Trojan Horse
From Encyclopedia Jumpleadia
Trojan Horse is the third issue of the comic. It has been written by Euan Mumford, with art by JjAR and lettering by Ben Paddon. It follows from the previous issue, It Came From Space! and is the first issue of the comic written by someone other than Ben.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The issue begins 'in media res' (in the middle of things) with Llewellyn being harassed by two criminals whose business he and Meaney have apparently foiled. Just as they are about to shoot Llewellyn, Meaney turns up and threatens the pair with what may or may not be a TV remote. This attempt at intimidation fails, with Llewellyn being shot anyway - although the pair do manage to escape. Back in the Flurry, they decide that Llewellyn needs medical attention.
Arriving at a hospital, they find a number of wounded soldiers wearing uniforms similar, but not identical to, the Lead uniform. A suspicious looking surgeon appears from a side door, asking Llewellyn to come with him. Llewellyn reluctantly accompanies him, leaving Meaney to wait outside. While waiting, he sees a parallel version of Ryder, his former girlfriend from back home.
We flashback to Meaney's life before he left for the Hub in Training Day. He's talking to his Ryder, sharing his excitement about going to the Hub. Ryder, however, is convinced she will never see him again - she "just knows". Meaney, confident that he'll be back by Christmas, tries to reassure her. He fails.
Snap back to now, and the version of Ryder in this Universe is apparently a Corporal in the Military. A Doctor in the Hospital states that Meaney is likely part of Ryder's new Squad, and Meaney happily goes along with the idea - coming across as a gibbering idiot at the same time. An Angel Meaney appears on his shoulder at this moment, reminding him that he promised to wait outside the door while the Doctors worked on Llewellyn. A Devil Llewellyn appears on his other shoulder, encouraging him to leave Llewellyn for the time being. Devil Llewellyn then proceeds to verbally abuse Meaney (which Angel Meaney finds amusing) and Meaney brushes them both off, determines that "technically anywhere that isn't inside that room is outside the door", and sets off with Ryder.
In the Operating Room, the rough-looking Doctor and a Nurse begin "helping" Llewellyn. The Nurse opens a metal container and inside is a fierce-looking red slug-like creature. The Doctor then jabs his finger into Llewellyn's bullet wound, yanks it out again, and the Nurse inserts the slug into the widened wound. Llewellyn's eyes begin to change...
We return to Meaney and Ryder, currently on a ship travelling away from the Hospital. Meaney reveals to Ryder that he's part of the Lead Service, and that he's accompanying her because she "looks like" his Ryder. This Ryder says she understands, assuming that Meaney is not of sound mind. Very suddenly, the ship makes a crash landing.
Back in the hospital, Llewellyn wakes up. The Doctor welcomes him back, referring to him with a new name - Corporal Nimoy. The creature has taken possession of Llewellyn's body, commenting on his "very edifying" memories. He orders the Doctor (who, it turns out, is really more of a Lacky or a Hired Goon) to track Meaney down, and changes into a new uniform - a red version of the uniform worn by Ryder and her troops. He then converses with the Nurse on their essentially immortal nature - the body can die but the creatures themselves live on and simply find a new host. The Doctor Goon informs Nimoy that Llewellyn's traveling partner is no longer waiting outside the room, and the Corporal commands him to find Meaney. When the Goon asks Llewellyn who meaney is, Nimoy asks the Nurse to have a guess - she correctly assumes that Meaney is the name of Llewellyn's travelling companion. Nimoy asks if she's qualified to go the Doctor Goon's job, and when she says yes Nimoy pulls out a gun and shoots the Goon.
Meanwhile, at the crashed transport ship, Meaney and Ryder climb out of the wreckage to discover that they're in the middle of a battleground.
Nimoy is investigating the Flurry on the roof when a young Private (also possessed) knocks on the door and informs him that they did not find Meaney, reporting that a witness saw him leave the building with Corporal Ryder. Nimoy comments on Ryder's apparent promotion, and when the Private asks Nimoy reveals that he had once taken possession of her boyfriend's body. When she had found out she put a bullet through his head. Nimoy then kills the private for failing to find Meaney, and then steps into the Flurry. He checks the Fuel level for the traditional Propulsion Engines revealing that there is a half-full tank. He grabs the controls and pilots the ship off of the roof of the hospital.
We cut back to the battleground. It's nighttime, and it's cold - Meaney is freezing, something which puzzles Ryder as her Army's uniforms are supposed to adapt to the ambient temperature of the location. Meaney reminds her that he's from another dimension, and Ryder confesses that she believes him. She's seen some weird stuff, she says, such as body-snatching parasites. She explains the "Anon sympathisers" have instead been possessed by 'slugs-for-hire". They find an abandoned structure and, despite knowing it's not a tactically smart decision to seek cover in such an obvious target, decide it's as good a plan as they're likely to come up with.
Nimoy lands the JumpShip on a large ship. Inside he meets Sergeant Pacey, a higher-ranking officer in possession of the body of a young boy. Nimoy makes some jokes at Pacey's expense before asking if the Brigadier is available. He goes to see the Brigadier - a large cyborg/moose/something creature with six arms - and informs him that he has commandeered a vessel that can travel between dimensions. The Brigadier expresses disinterest - he has no desire to go out and conquer parallel worlds. Nimoy, however, expresses a strong desire to break free of their Mercenary lifestyle. He issues orders for Nimoy to investigate "Area 17X", and once Nimoy has left he calls Security to have Nimoy shot.
