Non-violent Protest
So hey, some exciting announcements, I have given up hope of being able to competently run a kickstarter on my own going by how completely undewater I am with just comics and work alone, but I’m teaming up with the fine folks at Hiveworks who are offering their publishing and Kickstarter managerial services! MGDMT print and ebooks are going to be a reality!
Also, I’m on Patreon now! It’s just a way for me to save up some cash on the side for things like producing my other comic slated to launch in March or getting more tattoos or whatever it is I keep emergency funds for. Think of it sort of like a tip jar, there is absolutely no obligation to throw anything in and the comic will be produced and free for everyone to read either way! But if you do feel like pledging to it there are extra little goodies like desktops and behind-the-scenes WIP art and alerts when I’m livestreaming my process for you to enjoy!
Also also, the show I’ve been working on has started airing! It’s a 13-part miniseries rebooting Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series, hosted by Neil DeGrasse Tyson airing every Sunday on Fox! We’ve been working on it like crazy and I’m super excited that people can finally enjoy the fruits of our labour!
Like a flipping boss xD…or just a manly man xD
So what measure is a “Non-violent protest”? If i were protesting a jerkass bastard, i’d scratch his car’s finish, or at least push a thumbtack to all the wheels.
Is that a violence?
That counts as defacing someone’s property or vandalism, so, yeah, probably.
Is tearing up someone’s papers defacing property?
Not really. Those are just paper copies with the real files on computer or something. They can re-print out the papers anytime they want.
I define violence as an application of force that carries an inherent risk of harm.
I like this definition. It opens the definition up to a very wide range of types of force, recognizes that the application of force in and of itself may not be a negative, but also recognizes the links between violence and harm.
WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU WERE WORKING ON COSMOS?!
Are you TRYING to set record for human awesomeness?
I was like “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I need to watch this now. Before, I just watched a bunch of Nova, and PBS in general, so I figured I could pass it up, but now? Naw, no way I could miss this.
Sooooo watching Cosmos now :D I mean, not like I was considering not watching it, but now I have all the more reason to watch it ^_^
I honestly haven’t laughed out loud at a comic in a while, but this got me.
I will also attempt to watch Cosmos, somehow, is it ever posted online? It airs on Fox, so I assume they put something up for it on the site. I’ll figure it out. Looks amazing from what little I’ve seen.
OH MY! YOU WORKED AT THE NEW COSMOS?! o-o Saw an advance, the animations were so lovely that I thought at the moment “suck that, ‘Gravity'”.
XD And I gasped so loudly when I read that that the peeps here worried a bit.
On the comic subject… wow. So that’s what their evil plan was all along. So macchiavellian.
Too bad they didn’t build it around Rock’s psychological profile, or they’d know from the start this would fail.
Wait wait . . .what? I just watched that show this evening and it is awesome to know that I know someone (even if it’s just on the internet!) that worked on a show like that ^^ Can I assume it’s the animated bits and such? OOor? :D
*AWE* *I WILL BUY MGDMT PRINT BOOKS* *OMG THAT I SHOULD LIVE TO SEE THIS DAY* Also, congratulations on Cosmos!! (I hope it will show up on Hulu or Netflix…)
Nice that this is all just some part of a corrupt guys evil plan. Made better by the fact the commander knows it, and is having none of that shit.
He seems to also have figured out that this will be even more annoying for them. Why go on a gunblazing rampage when you can annoy the ever living daylights out of them?
I laughed at the last panel. The Commander is brilliant.
Non-Violent Protest, Passive Resistance, Civil Disobedience…All are effective was of showing The Establishment that you’re aware of what they’re trying to make you do what THEY want, but you’re badass-cool enough to prove to them that you’ve got a mind of your own & not falling into their trap.
I think the emergence of the internet is a primary factor…They know that people are more easily controlled in large groups, but the internet is also a social medium that’s composed of *individuals*. In short, we still keep in communication & spread information, not done in large groups, but coordinated individual effort. THEY can’t control that & it’s frustrating them beyond reason…I love it!
Even though this doesn’t fit quite well with this current story-arc, I only just now discovered it & I’m disturbed. Pokemon Reimagined as Decaying Monstrosities: http://www.gameranx.com/awesome/pokemon-monsters-art/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com#next
Some of them look like a thing H.R. Giger would vomit out after waking up from a nightmare.
When I got to pic#6, my first thought was, “Nooooo! Not Mr. Fish!”
Granted, Mr. Fish would become *totally* badass, but he’d lose a lot of his lovable nature. It might also explain the origins of those old Japanese “huge monster” movies…
#6 looks like a Mr Fishy Predator
Hah, I know who made ‘Mr. Fish’ in #6. They’re part of the IPL Group on DeviantArt (International Pokemon League).
