drinking from a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, however, hydrogen peroxide is only safe to consume if highly diluted with water (3% per bottle) and in small amounts, as it can induce vomiting and foaming in the stomach.
 +
 
 +
; Page 155
 +
* The Spy mentions that his jacket is made by a brand named ''Louis Crabbemarché''.
 +
** "Louis" is a reference to the French designer brand [[w:Louis Vuitton|Louis Vuitton]].
 +
** ''Crab<s>b</s>emarché'' translates to "crab market", but removing the second ''b'' and the [[W:Acute accent|accent aigu]] from the ending ''e'', the French words ''crabe marche'' literally translate to "crab walking", a reference to the [[Fads#Spycrab|Spycrab]] fad.
 +
 
 +
; Pages 161 through 172 and 183 
 +
* Here are scenes that support the running gag and [[Storyline#The Scout's parentage|theory of the Spy being the Scout's biological father]].
 +
** The Spy performs a genuine act of kindness by disguising as Tom Jones (the Scout's idol of sorts) and allowing the Scout to "pass on peacefully". He even mentions the Scout's real name for the first time, and calls him "son" before Scout loses consciousness.
 +
** When the Scout boasts that his father is Tom Jones, his personification of "God" interrupts his own sentence before unconvincingly correcting himself, hiding the true identity of the Scout's father.
 +
 
 +
== See also ==
 +
* [[Comics]]
 +
* [[Storyline]]
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* [[Non-player characters]]
 +
 
 +
== External links ==
 +
* [http://www.teamfortress.com/tf06_thenakedandthedead/ ''The Naked and the Dead''] on the [[TF2 Official Website]].
 +
 
 +
{{Comics nav}}
 +
[[Category:Comics]]

Latest revision as of 14:50, 12 November 2024

The Naked and the Dead
TheNakedandtheDead001.png
Comic Strip Info
Released: January 10th, 2017
Number of pages: 274
Artist: Heather "makani" Campbell
Writer: Jay Pinkerton & Erik Wolpaw
Colorist: Maren "rennerei" Marmulla

The Naked and the Dead (also known as Team Fortress Comics #6) is a comic released on January 10th, 2017. It is the penultimate issue of a seven-part comic series, picking up where Old Wounds left off.

Synopsis

The comic begins with Miss Pauling hallucinating while she is bleeding out and unconscious after the attack of the Classic Team's leech robots. She wakes up in a desert with a disembodied door before her, which she enters. Behind this door is the Administrator's control room. After a brief exchange, Miss Pauling admits her failure to obtain the final stash of Australium to the Administrator, and questions the Administrator about what she truly wants; however, Miss Pauling is revived abruptly by the Medic, who saves her by placing the blood drained from the robots back in her body, and then proceeds to revive Soldier in a similar manner. When Miss Pauling questions Medic on how he managed it, Demoman is seen fighting and destroying the rest of the robots, and the Medic responds that the robots have been poisoned and weakened by the high alcoholic content of Demoman's blood. In Demoman's own hallucination, he has successfully reassigned his body's organs to distill its own alcohol out of his vital fluids, and even his liver returns to reconcile.

Meanwhile, the Classic Mercenaries confront TFC Heavy about how they will receive their payment after he killed Gray Mann. TFC Heavy angrily persuades them that the Life-Extender device was worth going without pay, but the TFC Engineer is reluctant to agree. Frustrated, TFC Heavy commands the TFC Engineer to reactivate the rest of Gray's Robots to kill the current mercenaries, and he complies.

The comic cuts back to the original group, with Scout and Heavy parachuting down to Miss Pauling. As Scout hugs Pauling, Medic reveals that she should no longer be hugged as the action squeezes some of the replaced blood out of her eyes. Heavy greets his sister Zhanna, but is surprised that she had lost a hand, and then gets annoyed at the realization that she is engaged to Soldier, and they plan to have children. Scout reveals to Pauling about the discovery of the Australium being stolen, and that Saxton Hale and his partner Maggie were on the island as well, presumably having jumped off the plane at the same time as him and Heavy. However, upon turning around, they are rudely interrupted by a hoard of reactivated Gray Mann robots approaching and Saxton Hale and Maggie nowhere to be seen.

