Would that be Ghengis Shere Khan? Who, like the corresponding tiger in the Jungle Book, may have a serious anger-management problem. Devious… political… but when it comes right down to it, he is a man-eating tiger.
Not to noodge you on this, Tip, but you’ve got a gun, a murder-death-kill zombie who is almost reliable, and apparently a national green light to shoot the man-eating genocidal tiger that’s wandering around loose. This is not exactly a hard call to make.
But seriously, the soiciopolitical commentary of this strip reflecting on the relationship between the would-be destroyer/ruler dichotomously juxtaposed with his need for foolish/complacent followers speaks across the eons of human history and is, in short, nothing short of brilliant.
So once again we have H.T. acting like a monster, and the Skin Horse team just kinda staring at him doing nothing.
He’s literally stating he’s going to raise an army, wage war, and write history in fire. This is the point where a moral person would intercede to stop him.
If someone informs you that they’re going to go murder someone else, and you fully believe them, you don’t just refuse to give them a ride to their intended victim’s house. You take immediate measures to foil their plans – either personally or by alerting the authorities.
Skin-Horse ARE the authorities. And they’ve been in exactly this sort of situation before. Leo threatened to maul innocent people at the zoo, they tried to talk him down and had UNITY prepared to shoot him if they failed. The werewolves threatened to go hunt down humans, Skin Horse stopped them forcibly.
But once again, H.T. gets away with the exact some sorts of threats, and Skin Horse doesn’t lift a finger! He’s threatening genocide, and the worst they can muster is refusing to drive him somewhere?!?
This is utter and complete bullshit. It makes no sense whatsoever, and undermines everything we know about the characters and story thus far. This is horribly bad writing that seems to exists only to force a clumsy and nonsensical plot development.
And the worst part is, it’s utterly inexplicable. The writing in this comic and related projects has typically been pretty good overall, and certainly has never been this mind-bogglingly absurd before.
HT is talking big, but he talks a lot. If, at some point, he starts talking about things he could actually do rather than his dreams of being a great military commander or a man-eater, there may be a need for stronger actions than gentle mockery. Until then…
He’s a tiger, loose in Vermont. He’d better start planning how to *be alive tomorrow*. No bus for Genghis, not much chance to avoid being seen and shot…
For an ordinary tiger, in ordinary Vermont, sure – he’d be in a bind.
But he’s a charismatic and intelligent tiger in a Vermont that is surely bristling with typical Narboniverse weirdness that ordinary people don’t notice.
There are absolutely going to be swamp-men, bigfoots, killer robots, and all sorts of other things to be found within reasonable distance – particularly if he slinks off into the woods to avoid being easily seen. After all, other non-human sapients will surely be heading to the hills themselves, because they’re in the same situation of suddenly being unable to remain in the company of humans safely.
And that’s where he raises his first warband, preying on their fear and confusion, and directing it into hatred and violence.
…Or gets killed at the hands of non-humans who never heard of him and are “live for the moment” predators! That said, I’d say he survives on two things – 1) As darkstarling points out elsewhere, it’s not that type of a comic and 2), Somewhere along the line they decided that he’s better then the alternative. Otherwise I think they’d go with the solution Moe Lane propose because Moe and you are both right – It’s not that hard a call to make. ^_~
Worth pointing out – they only ever had tranq darts aimed at Leo, and the werewolves were physically attacking them at the time, not just making plans to attack later. They aren’t being pragmatic here, but it’s in line with their past ethical standards.
I’ve known people like that. “You are a horrible person, you’re awful, terrible, hateful and you’ve destroyed my life. Oh, can I borrow $100 on your credit card to pay my cell phone bill, and then borrow your car?”
While Leonidas didn’t manage to stop the Persians entirely (probably his primary goal), he DID manage to ensure that 5000 Greeks lived to fight another day by covering their retreat. If all 7000 Greek soldiers had been killed at Thermopylae, Greece would have been royally screwed, because they had 125,000 Persian soldiers bearing down on them. So ol’ Leonidas managed to partially salvage an unmitigated Charlie Foxtrot while outnumbered 17 to 1. Which is nothing to be sneezed at.
