5.25

get in the ocean shinji

Not much to add, the bg notes for this page are now up on the Patreon for the cool kids, as well as the original version of this page from 2007 (wow) cuz it was one of my favorites~

 

58 Comments

  • Pixie

    Suda’s face! :( This is absolutely horrible. But he thinks he’s being fair!

    Because stripping someone naked and telling them they can swim away with none of their belongings to a country (who knows how far away) is fair.

    • Well, according to Pinter this dude (and his clothes) belong to the Emperor anyhow, guess you can’t take it with you.

    • Nyzer

      To be fair, from his perspective, the captain was helping an enemy ship infiltrate his country’s port during the early days of a war. Even if for a benign reason.

      He was also going to formally try and definitely imprison – possibly even execute – the captain before this. In addition to destroying the Yellow Stripe.

      Instead, he’s chosen to let the captain go free in a humiliating and risky manner. Luca probably honestly does consider this a mercy, and he’s not entirely wrong. If the captain can swim out of sight through this rough weather and get to shore somewhere else, he’s free, even if he’d have to steal and sneak his way out of the country after that.

      Assuming Luca’s not lying and just tracking him with a sniper. Wouldn’t put that past him, but this seems a bit too spur-of-the-moment to have set that up.

      • Some_Douchebag

        I seeeeeeeeriously doubt that Luca considers this a mercy. The good captain is going to freeze and drown, or more than likely turn back at the last second and get shot. Everyone there knows this, and Luca is dragging things out.

        The worst (read: “best”) part is that Luca had them bring out a chair for him, just so he could comfortably watch it unfold.

        • Shweta

          Yeah I agree with the first part – the captain was in fact committing treason. I’m guessing that the rest is extra cruelty to punish him for overstepping after that, though.

        • Nyzer

          Freeze? I’m not sure about that – everyone else looks like they’re not wearing thick layers, so the temperature can’t be too horrible, right?

          Even then, a slim chance of survival is still better than none, and as hard as it might be to survive this, it’s much harder to survive a bullet to the head. Luca’s also implying that he’s not going to destroy the Yellow Stripe this way – he did call this “the middle ground” earlier. Even if the captain dies from this (and it seems likely considering what Suda said before this flashback), he’s likely bought the lives of that ship’s crew by doing so.

          Assuming Luca wasn’t lying, of course – which IS something he does.

          • DukeBG

            It doesn’t have to be winter (when people wear layers) to freeze in the ocean. They are all wearing jackets with zipped up collars. It’s about a midterranean or humid continental climate autumn/spring. About 15°C in the air, I think. The captain himself was wearing furs, so maybe 10°C.

            The temperature of the ocean / liquid bodies always differs a lot from the air temperature on the shore. If this is spring-ish, the ocean is colder. But even 10°C water is already enough to freeze to death. Especially without wearing clothes he will suffer a lot of warmth loss very quickly and as his limbs become stiff it will become much harder to swim. At least the ocean is probably salty, so that keeps him a bit more buoyant.

            Either way, I’m pretty sure it’s a guaranteed death.

  • Pixie

    Also: good job getting into the headspace of someone like Luca. I don’t find his cruelty unbelievable or comically escalated (to the point of being pure evil).

    • Fridge_Logik

      Is it that cruel if he gives the option of firing squad? I mean it’s a bit cruel, but the captain was probably going to be executed for violating orders meant to prevent spying.

    • Cthulhufish

      The only part I don’t quite get is why he’d order the ship destroyed instead of setting a trap for it to be seized. You cannot interrogate dead men. And it’s hard to look for evidence of espionage when it’s at the bottom of the sea. Well, Luca’s hatred for Caris is probably why he’s so extreme.

      We don’t have context for how harbor control and logs usually work in this universe, either. Falsifying logs might be seen as very serious business even in peacetime.

      I somewhat doubt the trial would have been fair. Although, it would be a very clear case if falsifying the logs alone was enough to count as treason.

  • Quix

    “daaaaaad this is weird.”

    • lol

    • Darcy

      Suda, don’t kinkshame your dad.

      • Shweta

        nonono suda Please kinkshame your dad this is definitely not ok

  • Corbie

    Wow, this time he’ll not get away with yet another scar. :(
    Shame on you, Luca.

    I wonder if Suda regrets that he hasn’t dared to speak his mind at that moment. He’s well-liked enough to break with his father and bring the soldiers behind him, but Luca still is his father. His only remaining parent, actually. He’d never confront him in such an ultimate way. Yet?