The comic cuts to Saxton Hale and Maggie in Hale's plane, too engrossed with reminiscing over their past adventures to follow Scout and Heavy, who had jumped off an hour ago. After their pilot Jerry notifies them that they are out of fuel, Hale and Mags drop Mann Co. ammunition and weapon crates to the mercenaries below, before jumping from the plane (along with Jerry) to aid them in fighting the robots. Unfortunately, TFC Sniper is watching the battle and preparing to shoot Heavy, before a knock at the door from the TFC Engineer distracts him. TFC Engineer claims that TFC Heavy has ordered him to pull back, while outside, Sniper is standing outside the door and ready to ambush his TFC counterpart. However, TFC Sniper shoots TFC Engineer in the knee, revealing him to be the Spy in disguise. In the following conversation, he tells how the TFC Engineer had replaced his original eyeballs with mechanical ones that saw past the disguise. Sniper runs to another room and breaks the window to escape, losing his remaining clothing in the process, and climbs around the building's exterior naked, while the Spy distracts TFC Sniper by asking him for a cigarette as a final request. This buys enough time for Sniper to enter a window, take TFC Sniper's rifle, and kill TFC Sniper with a headshot without any hesitation. Spy and Sniper share a moment to mock each other over their shared rivalry.

Back at the battleground, Demoman takes cover while Medic stitches up a wound in his leg. It is revealed that Demoman has a cursed eye socket which causes any replacement eye the Medic gives him to mutate on Halloween night, attacking the team in various ways. To prevent Demoman from questioning him, Medic also reveals that he had removed the part of Demoman's brain which remembers the events. After promptly forgetting the recent events, Demoman walks away, giving TFC Heavy an opportunity to threaten Medic into placing the Life-Extender device into him. Medic instead attacks him with his Ubersaw, but fails to kill him. Heavy attempts to save Medic, but TFC Heavy shoots Medic fatally with a Pistol. Enraged, Heavy attacks him.

The comic moves to TFC Soldier and TFC Scout in a weapons storage room, discussing the present nature of events. TFC Scout points out the futility of the situation, noting that TFC Heavy has gone insane, they are losing the battle, and the money they have accumulated has not bought them happiness. TFC Scout reminds TFC Soldier of the dream they shared to own an orphanage, but soon discovers they have been somehow coated in gasoline as the Pyro reveals their presence.

Outside, Scout and Ms. Pauling fight off robots, noting the absence of Spy and Pyro, until the loud explosion behind them from Pyro's attack indicates otherwise. They subsequently notice Soldier and Zhanna, who have inexplicably stripped down and covered themselves with honey to fight the robots, prompting Scout to retreat to somewhere "less naked". Saxton Hale and Maggie likewise fight off robots, albeit with their clothes on.

The comic cuts to a more violent side as Heavy, in a burst of outrage, starts brutally beating TFC Heavy, despite TFC Heavy's efforts to negotiate his way through. As Heavy starts to finish the job and states that he doesn't care if he has an immortality machine; TFC Heavy killed his friend, the Medic. TFC Heavy suddenly recovers, revealing that he simply pushed the immortality machine into his body, which was apparently enough for it to work.

The comic takes a shift as Sniper and Spy come across some dead Spy-bots. Spy remarks on Sniper's nudity, but refuses to lend Sniper his expensive suit, and both come across a tragic discovery: Scout is close to death. Comforting Scout, Spy disguises himself as Tom Jones and gives Scout his dream passing with a story of Tom Jones being Scout's proud but secret father.

