WAR! Comic
| WAR! Comic | |
|---|---|
| |
| Comic Strip Info | |
| Released: | December 9, 2009 |
| Number of pages: | 21 |
| Artist: | Michael Oeming |
| “ | It's the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman. It looks like they've become... friends, Administrator.
— Miss Pauling
|
” |
The WAR! Comic is a comic released from December 9, 2009 until December 15, 2009, running along side the WAR! Update. The comic features the Administrator and Miss Pauling in their efforts to break up the friendship between the RED Demoman and the BLU Soldier.
Contents
Synopsis
The story begins with the Administrator watching RED and BLU fight on various maps, when she notices a RED Spy sneaking into the BLU Base (referencing the main storyline of the Meet the Spy short). She then draws attention to Miss Pauling, standing nervously behind her. Miss Pauling explains that while running a background check on the BLU Soldier and RED Demoman, they discovered that the two have become friends after meeting at a Projectile Weapons Expo. This angers the Administrator as it is a betrayal of their trust. She then inquires as to what friends actually do. When Miss Pauling tells her that friends sometimes talk, this worries the Administrator, who fears that the two mercenaries could talk about work and discover they are both working for the same person.
The Administrator decides to take action. She instructs Miss Pauling to call Saxton Hale and have him develop custom weapons for her to use as incentives for each friend to turn on the other. The comic then cuts to Saxton Hale, preparing to jump out of an airplane. The pilot says not to jump, that they're not at a high enough altitude. Hale jumps anyway and crashes through a window into his office, where he is met by his employees, Mr. Bidwell and Mr. Reddy. While eating his breakfast steak, Hale discusses company matters with his associates. Mr. Reddy informs him that TF Industries is on the phone for him. He quickly receives the phone, thinking that it is the Administrator, whom he addresses as 'Helen'. The person on the other end is revealed to be Miss Pauling calling about the weapons. Hale says that he has some incriminating evidence that he could use some more finger prints on, and Miss Pauling accepts.
The comic then cuts to the RED Demoman on his day off. He is at home preparing tea for his mother, who is hassling him about getting more than only three jobs. While the Demoman retorts this by saying he earned $5,000,000 the previous year, his mother scoffs at him for spending rather than saving. They are then interrupted by a knock at the door. The Demoman answers and is greeted by Miss Pauling. The Demoman questions why she’s there and she relays that the Administrator wants him to kill his best friend. After being tempted by some weapons, he is still unable to be persuaded. Miss Pauling leaves the weapons regardless and tells him that the Soldier accepted the offer from his employers.
For the final chapter, the comic cuts to a messenger being sent to the BLU Soldier's apartment. After avoiding being shot twice by a Shotgun and having his neck snapped, the messenger is allowed inside. The Soldier then questions the man for his identity while pointing a Shotgun at him and taking cover behind an upturned table. The messenger then opens his trench coat to reveal a television screen strapped to his body. On the screen is the Administrator, who addresses the Soldier. She gives him two options: her associates drive him to the nearest Gravel Pit where they kill him for gross insubordination, or he kill the Demoman. He rejects both offers, threatening that if he is asked to kill his friend again he will stick his boot so far up the Administrator's ass it will be on the news. The Administrator questions the friendship and plays a video of an image of the Demoman with a clearly synthesized voice-over saying that the Soldier is a bad friend. The Soldier, while put off by this, again states he can't do it as the two have formed a bond. The video plays on, this time with the falsified voice portraying Demoman stating that the Soldier never served in the army, but is in fact a civilian. After briefly showing emotions as if a confided secret has been betrayed, the Soldier expresses outrage at having been accused of being a civilian and accepts the offer. The Administrator is pleased by this and announces that he will be receiving new weapons shortly.
Pages
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Alternate "dirty" Saxton Hale WAR! pages
Page 6.
Page 7.
Page 8.
Page 9.
Page 10.
Trivia
- Page 1
- Several of the TV screen images on this page are views from specific, identifiable cameras on the 2Fort map; for example, a TV screen on the left hand side of the page shows a BLU Scout checking out the camera at the top of the L-Shaft (straight stairs).
- A TV screen on the right hand side of the page shows a dead BLU Scout against the blast door at the top of the Spiral entrance to the Intelligence room at 2Fort. This is reference to the Meet the Spy video short, in which a RED Spy infiltrates the BLU base disguised as a Scout.
- Two screens down from that shows a BLU Soldier, Heavy, Spy (though only his shoulder can be seen) and Scout standing in the Intelligence room of the BLU base. This is again a reference to the Meet the Spy. This shot however does not fit into the timeline, as the four would only arrive in the Intelligence room after the Administrator announces the Spy's presence on Page 2.
- Page 2
- The Administrator calling out "Alert! A RED Spy is in the base!" is also a reference to the intro of the Meet the Spy video. However, in the actual video the Administrator says "Intruder alert! RED Spy is in the base!" There is also a goof in regards to this, as the Administrator says to 'Protect the briefcase!' shortly after. This does not happen in the comic because the Administrator is talking to Miss Pauling.
- Here, as the Administrator is saying, “He’s disguised as the Scout.”, she is looking directly at the video of a dead BLU Scout at the BLU end of the Bridge.
- There is a photo of Zepheniah Mann's Family Portrait on the control panel.
- Page 3
- The pose the Demoman is standing in while crying at the Eye Museum is same pose he stands in on the Gunboats announcement page, but from the opposite side.
- Page 5
- The control panel the Administrator is sitting at loses several dial gauges from the top of the panel to the bottom. It should be noted however, that given the direction Miss Pauling is facing and the lack of chair obscuring the Administrator's back, that they are facing an entirely different control panel.
The picture of the red demoman is the same in meet the Demoman at the end when he blows up the BLU team.
- Page 14
- Bowels can refer either to the abdomen or to the deep inner levels of a place, while forging is the means of shaping and strengthening swords. Therefore, "forged in the bowels of" someplace is a metaphor or trope for the formation of characters or weapons. (example)
- There have been general myths of forged Damascus swords being quenched by thrusting into the bowels of slaves or condemned prisoners.[1]
- In old Britain, beheading was reserved for the execution of nobility, including a few English kings.
- Page 15
- The Demoman receives an additional 3 crates to the one the Eyelander came in, totaling 4. However, the Demoman only received 3 unlockables for the update, so it could be speculated the fourth crate could hold the Gunboats.
- Page 16
- The name on the Soldier's door is Jane Doe, a military term used for an unnamed deceased woman. The name for a deceased male is John Doe.
- Page 18
- A map of Germany can be seen on the left wall, where the Soldier rampaged after the close of World War II in Europe.
See also
References
- ↑ Walter Sullivan The Mystery of Damascus Steel Appears Solved, The New York Times, September 29, 1981, Section C, Page 1.
External links
- WAR! Comic on the TF2 Official Website.
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