Difference between revisions of "A Fate Worse Than Chess"
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Revision as of 17:08, 3 May 2020
A Fate Worse Than Chess | |
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Comic Strip Info | |
Released: | August 13, 2012 |
Number of pages: | 33 |
Artist: | makani Jim Murray (cover) |
Writer: | Jay Pinkerton & Erik Wolpaw |
Colorist: | Nick Filardi |
“ | Listen to my words, Bidwell. These are truth words. I am going to fight that @#$%ing monkey.
— Saxton Hale
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” |
A Fate Worse Than Chess is a comic released August 13, 2012, as part of the Mann vs. Machine update. It is a continuation of the earlier comic, Blood Brothers. The events introduce the invasion of Mann Co. by Gray Mann and his army of robots. Saxton Hale enlists the help of the Team Fortress Mercenaries to destroy the incoming robot invasion. Hale also fights a Yeti.
Contents
Synopsis
A Fate Worse Than Chess opens with a scene of a comic, in which two scientists are discussing how aliens can breathe Earth's oxygen. Saxton Hale interrupts the comic, announcing his "new way" to tell stories: Explosition®. The scene is shown again in the form of "explosition", this time the scientists being two women armed with swords. The first demands to know how the aliens can breathe oxygen, leading to a sword-fight above a volcanic crater. Saxton interrupts once more, once more demonstrating "explosition" in the "explository tale", A Fate Worse Than Chess.
The comic cuts to the Samdrup Jongkhar District in the Kingdom of Bhutan, where Saxton Hale, disguised as a primate violence specialist named "Doctor Joanbaez", has requested to see a yeti, the last of its species, while a disguised Mr. Bidwell is informed of an attack on all of Mann Co.'s facilities in the background. Bidwell insists that they leave, but Hale insists that he fight the Yeti. Bidwell decides to videotape Hale fighting the Yeti whilst also briefing the mercenaries of the oncoming fight with Gray Mann's army of robots.
The comic cuts to Miss Pauling, who shows them the tape of Hale, who informs the mercenaries that, with the death of the Mann brothers, they are now unemployed. However, with attack of the robots on Mann Co.'s headquarters, they have been re-hired to fight them. Although they are not being paid for their work, to their dismay, Pauling reveals that the robots somehow run on piles of money, so once destroyed, the money that would come out belonged to the mercenaries. The comic closes with Pauling telling them that it is not just a fight for Mann Co. or Saxton Hale, but a fight for their jobs.
Pages
Trivia
- The title of the comic is a play on the phrase "a fate worse than death", meaning any misfortune that would make life ultimately worse.
- Hale's alias is a reference to Joan Baez, a folk singer known for her anti-violence activism.
- In the comic, Mr. Bidwell seems to look very much like John Lennon.
Page 8
- The reference notice, "See Team Fortress #2", aside from a play on the game title Team Fortress 2, is a reference to the murder of Blutarch and Redmond Mann by Gray Mann in the second of two preceding TF2 Gravel War Storyline comics, Loose Canon and Blood Brothers, which were summarized in the Catch-Up Comic tie-in to the TF Comic series.
Page 17
- Bidwell's disguise is similar to the outfit worn by The Beatles, a very popular 1960s band, in their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
Page 21
- The anti-war movement and other activists (1960s-70s) employed "citizen's arrest", so called (kidnapping actually), as pseudo-legal counter-culture action.[1][2][3]
Page 27
- Pyro’s sitting pose is a deliberate reference to the "Sitting Pyro" meme from the True Meaning comic.
Page 28
- The Spy's suit was seen with lines running down it on Page 27; however, they disappear on this page.
- The Soldier is dressed in red fatigues but is wearing the helmet of his BLU counterpart.
Page 30
- Miss Pauling’s response to the Scout is a nod to his approach to her in the Meet the Director comic.
Page 32
- The Demoman is putting on Prince Tavish's Crown, and the Engineer is equipping the Gunslinger. Also, an Officer's Ushanka, a Medic Mech-bag, a Killer Exclusive, and a Glengarry Bonnet are seen on the shelf above them.
- A pinup calendar similar to the RED team calendar is seen to the right of the Scout.
- The Engineer has a T-Shirt on rather than his regular team-colored work shirt seen in pages 28 and 29.
- What appears to be orange hair is barely visible under the Engineer's helmet, despite the fact that the Engineer was previously shown to be bald.
See also
References
- ↑ The FBI Encyclopedia, Michael Newton, page 34. Alleged 1970 plot to put Henry Kissinger under "citizen's arrest" (kidnap) to stop the Vietnam War
- ↑ 161 Battery civic parade in Auckland, "… the commander of 161 Battery, Major John Masters was the subject of a citizen’s arrest by members of a peace group and charged with "offensive and disorderly behavior" for parading his unit up Queen Street."
- ↑ Andrea Rochelle Blimling, Blood on the Third Coast: Causes and Consequences of Madison 's 1970 Sterling Hall Bombing, page 17. "… when between twelve and twenty students, activists and radicals together, marched to Truax Army Air Base to make a citizen's arrest of the base commanders. "
External links
- A Fate Worse Than Chess on the TF2 Official Website.
- Blood Brothers and A Fate Worse Than Chess textless pages
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