main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Agent of the Empire #6: Hard Targets, part 1 (of 5)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by The Loyal Imperial, Sep 3, 2012.

  1. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    Putin is the son of a factory worker which is close enough ;)
     
  2. Jedi Ghurubai

    Jedi Ghurubai Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Oct 22, 2012
    He made it big as a politician, not as a spy.
     
  3. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I'm sure spies can come from all sorts of backgrounds, but the point I was making originally is that Cross is supposed to be SW James Bond, and Bond isn't exactly the farmboy type.
     
  4. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    One isn’t to sure, he seems to have been pretty high in KGB hierarchy, reaching Lieutenant Colonel whilst still stationed in East Germany.
     
  5. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    You can be a farmboy and have an academic background. :p
     
  6. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Well there is such a thing as going to college and getting training, which Tank manifestly did seek out. Also, in RL, the CIA often makes use of people who succeed in the military first then get employed as soldiers abroad for training purposes and covert action (though obviously not like in the movies).

    In this scenario, Tank would be rewarded by Lord Vader with a ISB or Imp Intelligence posting. I could just imagine Vader saying, "I like this kid, make use of him" to Isard.

    Poor guy.
     
  7. Jedi Ghurubai

    Jedi Ghurubai Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Oct 22, 2012
    How do i multiquote?
     
  8. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004

    Alderaans political system isn't as messy as you make it look ;) make a topic and I'll go in depth!

    in short: Bail is Viceroy, vice, not king. Breha is the planetary leader and not just in name but with governing power. Bail only is Senator. He only takes over leading Alderaan when Breha is ill and incapable to do so later on, or died too young.

    since the ruling council serves several ministery functions, Breha can pick which she wants and it is reasonable that she does that since just being ruler is something Alderaanians despise. They love art and education, so perfect fit for their leader!
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    And, you know, at this point on the timeline, he's LIVING ON A FARM.

    And even later on in the timeline, he's . . . a low-level backwater army lieutenant. Not exactly an expertly-trained, galaxy-traveling sophisticate with the skillset or temperament for espionage and assassination.
     
  10. Dr. Steve Brule

    Dr. Steve Brule Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 7, 2012
    I think it would be funny to have Tank show up as a Brad Whitaker type villain eventually. That's about the only way I could see him fitting into a Bond-based story.
     
  11. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    He's a backwater lieutenant because he wasn't promoted despite battlefield heroism. But yes, a few months in Isard land and he could wipe out whole Rebellion divisions!
     
  12. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Well, yeah, then he'd be a backwater army commander. I'm sure that, as second-in-command of a garrison on Corvis Minor IV, he would gain significant espionage experience and really stand out as a candidate for secret agent training.
     
  13. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    uh, it would be Vader who made him a spy.
     
  14. Tinwe

    Tinwe Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 20, 2012
    It's not me, it's the sources :p Any suggestions for a good thread title? (I'm tempted to call it "The political mess that is Alderaan", personally... no surprise there ;)) Would the lit board be the place to set it up? I think most of the things we know about Alderaan's politics come indeed from EU literature, though there's a little something in the movies and a more than a bit in TOR...
     
  15. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004
    title it: The Alderaanian Ascendancy through the ages (Free of buglove since...) :p
     
  16. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Lit would be the place, yeah.
     
  17. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Sunber? Oh good grief people, let's enjoy new characters once in a while. This is the sort of thing that ends up getting Fett involved in every book ever. :p

    I like Cross. He's different. He's kind of broken, and you probably need to be a little mental to work for Imperial Intelligence, so it works out quite well. I am also liking the CIA-esque dual hatting he does with the Imperial Diplomatic Corps, and not only because he gets to go to soigné soirées wearing a space tuxedo . . . although I do have to say I am enjoying the glimpses this comic gives us into decent society. I am so dreadfully tired of smugglers and pirates and Jedi. :p

    Anyway, I liked the stuff on Alderaan. It's amusing that Cross seems to know everyone. It was interesting to see the new count, and it's good to know that he felt the pressure to stay loyal after what his uncle did to the galaxy.

