Ich Hatt Einen Kameraden - Artist Notes
My Own Personal Big Bang
Jesus. Where to begin?
Well, how about the beginning? The idea came back in November 2010 while re-watching Band of Brothers (episode 3 Carentan). There was a scene where a medic was moseying around in the open streets, under fire, giving last rites to the fallen. Malarkey comments, "Crazy fools, the Irish!" and my brain goes "Irish=Colin Morgan=Merlin" which leads to: "Man, Merlin would SO be a crazy medic." .... DING! And I walk past a statue called "The Angel of Victory" everyday on my way to work. It's hard to not get inspired by this beauty.
Kamerad!
A few years back I watched a film called "Passchendaele", who's opening scene depicts a Canadian soldier trying to surrender/parlay with a German machine gun nest by calling out "Kamerad!" (which spectacularily fails and after he blows up the nest, the German soldier pleads, "Kamerad?"--- which at that point you probably want to look away quickly, if you're squeamish.. Anyways, that was a neat concept, and I thought I'd like to incorporate something similar. So of course Merlin meets Arthur, calls him "Friend" and well, doesn't THAT just sound familiar?
When you Google "Kamerad", the second hit (for me, anyways) is to the wikipedia article for a German Armed Forces lament called, "Ich hatt einen Kameraden" From what I can gather, this is the German equivalent to "Last Post" or "In Flanders Fields", sung at every Volkstrauertag (Remembrance/Memorial Day) and military funeral. I thought it'd make a great title and had to incorporate it in this piece.
Why Canadian?
Canada has a unicorn in it's coat-of-arms... I think Merlin would approve! Seriously though, they say, "write what you know", and as a born-and-raised Albertan farmer-turned-artist with a family history of military service, I had lots of ammunition for this Canadian version of Merlin. In truth, the last two pages were hard for me, not only because of my notorious homesickness for the prairies that I grew up on, but because halfway through their completion my Grandfather passed and I had to fly out to the farm. When I came back to finish the pages that took place there, well... it was awkward.
The Pats - And Unintentional Angst
So Merlin is a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) or "The Pats". Mostly because I was too lazy to draw shoulder patches that say "Calgary Highlanders", or "South Saskatchewan Regiment"... PPCLI, nice and short. This actually screwed me over because originally, I wanted this to take place during the Battle of the Scheldt, but the Pats weren't at the Scheldt! The Pat's spent the entire offensive in Italy, with the exception of the last two months when they were sent up to help with the liberation of Holland! So, fine... I set it in Holland, late in the war ---and in doing so ended up killing Merlin off less than a month before the war ends!! I had him survive the defence of Britain, and the entire Italy offensive, only to kill him off right before the end - like the cop who's a week away from retirement... so unintentional.... I didn't even realize until I was inking and my mind wandered...
And then it happened again!
I was working on the Memorial Crosses when I'd wondered if Merlin would've attended Balinor's ramp ceremony a lá the ODST trailer (which he would not because back then, you died over there - you were buried over there). I remembered that there is a 20 year gap between the two wars, so Merlin would have just been a baby... actually..... Merlin would've had to have just been conceived before Balinor shipped out in Sept 1915. .... Meaning, Merlin would've born in the spring of 1916 while his Pa was overseas and then Balinor died in April 1917 (Vimy Ridge).
So, he never knew his dad. Ouch. So canon.
German
Okay, let's talk German for a sec. (not literally) First off, I do not read/speak/understand any language but English (and even then, I rock a heavily rural, gravel-y, country dialect.. bleeech)
I enjoy the idea of having a language barrier in the comic. It stems from reading Alan Moore's "Lost Girls", where the last three pages of dialogue was un-translated German. I wanted to know SO BAD what they were saying, that I typed every word into an online translator and got the gist of it. (PS, online translators aren't very good). In this situation, the barrier just feels right to me. Common soldiers usually do not know an enemy language except maybe for basic slurs, ranks, and weaponry. Basically, they learn what they need in the field.
If you know English and you run the German dialogue in this comic though one of the many online translators (they aren't very good, but I found the most accurate was GoogleTranslate) about 85% of it does NOT read back as the way I've written it in English, lol, but I reckon you'd get the gist of it. Anyways, I've included the translations at the bottom of each applicable page.
I've done my best to make it so that you don't really need to know German to know what the flip is going on. And even then, some of the words speak for themselves. But if you understand German, I've gone out of my way to run this sucker through two German betas, so it should read fine. When I run it through an online translator, it reads back gobbledygook to me, but I'm putting my faith in my betas that it'll make sense to a native speaker.