Some of that was your work on Cosmos? Well, well. Another reason on top of the many other reasons to really enjoy the series. :3
Why are military guys files pink, yellow, and blue? Just strikes me as kind of odd. Anyway will keep an eye out for the miniseries.
Combination of carbon copies and color coding for hardcopy filing systems. Those particular hues are pretty universal, anywhere you have a filing clerk and/or a need to remember which copy of a document is which and belongs to what cabinet.
All of which is just generally confusing because **computers**.
I think it’s pretty clear that the future stopped caring about practicality a long time ago.
Besides, what else would the awesome super-spies put in their file toting briefcases?
Paper doesn’t gain sentience and turn evil.
As often.
And now I am envisioning future super soldiers trying and mostly failing to hold off a swarm of paper elementals.
same here! I want to see it happen so bad…
I’m pretty sure that scenario could happen pretty easily in Shadowrun.. I wonder if that’s why the Commander doesn’t want cyberware, to retain maximum Essence for his Adept skills..
Probably right considering his fire wrangling skills
I don’t understand…aren’t Paper Elementals the exact reason the human race invented flame throwers? Also, Super Soakers?
Actually, it sort of did, at least in Evil Inc.
Oh yeah, that one memo came to life and then they found out it could create additional sentient pieces of paper by photocopying itself.
After all, you have to shape the paper into something it can use to rebel. Like paper swans. Or paper hats. Or paper stars…wait what’s he making again?
It is a space future which is (by the commander’s own admittance) rather ill-defined. Computers could be different from what we know. Or it could be a throwback future, like something out of Heinlein, where despite being the future something still operate like it is the mid 1950s.
Given the spacefuture’s an amalgation of all things Hardcore Action Movie, most likely the Robotic Singularity already happened and they had to go back to keeping their important information on paper. :P
Maybe they’ve learned the really important documents need to be kept on paper. Easier to secure than computer files.
Is this the debut of “Passive-Aggressive Manly Guy”?
That’s what they said when they started computerising everything: it will cut down on office paper, shyeah right! The only paperwork they try and cut down on is the invoices they send out to people: try and cover their butts by not leaving paper trails and hard physical proof they screwed the customer
Yeah, I also wonder how many forests had to die just to distribute copies of the Paperwork Reduction Act?
Nobody can hack hardcopies over the Internet. You want to keep information secure paper, or other permanent record, is still the best option.
What the…. I had trouble submitting because I typed too fast?
Error message: “you are submitting comments too fast. Please slow down.”
That’s unreal!
Something messed up in WP so it thinks all my comments come from the same IP, so if two people post at the same time it sees one IP sending out a bunch of comments at once.
Was wondering why was sometimes getting that message, thought it was just me posting on 2 different comment sections, but if it is actually caused by other people… :P
Yeah, I get that sometimes. The confusing part is when that warning pops up on my FIRST comment during that DAY.
“First comment? Too fast? WTF?”
Or if it happens 3 times in a row :/
Oh shit, you’re working on that? Reason #8 to check it out already.
Commander deals with people like Kratos on a daily basis, no way this plan is going to work. He’ll probably turn the flip-out on itself…
Also, grats on the show
Looks like it worked in panel 5 and 6 :D
This might be my favorite strip, ever.
Emotionally stable protagonists are the best.
I just saw Cosmos and it’s totally awesome, just like this comic!
Commander Badass is now my favorite hero.
They’ll probably have more of a purpose as stars than as files about the Commander, for the Commander cannot simply be summed up by a file.
I’m thrilled to see the new cosmos with NDT and thrilled to know you helped make it so awesome. My daughter is now 3.5 and we will be must-see-tv watching this! Thank you thank you thank you!
Bwahahahahahahaha. Commander is awesome.
When that which you fight is passive-aggressive, victory can only lie in being even more passive-aggressive.
See: Rose and Roxy Lalonde :p
I so didn’t make a reference here, bad me ; ; XD
HE HAS CHILDREN there is by far nothing that they can do to get him mad that his children, his job, and Jared have not already one up’ed.
And one of those kids is a daughter – I’m sure he’s had to have mindlessly create paper stars for a couple hours before (I remember doing that while babysitting before because apparently folding up 1000 paper stars grants you a wish or something.)
Opening up Pandora’s box here but I think there’s one thing that can get to him; his ex-wife. When Jonsey first pegged the question, he admitted to “wanting to burn women’s faces off,” which is probably why he lives in the past. Perhaps they just can’t monitor him there and so, don’t know about it.
“Set them on fire with his mind” was the line, I believe.
Yes it was. Apologies for the error. I got to stop making comments after all-nighters.
An emotionally stable super soldier, now that’s science fiction.
RE Master Chief
Just saying.
Master Chief doesn’t have emotion. Doesn’t count.
a flatline is technically stable. just sayin’….
