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Page one of my new comic venture! Don't worry, my next update will be a new JV page. I haven't forgotten about the gals. I think I'll be working on this project part time as I script things out and gather some info together.
I wanted to start things out with a bang... >:)
Next Page -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1545312
I wanted to start things out with a bang... >:)
Next Page -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1545312
Category Artwork (Digital) / Comics
Species Dog (Other)
Size 694 x 967px
File Size 279.9 kB
It's a bit earlier than the mid eighties... it starts in 1979 and quickly gets into the early eighties. I wanted to stay away from having 2 comics in the 70s at first, but then I realized that the late 70s and early 80s were a uniquely violent time period with minimal international intervention- a perfect job market for mercs. I sort of wanted to touch on the ambiguities of American, British, Russian, and French clients who despise mercenaries but feel forced to hire them because they can get the job done.
Don't know how I missed this the first time around! Glad I caught page two.
He's delightfully blase' about it all. I'm vaguely reminded of certain scenes with Chris Walken as 'Cat' Shannon in 'The Dogs of War'...Although 'Cat' took it more seriously and I can't quite picture his character hung over (or having been drinking so heavily as to be) with things that loose in the neighborhood.
Curious to see where you go with this. Will you be invoking the spirit of some of the more (in)famously capricious mercs? Bob Denard (who 'Cat' Shannon was somewhat based on) or perhaps 'Mad' Mike Hoare?
He's delightfully blase' about it all. I'm vaguely reminded of certain scenes with Chris Walken as 'Cat' Shannon in 'The Dogs of War'...Although 'Cat' took it more seriously and I can't quite picture his character hung over (or having been drinking so heavily as to be) with things that loose in the neighborhood.
Curious to see where you go with this. Will you be invoking the spirit of some of the more (in)famously capricious mercs? Bob Denard (who 'Cat' Shannon was somewhat based on) or perhaps 'Mad' Mike Hoare?
I was really captivated by "Mad" Mike Hoare just because of his attitude and the way he basically captured some of the mystique and sense of adventure that comes with mercenary work, and some of his acts directly saved lives, showing against most popular depictions of mercenaries, which are downright unflattering.
Cat Shannon was also a person of interest and I've yet to read "The Dogs of War" but it seems unavoidable now that I've started a story about mercs. It's nice to bump into someone who's heard these names before and was wondering if you had any opinions or info or just plain old stories and insights.
As for Fred, he's sort of a wild card compared to 'celebrity' mercs like Hoare and Denard (I don't mean that pejoratively, I mean it literally... they made good money off of their fame). He's more of a free-spirit who likes to keep a lower profile but is at least as greedy as some of his successful counterparts. His work is comparatively small time, but at the same time it's quite hands-on.
Cat Shannon was also a person of interest and I've yet to read "The Dogs of War" but it seems unavoidable now that I've started a story about mercs. It's nice to bump into someone who's heard these names before and was wondering if you had any opinions or info or just plain old stories and insights.
As for Fred, he's sort of a wild card compared to 'celebrity' mercs like Hoare and Denard (I don't mean that pejoratively, I mean it literally... they made good money off of their fame). He's more of a free-spirit who likes to keep a lower profile but is at least as greedy as some of his successful counterparts. His work is comparatively small time, but at the same time it's quite hands-on.
Strongly recommend the book 'Dogs of War' over the movie (although the movie is not awful). Among other things, during the segment 'The Hundred Days', it goes through the issues of trying to equip a small mercenary force, giving you everything from a laundry list to a brief summation of how black market arms-dealing and smuggling worked in the '60s and '70s.
I also strongly recommend the Dennis Quaid movie 'Savior', about a man who goes to Bosnia as a mercenary, and rediscovers his humanity in the face of what the 'regular soldiers' of the opposing sides are doing to each other and the populace of that land.
The negative imagery of mercenaries mostly exists due to the fringe people...The ones who go on the account because they like to kill or injure, and can't do it in any other job (no patience for dental school?), or the ones who are there for some specific vendetta but getting paid to carry it out. Or, in short, the ones who commit war crimes. Historically, by and large, the 'typical' mercenary has behaved just like any other soldier...His training may have been better or worse depending on the nation he came from, and he's cashing his pay (funny, many soldiers do that too!) but he doesn't (usually!) have any allegiance to any particular flag. Whether this is due to expatriation or disillusionment varies a great deal. Read up on La Legion Etrangere if you haven't, there's some interesting stories there.