The comic cuts to black and comes back to Scout, who is now in Heaven. God (or at least Scout's hallucination of him) begins to lavish praises on Scout, but after hearing that not every woman has slept with Scout (as he was supposed to be God's gift to them) decides to destroy all of humanity until Scout talks him into an alternative - to send him back to the world of the living until his time comes (after assuring Scout that Tom Jones is his father). In reality, Sniper and Spy discuss what to do with Scout's body, but discover that Scout has revived, much to Sniper's reassurance and Spy's horrified disgust.

Zhanna and Soldier prepare for another wave of robots. Soldier asks Zhanna for another jar of honey, but to their surprise, there is none. Instead, Zhanna finds gasoline and both of them consider lighting themselves on fire whilst fight the mass. This is cut short as Miss Pauling's phone starts to ring and Zhanna lifts her from underneath a pile of robot corpses. The person on the other end of the line is Engineer, whom states that he is with the Administrator and he asks for what's left of the Australium, to which Miss Pauling says there is none. She requests to talk to the Administrator, but Engineer explains that the Administrator has died and puts down the phone, promising to ask the Administrator to call back. Zhanna approaches Ms. Pauling to ask her who she was talking to, and Ms. Pauling admits the truth of the matter: she was talking with her boss over something her boss had planned for her whole life, but Ms. Pauling has "screwed it all up". Zhanna reassures her that the team will help, finally acknowledging Ms. Pauling as a part of the team and apologizes for the suspicion she regarded Ms. Pauling with. However, Zhanna warns Ms. Pauling to stay away from Soldier, who has been listening in and joins Zhanna in insinuating that Ms. Pauling was taking advantage of Soldier's nudity. Angry, Ms. Pauling is about to complain until she realizes that Sniper, still naked, has walked onto the scene, with Spy supporting Scout.

As TFC Heavy continues to beat up Heavy, Medic's soul is in Hell, having signed a contract with the Devil years prior. The Devil prepares to send Medic to Hell for eternity as per the terms of the contract, but Medic points out a clause written into it: he can only go to Hell if the Devil owns a majority of his soul, and reveals that he had additional souls surgically grafted into himself, leaving the Devil with no claim. Medic negotiates with the Devil, asking to be allowed to return to Earth for an amount of time, enough for the Devil to claim his other eight souls. The Devil eventually agrees, and lets Medic trade one of his souls for the Devil's pen.

In the realm of the living, TFC Heavy prepares to kill Heavy, but is distracted by the Medic, who has revived and is holding the Devil's modified pen. Medic claims that the pen has been modified to instantly induce labor in the TFC Heavy, and cause the baboon fetuses developing inside the surgically grafted uterus to fully mature, tearing TFC Heavy apart from the inside. Stunned, TFC Heavy calls Medic's bluff, which Medic confirms - the entire exchange was a distraction for Heavy to rip out the immortality machine from TFC Heavy's abdomen, killing him. Heavy and Medic reunite. Medic reveals that while the pen was a fake, he has the actual device in his medical kit, which he then activates.

As the last of the robots are destroyed, Ms. Pauling despairs over the destroyed immortality machine, realizing that all possible sources of Australium on Earth have now been lost. In his dying moments, TFC Heavy expresses his bewilderment that his team lost, given the superiority of the Classic mercenaries. Ms. Pauling admits that she has no idea, but boldly declares that it doesn't matter: her team was victorious. Scowling, TFC Heavy dies, and Spy and Ms. Pauling share a moment over her giving a speech to a dying man before he passed away.

Elsewhere, the Administrator's immortality machine jumpstarts, reviving her. Engineer reveals that she was dead for four hours before she was revived again, and confirms that besides the small vial of Australium he's holding on for her, all global supplies of Australium have been exhausted. In denial and frustration, the Administrator punches the glass window, before calming down and asking Engineer to escort her to her private room. Handing her the vial, Engineer points out that she could still live for six months on her current supply, at which the Administrator brings up her vendetta. Engineer asks about her "old debt", pointing out that he'd never asked her in the long time his family had worked for her, and expresses his sympathy that the Administrator did not get to settle her debt before death, suggesting that she let go.

