Jul 07
Happy Bungie Day, everyone. Enjoy an early comic.
↓ Transcript
The Reclaimer lying dead on the floor.
FERIAL
And so it was on that day that the Reclaimer met his end.
FERIAL
He did not fight, did not rebel, and now his corpse lies cold and unmoving on a distant and forgotten outpost.
Energy projectiles being fired toward the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
His was not a warrior's death. It was a coward's death.
FERIAL
He did not attempt to avoid it, merely walked toward it.
Exploding energy bursts surrounding the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
Intuitive Portent ultimately succeeded in preventing the reunion of the Cavalcade.
Afterblast glow around the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
A hero with such great potential.
FERIAL
It is ironic, then, that his demise barely passed notice.
Two Ferials standing next to each other, looking into the River.
FERIAL
So reads the River.
FERIAL
{sigh}
FERIAL
So shall it be.
One Ferial looking at the other.
FERIAL
This leaves a hole in our plans.
FERIAL
Indeed - but a small one only. The Reclaimer has already done most of our work for us. We only need to finish it.
Inset of one of the Ferials.
FERIAL
We need a new patsy.
FERIAL
And so it was on that day that the Reclaimer met his end.
FERIAL
He did not fight, did not rebel, and now his corpse lies cold and unmoving on a distant and forgotten outpost.
Energy projectiles being fired toward the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
His was not a warrior's death. It was a coward's death.
FERIAL
He did not attempt to avoid it, merely walked toward it.
Exploding energy bursts surrounding the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
Intuitive Portent ultimately succeeded in preventing the reunion of the Cavalcade.
Afterblast glow around the Reclaimer.
FERIAL
A hero with such great potential.
FERIAL
It is ironic, then, that his demise barely passed notice.
Two Ferials standing next to each other, looking into the River.
FERIAL
So reads the River.
FERIAL
{sigh}
FERIAL
So shall it be.
One Ferial looking at the other.
FERIAL
This leaves a hole in our plans.
FERIAL
Indeed - but a small one only. The Reclaimer has already done most of our work for us. We only need to finish it.
Inset of one of the Ferials.
FERIAL
We need a new patsy.
[ Comments RSS ]
LOLOLOL Nice work Jim. That was a funny as hell, I almost believed it for a second. MIMIC!!!
Oh and first :p Looks like he fooled the triumvirate too 
I was fearing you weren't going to do any more comics 
No, no – just a holiday weekend here in the US, so I ended up spending all of it with friends and family. Left no time for writing Reclaimer comics.
Oh! I was getting so confused until I read this comment. I managed to forget about the whole mimic thing until right now. Foolish me!
And an interesting story development.
I kinda knew it was a copy the entire time.
I kinda knew it was a copy the entire time. Skillz.
I'm sure
I kinda thought it was a copy the entire time and at the end Ferial confirmed it.
I was worried about you actually ending it too, I'm glad you aren't. And is the last panel a shout out to Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
No, a patsy is just a general term for a lackey, or field servant or something.
They just called Arthur's servant "Patsy"
Exactly. Monty Python never even crossed my mind while I was writing this.
I never completely watched through it in one sitting. But I think I saw all of it.
Kinda scared me a little bit though, since I’m reading these on my iPhone, and they don’t have Flash, so I missed the last über-special one… (T_T)
Yeah, if you're reading this exclusively on the iPhone, last week's comic would be problematic.
D: Freaked me out. Wonder how Ferial thinking the Reclaimer is dead will effect the future… Hm…..
It's an interesting twist in his plans, to be sure.
Sweet!
I've a feeling that Portent's attacks are due to some kind of external influence from Ferial, kind of like the hologram of MC from before. With RC appearing to have died, there's no reason for that to trigger anymore. Very clever, Jim.
Hehe, that's not even the half of it.
Yeah but if that's true, would Portent not just shoot when he sees the real RC come up? And if Ferial is really watching(how???) then again would he not just see the real RC? And and and… I will get back to you on that, I'm sure there are some more problems with this development
Not that you did a bad job Jim :p
Oh, I haven't even given you enough pieces yet to figure out what just happened…
I'm not even sure what happened past that point, except for the mimic part. That is true right? :p
Glad you like!
Great comic, I'm glad we got to see Ferial again.
Are you looking forward to Heretic to extend Ferial's lair?
I honestly don't think I'll be using Heretic in that way—but by the same token, I don't really know how I will be using it yet, either.
I think Longshore will be brilliant for some UNSC stuff. I can't wait to see what you do with the new maps!
I'm looking forward to delving into them.
I think it's time you introduced a few covenant soldiers Jim.
No point in wasting breath, Jim never changes his ideas cause of us (or so he claims), but if he does, it will be because he planned it :p
Glad I could save someone from freaking out, even if it is in the mouse over text
As a question, I thought Portent was only trying to delay RC, not actually kill him. So why did he make a killing shot? And why did Portent wish to prevent the gathering of the calvacada? What am I having for dinner? :p I'm just glad it didn't end there. That would be much worse than "finish the fight" 
You'll see…
Ooh are you cooking? :p
Brilliant!!!!! All the cunning and scheming in the world… and Ferial's fooled by a mimic AI…
...D'oh!...
Anyways, so that was his plan. Pretty good, actually. But, uh… where's the real RC hiding??
Ferial's observations are only as good as his information. The River provides analyses based on said information, and said information is notably incomplete. You don't think he's suspicious of that?
Okay and now you are being your annoying self again. What the hell is the River??? And where does it get it's information?
The grav lift on assembly is the river. Receiving what I can only guess is an amount of information from more sources than you can comprehend.
But obviously for the purposes of this comic, it is not an actual grav lift now is it. So what is it
Great comic, and an excellent twist. I'm curious who Ferial's new 'patsy' will be. One of the Viper perhaps?
Just wait…
More to the point, what will happen when they meet?
Surely it can't take ferial too long to realise he got fooled… I mean what sort of super intelligent, extra old being is he?
Super intelligent, wise, and old he may be, but even the smartest and most cunning of beings can be fooled every so often.
lol i freaked out until i read the first comment. Nice one!
Hehe, that's what happens when there's a lot of time between updates. I promise I'll try to get with the program again soon.
This sounded rather like an obituary to me, actually.
Your flash comic a week or two ago got me to thinking how much you could add to this project to increase reader immersion so I got to wondering if you had any thoughts of doing a comic in the vein of the Watchmen or Black Freighter stuff they did before the release of the Watchmen movie? I'd whole-heartedly offer up my vocal/audio/technical talents. I'm almost local (Madison, IN), and have al the equipment necessary here…
I didn't see any of that stuff. Got some media links?
And local is relative. Madison's all the way on the other side of the state.
I think you can find the Watchmen graphic movie/novel experiment on XBox Live Marketplace, but I didn't see the Black Freighter thing on there. Curse of the Black Freighter is straight up animation, not the moving, speaking comic strip that they did for Watchmen, but it's still pretty interesting. Here's a link to the trailer:
http://www.geek-sexy.com/2009/02/curse-of-black-f…;
Also, I said ALMOST local.
Seriously though, if you're ever in the market for that sort of thing I've got some half way decent equipment and a host of software programs that could be used for vocal effects, additional ambience, and the like. Let me know.
I think you can find the Watchmen graphic movie/novel experiment on XBox Live Marketplace, but I didn't see the Black Freighter thing on there. Curse of the Black Freighter is straight up animation, not the moving, speaking comic strip that they did for Watchmen, but it's still pretty interesting. Here's a link to the trailer:
http://www.geek-sexy.com/2009/02/curse-of-black-f…;
Also, I said ALMOST local.
Seriously though, if you're ever in the market for that sort of thing I've got some half way decent equipment and a host of software programs that could be used for vocal effects, additional ambience, and the like. Let me know.
It was, in a way.
MY COPY THEORY WAS RIGHT!!! BOOYAH!!
On one hand I haven't exactly outsmarted Jim…. yet.
On the other hand I have five fingers.
You're not the first to guess a plot point before it's revealed…
it's true and why do you want to outsmart Jim so badly Snow?
Not to mention i don't think that was the real reclaimer though i've been wrong before…
It's not. That was my theory. From way before this comic came out.
Inferiority complex, I think.
Part of me wants to make some smart ass remark but I can't think of any.
Shut up Jim.
Why not?
i'm guessing you thought of a smart ass remark
I know, but it's the first time i've done it.
I'm proud.
Good for you. Now join the line
Short Line.
Weird. The face doesn't work when I do it.
Reclaimer's in for a surprise too; his plan worked better than he thought since Ferial now thinks he's dead!
There is a very good point. An interesting development for sure :p
You kinda wan't to wonder how long Jim's been waiting to tell us this.
It would have been a better flash comic than 200 too.
But hey, this goes down as one of my favorite comics so far. And not because I saw it coming three weeks ago.
Maybe Portent knew it was'nt really RC. He must want to rejoin the Calvacade, and he knows Ferial's keeping a close tab on him…
I guess you'll see, eh?
no comeback that's a first
what does the other part want to do?... on second thought don't answer that.
I just told you. An archive. That's my guess.
The other part agrees.
You know me all to well.
like the First comment?
Shoulda seen that answer coming
I think a lot of people do now
I'm sure everybody here did.
You new here Chad?
What first comment?
actually i've been here a while do you remember comments that were by GreyouTT? that's me
I would say something along the lines of an analytical computer of sorts, monitoring, archiving, and displaying many of Ferial's threads in said metaphorical web of " lies"
remember a few comics ago when you commented first and said "First!"on it. and it ticked Jim off
You don't know it;s a copy. We're still not sure what Tran is capable of :}
How exactly does Ferial 'confirm' it here? I'm just what you're seeing that I didn't write. :p