Cartoon and Conquer – Commentary Gallery

 

Published 9/11/2012

The last panel in this strip was adjusted for space which unfortunately removed some interaction I thought was somewhat important. As it stands, the two sides seem relatively friendly toward each other, but in the original script, the rocket soldier was to say, “Shooting each other at this range would get messy, so stay on your side.” Killing each other isn’t a high priority, but they are still enemies.

 

 

Published 23/11/2012

This strip didn’t seem to work very well. As with Cartoon and Conquer #31, I was hoping people were familiar with the characters enough to know them by just a hat, but the Soviets in the last panel are small and turned away from the viewer. Additionally, due to space requirements, I had to drop the G.I. from that frame who was supposed to be standing on the Sniper’s right. Finally, I’m not sure how many people actually knew who Trotsky was and may have been thrown off by the lack of recognition. Leon Trotsky was a Communist who had different ideas on what Communism means from Joseph Stalin, he was eventually hunted down and assassinated. I figured calling someone a Trotskyist would be a good insult in the Red Alert universe where Stalin’s Soviet Union was much more powerful and successful.

 

 

Published 7/12/2012

I had avoided mentioning where the troops were located up until now, perhaps for the same reason I avoided any mention of the when. Nevertheless, I had estimated the GDI/Nod forces were somewhere in North Africa before this. I was quite hesitant to give an exact location, and since I had never previously said they were in Egypt, I wasn’t sure the joke would carry much weight. It seemed to go over well though, so I think my concerns proved to be invalid. ▫ I felt inclined to note that Egyptians have not used hieroglyphs for thousands of years, something I think most people know deep in the backs of their minds, but don’t really consider.

 

 

Published 21/12/2012

The long-term plot of the general’s overuse of nuclear weapons reaches an important point in the timeline; the introduction of the Desolator. I did not think I would need anymore main characters, but the Soviets really felt like they were lacking someone who could ruin their day. The Tesla trooper was too quiet, humble, and was intended to be a loyal Communist, so he was not filling the blank where chaos was needed. The Desolator was chaos personified.

 

 

Published 4/01/2013

The cookie theft continues. The infantryman isn’t satisfied with merely stealing cookies though, he wants the flame trooper to know it.

 

 

Published 18/01/2013

Chaos ensues. I also thought it would be fun to play with the incredibly common irrational fear of radiation in people. I know a lot about radiation, and I’ll admit I also avoid it to the point of being irrational. I think radiophobia is a variant of the fear of the unknown, as radiation can’t be physically sensed, but can still kill you, even years after you are no longer exposed. The Desolator uses this fear to prank the conscript, and even though mildly radioactive uranium (that is depleted uranium) is relatively safe, the fear remains.

 

 

Published 1/02/2013

Fictional settings often have the main characters doing everything, even outside their job descriptions. In order to avoid falling into the same trap, I made a point of having the main characters only being observers to somebody else’s problem. ▫ The rocket trooper is reading a book on Egyptian Arabic in order to translate the book discovered in #43. ▫ The Team Visceroid flag is a reference to an extremely old (25th of April 1980) Garfield strip in which he and Jon Arbuckle were watching a film called The Sludge Monster Meets Vermin Man and Garfield roots for the sludge monster with a sign and hat.

 

 

Published 15/02/2013

I wanted to mention the fact that just because the Tesla trooper was in a bulky suit, he wasn’t safe from the Desolator either. This allowed the Desolator to hold the trump card that gave him the power to win over all the other characters.

 

 

Published 1/03/2013

For a very long time, I wanted the Nod soldiers to cause some sort of trouble with a stealth suit. The cookie thievery side plot seemed like something funny to toss into the mix here as well. ▫ This was the debut of the Nod officer, who fulfilled the character of authority role for the final faction.

 

 

Published 15/03/2013

Devil’s advocate gone wrong. The Desolator can’t be gotten rid of so easily. ▫ I considered making the 50th edition special somehow, such as making the panel borders shiny gold instead of black, but decided it was kind of cliché and I didn’t need to brag about how far I’d come. When I started the cartoon, I wanted to make at least 50 strips, mainly to beat the other C&C cartoon that existed before mine called Command & Comic which I think had 45. By this time, however, I was setting my sights on 100.