Never read the books or played 4, huh?
Good old RLB – disobedient in his own way. Non-violence changes more than people might think… guess Mr. Admiral there wanted more brawn and less brains?
Oh wow you’re working on Cosmos? Pretty fucking cool. Do you see Mr. Tyson around?
Holy crap I just found out about that show! I haven’t watched much TV beyond stuff at my parents place for awhile… Prolly bout 3 years now…
Anywho, now I can beg my folks to save it to their awesome spacefuture DVR, and mahbe put it in a flash drive… Or some other method for kicking it onto my slowbutt computer to drag into my first gen iPad… Or maybe a DVD?
Whew nuff bout that- Congrats on the Patron account and the Kickstarter too! Can’t wait x3 (also, a man after mh own heart, what better place to do origami than work? X3)
The commander is so awesome, he can make paper stars with gloves on :D
They can’t buy him, they can’t bully him, they can’t kill him, and if they do manage to push him far enough I imagine he’s going to make sure either he or the military-industrial complex gets blown to bits so small no one can ever put them together again.
So how much time do you figure they’re going to waste before giving up on making him more marketable and just grow another team?
Sure they can kill him, they just don’t want to (what with needing his go ahead for the cyber-ation to work)
Oh right, they do want to blow him up, but they want a legally-defendable reason
Me and my sister figured the following: They either can’t get him mad enough to go Rambo on their asses, or else if he did go Rambo, he’d go and bring literally every guy from the Macho Agency along with him and they wouldn’t turn the files into paper stars, no, they’d turn the entire goddamn FLEET into little shredded metal stars.
You should also sell shirts and stuff along with those books….I would so buy shirts and such. This is my favorite comic.
This is wonderful news!! I’m so excited there’ll be a print book!! Cannot wait–I am IN! Congratulations.
“Dammit, soldier, you’re not a loose cannon!”
Genius :)
CB just does not give any fucks what the brass wants him to do. If they EXPECT him to be a loose cannon who ignores the rule book, you bet he will be an emotionally stable, completely reasonable guy. Now THATS manly.
omfg sooooo good XD
Thinking about it: he turned every mission into Saving Private Ryan when ordered to evacuate asap without the soldiers that were still groundside. Maybe they need to order him to be emotionally stable so he’ll rebel and go do things like what Kratos does…
That is a super awesome joke, way to go!
This page made me laugh out loud!
Did you get to meet Mr Tyson? Or Ann Druyan?
I met Bill Nye and Seth McFarlane! Ann Druyan was at the premiere party but I never got a chance to talk to her personally
Bill Nye is still one of my childhood idols. Is he a fun guy in person/out of character?
I could care less about Seth McFarlane, but Bill Nye is one person I always wanted to meet.
I’m very jealous! You got to meet them being themselves and that is always the best way to meet someone like that. o:
For those who didn’t know how (like me)
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lucky-Paper-Stars
Well, I guess I just learned how to do that… though my fingers are a bit too large to do the last step well.
…And notice that the Commander is badass enough to do it while wearing gloves. Have you ever noticed how “ham-like” HIS fingers are, without gloves?
No matter how badass I could ever get, I’ll never be THAT badass…
:(
Cosmos is awesome as hell! You should be super proud to be a part of that!
So I just noticed that the header banner background is some sort of tartan. Is there a connection to a particular family/clan that influenced the choice, or am I simply looking too deeply at things while waiting for the site to load?
This is the best strip. Ever. For several reasons.
Number one, the Commander is making a very specific point with his turning the files into paper stars.
Remember, the whole damn point of him being here in the spacefuture now, is that he is about to bitch at them for trying to make him into something he is not.
Which is precisely what he is doing to the files. Making them into something they are not.
So when the General (Admiral, perhaps? It is the Spacefuture Navy) flips out and yells at him for shredding his files, and the Commander’s response is “Yeah, I kinda thought it might motivate you t’ come in here an’ tell me t’ stop ‘r somethin'”, He has already made his damn point.
Sorry this is long, I just really really really love stuff like this that really showcases how damn smart Commander is.
Damn, where is the Like/Vote up button when you need one, because this totally deserves it.
Just do this:
+1
I think he wins a million internets right there. +1000000
^what she said
Out of curiosity, how do you make paper stars?
So… will they rebuild the Admiral/General guy if he flips out and gets blown up while on a rampage? I’d call it poetic justice.
I don’t think so. Either that or it’s already been done.
But that’s a bit of a stretch.
Just saw the first episode of the Cosmos remake. Loved the animation bit!
At first, I laughed. But, upon thinking on it, this is a VERY disturbing plan.
Waiting for the next TPP reference.
C’mon. You can’t resist Commander Lasergator forever.
