StarCraft: Issue #5

[Kimera757]

Woah!

It took five issues, but the manipulation of the War Pigs are being revealed. (Poor War Pigs, they are everyone's Xanatos Suckers.)

A brief overview is in order.

The War Pigs were a team of Confederacy special forces, working for a grade A jackass named Tamsen Cauley. They were like reapers in that they weren't resocialized, but still had to fight as slaves. This was legal since all the War Pigs were sentenced to either life or death sentences for various crimes. (One was sentenced to life for treason, causing me to wonder why at least one was sentenced to death.)

War Pigs:
Turfa Dei, big guy, former terrorist.
Cole Hickson, military commander.
Nuura Joss, pilot.
Romy Pyrius, stim-using medic and soldier.
Iggins, one-armed guy. Seems to be the sanest of the lot. (He isn't.)

They're the main characters.

Cauley ordered them to kill Arcturus Mengsk (back in the first issue) since he realized the Confederacy was doomed if Mengsk didn't die. They failed. As a result, Cauley decided to jump ship to Mengsk. Except for that little problem that he tried to kill Mengsk. Anyone who knew about it had to die. It sucked to be a War Pig. He tried to have them killed with the new Cerberus Program, but the special forces guys outfought the resocialized Cerberus heavies. The War Pigs scattered.

Two years later, Cauley was a Dominion big shot. Unfortunately, during a meeting with Mengsk, the emperor mentioned something about loose ends, causing Cauley to worry about that little indiscretion previously mentioned. He fished Cole Hickson, one of the War Pigs who has a checkered past (well, they all do, really) out of the New Folsom Prison. He would free him and offer the rest of the War Pigs an "out" for their criminal records if they'd just do him a small favor - kill Jim Raynor.

Hickson brought the team together, but he acted like Cauley was some sort of "friend" and basically acted weird. In Issue 5, we finally found out what a backstabber Cauley really is.

During Raynor's Guild Wars time, he fought alongside Tychus Findlay. But near the end of the war, they were captured and put in some sort of Kel-Morian P.O.W. camp. There he met Hickson, who by Raynor's estimation kept him alive and sane.

A team of Dark Templar encountered the War Pigs and learned they were going to kill Raynor. They warned them off, then went to tell Raynor. However, Raynor owes Hickson big time and, despite the warning, trusts him implicitly. Hell, Hickson probably still likes him. Too bad Cauley had him programmed with a "subconscious" neural resocialization to kill Raynor and the War Pigs. (They should have given Dr. Burgess a cameo there. He was still alive at that point.)

Good news is Nuura Joss found out just in time to warn the other War Pigs. Bad news is she's having a little trouble talking since one of Hickson's old enemies is trying to kill her. Seriously Hickson, stop ticking people off!

Oh, and Nuura Joss was betrayed by an enemy of Cauley's, who has been manipulating her for six years. And said jackass also betrayed Turfa Dei. Too bad nobody knows this yet... Said character will apparently hire them in the second arc. It seriously sucks to be a War Pigs.

[screw_ball69]

Yay someone is is a Tv Tropes addict.

I'm really hoping Cauley gets his ass handed to him sooner rather than later.

[Visions of Khas]

I read the issue where they encountered the Dark Templar, and so far that's my favorite issue to date. I was a little confused when they touched down on Agria and encountered teh Ghost, but I only skimmed through that one.

I'll check out 5 some time soon and see how they deal with Hickson.

[Kimera757]

Issue 4 is very confusing if you missed a couple of things from the previous issue. Look up the article on Leonid Celsus, and it'll make sense. (And that's only because of the submission for issue 8...)

[newcomplex]

I'm actually really surprised on how the series is turning out. Its all pretty believable, and not a lot of it requires large amounts of suspension of disbelief. The plot is somewhat good and not completely cliche. Art style is good on sole account of not being animu.

That being said I almost stabbed a baby at the whole "cyber cats" thing.

Other then that good stuff

[l33telboi]

Honestly, the comic series is probably the worst of the various Starcraft related products out there. I love the manga and most of the novels, but this is just plain bad. Why? Because of the art style. It's so damn bad that I honestly can't tell what's happening in the panels and usually I just have to guess going by what the characters are saying. Like when Cerberus tried killing the War Pigs, I still haven't wrapped my head around what is actually happening in that scene. The characters all also look very misshaped.

Having said that, I did enjoy the brief snippet on what happened to Bhekar Ro, and some of the stuff is ok, like the storyline involving the big guy and his problem with Ghosts and his background as a terrorist bomber.

But being the fanboy I am I’ll undoubtedly follow the comic series to the end.

Haven’t read issue 5 yet though.

[newcomplex]

Honestly, the manga is probably the worst of the various Starcraft related products out there. I love the comics and most of the novels, but this is just plain bad. Why? Because of the art style. It's so damn bad that I honestly can't tell what's happening in the panels and usually I just have to guess going by what the characters are saying.

Having said that, I did enjoy the brief snippet on what happened to Bhekar Ro, and some of the stuff is ok, like the storyline involving the big guy and his problem with Ghosts and his background as a terrorist bomber.

But being the fanboy I am I’ll undoubtedly follow the manga series to the end.

Haven’t read issue Battle Front 4 yet though.

My thoughts exactly