Annotated 48-17
They look like arms, but they’re more like extra legs!
It might’ve been interesting to explore a bit more of Bandit’s headspace at this exact point. She’s obviously anti-Taro, but is she pro-Rebellion? She may not even know that her old allies are among the Rebels at this point (depends on what Sundar told her, probably). Bringing Taro down is a moral imperative no matter what, and she definitely doesn’t want fellow combatants killed, but I wonder how much her heart goes out to them specifically and how much of her upset is just the moral principle of the thing—the perversion of gnomish science. That is the issue that she made herself an exile for, once upon a time.
FB, from the Trump (and Kim-Jong Un) era: You know, when we introduced him years ago and developed him back in Chapter 14, this manchild with access to doomsday weapons of ever-increasing range was just a bit of fun escapism. Maybe we should’ve gone with a more honorable, samurai-type villain, or some kind of talking marmoset.
I’m just seeing a black rectangle, no comic. And the ‘next’ from yesterday’s comic goes to the very first page of the comic.
With all the killing and stuff, the comic just got very dark.
Oh, you guys.
Should be fixed now.
Talking marmoset would have worked. I could live with that.
When I read this the first time, I completely forgot that Bandit wouldn’t know what’s going on with the peacemakers and the Rebellion. My mind went straight into the “Bandit is a good guy fighting the bad guy” mode and I didn’t question any of it.
Were there any discussions between you and Flo about the motive behind Bandit’s actions, even though they weren’t shown on the page?
Not really! I contributed a little to this arc here and there (I tweaked Taro’s ruminations on his father from the previous page and adjusted some of the subplot’s ending, clarifying who survived and who didn’t in a way that blended with the Sepia-World plot). But most of it was guided by Flo’s instincts about some of her favorite characters, and most of what I did for it was just double-check that everything seemed to make sense. I would have the chance to get back into Bandit’s head in Chapter 50, but not here.
ALmost surprised that Taro allowed himself to be convinced of minimally reducing the collateral damage.
This is why I’m always a bit puzzled when good and noble people (TM) quit positions of influence in an indignant huff when their boss proves himself to be a dangerous, immoral clown with an agenda. Sure, good stuff letting us know that you righteously condemn his actions and wash your hands and clothes free of that taint… but now your position has been filled by a little sycophant who will actually encourage and aid boss man to his worst. I don’t see how your consciousness purity has helped anybody at all but yourself.
If Franzington and Micholuszek actually refused to work for Taro, he wouldn’t have replacements. That’s assuming they couldn’t ambush him and physically overcome him; it’s also assuming that he would somehow be able to shoot both of them before either of them could get the gun away from him, if they tried.
So this is a very bad example for your point; the only reason they’re there chattering “my liege, the collateral damage” is their lack of moral fiber, not presence of it.
Not trying to say that those two had a moral fiber of any kind. Still, their self-serving lack of spine managed to save a few lives. If Taro hadn’t managed to press them into his service, I’m sure he’d just have worked the tank by himself and the casualties would have been even greater.
I know they are not the best example but it goes to show that when the boss in question is a goddamn maniac, even having a smidgen of conscience will so ever slightly dilute the pure evil that otherwise would ensue. How much more would that dilution be if you are the “good and noble people” I was talking of?
Oh, yeah. I got really tired of the headlines that went, “Heroic Attorney of the Exterior NOBLY RESIGNS–SHAMING President Trump into Zero Seconds of Soul-Searching Before Trump Appointed His Own Criminal Toady into the Vacated Position.” Resigning from a company that’s doing immoral shit can be noble, especially if you tell people about it, but the math changes when the organization you’re leaving has a direct impact on everyone else. If we’d had enough “heroic resignations” in certain offices, we’d probably still have a President Trump now, a fact of which the fascists are very aware as they try to target election work in 2022.