Gone with the Blastwave
Gone with the Blastwave is an English webcomic by Kimmo Lemetti that has been published sporadically since February 2, 2005. The theme is the long-running war between three factions in a post-nuclear world. The comic does not have a completely chronological storyline, rather it consists of a collection of short stories, all of which comprise an A4 page . The short stories are loosely related to each other, but are always numbered with a hash sign (e.g. # 1. Why do we fight?) There are currently a total of 77 pages. (As of August 2019)
The comic makes use of many artistic means, in particular black humor or irony . Among other things, people laugh at the death of two characters from a falling tank .
action
Two soldiers of the Red Army (the "Reds"), called Sniper (in German: sniper ) and Pyro (in German: military pyrotechnician), wander around alone in a city torn by the war and destroyed by nuclear weapons . Already in the first short story with the title “ Why do we fight? “Sniper asks his comrades why they are actually fighting. Pyro replies, “ To win the war ” ( To win the war). Sniper is satisfied with the answer. From # 2. and # 3. it emerges that both soldiers have forgotten their assigned orders and are killing soldiers of enemy armies just out of boredom. Sniper, for example, lavishly shoots the breathing apparatus of a soldier of the Blue Army (the “blue ones”) so that he dies of poison gas . In # 5. the reader gets to know the Yellow Army (the "Yellow"), which in the comic always has the most modern weapons and seems to have the upper hand in war. Through observations of the two Red Soldiers it turns out that neither of the factions knows how to get out of the destroyed city. In # 15. Sniper and Pyro are captured and interrogated by Yellow Army soldiers. However, the two do not know the answer to the question of how to escape from the city, which is why they try to give the yellows a fake route description. When the two Reds are discovered, they are rescued at the last second by Red Army soldiers.
The reunification with the army means that the two Reds are no longer bored, but they continue to spend their time for personal amusement.
Characters and terms
Pyro
Pyro is a Red Army soldier who specializes in explosive ammunition and incendiary weapons . Known for taking risks, he kills enemy soldiers just for fun. Due to his high body count , he is later declared group leader of his division.
Sniper
Sniper is also a Red Army soldier, his weapon is a sniper rifle . He is known for his moderate, logical way of thinking. Still, Pyro often pulls him into bets that he almost always loses.
Red Army
The Red Army seems to be an inferior faction in terms of equipment. But their members usually make up for this inferiority with intelligent tactics (and luck). Especially in the fight against the Blue Army, the Reds often stand out as winners. In addition to the protagonists Pyro and Sniper, other characters such as Idaho , Porter and Paul are known, but they hardly play a role in the plot.
Blue and Yellow Army
The Blue Army can be characterized as poorly trained. At least its members seem to have little idea of the battle - most of the time their members die after their introduction in the same short story. They are superior to the Red Army only in the matter of materials.
The Yellow Army seems to be the dominant force in the war. Not only do they apparently have the best equipment, their members are trained as well as the Reds. In comics, however, the reds often find a way to gain the upper hand over the yellows through luck or their bizarre plans.