As for Hannibal, he was responsible for the most infamous example of lol!pwnage in military history. He and his army limped down from the Alps, then proceeded to kick the asses of two Roman armies at Triebe and Lake Traisemme, then completely annihilate a third at the Battle of Cannae. Literally any other power in the Mediterranean would have come to the bargaining table to negotiate terms of surrender at that point. If it weren’t for Rome’s all-or-nothing approach to warfare, Carthage would have won the Second Punic War effectively uncontested. As it was, he spent 15 years in Italy and never once lost a battle outright. He only retreated because Scipio Africanus was marching on Carthage, and the bigwigs there were scared. Scipio was the first Roman general to truly best Hannibal, defeating him at the Battle of Zama.
And, as noted previously, Saladin was a quite successful overall.
So yeah. Those are three dudes who a would-be general should aspire to be like. Especially if they want history to remember them. Leonidas is famous as the foremost Western exemplar of courage, and Hannibal is infamous as a master strategist and tactician. If you want to make a mark on history, there are worse ways to go about it than following in their footsteps.
H.T. needs to brush up on his history.
Saladin was pretty darn successful overall.
Can I just say I love that last line? ‘Cause I do.
Would that be Ghengis Shere Khan? Who, like the corresponding tiger in the Jungle Book, may have a serious anger-management problem. Devious… political… but when it comes right down to it, he is a man-eating tiger.
Nice!
Seconded
I also lol’d.
*fire* H. T. *fire*
Not to noodge you on this, Tip, but you’ve got a gun, a murder-death-kill zombie who is almost reliable, and apparently a national green light to shoot the man-eating genocidal tiger that’s wandering around loose. This is not exactly a hard call to make.
To be fair he looks only mildly concerned
Their problem is that (aside from this not being that kind of comic) (usually) they just don’t take him seriously.
True, it’s not that kind of comic. 🙂
Every long journey begins with a cash advance.
H.T., H.T., burning bright
In the forests of the night!
Oh, H.T., how could you forget the law? Do you WANT to go to the House of Pain?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ssYZQnso4I
Not to eat the flesh of man or beast! Are we not men?
umm… We are Devo? Or am I dating myself?
“Well, it;s not as if anybody else would date you.” —Dogbert to Dilbert.
Not Devo, but Oingo Boingo. Same era, though.
To Diosamblet, you are all experiments to be made into men.
(Okay, who recognizes that reference?)
But seriously, the soiciopolitical commentary of this strip reflecting on the relationship between the would-be destroyer/ruler dichotomously juxtaposed with his need for foolish/complacent followers speaks across the eons of human history and is, in short, nothing short of brilliant.
“It takes forty men with their feet on the ground to support one man with his head in the clouds.” – Terry Pratchett, Small Gods
Why Montpelier? I know it’s the capital, but do the legislators taste better?
Vermont voters and legislators are infused with delicious organic maple syrup.
That explains so many things, including the state motto. If enough of them are stuck together by the maple syrup, they can’t be swallowed whole.
It does occur to me, though, that most great military leaders arrange their own transportation.
The selection of names that H.T. mentioned may have been deliberate. People remember those three, win or lose. THAT is what H.T. wants, I think.
We don’t actually know his name, do we? H. T. is supposedly short for Hungry Tiger, but that’s not a name.
It’s exactly as much a name as “spot”
And so it begins. At least now the team won’t have to wonder what the New War will be like anymore.
So which Hannibal does H. T. have in mind?
Not the useful one.
:pause:
Not the useful one who always had a cigar.
The fava beans one, it would appear…
So once again we have H.T. acting like a monster, and the Skin Horse team just kinda staring at him doing nothing.
He’s literally stating he’s going to raise an army, wage war, and write history in fire. This is the point where a moral person would intercede to stop him.
If someone informs you that they’re going to go murder someone else, and you fully believe them, you don’t just refuse to give them a ride to their intended victim’s house. You take immediate measures to foil their plans – either personally or by alerting the authorities.
Skin-Horse ARE the authorities. And they’ve been in exactly this sort of situation before. Leo threatened to maul innocent people at the zoo, they tried to talk him down and had UNITY prepared to shoot him if they failed. The werewolves threatened to go hunt down humans, Skin Horse stopped them forcibly.
