Annotated 38-22
Oh, JESUS. Okay, panel by panel…
1: We never found out Baron Splande’s deal beyond “conspiracy against the Houses,” so sure, he could’ve been a whistleblower seeking to expose them. No issues here.
2: Oh, REAL GREAT JOB HERE, JARVIS, keeping Micholuszek and Franzington from “getting out of line” by humiliating them at house-rules chess. Is “not getting out of line” what you call “building a trumpet that aided in a terrorist attack, and building a Hammertank that destroyed several city blocks?” No matter how much fun it is to get John to render Erica’s scenes, this chess game was more like M&F’s supervillain origin that any canny preventative measure.
3. “Ensured there will always be conflict to fuel Gastonia’s fire…” WHAT. WHAT?? WHAT??? NO. GO HOME, JARVIS, YOU’RE DRUNK.
Ardaic tested the group’s diplomatic skills before they left on that mission because he didn’t want war, at least not right then when Harky was at peak strength! The group had just brokered an alliance with the sky elves! There is no scenario in which sending a Syr’Nj-led delegation makes war more likely! And there is also no scenario where diplomats could’ve made Harky more likely to pursue war than he already was, because you can’t get more than 100%.
“All part of our glorious machinations, we engineered this war for the good of Gastonia as we engineer all things” YEAH, REMEMBER YOU SAID THIS IN ABOUT TEN CHAPTERS WHEN AURAUGU IS KICKING YOU IN THE FACE, DICKBURGER
4. WHERE EVEN IS THIS, WHAT IS HAPPENING
Okay, okay, this is about the peace with the wood elves and how that’s benefited Gastonia by encouraging settlements. Which is kind of alright, but (1) it’s a weird allusion to make to Syr’Nj, whom you may recall is a member of the B’ial Vezk “royal family.” “You Peacemakers got those wood elves to join our side! Congratulations on negotiating with that ‘Nj clan. I hear they’re sharp ones.” And (2) this is all presented like a startling series of revelations, as if the Peacemakers didn’t know they were helping the Altruists’ true goals. But this at least was a goal that they quite knowingly accomplished. The only thing they didn’t know was that the Gastonian republic was going to go tits-up into a pentumvirate after they did.
5: As he comes to a break in his speech, Jarvis finally concedes that he and his fellows didn’t know everything that was going to happen when they started the Peacemaker program. Claiming credit for von Carnaj’s design is one bridge too far. If more of his speech had been like this, with the understanding that chaos can rarely be predicted but can still be exploited… well, I would’ve respected him more, and these annotations would’ve been less fun. Wait…oh, my God. He knew these annotations needed to be more fun! All a part of his plan!!!
I think number 1 and 2 are pretty legitimate. Especially considering 2 wasn’t about beating them with the house rules, it was about Frigg convincing them to not get too big for their breeches when they were demanding certain accommodations for that thing they were building. If anything it’s 4 that’s a little odd. For sure they bolstered Gastonia’s population, I guess, but these people brought no resources other than themselves and that event was 100% impossible for the Altruist to have planned, it was the World’s Rebellion that set the whole place ablaze.
That being said: Mods, ban annotationsman, he’s ripping at my comic. Stop attacking my authors, annotationman!
Also I’ve said it before but Waltrip’s range is insane of style is insane. If it weren’t for the annotation I’d still be thinking they were copied from the old pages instead.
I was about to highlight the parts of the annotations that made me laugh. Then realized that it was pretty much all of it. Good one, T!
Seems a lot of people tell you to stop being so critical of your work, but honestly you appear to me to have enough of a humorous distance to it that I’m not really worried.
I also think the criticism you bring forward here is absolutely valid, it just doesn’t break the story and we all still love it!
They planned it all along ALL ALONG!!! What an evil genius!!
Yeah … 4 makes absolutely no sense, at all. Especially given Jarvis’ tone in the last panel, he seems *very* eager to re-interpret the past in whichever way makes him seem smarter, but why would he claim that the peacemakers “supplied” Gastonia with enemies? Even that was true by some accident, what would he hope to achieve by telling Fr’Nj these things, in this tone?
*Cut to Trieze*
…All is according to plan.