Back in the abandoned building, Meaney finds boxes of abandoned Top Hats, Monocles and Canes. Ryder reveals that such times - "Wastrel Wear" - are for the poor. "Monocles instead of eye surgery, top hats to warm heads instead of thermo-adaptive clothing, and the cane for all the poor bastards who can't afford healthcare for their broken bones." Most people join the Army, she explains, for the free healthcare, and that such people were the first to die in the war.
Back to Nimoy, who is fleeing in the Flurry and being chased by fighter pilots who threaten to open fire. The Brigadier communicates to the fighter pilots not to shoot him down, as he has raided the Nursery and taken "the children". That might be difficult, however - the JumpShip has run out of fuel and is spiraling down towards the battleground below. The fighter pilots return to tell the Brigadier that they didn't succeed in killing Nimoy, making the excuse that they got caught in a dogfight. The Brigadier realises that the dogfight they had was with other Iob ships and decides to punish them accordingly.
Meaney is sleeping on boxes of Wastrel Wear while Ryder stands guard. Wondering out loud what he's dreaming off, we see Meaney is in fact dreaming of being a highly-decorated Lead while Llewellyn, wearing a "MEANEY & LLEW B.F.F" apron, presents him with a cake. Nimoy enters the warehouse, making it clear that he is the same Iob who'd possessed Ryder's boyfriend, and when Ryder goes to shoot him she falters and he grabs the gun off her. Meaney wakes up seeing Nimoy and, not knowing Llew is possessed, calls his name. This distracts Nimoy, allowing Ryder to punch him square in the face.
Meaney expresses confusion, and Ryder reveals Nimoy/Llewellyn's true nature - "Llewellyn's dead," she says. Nimoy has taken possession of his body. Nimoy reveals he has access to Llewellyn's memories - "Even his secrets" - and that there are things Llew hasn't been telling Meaney. Meaney leans in to interrogate Nimoy, but he is suddenly repulsed by a smell. Nimoy's true form - the Iob - leaps out of Llewellyn's mouth, apparently injured, screaming "Siiiiillllllk". Llewellyn, now himself again, shouts "kill it!" and Ryder happily takes shots at the thing. Meaney flips his hat to stop Nimoy, landing it perfectly on top of the thing and, when the hat is removed, Nimoy has dissolved.
Meaney presumes that it was the silk in the top hat that dissolved the Iob, as the slugs' natural enemy is the silk worm. Ryder then further expands on the theory, in a mostly whimsical manner. When Llewellyn points out the startling lack of evidence for any of Ryder's ideas, she retorts that it's a better theory than "silk kills our enemies but we don't have a clue why."
Llewellyn expresses a desire to leave, but Meaney wants to say goodbye before he goes. Ryder thanks Meaney for his help, but declines when he suggests Ryder come with them, saying that he wants his Ryder, not her, and that she "knows" he'll see his girlfriend again one day.
Back on the Flurry, Llewellyn is back to his characteristic cynicism while Meaney is, if anything, more upbeat than ever. He does express concern as to whether or not he can trust Llewellyn, but quickly dismisses it. As they ponder whether or not the Lead Service would be able to deal with dimension-travelling body snatchers, we see a revealed panel behidn them showing that the container of Iob "children" is still on board...
[edit] Filler Material
- On August 8th 2008, Joshua Jericho provided a guest strip featuring Meaney writing Jump Leads/Starslip Crisis crossover fan-fiction for his SoulGeek account. [1]
[edit] Continuity
- The in media res beginning to this issue indicates that at least one other adventure has taken place since the end of It Came From Space!
- Keeping with a tradition started in the the first issue, one of the injured people on page 4 is based on an early conceptual design for Captain Lucas.
- This comic shows the first glimpse of Meaney's life prior to the start of Training Day, and also the first time Meaney's first name, Thomas, is mentioned.
[edit] Questions
- What exactly does Nimoy find "edifying" about Llewellyn's memories? What does Llewellyn know that he isn't telling Meaney?
- At the end of Training Day, Llewellyn had said that Lucas had neglected to fuel the Propulsion Engines before they left, so they can't fly anywhere. So why does the ship now have half a tank worth of fuel?
- How does Nimoy/Llewellyn find Ryder and Meaney? Is it just a serendipitous occurrence, or was he tracking them?
- What will become of the Iob children still aboard the Flurry?
[edit] Outside References
- Meaney's speech on page 2 is a very clear reference to the famous ".44 Magnum" speech from 1970s cop film Dirty Harry.
- The medical cabinet aboard the Flurry only contains one (arguably) medicinal item - a bottle of Clearasil, an anti-spot/zit solution.
- An alternate version of page 6 references American sitcom Scrubs, specifically the Janitor character played by Neil Flynn.
- Meaney's promise that he'll be "home for Christmas" references propaganda from World War II. Similarly, it may also reference any number of songs or albums, or possibly the films Home by Christmas or I'll Be Home for Christmas. Or it could be none of these, and we could just be going overboard with this particular outside reference. I mean, it's certainly a popular phrase.
- Meaney's description of his and Llewellyn's predicament in the first panel of Page 15 is an intentional misquote of the narrative from the opening titles of scifi/anthology series Quantum Leap.
- Another reference to the show is made when Ryder suggests that Meaney travels "with some kind of invisible friend".
- The Nurse's description of Corporal Nimoy on page 19, "What a guy.", is a reference to the sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf. The phrase was a running gag used to describe the character of Ace Rimmer, an alternate universe (and significantly cooler) version of main character Arnold Rimmer.