After dealing with the likes of Jared and Kratos on a daily basis, there is nothing that future space marine agency can do to make Rock go mad.
Let’s not forget how he deals with his own daughter having a pet millipede. That takes a *lot* of patience for him, considering his past experience with millipedes.
Pfft, they should have got ahold of him before he met Jared and Kratos’ crazy ass.
Also, making paper stars isn’t un-manly. Those things are awesome :D
Oh god, that’s the best! I’ve always loved him for being exactly who he is, but sometimes you lose sight of what that means until a conflict comes along… last panel may be the best of the entire strip so far.
They just need to infect him with the Nomura virus again. Yeah, it’s the opposite direction they want to go in, probably, but that would be sure to make him flip out and go on a one-man machine-gunning rampage (that’s basically what he did the first time). Then they could rebuild him however they want, Robocop-style. Although the Nomura’d bits might sell more action figures.
How do we know that they didn’t already try?
Believe saw the original Cosmos (or at least some show with Carl Sagan presenting, can still hear the echoes of his voice), but that would have been back when “Leonard Nemoy’s In Search Of…” was being aired in the South Pacific, so, sometime in the 80’s?
Just read an article about the new Cosmos, but it didn’t mention Coelasquid :(
Just how Seth saved the whole thing :(
IMO, the best, least corruptible, form of long-term data storage is still the micro-fiche: all you really need to view it is a light source and a magnifying device
Haha! His reaction on provocation is exactly what makes everybody else mad!
LOVE IT!
Such kind of shit was tried on me, too. And when I simply denied a proper rampage, they foamed at the mouth and threw empty threats at me. I collected enough evidence in that episode to sue their asses from here to Jupiter and all they were able to do, was to shut up. Now I have a “renitent asshole” side note in my file and my peace. Sure, nobody wants to hire me anymore and I have a real shitty day job, but I was never the money type to begin with.
Y’know, without the humorous streak this is all pretty damn bleak. I wonder if Jonesy could lay some kind of righteous speech on the future people? Especially seeing as they’re military types.
Often in fiction we envision What-Is-To-Come looking down on What-Has-Been as “inferior” or “primitive,” but soldiers tend to look upon the past with great appreciation and honor. Seeing as the future is apparently so unenlightened that entire generations of good men and women are given lives destined to be sculpted by callous marketing concerns and reprimanded for honest heroism, I could see her speaking on behalf of humanity’s ancestors in a sort of symbolic parental guilt trip.
“Speaking on behalf of all of us in the past who worked our whole lives for the sake of our faith in and hope for future generations, I say… we are SO disappointed in you! You’re being the same old assholes WE always were! SHAAAME.” That sort of thing.
And then she’d shrug her shoulders and figure that there’s no way what she did had any kind of meaningful impact because of course they wouldn’t listen to HER, and meanwhile in the future all the space colonels and star generals are biting their nails and slugging drinks and looking mournfully at family photos while they rethink their lives.
Yeah, it’ll never happen. But it’d be nice to think that she gets to do SOMETHING while she’s in the future. It’s always the unassuming everyman characters who wind up changing the course of history. Just ask Doctor Who.
I think you should just enjoy the comic as it is, and let Coelasquid take the plot wherever she wants.
+1, bravo and well said
And while Jonesy is at it she can yell at those kids to get off her lawn.
This might be my new favorite single comic from this site.
Yeah, no one plays with cliche quite as deftly as Coelasquid.
i love this goddamn comic
Coelasquid, you’re a wonderful writer
Is it weird that I thought of the b52 cocktail before the plane? I’m not even a drinker
At least you weren’t thinking of the band :D
I’ve actually started making paper stars now. I wanted to just make one because I’d never made em, but it’s strangely therapeutic, so I just kept going…
I should buy a large glass vase for them.
I’m trying to figure out the logistics of why Future Commander Guy has a one-way mirror into his own office.
For this exact reason, obviously.
Now I’m going to learn to make paper stars.
Now that I think about it it’s kinda obvious that they’re watching him when they use that trick mirror. You’d think they’d use some kind of future surveillance space technology.
send the commander to crimea. love to see what putin will do with the likes of him!
I don’t get why they’re so surprised, B52 drops bombs all the time.
*rimshot*
It was this or….
Looks like B52 just….dropped a bomb. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
If the bomb thing was already mentioned, it would probably make more sense like this:
“Well, I guess that’s why they call him…
*sunglasses*
‘B52′”.
I was only just able to get online to check Manly Guys (hence why my posts start tomorrow and return to today, but Coelasquid you have just become a personal hero for me. Not only have you met one of my most prominent childhood icons (Bill Nye) but you’re also responsible for the masterpiece that is Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (at least in part anyway).
well that makes me feel better about the basket full of paper stars im currently folding