    • Darcy

      Suda would have to decide that doing the right thing (or what he perceives to be the right thing anyway) is more important than his relationship with his father. And he would then have to survive his father’s wrath. The soldiers may like Suda but his lack of military experience may not inspire much confidence. We know Luca can be positively ruthless. If Suda can’t get enough of the soldiers on his side, Luca will crush his rebellion and make this little trip into the ocean look like Happy Fun Times.

      • Darcy

        Also, Luca is unlikely to listen to Suda at this moment or anytime soon because he has no real respect for him. He probably sees his son as soft and foolish. Dragging him along on this trip is probably to toughen him up and make a proper man out of him.

        • Shweta

          yeeeah also, so far Suda has shown zero sign of being willing to face unpleasantness. Far as I can tell, he likes being liked and he wilts under pressure.

          • Corbie

            Yeah, and Suda is positively unawares that someone could like his father better than him if he took initiative, which means that he might feel even more guilty now that he tells the story to Rana. At this point he’d never disobey his parent in urgent matters, but I think this is the first thing Luca does that will him drive to oppose Luca one day; or maybe the second, depending on what he assumes about the Carissi ambassador’s demise.

          • Darcy

            It may not even be a case of someone liking Luca more. Do you risk your life on an untried young man who hasn’t shown any interest in leading? From a strictly pragmatic standpoint, sticking with Luca right now is safest. Not morally right (Phe would be devastated to see what has become of her husband) but you’re less likely to end up involuntarily skinny-dipping.

          • Corbie

            @Darcy: true. I’m not really one to measure this by, which is a reason why I never joined any organized forces, least of all military. ;D
            The situation leaves a lot to guess of course, since it’s just noch part of what Suda recalls: Luca is killing the commander of the local soldiers., a commander who probably was well-liked by the way he acted, decided and stood up even to defend Carissi fishers. That leaves him in a troubled position if someone decided to make use of this fact. I can see how Luca himself would have taken advantage of the situation in Suda’s stead, butSuda is, as he sees himself, mainly Luca’s child. He just lost his mother, he’d never even think of everything else, and I wonder what he’d make of the pragmatic standpoint … he doesn’t appear to take it as a possible excuse, troubled as he is. (And for that, I like him all the better.)

  • Some_Douchebag

    I know this is supposed to make Luca seem more frightening and cruel, but I just think the whole thing is hilarious.

    • Fridge_Logik

      Also, the Captain was totally, violating anti-espionage orders. It’s kinda 50/50 that the Captain was aiding and abetting spies whether or not he knew it, all he had to do was turn away the Yellow Stripe and send them somewhere safe, but he let them in.

      I know these guys are full time merchants on the Yellow Stripe but that’s how espionage works, full time spies hire people with good relations and legit reasons to be in strategic locations to do part time intelligence gathering.

    • Cthulhufish

      Let no one say that Luca lacks a sense of humor. It’s a bit twisted, though.

      And yeah, we actually have no idea if the Yellow Stripe is carrying spies or if the captain is collaborating with spies. The captain might not know. The crew of the Yellow Stripe might not (excepting the spies).

      Luca is setting an example of his “fairness” towards people who allow holes in his country’s defenses.

    • Some_Douchebag

      The “frightening and cruel” bit doesn’t come from the fact that Luca’s executing the guy. It comes from the fact that he went the extra mile to make his death especially painful and humiliating over something as petty as the man not immediately accepting his judgement. This is poignant because that judgement involved killing several of the captain’s friends.

      While it is expected of people in positions of authority to meet resistance with discipline or harshness, forcing a man to choose between drowning and being shot is an alarming jump from a formal trial (likely to be rigged toward execution or lifetime imprisonment). Luca not only goes to outlandish extremes in crushing opposition to his decisions, but also apparently has *fun* while doing it. The fact that he even made them get him a chair makes this hilariously clear.

      This is all mitigated, however, by the greasy old sailor grabbing Luca’s coat. Doing something like this to someone who does that to me is a-okay in my book.

  • JJ

    leadership skills ✓
    good governance ✓
    favorable ratings ✓

    • Glavos

      Luca 2020?

  • Kelsey Raabe

    Might be a typo in the first panel–shouldn’t it be “these” rather than “this?”