I would also like to apologize to mama_zoya for my use of the rural prairie dialect and idioms, which I'm sure will be a bastard to translate into Russian. Sorry!
Androcles and the Lion
In case you haven't "heard the one about Androcles and the Lion", here is the fable:
A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning.
At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.
Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena.
Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest.
"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."
A Few Notes on Inspiration
Merlin's Final Panel
While searching for some reference images of the PPCLI in action, I came across this photo of a dead and looted German corporal in Ortona that became the inspiration for Merlin's last panel. Obvious warning for image of a dead soldier and his strewn personal effects.
Balinor and Merlin's Medals
Balinor is the recipient of:
The Victoria Cross - for his sacrifice at Vimy Ridge - posth
The India Medal - for the Tirah campaign
The Queen's South Africa Medal - for serving in the Boer War
The King's South Africa Medal - for serving in the Boer War from December 1900 to May 1902
The 1914 Star - for serving in France during World War I - posth
The British War Medal - for the completion of 28 days of mobilised service in World War I - posth
The Victory Medal - for serving in World War I - posth
The Memorial Cross - awarded to Hunith as a memento of her personal loss and sacrifice - posth
Merlin is the recipient of:
The 1939-45 Star - for completing 6 months of service in the Second World War - posth
The Italy Star - for operational service in Italy - posth
The France and Germany Star - for operational service in the Netherlands - posth
The Defence Medal - for service in the defence of Britain - posth
The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal - for voluntarily serving for at least 18 months in the Second World War
The War Medal 1939-1945 - for serving at least 28 days in the Second World War - posth
The Memorial Cross - awarded to Hunith as a memento of her personal loss and sacrifice - posth
Resources
http://www.cmhslivinghistory.com/ppcli2_equip.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Arnhem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_German_Army_Ranks_and_Insignia
Desktops?
If you want to have brooding Arthur and/or Merlin on your desktop, I've whipped up a wallpaper for you.
Instead of giving, like, 5 different resolutions, I'm going to try something different:
Most monitors are either 4x3 or 16x9 aspect ratio. So I've made the images large - one for each aspect ratio - so that you can just hit "fit to screen" and it shouldn't distort on you.
****This is strictly experimental and may be FUBAR, LOL!*****
Choose 4x3 - If your resolution is (800x600), (1024x768), (1152x864), (1280x960), (1600x900)
Choose 16x9 - if your resolution is (960x540), (1024x576), (1280x720), (1600x900)
If you are unsure, check out this handy list on wikipedia, or just download them all and mash buttons 'till it looks good!
Arthur - 4x3 (1600x1200)
Arthur - 16x9 (1600x900)
Merlin - 4x3 (1600x1200)
Merlin - 16x9 (1600x900)
I use dual monitors and have had Arthur on the left one, Merlin on the right one since February. When I felt like lazing out and not working on the comic, their scowls kept cracking the whip at me. Best motivation ever!
A Sort of Off-Topic Side Note:
I'm not sure why I'm compelled to share this - it's a video I came across while tangent-ing off on Ramp Ceremonies. It's of a car driving down Canada's "Highway of Heroes" at the same time that the bodies of 6 soldiers killed in Afghanistan were being transported down the same route. This is over in Ontario. Whenever a fallen soldier returns home, they arrive in CFB Trenton and then are transported 100 miles by a convoy of vehicles to the coroner's office in Toronto. This stretch of the 401 has become known as the "Highway of Heroes". EVERYONE comes out and stands alongside the road to pay their respects. It's really really.. really... something. Seriously - words fail me.
THE END!
Well, I reckon that's about it. Thanks for reading this comic and hope you enjoyed it.
Feel free to leave any questions, queries, comments, or concerns below - or PM me.
If you want to check out some of my other works, here is a link to my Art Master Post
Jesus. Where to begin?
Well, how about the beginning? The idea came back in November 2010 while re-watching Band of Brothers (episode 3 Carentan). There was a scene where a medic was moseying around in the open streets, under fire, giving last rites to the fallen. Malarkey comments, "Crazy fools, the Irish!" and my brain goes "Irish=Colin Morgan=Merlin" which leads to: "Man, Merlin would SO be a crazy medic." .... DING! And I walk past a statue called "The Angel of Victory" everyday on my way to work. It's hard to not get inspired by this beauty.