When it comes down to it, the actions of most soldiers can be viewed as saving lives in some cases, taking them in others. Oddly, mercenaries are less likely to cause severe collateral damage than most national armies...They haven't got the firepower or the support to use 'saturation' techniques, and are most often used as elite troops to hit strategic targets in small scale combat. Well, that or they are used as 'corset stays' for a poorly trained and low-morale national force. So in the sense that they are unwilling to take ridiculous risks, and often will try to minimize what enemy forces they face (the strength of their small concentrated and experienced force against a MINIMAL portion of the enemy for best effect) they tend to leverage things and cause a lot fewer deaths than, oh...Well. Damned near any of the 'cult' armies in Africa. It's an odd thing. They are much maligned because 'they cannot be trusted!' as they fight for pay...And yet, historically, neither can nations or national armies. Hell, plenty of burgeoning coups have tried to 'pay' the mercenaries who put them on the throne by having them executed.
When it comes down to it, war is war. It is chaotic, unpredictable, and often savage. Elite, smaller forces tend to be more focused in their goals, and thus more effective and less damaging to the general population, than poorly trained militia or barely-trained state armies.
More than once, mercenary troops have meant the survival of those who otherwise would have been victims of genocide, when national troops were beaten, or could not be bothered.
These in the days that heaven was falling,
the hour when earths foundations fled,
followed their mercenary calling,
and took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended,
They stood, and earths foundations stay,
What god abandoned, these defended,
and saved the sum of things - for pay.
(A.E. Hausman "Epitath on an army of mercenaries" (specifically, the British 'Expeditionary Force' at Ypres))
I also strongly recommend the Dennis Quaid movie 'Savior', about a man who goes to Bosnia as a mercenary, and rediscovers his humanity in the face of what the 'regular soldiers' of the opposing sides are doing to each other and the populace of that land.
The negative imagery of mercenaries mostly exists due to the fringe people...The ones who go on the account because they like to kill or injure, and can't do it in any other job (no patience for dental school?), or the ones who are there for some specific vendetta but getting paid to carry it out. Or, in short, the ones who commit war crimes. Historically, by and large, the 'typical' mercenary has behaved just like any other soldier...His training may have been better or worse depending on the nation he came from, and he's cashing his pay (funny, many soldiers do that too!) but he doesn't (usually!) have any allegiance to any particular flag. Whether this is due to expatriation or disillusionment varies a great deal. Read up on La Legion Etrangere if you haven't, there's some interesting stories there.
When it comes down to it, the actions of most soldiers can be viewed as saving lives in some cases, taking them in others. Oddly, mercenaries are less likely to cause severe collateral damage than most national armies...They haven't got the firepower or the support to use 'saturation' techniques, and are most often used as elite troops to hit strategic targets in small scale combat. Well, that or they are used as 'corset stays' for a poorly trained and low-morale national force. So in the sense that they are unwilling to take ridiculous risks, and often will try to minimize what enemy forces they face (the strength of their small concentrated and experienced force against a MINIMAL portion of the enemy for best effect) they tend to leverage things and cause a lot fewer deaths than, oh...Well. Damned near any of the 'cult' armies in Africa. It's an odd thing. They are much maligned because 'they cannot be trusted!' as they fight for pay...And yet, historically, neither can nations or national armies. Hell, plenty of burgeoning coups have tried to 'pay' the mercenaries who put them on the throne by having them executed.
When it comes down to it, war is war. It is chaotic, unpredictable, and often savage. Elite, smaller forces tend to be more focused in their goals, and thus more effective and less damaging to the general population, than poorly trained militia or barely-trained state armies.
More than once, mercenary troops have meant the survival of those who otherwise would have been victims of genocide, when national troops were beaten, or could not be bothered.
These in the days that heaven was falling,
the hour when earths foundations fled,
followed their mercenary calling,
and took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended,
They stood, and earths foundations stay,
What god abandoned, these defended,
and saved the sum of things - for pay.
(A.E. Hausman "Epitath on an army of mercenaries" (specifically, the British 'Expeditionary Force' at Ypres))
Pardon the apparent failage on commentation, I'm engaged in a burn war and will not be expressing my utmost desire to yiff you in detail until I am done with the comic's most recent page.
(Note, this is not to say I merely wish to fuck your brains out, take it as a compliment to your ability as it is what spawned the desire.)
(Note, this is not to say I merely wish to fuck your brains out, take it as a compliment to your ability as it is what spawned the desire.)
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