- Death-Day
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Death-Day is a web comic by Minnesota comic artist Sam Hiti and edited by Joe Midthun. It is currently being published online in episodic form. The prologue was published in July 2009.[1] The first episode came out online on October 31, 2009. The second episode was released on December 25, 2009. The third episode was released on April 8, 2010.
After 4 episodes they will be collected into a book, Death-Day Part One. The book is available from the artists website.
Contents
Prologue
The prologue opens with Commando Squad 9119 running reconnaissance on a large alien structure, the Strand Towers.
After beaming the information back to base, Mother-0, a giant computer that leads the men, calculates that the structure is preventing the humans from returning to earth.
Mother-0 gives the order to prepare for war.
Episode 1
The war is going badly for the humans. They are overwhelmed by the monstrous inhabitants of the planet. Back at Central Command, the Generals are worried that they will lose all of their soldiers. Mother-0 oversees the Generals from a hovering avatar.
It appears that the entire war is a front for a sneak attack. A payload is meant to be delivered to the Strand Towers. But, as soon as the payload is in range, the Black Orb on top of the Strand Towers teleports away, causing the Towers to come crashing down.
One of the Generals is executed after questioning Mother-0's true intentions. The Black Orb teleports back and the payload is detonated. Suddenly, an earthquake hits Central Command and all the generals are killed. Mother-0 escapes just in time.
Years later, a scientist, SB-03-105 (X-3) is testing water in a barren area on the outskirts of Central Command. He is a member of Demon Unit- a group of soldiers surveying the land.
It appears that their Captain has been killed in an accident with a piece of machinery called a M.U.L.E. SC-06-233 (X-6) prepares the body as SD-04-623 (X-4) and SD-05-993 (X-5) watch. They are waiting for a new Captain to arrive via a transport called the Runner.
The soldiers wear Cantrean suits, special body armor worn by the Commandos in the Prologue, that seems to circulate water and waste through their system.
SB-02-474 (X-2) instructs SD-04-623 (X-4) and SD-05-993 (X-5) to refill their suits before the new Captain arrives. They do so, but in the process discover a small plant that excites SB-03-105 (X-3). He discovers that the entire pool is filled with the plant life and begins taking samples.
SD-04-623 (X-4) and SD-05-993 (X-5) slip away and attempt to smoke some "orb weed" that SD-04-623 (X-4) produces from a small satchel. The Runner appears on the horizon and SD-04-623 (X-4) tells SD-05-993 (X-5) to "hide the stuff."
The two head down to met the Runner with the rest of Demon-Unit.
Episode 2
The transport arrives. Inside the new Captain seems to be hallucinating about piles of dead bodies. He smokes and puts out the butt into a Series A patch.
The new Captain steps off and inspects Demon-Unit. Sporting a powerful bionic arm, the Captain is a scarred war veteran who is disgusted by the lack of discipline in his new men.
Using his knife, he cross cuts their patches into an "X" and informs them that they have been counted as casualties to Central Command. The Captain renames each soldier and the squad as X-Unit and reveals that their squad was given to him by Mother-0 to turn into Commandos.
Their new mission: hunt the Black Orb. The Captain tells them to pack up and prepare to move out.
X-6 slices the head off of the previous Captain and "jars" it inside the Runner.
The new Captain finds a photograph that triggers another hallucination of dead men. He smokes and the hallucination dissipates.
When SB-03-105, now named X-3, tries to tell the Captain that he has found water that is no longer radioactive and even has plant life- the new Captain suggests to forget about it.
X-Unit begins their new mission by heading off toward a storm on the horizon.
Episode 3
Time has passed. X-Unit spots the Captain as he climbs around on an orb hive. X-3 has secretly returned to his experiments, but something isn't right. The tests show that the plant sample DNA is similar to human DNA. He is convinced that X-4 and X-5 contaminated his samples when they emptied the waste from their suits.
The Captain returns and overhears that X-3 is still conducting experiments. He knocks X-3 aside and, using his bionic arm, torches X-3's lab. X-3 fears execution, but for some reason, the Captain spares him. Picking through the debris from his experiment, X-3 discovers a plant sample that seems to try to communicate- then dies.
The Captain informs the rest of X-Unit that they are going to head into the orb hive. They scale the structure and rappel inside, dropping down among dozens of unhatched orblings.
When X-4 inquires about the status of X-Units main mission, to hunt the Black Orb, the Captain uses him as an example. He instructs X-4 to remove the headgear of his Cantrean suit. After doing so, X-4 is as a possessed animal. The Captain cold cocks him and reminds the others to never remove their headgear. If they do, they are susceptible to mind control by the orbs.
The Captain reveals that they are going to use the orblings to teleport to the last known location of the Black Orb. As he is setting up the procedure, X-3 seems to be tampering with his work. With X-4 still reeling from his mental encounter with the orblings, X-5 tries to hang out with X-3. X-5 tries to pawn off his satchel of orb weed, but X-3 declines.
X-Unit teleports and the entire Orb hive crashes to the ground, destroyed. They reappear in a snowy setting, near a pipeline.
The Captain falls to the ground, unconscious. The others argue about what they should do as X-5 tries to get their attention. X-3 is nowhere to be found.
References
- ^ Horgen, Tom (11 November 2009). "Comic book creator Sam Hiti returns". Star Tribune (Minneapolis).
External links
Categories:- American webcomics
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