Kamerad!
A few years back I watched a film called "Passchendaele", who's opening scene depicts a Canadian soldier trying to surrender/parlay with a German machine gun nest by calling out "Kamerad!" (which spectacularily fails and after he blows up the nest, the German soldier pleads, "Kamerad?"--- which at that point you probably want to look away quickly, if you're squeamish.. Anyways, that was a neat concept, and I thought I'd like to incorporate something similar. So of course Merlin meets Arthur, calls him "Friend" and well, doesn't THAT just sound familiar?
When you Google "Kamerad", the second hit (for me, anyways) is to the wikipedia article for a German Armed Forces lament called, "Ich hatt einen Kameraden" From what I can gather, this is the German equivalent to "Last Post" or "In Flanders Fields", sung at every Volkstrauertag (Remembrance/Memorial Day) and military funeral. I thought it'd make a great title and had to incorporate it in this piece.
Why Canadian?
Canada has a unicorn in it's coat-of-arms... I think Merlin would approve! Seriously though, they say, "write what you know", and as a born-and-raised Albertan farmer-turned-artist with a family history of military service, I had lots of ammunition for this Canadian version of Merlin. In truth, the last two pages were hard for me, not only because of my notorious homesickness for the prairies that I grew up on, but because halfway through their completion my Grandfather passed and I had to fly out to the farm. When I came back to finish the pages that took place there, well... it was awkward.
The Pats - And Unintentional Angst
So Merlin is a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) or "The Pats". Mostly because I was too lazy to draw shoulder patches that say "Calgary Highlanders", or "South Saskatchewan Regiment"... PPCLI, nice and short. This actually screwed me over because originally, I wanted this to take place during the Battle of the Scheldt, but the Pats weren't at the Scheldt! The Pat's spent the entire offensive in Italy, with the exception of the last two months when they were sent up to help with the liberation of Holland! So, fine... I set it in Holland, late in the war ---and in doing so ended up killing Merlin off less than a month before the war ends!! I had him survive the defence of Britain, and the entire Italy offensive, only to kill him off right before the end - like the cop who's a week away from retirement... so unintentional.... I didn't even realize until I was inking and my mind wandered...
And then it happened again!
I was working on the Memorial Crosses when I'd wondered if Merlin would've attended Balinor's ramp ceremony a lá the ODST trailer (which he would not because back then, you died over there - you were buried over there). I remembered that there is a 20 year gap between the two wars, so Merlin would have just been a baby... actually..... Merlin would've had to have just been conceived before Balinor shipped out in Sept 1915. .... Meaning, Merlin would've born in the spring of 1916 while his Pa was overseas and then Balinor died in April 1917 (Vimy Ridge).
So, he never knew his dad. Ouch. So canon.
German
Okay, let's talk German for a sec. (not literally) First off, I do not read/speak/understand any language but English (and even then, I rock a heavily rural, gravel-y, country dialect.. bleeech)
I enjoy the idea of having a language barrier in the comic. It stems from reading Alan Moore's "Lost Girls", where the last three pages of dialogue was un-translated German. I wanted to know SO BAD what they were saying, that I typed every word into an online translator and got the gist of it. (PS, online translators aren't very good). In this situation, the barrier just feels right to me. Common soldiers usually do not know an enemy language except maybe for basic slurs, ranks, and weaponry. Basically, they learn what they need in the field.
If you know English and you run the German dialogue in this comic though one of the many online translators (they aren't very good, but I found the most accurate was GoogleTranslate) about 85% of it does NOT read back as the way I've written it in English, lol, but I reckon you'd get the gist of it. Anyways, I've included the translations at the bottom of each applicable page.
I've done my best to make it so that you don't really need to know German to know what the flip is going on. And even then, some of the words speak for themselves. But if you understand German, I've gone out of my way to run this sucker through two German betas, so it should read fine. When I run it through an online translator, it reads back gobbledygook to me, but I'm putting my faith in my betas that it'll make sense to a native speaker.
I would also like to apologize to mama_zoya for my use of the rural prairie dialect and idioms, which I'm sure will be a bastard to translate into Russian. Sorry!
Androcles and the Lion
In case you haven't "heard the one about Androcles and the Lion", here is the fable:
A slave named Androcles once escaped from his master and fled to the forest. As he was wandering about there he came upon a Lion lying down moaning and groaning.
