Yep, about time that came out, especially as Vestine has moved forward when the balloon goes up. Time’s a’wasting people. Hands off cocks and on with socks.
“diu nei lou mo!” is basically the same as “yob tvoyu mat” so, pretty pissed.
I think “gam chi sin” is expressing the opinion that someone is crazy, not sure if that is the correct translation. It’s something about crossed wires.
Still that is pretty restrained.
I’m pretty sure that, with the technological level they got at their disposal, law enforcement would prove that this video is not a fake, nor a montage. As such, Mark should just have to deliver the whole video to the police to have Vestine arrested within minutes.
And to be truly honest, I fail to understand how somebody as twisted and crazy as Vestine managed to get off-radar for so long. I mean, people in the higher spheres of command are supposed to be screened and all, right ? How comes nobody noticed how psychologically unstable and unreliable she is from day one ?
Vestine is a bit modeled on Stalin or Saddam, she’s ruthless and has had so many people killed that she even just suspected of working against her, so the remaining civil servants in Washington are very afraid of her.
About her rise to power, remember there was a war (maybe more than one, USA hasn’t had a single day without war in a couple hundred years now), and there was a nuclear terror bombing of the Pentagon, so they were missing a lot of brass and personnel… also the country has been slowly splitting in two, with lots of strife and unrest that I didn’t have the time to go into… maybe I should go back and add something
Well we’ve already seen that she describes herself as “Secretary for Defense”. Formally, that means an Executive Secretary to the President. But we have more than one person claiming to be THE president, so how can that be?
I read it as meaning that she had been “appointed” Secretary to the former President (and VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession) who I assume met an unfortunate “accident”. Since a new Undisputed World Champion president has yet to emerge, she continues as SoD.
Which edge of this sharp knife did you not understand in that explanation?
So no, Steven, I don’t think you really need to go back unless you really want to add a footnote or something to where she is described as SoD.
Rats, when I wrote “Secretary to the former President (and VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession) who I assume met an unfortunate “accident” “, I should have written
“Secretary to the former President who I assume met an unfortunate “accident” (as did the VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession)
Knowledge is power, but in the apparent state of disarray that the USA appears to be in during this story, rife with corruption and police state surveillance, it’s difficult to believe that going to the police would actually accomplish anything positive, especially given that Lisa has basically been declared Enemy #1 or #2 by Vestine and Elvis is a Chinese national, which are not favored friends. Even a Hong Kong police detective is likely not held in very high regard, which leaves Mark to present the evidence. Considering the other tropes present this story, my guess is that him being something other than Caucasian would work against him and anything he presents regarding a government official.
I enjoy this comic, honestly, it’s why I take the time to comment, and I recognize that it’s a work of fiction set in a near-future dystopian setting, but sometimes I have a difficult time comprehending the underlying, very one-sided, ideology that seems to seep through certain motivations and commentary.
My ideology seeps through? When you put it like that, sounds like such a bad thing… The word “ideology” has been used by the right in America as code for what terrorists, anarchists and marxists believe for a long time, like it’s the obvious opposite of “democracy” and “facts”… and “seeps”, yeah that’s what bad stuff does in the ground water…
Yes these are my political opinions. I’m not going to apologize for my opinions.
Because as far as I’m able, they are all based on facts. And they all point in a disastrous direction.
I’ve lived in America on and off since 1976, my long-term memory is fine, and the trend is clear. Increasing capitalism and right-wing power all across the world, accelerating in recent years, and USA has led this trend for many decades, and still leads it.
That does sound one-sided… but only if it’s an exaggeration. And I don’t believe it is.
Anyway thanks for enjoying
This platform doesn’t support up-voting but if it did, I would up-vote Steven’s reply. All good SF is based on a speculative future: suppose X happened, what kind of world would we have? See Nineteen Eighty Four, Brave New World, Blade Runner, A Handmaid’s Tale. The US came very close to a coup d’etat in January 2021. Fascism is alive and kicking in Russia, Hungary and likely to return to power in Italy.
So for Steven to postulate [for the purposes of providing a basis for the story only] of a world where China has the same status at the latter half of the 21st century as the US did for the latter half of the 20th, is entirely consistent with the SF canon. His story does not require a huge suspension of disbelief. If it makes readers uncomfortable, it is doing its job. It is only when it invites ridicule that it has failed.
An afterthought: just because the Federal Government has collapsed wouldn’t mean that normal policing etc would stop. That is a state or even county responsibility.
I honestly meant no offense and it was not my intent to start a political argument, I am not asking for an apology or any explanation, I was just making an observation from my perspective. I’ve lived in the USA my whole life and I know there are a great many disturbing things going on both here and in the wider world, including many that we won’t find out about until later, but I don’t share the belief that doomsday is around the corner.
You have my apologies for causing you irritation, Steven, it was never my intent. Thank you, once again, for sharing your art and your story, I appreciate it and will not comment further.
No irritation, I appreciate the opportunity to explain my thoughts on politics, which I really can’t do too much in the comic itself, it would be even nerdier and wordier than it is 🙂
I may differ in detail, none the less, the future Steven depicts is, as he has said, not all that improbable. It seems that Democracy has already entered end stage Capitalism. I don’t have a alternate future that also includes some better prospects for middle and lower class folk.
As to how the story is presented, the author is correct in not providing explicit explanation. IMHO, it’s better to allow readers to form their own interpretations.
Yep, about time that came out, especially as Vestine has moved forward when the balloon goes up. Time’s a’wasting people. Hands off cocks and on with socks.
I think they took that rather well, far less scatological and virulently violent than I would have.
