Later than I’d hoped, but here we are once again.  Couldn’t be helped this week, honestly, but I’ll spare everyone the boring excuses and just limit myself to “Thanks, everyone, once again for being so patient!”

And thanks also for the comments last week.  Two in particular I wanted to draw attention to.  First, a comment that the sensibility of this story is sort of like that of the 1950’s; my response: exactly so!  These people really have no idea what they’re getting themselves into, mostly.  Except Major Rucker and Major Bronniford, perhaps.  There was a time in the 1950’s when people considered atom bombs just another kind of conventional weapon, but with a bigger bang.  In the 6-Commando world, they are just as recent an invention, and the level of naiveté about them is the same.  That’s something I have been trying to get across and I’m glad it’s coming through.

And second, from the comic’s sometime Russian interpreter Hilvon, noting that, in this case, the UN is really acting as the aggressor, even though the FSR is, perhaps, the instigator.  That, too, was dead on.  And it encouraged me to push that farther, turning what was originally a squadron of bombers into a huge air flotilla on this page, increasing the sense that this is all a major overreaction, and amplifying how out of control things have gotten: the South Africans, and most of the other atomic powers, one can imagine, are throwing everything they’ve got at their enemies, in hopes of decapitating them, catching their forces on the ground, or any of the other rationalizations one might use to launch this kind of major counteroffensive.  But Captain Dacosta, cutting through the crap, pretty much has it right: that’s it.  It’s too late to stop it now.  So what comes next is anybody’s guess.

I really like this page’s emotional tone – I think it strikes the right balance for me, with Major Rucker, being the seasoned but soft-hearted type, kind of having his momentary freak-out, and his second-in-command having to get him together.  It’s not typically what I would have expected in this kind of story (the officers in war movies always take charge and harden up under stress, but not so Major Rucker).  It followed from his character and worked out pretty well.

So at any rate, there’s the next one.  Moving forward, I’m making a major effort to get back on a clear track this week.  So until then, be well everyone!