Terminal Lance #116 “Ruffles”

This strip is something I’m sure a few of you have encountered. You tell someone you’re a Marine or you find out they’re from a different branch, then all of the sudden the conversation turns into them trying to prove how big their dick is. This strip came to mind over a conversation I had with an airman at WonderCon this weekend. It went something like this:

Dude wearing full tri-color cammies walks by the table, my vet center compadre sitting next to me tells me he is a veteran. I ask the man what branch, he tells me Air Force. My response is something along the lines of, “Air Force? Oh hey that’s cool too, I mean my comic is more of a Marine thing but I’m sure you’d find it funny also, you should check it out”.

This apparently offended him, because he quickly pulled his dick out and asked to see mine and a ruler. Okay, that didn’t happen, but he basically said everything in the 2nd panel of today’s comic. His girlfriend then reassured me that “Your Corpsmen went to him for help in Iraq!” My response was something like, “Okay, that’s cool.” I wasn’t sure why he was so offended, I wonder if he does that to every Marine he talks to.

Anyway, I’d like to take a moment to recap on WonderCon.

WonderCon was a lot of fun, and I’d like to thank everyone that came out and stopped by to say hi. It was great finally getting to meet fans and talk to people. I feel like I’ve been largely anonymous to most of you, with the exception of the photos on the site and the Toys for Tots videos, people don’t really know me that well. Well, hopefully those of you that I saw this weekend can confirm to your friends that I am in fact a real person. I posted a ton of photos on Facebook and spammed the hell out of the status update. Here’s some of the more memorable photos from the Con.

This guy made my entire Friday complete. Having just put up the WonderCon strip some 12 hours prior, I couldn’t help but shout with excitement when I saw him pass my table. I knew I had to get a photo with him, so I did just that.

Oh yeah, did I mention I met Rudy fucking-Reyes!? Yeah, the one and only Rudy Reyes came by the Vet Center table and started talking to my compatriots. I hadn’t noticed, and while taking a bite of my sandwich my wife slapped my arm and pointed to my left. With a mouth full of food I nearly choked and dropped everything I was doing to get a moment to talk to Rudy. I managed to get his attention and told him about the comic. His buddy James, also from 1st Recon, was apparently a big fan of the comic and I managed to get him and Rudy to pose with me for this one:

I suddenly felt very small in the wake of these two’s He-Man-like physiques…

They were both great guys, and it definitely made my entire weekend worthwhile.

Oh, and I know how much you all loved the Princess Leia booth…

I don’t mean to come off the wrong way here, but there’s a reason I don’t walk around shirtless. There are plenty of girls that could pull this off, but these representatives from the “Princess Leia Slave Outfit Club” definitely aren’t helping their cause. To be honest, I’d rather see the poor girl in the middle wearing that outfit.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I hope those I did meet enjoyed it as well. ComicCon would be the next goal, being in the heart of Marine-dom: San Diego, CA. However, I think they’re already sold out in terms of exhibitor tables–so unfortunately that won’t happen this year.