The Administrator acknowledges that she has been carrying her "debt" for a long time, since she was a child - and now she is nearing the end of her life, she has decided to end everything while "looking her best". The remark causes Engineer to realize that the Administrator has consumed all of the Australium to restore her age to that of a young woman; horrified, the Engineer exclaims that the Administrator's reckless usage has left her with only an hour to live at best. With her eyes glowing from the effect of the element, the Administrator claims that she has more than enough time left, and promises to "end this, once and for all".

Transcript

Due to the length of this comic, a transcript is necessary. The transcript has been sectioned into smaller story events for convenience.

Pages

All pages of the "The Naked and the Dead" comic.

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Notes

  • As of the end of this comic, the TFC Engineer and the TFC Medic are the only Team Fortress Classic mercenaries who are not shown to be killed. Although the Spy had disguised himself as the TFC Engineer during his attempt to distract the TFC Sniper, it is unknown whether the actual TFC Engineer was killed beforehand. The TFC Medic remains mysteriously absent from the comics.
Continuity
  • In this comic, Gray Mann's Life Extender Machine is depicted as mostly intact with Australium (until the Australium in is depleted by the TFC Heavy); but, on page 19 of Old Wounds, the TFC Heavy pulled out the vial of Australium, possibly destroying the rest of the device.
Name reveals
  • Parts of two classes' names are mentioned for the first time:
    • The Spy calls the Scout "Jeremy" while he is disguised as Tom Jones.
    • The "Devil" addresses the Medic as Mr. Ludwig, a common German name.
Cover
  • On the cover page, Barnabus Hale is depicted without his mustache.
Page 51
  • Of the unnamed mercenaries that Saxton Hale supposes are illiterate (The Contract, Page 11), the Scout is the one most commonly having trouble with reading.
  • The scene in which Saxton Hale jumps out of his plane with Jerry clinging onto Maggie and screaming on the way down is a replay of the gag on Page 7 of Ring of Fired.
Page 74
  • Despite the TFC Sniper claiming that his eyes can see through everything (even his own eyelids), he was unable to see the Sniper hiding and running around outside the room.
Page 80
  • The Sniper is seen picking up his default Sniper Rifle from where the TFC Sniper was previously sitting, despite the TFC Sniper using a different Sniper Rifle (a jet-black one with a blue lens).
Page 91
Page 93
Page 125
  • TFC Soldier calls TFC Scout Greg. In the previous comic, the TFC Demoman gave expression to fear when Medic claimed to had put three baboon uteruses in Greg (A Cold Day in Hell, page 71), which indicates his name is Greg as well.
Page 256
  • Zhanna is wearing the necklace made of ears. One of the ears is seemingly from a Robot.
  • The Medic is cradling a bandana-wearing baby baboon in the background, suggesting another successful procedure of his induction of the baboon uteri the implanted in the Classic mercs (A Cold Day in Hell, page 71) and the fate of the bandana-wearing TFC Heavy.

Trivia

Cover
Page 51
Page 88
  • The Demoman is seen drinking from a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, however, hydrogen peroxide is only safe to consume if highly diluted with water (3% per bottle) and in small amounts, as it can induce vomiting and foaming in the stomach.
Page 155
  • The Spy mentions that his jacket is made by a brand named Louis Crabbemarché.
    • "Louis" is a reference to the French designer brand Louis Vuitton.
    • Crabbemarché translates to "crab market", but removing the second b and the accent aigu from the ending e, the French words crabe marche literally translate to "crab walking", a reference to the Spycrab fad.
Pages 161 through 172 and 183
  • Here are scenes that support the running gag and theory of the Spy being the Scout's biological father.
    • The Spy performs a genuine act of kindness by disguising as Tom Jones (the Scout's idol of sorts) and allowing the Scout to "pass on peacefully". He even mentions the Scout's real name for the first time, and calls him "son" before Scout loses consciousness.
    • When the Scout boasts that his father is Tom Jones, his personification of "God" interrupts his own sentence before unconvincingly correcting himself, hiding the true identity of the Scout's father.

See also

External links

Comics
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