Expected

Ozoneocean on Feb. 5, 2006

News:
Heya, well there’s no real news, but it seems I’m being treated to a free concert by the White Stripes, so I thought that was novel enough to put down ^_^
It’s a rather loud open air concert, and even though it’s some way from my house I can hear it just fine -All the doors and windows are open on these warm nights. That’ll get a few complaints in the local papers…

Page description:
These are the fellows Pinky has alerted. Two men riding atop great four legged gun platforms! The platform pilots have been waiting for an attack, but not from something like Pinky’s S.S.V.5. They’ve switched on their spotlights and are sweeping the area. They fully expect just the sight of their machines to be intimidation enough. Pinky watches them from the safety of the shadows in her main angled mirror. She can see that the guns are 20mm autocannons, easily able to rip apart her scout, but she has no viable way out but to attempt to remove the threat. -She can’t go back to the ocean because the Buccaneer would have moved on and she just doesn’t have the fuel anyway. She can’t just bugger of to her rendezvous point because there’s a very good chance they’ll spot her and kill her.

Commentary:
“We were well warned.” that’s a very “W’ heavy sentence!
Originally I felt I’d overdone the lighting a bit, resulting in that early Spielbergian Close Encounters, E.T. kind of effect. Maybe not. I got another chance to show the inside of the S.S.V.5, highlighting the periscope, the angled mirrors, and the red lights underneath them. You see the glass ruler on top of the mirror? That helps to aim the guns and the rockets.

The gun platforms were an interesting design challenge, even though this is virtually the only page they ever appear on! (They have a small role next page). I came up with them when I was idly sketching one day, but it’s not until I finally drew this page that I ever got them to look right again; every time I’d tried to draw these for a picture, they always turned out completely wrong! They’re based on ww2 antiaircraft mountings, usually on ships. The shapes of the guns are a mix of the old 20mm cannons, the square shape of the M2 Browning 50cal, and the harmonica muzzle break from the Lahti 20mm anti tank rifle.
These walking platforms would supposedly find it easier going in the rough, rocky terrain than wheeled vehicles. Four legs are very stable because three legs always find an automatic level. The machine moves by a combination of shifting its balance and then readjusting its legs… It’s a bit too complicated to explain properly, but there movement is far too slow for tactical purposes: they only move to get into a position, not to fight or avoid being shot, or whatever. The gun platforms are set up fore excellent stability and limited movement

Writer's challenge!
We’ve started up a weekly writer’s challenge in the forums. Each week writers try writing a short fanfic based on the characters of a DD comic we choose for that week. The first comic is Two Moons. See the details and entries here. It’s a fun way to practise your writing ^_^

A note:
Go to my main site for the latest work (27th January, 2006). I’m uploading one page a day with commentary and explanations here.