|
|
|
|
|
Schlock MercenarySchlock Mercenary is a web comic by Howard Tayler. It follows the adventures of a mercenary company aboard a starship in a 31st-century space opera setting. Despite the narrative following a band of military freelancers, it's mostly family-friendly entertainment. It debuted on June 12, 2000, with relatively crude graphics. Over time, Tayler's artwork improved from bad to "marginally less bad." Beginning on February 9, 2003, Jean Elmore served as colorist for the strip. This ended in the spring of 2004 when she developed a repetitive strain injury from her work. On March 9, 2003, the comic reached its 1001st strip. Tayler marked the milestone by "re-launching" the comic. With the relaunch, Tayler reoriented the strip slightly for publication, organizing the comic's story into "books". Each book has a fairly self-contained story, although they are still chronological and connected. As of January 2005, Schlock Mercenary was on Book IV: Mad Science Means Never Having To Say "What's The Worst Thing That Could Happen?" Universe In the distant future of Schlock Mercenary's setting, many changes have faced terran society. Faster than light travel has been attained, alien races have been contacted, and technology has undergone radical improvements. Alien species have varied from fairly humanoid to almost unrecognizable. There have been eight-limbed Gatekeepers, two-bodied Uklakk, and carbosilicate amorphs with no easily definable limbs or organs to speak of. Creatures made of dark matter have been revealed to exist, but details about them are largely unknown. The number of sapient species descended from terran stock has increased as Earth's genetic engineers refined their craft. Enhanced chimpanzees, gorillas, and members of both species of elephant now have citizenship. Genetic enhancement of the human population has resulted in the blue-skinned photosynthetic "Purps", along with more general improvements to the population. Technology Like most science fiction stories, technology forms a large part of Schlock Mercenary's storytelling framework. Travel between the stars is accomplished through the use of "wormgates", large wormhole generators controlled by the mysterious Gatekeepers (properly known as the F'sherl-Ganni). As the story progresses, use of wormgates is largely supplanted by the "teraport", a device that allows for near-instant travel between any two points. Computer hardware has progressed to the point where true artificial intelligence is possible, and several have been main characters in the story. Gravity has been tamed and is now controllable as a means for propulsion, a weapon, and shielding against other weapons. Other forms of weaponry have improved as well, and a mercenary's arsenal can include railguns, lasers, and plasma cannons. Old-fashioned bullet-firing firearms are still in use as they continue to be effective against unprotected targets and are less likely to rupture a hull than a plasma bolt. Energy to power the various devices generally comes from miniaturized fusion reactors, or massive annihilator ("annie") plants. Annie plants unleash massive amounts of power by converting mass to energy. Story Beginning Schlock Mercenary opens with the title character, a carbosilicate amorph named Schlock, attempting to enlist in the mercenary company Tagon's Toughs. The Toughs are captained by Kaff Tagon, who is fond of quoting The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates (Rule 35 - That which does not kill you has made a tactical error). As the comic gets underway, Tagon's Toughs finds itself the victim of a hostile takeover. The takeover is led by Breya Andreyasn, who is looking to use the company as a means to promote her brother's newest invention. Genius engineer Kevyn Andreyasn (who bears a strong resemblance to the comic's artist) has developed the teraport, which allows for instant travel throughout the galaxy. See also External links
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|