At first he turned to flee, but finding that the Lion did not pursue him, he turned back and went up to him. As he came near, the Lion put out his paw, which was all swollen and bleeding, and Androcles found that a huge thorn had got into it, and was causing all the pain. He pulled out the thorn and bound up the paw of the Lion, who was soon able to rise and lick the hand of Androcles like a dog.
Then the Lion took Androcles to his cave, and every day used to bring him meat from which to live. But shortly afterwards both Androcles and the Lion were captured, and the slave was sentenced to be thrown to the Lion, after the latter had been kept without food for several days. The Emperor and all his Court came to see the spectacle, and Androcles was led out into the middle of the arena.
Soon the Lion was let loose from his den, and rushed bounding and roaring towards his victim. But as soon as he came near to Androcles he recognised his friend, and fawned upon him, and licked his hands like a friendly dog. The Emperor, surprised at this, summoned Androcles to him, who told him the whole story. Whereupon the slave was pardoned and freed, and the Lion let loose to his native forest.
"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."
A Few Notes on Inspiration
Merlin's Final Panel
While searching for some reference images of the PPCLI in action, I came across this photo of a dead and looted German corporal in Ortona that became the inspiration for Merlin's last panel. Obvious warning for image of a dead soldier and his strewn personal effects.
Balinor and Merlin's Medals
Balinor is the recipient of:
The Victoria Cross - for his sacrifice at Vimy Ridge - posth
The India Medal - for the Tirah campaign
The Queen's South Africa Medal - for serving in the Boer War
The King's South Africa Medal - for serving in the Boer War from December 1900 to May 1902
The 1914 Star - for serving in France during World War I - posth
The British War Medal - for the completion of 28 days of mobilised service in World War I - posth
The Victory Medal - for serving in World War I - posth
The Memorial Cross - awarded to Hunith as a memento of her personal loss and sacrifice - posth
Merlin is the recipient of:
The 1939-45 Star - for completing 6 months of service in the Second World War - posth
The Italy Star - for operational service in Italy - posth
The France and Germany Star - for operational service in the Netherlands - posth
The Defence Medal - for service in the defence of Britain - posth
The Canadian Volunteer Service Medal - for voluntarily serving for at least 18 months in the Second World War
The War Medal 1939-1945 - for serving at least 28 days in the Second World War - posth
The Memorial Cross - awarded to Hunith as a memento of her personal loss and sacrifice - posth
Resources
http://www.cmhslivinghistory.com/ppcli2_equip.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_Kingdom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_of_Arnhem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_German_Army_Ranks_and_Insignia
Desktops?
If you want to have brooding Arthur and/or Merlin on your desktop, I've whipped up a wallpaper for you.
Instead of giving, like, 5 different resolutions, I'm going to try something different:
Most monitors are either 4x3 or 16x9 aspect ratio. So I've made the images large - one for each aspect ratio - so that you can just hit "fit to screen" and it shouldn't distort on you.
****This is strictly experimental and may be FUBAR, LOL!*****
Choose 4x3 - If your resolution is (800x600), (1024x768), (1152x864), (1280x960), (1600x900)
Choose 16x9 - if your resolution is (960x540), (1024x576), (1280x720), (1600x900)
If you are unsure, check out this handy list on wikipedia, or just download them all and mash buttons 'till it looks good!
Arthur - 4x3 (1600x1200)
Arthur - 16x9 (1600x900)
Merlin - 4x3 (1600x1200)
Merlin - 16x9 (1600x900)
I use dual monitors and have had Arthur on the left one, Merlin on the right one since February. When I felt like lazing out and not working on the comic, their scowls kept cracking the whip at me. Best motivation ever!
A Sort of Off-Topic Side Note:
I'm not sure why I'm compelled to share this - it's a video I came across while tangent-ing off on Ramp Ceremonies. It's of a car driving down Canada's "Highway of Heroes" at the same time that the bodies of 6 soldiers killed in Afghanistan were being transported down the same route. This is over in Ontario. Whenever a fallen soldier returns home, they arrive in CFB Trenton and then are transported 100 miles by a convoy of vehicles to the coroner's office in Toronto. This stretch of the 401 has become known as the "Highway of Heroes". EVERYONE comes out and stands alongside the road to pay their respects. It's really really.. really... something. Seriously - words fail me.
THE END!
Well, I reckon that's about it. Thanks for reading this comic and hope you enjoyed it.
Feel free to leave any questions, queries, comments, or concerns below - or PM me.
If you want to check out some of my other works, here is a link to my Art Master Post