    • It’s just Luca’s shitty grammar, haha. Not his first language.

      • Some_Douchebag

        I like how this page comes so soon after you told us in the comments that upper-class types pretend to not understand the blue-collar Mesdan (sp?) language out of snobbery and spite. With that in mind, the grammar issues on this page garnish Luca’s evil with a wonderful layer of dickishness.

  • Darcy

    Oh wow, oh wow. Luca’s little “off you go” hand wave is almost comical. But his face in that 2nd to last panel is chilling and I’m absolutely in love with it. Also really love how you did the poor nekkid captain. His body shape is amazingly realistic and you can really feel the weight and volume of it.

    Bullet might be quicker. :(

  • alphyna

    The colors here are simply masterful.

  • TimesNewLogan

    I would honestly love to see an interaction between Emperor Luca and Baron Wulfenbach from the Girl Genius universe.

    • Nyzer

      Luca’s nowhere near Wulfenbach’s level, and I honestly can’t see Wulfenbach doing something like this under the same circumstances. Even when he was convinced the protagonist was his mortal enemy, he tried to parley with her first.

      • strannik

        Plus Baron Wulfenbach would have givin a destruction order to Yeagers. You don’t forbid a Yaeger to destroy something or someone. Especially when you don’t even wear a hat !

      • TimesNewLogan

        Exactly, which is why I would love to hear them debate with each other! Two unwilling tyrants of different circumstances, defending their actions whilst criticizing their opponents!

  • Luces

    It’s terrible what permanent pain – like the loss of a loved one – turnes people into. They are getting harsh and unjust, even brutal, feeling justified because life treated them bad, concentrating only on their hate and nothing else, willing to tear the whole world down if they’re able to.
    Great page again!

    • strannik

      The loss of a loved one and the pressure of a bloodlusty god, don’t forget it.

    • Lilian

      Indeed!

  • Well. That certainly is a, uh. Solution.

    • Spongegirl Circleskirt

      Has a certain “finality” to it, no?

  • poor fella. :(

  • gimel

    ‘Tis better to drown than to wait to be hung…

    • strannik

      Not really. Being hung is less tiring and quicker.

      • Dread Dreg Mangler

        I can tell you’re speaking from personal experience on both sides of the comparison.

  • Haha as soon as I saw that tweet about looking up old man butt I knew this would happen

    • XD We’re both in that torturous “striving for accurate rendering” boat.

  • John

    When will the 3x a week scheduled updates start from the Patreon goals?

    • I’m working on getting back to that! I’ve slowed a bit due to needing to take time to do extra comic stories for the Kickstarter bonuses and generally because of time-sustainability issues, but I’m reworking my schedule and some business things now so I can get back to hitting good numbers for the rest of the year (next update is tomorrow btw).

  • Tabby

    Keep in mind, guys, that the reason Suda is here on this frigid coastline with his dad is because Luca is training him to take his place someday, a fact which may have some bearing in the extremity of this punishment. Luca wants Suda to emulate him and through this execution method, he is teaching Suda that the poor captain’s behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. (In Luca’s head, anyway, and unfortunately what Luca thinks is the law. Suda, for now at least, must follow his dad.)

    I would probably pick the bullet. It would be a far less unpleasant and much faster way to go – freezing to death in 10 Celsius water (or colder,) is a very shitty way to depart this mortal plane. The inevitable hypothermia would make the captain tired faster, aggravating his efforts to swim away and survive. Finally, he would be unable to keep his head above water as his internal body temperature plunges and he would drown quickly after. From our dear captain’s look of terror thrown over his shoulder at Luca, he fully knows that stepping into that cold water means certain death. There’s a reason why scuba divers wear dry suits in waters like this!

    Awesomely written execution though. This is creatively horrible, haha. I really feel sorry for the captain, I really liked his beard. T’was a rad one!

  • Bella

    I love how realistic the water looks <3

  • Spongegirl Circleskirt

    How cold Izzit?
    ICE COLD!
    Alright alright alright alright …

  • Jac

    Looks like Bring Your Kid to Work Day is going well..

  • Revil

    You are a cold blooded monster and I love it

  • Roo

    Oh that poor man : [ Shows what loyalty can get you in the end.

  • Dread Dreg Mangler

    I see some Mare Internum seeping though in the second to last panel. Or perhaps it’s just the hairline ;)

  • GalopaWXY

    This is absolutely the worst page in the entire comic

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