But once again, H.T. gets away with the exact some sorts of threats, and Skin Horse doesn’t lift a finger! He’s threatening genocide, and the worst they can muster is refusing to drive him somewhere?!?
This is utter and complete bullshit. It makes no sense whatsoever, and undermines everything we know about the characters and story thus far. This is horribly bad writing that seems to exists only to force a clumsy and nonsensical plot development.
And the worst part is, it’s utterly inexplicable. The writing in this comic and related projects has typically been pretty good overall, and certainly has never been this mind-bogglingly absurd before.
I’m very badly disappointed by this.
HT is talking big, but he talks a lot. If, at some point, he starts talking about things he could actually do rather than his dreams of being a great military commander or a man-eater, there may be a need for stronger actions than gentle mockery. Until then…
Well, to be fair, yes, Leo went to the zoo to prove he was King of the Beasts, but he was the one who ended up getting mauled… by monkeys.
He’s a tiger, loose in Vermont. He’d better start planning how to *be alive tomorrow*. No bus for Genghis, not much chance to avoid being seen and shot…
For an ordinary tiger, in ordinary Vermont, sure – he’d be in a bind.
But he’s a charismatic and intelligent tiger in a Vermont that is surely bristling with typical Narboniverse weirdness that ordinary people don’t notice.
There are absolutely going to be swamp-men, bigfoots, killer robots, and all sorts of other things to be found within reasonable distance – particularly if he slinks off into the woods to avoid being easily seen. After all, other non-human sapients will surely be heading to the hills themselves, because they’re in the same situation of suddenly being unable to remain in the company of humans safely.
And that’s where he raises his first warband, preying on their fear and confusion, and directing it into hatred and violence.
…Or gets killed at the hands of non-humans who never heard of him and are “live for the moment” predators! That said, I’d say he survives on two things – 1) As darkstarling points out elsewhere, it’s not that type of a comic and 2), Somewhere along the line they decided that he’s better then the alternative. Otherwise I think they’d go with the solution Moe Lane propose because Moe and you are both right – It’s not that hard a call to make. ^_~
He still has most of his opossum scientists and the murder turtles
Worth pointing out – they only ever had tranq darts aimed at Leo, and the werewolves were physically attacking them at the time, not just making plans to attack later. They aren’t being pragmatic here, but it’s in line with their past ethical standards.
I’ve known people like that. “You are a horrible person, you’re awful, terrible, hateful and you’ve destroyed my life. Oh, can I borrow $100 on your credit card to pay my cell phone bill, and then borrow your car?”
HT’s wrong. “This is not war. This is pest control.”
While Leonidas didn’t manage to stop the Persians entirely (probably his primary goal), he DID manage to ensure that 5000 Greeks lived to fight another day by covering their retreat. If all 7000 Greek soldiers had been killed at Thermopylae, Greece would have been royally screwed, because they had 125,000 Persian soldiers bearing down on them. So ol’ Leonidas managed to partially salvage an unmitigated Charlie Foxtrot while outnumbered 17 to 1. Which is nothing to be sneezed at.
As for Hannibal, he was responsible for the most infamous example of lol!pwnage in military history. He and his army limped down from the Alps, then proceeded to kick the asses of two Roman armies at Triebe and Lake Traisemme, then completely annihilate a third at the Battle of Cannae. Literally any other power in the Mediterranean would have come to the bargaining table to negotiate terms of surrender at that point. If it weren’t for Rome’s all-or-nothing approach to warfare, Carthage would have won the Second Punic War effectively uncontested. As it was, he spent 15 years in Italy and never once lost a battle outright. He only retreated because Scipio Africanus was marching on Carthage, and the bigwigs there were scared. Scipio was the first Roman general to truly best Hannibal, defeating him at the Battle of Zama.
And, as noted previously, Saladin was a quite successful overall.
So yeah. Those are three dudes who a would-be general should aspire to be like. Especially if they want history to remember them. Leonidas is famous as the foremost Western exemplar of courage, and Hannibal is infamous as a master strategist and tactician. If you want to make a mark on history, there are worse ways to go about it than following in their footsteps.
Just a thought, but didn’t Saladin, Leonidas, and Hannibal all lose, even if they did lose spectacularly?