#301 Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars
Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary: The Teraport Wars
Softcover: 224 pages
Publisher: The Tayler Corporation (October 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0977907410
Category(ies): SF/Humour/Comic
And here is the fourth collection, being the second one chronologically. ( Schlock Mercenary: The Tub of Happiness was the third volume, and first chronologically. But we've been over this before.)
What I like about the Schlock strips is that they're funny, they're proper Space Opera SF, and they have plot. When the author started them , the weak part was his drawing ability, but his story telling ability has always been high. Since during the period of this volume his drawing gets noticeably better, the result is that by the end of this fat volume (200+ roughly A4 full colour, glossy pages), the outcome is professional in every way.
(On occasion Tayler does still bite off more than he can chew: 'A guy who has a hard time drawing hands should not create an alien who has EIGHT OF THEM and who can't gesture with just one at a time'. )
I'm deeply amused by a sense of humour that can produce the following footnote:
Note: By a curious quirk of chemistry, 20th- and 21st-century MREs with a 10-year shelf-life at 285 Kelvin stop going bad after about seventy years, and very, very slowly start getting better. The 1987-issue Chicken Patty (the "boot heel" which was originally best eaten suddenly, in a surprise assault, or better yet, thrown at the enemy) is particularly exquisite, having turned into a sweet, fluffy pudding by A.D. 2430, and into an actual mousse by 2890.
Now awaiting Book 5: Out From Under New Management.