“diu nei lou mo!” is basically the same as “yob tvoyu mat” so, pretty pissed.
I think “gam chi sin” is expressing the opinion that someone is crazy, not sure if that is the correct translation. It’s something about crossed wires.
Still that is pretty restrained.
“Oh hi Mark.”
Lol, I see what you did there.
Also “Goddamn humans.”
Indeed Socks, indeed!
I’m pretty sure that, with the technological level they got at their disposal, law enforcement would prove that this video is not a fake, nor a montage. As such, Mark should just have to deliver the whole video to the police to have Vestine arrested within minutes.
And to be truly honest, I fail to understand how somebody as twisted and crazy as Vestine managed to get off-radar for so long. I mean, people in the higher spheres of command are supposed to be screened and all, right ? How comes nobody noticed how psychologically unstable and unreliable she is from day one ?
Vestine is a bit modeled on Stalin or Saddam, she’s ruthless and has had so many people killed that she even just suspected of working against her, so the remaining civil servants in Washington are very afraid of her.
About her rise to power, remember there was a war (maybe more than one, USA hasn’t had a single day without war in a couple hundred years now), and there was a nuclear terror bombing of the Pentagon, so they were missing a lot of brass and personnel… also the country has been slowly splitting in two, with lots of strife and unrest that I didn’t have the time to go into… maybe I should go back and add something
Well we’ve already seen that she describes herself as “Secretary for Defense”. Formally, that means an Executive Secretary to the President. But we have more than one person claiming to be THE president, so how can that be?
I read it as meaning that she had been “appointed” Secretary to the former President (and VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession) who I assume met an unfortunate “accident”. Since a new Undisputed
World Championpresident has yet to emerge, she continues as SoD.Which edge of this sharp knife did you not understand in that explanation?
So no, Steven, I don’t think you really need to go back unless you really want to add a footnote or something to where she is described as SoD.
Rats, when I wrote “Secretary to the former President (and VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession) who I assume met an unfortunate “accident” “, I should have written
“Secretary to the former President who I assume met an unfortunate “accident” (as did the VIce-President and Speakers of the Senate and the House too, just to avoid any silly misunderstandings about succession)
Knowledge is power, but in the apparent state of disarray that the USA appears to be in during this story, rife with corruption and police state surveillance, it’s difficult to believe that going to the police would actually accomplish anything positive, especially given that Lisa has basically been declared Enemy #1 or #2 by Vestine and Elvis is a Chinese national, which are not favored friends. Even a Hong Kong police detective is likely not held in very high regard, which leaves Mark to present the evidence. Considering the other tropes present this story, my guess is that him being something other than Caucasian would work against him and anything he presents regarding a government official.
I enjoy this comic, honestly, it’s why I take the time to comment, and I recognize that it’s a work of fiction set in a near-future dystopian setting, but sometimes I have a difficult time comprehending the underlying, very one-sided, ideology that seems to seep through certain motivations and commentary.
My ideology seeps through? When you put it like that, sounds like such a bad thing… The word “ideology” has been used by the right in America as code for what terrorists, anarchists and marxists believe for a long time, like it’s the obvious opposite of “democracy” and “facts”… and “seeps”, yeah that’s what bad stuff does in the ground water…
Yes these are my political opinions. I’m not going to apologize for my opinions.
Because as far as I’m able, they are all based on facts. And they all point in a disastrous direction.
I’ve lived in America on and off since 1976, my long-term memory is fine, and the trend is clear. Increasing capitalism and right-wing power all across the world, accelerating in recent years, and USA has led this trend for many decades, and still leads it.
That does sound one-sided… but only if it’s an exaggeration. And I don’t believe it is.
Anyway thanks for enjoying
This platform doesn’t support up-voting but if it did, I would up-vote Steven’s reply. All good SF is based on a speculative future: suppose X happened, what kind of world would we have? See Nineteen Eighty Four, Brave New World, Blade Runner, A Handmaid’s Tale. The US came very close to a coup d’etat in January 2021. Fascism is alive and kicking in Russia, Hungary and likely to return to power in Italy.
So for Steven to postulate [for the purposes of providing a basis for the story only] of a world where China has the same status at the latter half of the 21st century as the US did for the latter half of the 20th, is entirely consistent with the SF canon. His story does not require a huge suspension of disbelief. If it makes readers uncomfortable, it is doing its job. It is only when it invites ridicule that it has failed.
An afterthought: just because the Federal Government has collapsed wouldn’t mean that normal policing etc would stop. That is a state or even county responsibility.
I honestly meant no offense and it was not my intent to start a political argument, I am not asking for an apology or any explanation, I was just making an observation from my perspective. I’ve lived in the USA my whole life and I know there are a great many disturbing things going on both here and in the wider world, including many that we won’t find out about until later, but I don’t share the belief that doomsday is around the corner.
You have my apologies for causing you irritation, Steven, it was never my intent. Thank you, once again, for sharing your art and your story, I appreciate it and will not comment further.
No irritation, I appreciate the opportunity to explain my thoughts on politics, which I really can’t do too much in the comic itself, it would be even nerdier and wordier than it is 🙂
I may differ in detail, none the less, the future Steven depicts is, as he has said, not all that improbable. It seems that Democracy has already entered end stage Capitalism. I don’t have a alternate future that also includes some better prospects for middle and lower class folk.
As to how the story is presented, the author is correct in not providing explicit explanation. IMHO, it’s better to allow readers to form their own interpretations.
I probably would have vomited to be fair.
The answer is simple: hold a press conference. It’s the only thing you can do.