    I also quite liked seeing Ysanne. I detest her personally, but she's a good character and entertaining to watch. I like how she was just messing with Cross -- a colleague -- just for the hell of it. That sounds like her. What a total *****. :D

    Oh, and every time I see the Imperial Palace my heart goes aflutter. This seems to be the same design we saw in AotE #1, which is a design unique to this series (although vaguely similar to the design used in Invasion, though that "mountain" look is otherwise radically different than any other, including this one). The consistency in the Palace's look makes me think it's a conscious redesign choice and not just another weird variant (how many different versions of the building do we have now -- seven? eight?). I'd like to find out more information about the design choices there . . . any info jfostrander01 , or is this better directed at the art team?
     
  18. Cronal

    Cronal Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 17, 2009
    Here you go people, for all your Alderaanian needs. Now quick, post in it before someone tests a superweapon on it! :p
     
  19. MercenaryAce

    MercenaryAce Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 10, 2005
    Hey, that's Her Majesty, the Empress and rightful heir of Palpatine, you are talking about.
     
  20. CooperTFN

    CooperTFN TFN EU Staff Emeritus star 7 VIP

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 1999
    I like to think that it's either A) a perpetually evolving structure, as old areas are torn down and others are added or remodeled (not to mention battle damage), or B) so freaking enormous that half the times we think we've seen it were only really sections of it.
     
  21. jfostrander01

    jfostrander01 Writer: Dawn of the Jedi, Agent of the Empire star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Oct 26, 2001
    I can't take any real credit for how the Imperial Palace is depicted. I name which location we use to the artist and, if i have some, include visual reference or point them to where it exists but it really is the artist who decides. I know when to keep out of their way.<g>

    Must say I like coop's thought that it's so big we've never seen all of it.

    -- John
     
    Cronal likes this.
  22. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Yeah, I like that idea too... the only problem is that we always see a ton of empty space around it so it's hard to really reconcile that with the visuals. That said, visual continuity is very easy to massage away but still ... lot of conflicting portrayals.

    I think the idea of the structure being gradually added to over time also has merit, but annoyingly some random TPM kid's book seems to have a picture of the McQuarrie ROTJ-era Imperial Palace in it. That is my favorite design, but it's frustratingly an obstacle to this theory.

    Still. I like seeing the Imperial Palace, so keep using it as a setting! :p :p And this particular redesign actually looks good to me, which I can't say of some of the others... (the video game ones in particular -- not a fan of the dinky little towers we get in Empire at War or Galactic Battlegrounds). It's rather oriental -- Turko-Persian -- which provides a good contrast to the more straight-lined Republican-era buidlings.

    Actually, in this particular issue, the base looks very Republican -- the grand staircase, the squareish bottom parts. I could see that being part of the "Presidential Palace" with the ornate domes and minarets being later Imperial additions. They look part Sith, part Naboo -- which is appropriate. So while I'm still fond of the original Palace design, this one is pretty cool--and this one actually IS amenable to Coop's idea of it being just part of the Palace, I think, because we see it at oblique angles both times, so it could just be one particular tower/wing of the larger McQuarrie structure -- making the entire palace simply colossal, which it ought to be, since it rivalled the Manarai Mountains.

    Ederlathh Pallopides might have something to say about that. Or, y'know, Ars Dangor. :p
     
  23. Tinwe

    Tinwe Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 20, 2012
    Stang, you beat me to it :p See you over there, folks!
     
    Cronal likes this.
  24. QuentinGeorge

    QuentinGeorge Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 12, 2003
    Ederlathh Pallopides might have something to say about that. Or, y'know, Ars Dangor

    There is only one true heir, and with his three eyes he has achieved perfection.
     
    Zorrixor and Gorefiend like this.
  25. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    Wow... this comic... wow.

    Bail Organa just loves to adopt Sith spawn, doesn't he?

    Anyway, awesome comic! It's always good to see the Organa backstory filled in a little more. And of course, the Isards as well. Great start to the arc, jfostrander01! Can't wait to read the rest! :cool: