Terminal Lance #28 “False Advertising”

I don’t think there’s a whole lot to say about this strip, I think the joke is fairly self-explanatory. In fact, I’d say making fun of the cheesy recruiting commercials is one of the favorite pass times of Marines. All of us remember the commercials with the fire demon or the dragon being slain by the NCO sword. Since I’ve been in, the commercials have started gearing toward the Silent Drill Platoon–while I will say is always awesome to watch–has virtually nothing to do with the real Marine Corps. As much as I could focus this on making fun of the Silent Drill Platoon, I will refrain because honestly it’s fucking cool to watch them–as utterly POG as they can be. My old Company Gunny actually was a silent drill guy, Gunny Duprey, and he’s probably one of the best Marines I’ve ever met. (In fact he even has his own Facebook fan page, not started by him.)

With that said, I think the commercials have their purpose in the world: to recruit new Marines. All the jerk off tactics are in full effect here; the image portrayed on TV is the one that everyone at home knows of us, after all. I think making fun of the commercials is an easy target though, as all Marines are generally in universal agreement that they’re straight bullshit.

This strip is actually recycled material. You’ve never seen it because it was never used until now. This concept was actually the first Terminal Lance idea I ever had, though the wording was slightly different. My original idea for the strip was a full vertical comic-page setup. This ultimately was altered when I thought that the local paper had some intention of picking up the strip. That obviously never happened, but the 3-panel layout stuck well with me. It’s simple and to the point, and it’s easier for me to get done with 2 strips a week. Had I been doing full pages like that, odds are I’d be able to do 1 a week at the most.

I mentioned before that I’m looking for ways to monetize Terminal Lance a little bit. I need a new computer and I’ll be out of a steady paycheck here in a couple of weeks. With that said, I will be auctioning off the ORIGINAL artwork to Terminal Lance #15 “SPECIAL EDITION”, autographed by me on eBay. When this happens, I will let you all know and I will put it up on the News portion of the site. It will probably not be until next week, but I will keep you all informed here and on the Facebook fan page.

People have asked me about selling the original strip artwork. The unfortunate thing with this idea is that the strips are very rough when I scan them in. Using my WACOM tablet I draw in and touch up a lot of things, leaving the original artwork obsolete and not worth much (not to mention it’s all cut in extremely odd ways to fit in my tiny scanner). The difference with Strip #15 is that it is one solid piece of artwork, 10″x15″ (standard comic size). It’s all ink and it’s all real, so I am comfortable offering it for sale. In the meantime, expect some small additions to the site sometime soon.

Until next time gents. Remember, if you tap it: wrap it.

ADDITION:

I promised I’d look at the photos put up on the Terminal Lance fan page on Facebook. Today, I will highlight my favorite one so far:

Submitted by Brett Bass.

This one made me laugh the most, because it’s a simple observation that is pretty hilarious. If you can’t tell, it’s a guy named Tucker who’s nametape looks a lot like “Fucker”. I can imagine this guy has a pretty obvious knick name, which I think is well earned with this cammy slip-up.

A note on the photos, keep in mind that everyone is on Facebook. Hell, it’s even allowed on NMCI now, so if you’re putting up a photo that could get you in trouble–don’t do it. I’m not a blue falcon, but if you’re SNCO or OIC see’s a photo of you giving fellatio to a goat or something you’re probably going to have a pretty awkward conversation with your battalion commander. Keep it clean, gents. Common sense.