Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – Part 37
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Elements from both the Tarkin interrogation blooper in the novel and the comic fight were the inspiration for today’s strip. Technically the punchline should be a stab at the Dark Horse Comics adaptation, in which Terry Austin and Chris Sprouse are wholly responsible for Leia’s gratuitous flesh baring. Naturally BMS takes it to the extreme! The book version lacks any hint of Vader tearing up her clothing but the fight between them is particularly violent. However, the dialogue before they fight is the real highlight. Here’s an excerpt accompanied by the unrelated panels from comic adaptation.
“Do you remember that day back on the station,” Vader mused, with deliberate patience, “when the late Governor Tarkin and I interviewed you?” He placed a peculiar stress on the word “interviewed.”
Leia had both hands on opposite shoulders and was shivering as if from intense cold.
“Yes,” Vader observed, perverse amusement in his voice, “I can see that you do. I am truly sorry I have nothing as elaborate to treat you to at this time. However,” he added, swinging his weapon lightly, “one can do some interesting things with a saber, you know. I’ll do my best to show you all of them if you’ll cooperate by not passing out.”
Leia’s hands dropped to her sides. The fear did not leave her, but she forced it into the back alleys of her mind by sheer will. Running the few steps to Luke’s side, she knelt and groped at his wrist. When she rose, she was holding the lightsaber carefully in one hand.
Vader looked on approvingly. “You’re going to fight. Good. That will make it interesting.”
She spat at the advancing giant, a pitifully feeble gesture as she brandished the lightsaber.“The Force give me leave to kill you before I did,” she snarled.
An awful coughing laugh issued from behind the gargoylish breath mask. “Foolish infant. The Force is with me, not you. But,” he shrugged amiably, “we will see.” He assumed a position of readiness. “Come, girl-woman… Amuse me.”
—Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster – Chapter 12
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Oh lord. Reading that made me feel outright [i]dirty[/i].
Ew.
“Can do interesting things with a saber” really made me go, “Okay what the FU*K!?”
Same here. The Force tells me Vader is right…
But still… the last panel IS making me wish that the OT and especially a certain member of the cast was “made today”. Comon, tell me the trick: HOW do you convince your wife to draw something like this? 😀
Seriously, I’m as curious as I’m dirty… Did that come out the wrong way?
Leanne is an artist. I think that goes a long way towards how she views nudity as more than just some taboo (a post Victorian holdover). And in addition, this is all for fun. It’s not like we are degrading Leia in anyway. We’re just having a laugh by taking the Dark Horse nerdgasm and magnifying it. I guess that’s parody!
“Nudity” is “more than just some taboo” thats a great excuse to walk around the house naked.
I usually keep at least my underpants on. Usually.
Seriously, there are few people who have bigger a problem about turning femals into objects, which sadly can happen in the erotic sector.
But this scene has nothing to do with that, I don’t see how any adult person with a half a way normal upbringing would have problems drwing her like that in this scene, we aren’t in the middle ages or the Iran.
Hopefully that comment wasn’t ment serious in the first place, but sadly I’m not sure, because I’ve met people who really… (If you can’t say something positive… )
Wow. Nekkid Leia. I wonder what Luke will do about that. I also wonder if Halla is going to make a cameo appearance to upstage Leia for Luke’s affections. Catfight FTW
Epic….
Reading the novel excerpt, all I can say is: Weird weird weird!
Looking at your strip I’m afraid I can help thinking PHWOAAAAR.
Phew, not just me then.
Ha ha ha!
LOL, I thought being a pervert was a pre-requisite for being a Star Wars Fan. LOL
Nah, just for being a Trekkie.
Yeah… okay, it’s been awhile since I’ve read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. I was younger then… too. Probably *missed* the context entirely. Now I’m wondering if I should read it again with my “big girl eyes.”
*goes off to see if there’s an ebook*
>.< Okay, scratch my last. I woke up enough now to remember that Darth is stripping his own daughter – never mind that he doesn't know it!
And with all the power of the Force, why use a Lightsaber? I'm with Darth – seriously, Alan Dean Foster must have written this section at night when no one was around. I think even his editor saw that and said, "I'll be in my bunk" because HOW ELSE does it get through to press?
His editor was a pervert maybe?
I think I read somewhere that Lightsabers were designed to allow the wielder to lower the Severity of the Blades ‘edge’ making it unlikely to cut through the skin in the well known way but instead burn or just turn the whole section that it passes through numb to the point of it being ‘dead’ Young Padwans still in the academy would use this to their advantage for their Saber Training… Or so the Book said… I think…
So, you’re saying that Vader set his lightsaber to burn off her clothes only? ;=
In the book he really cuts Leia up bad, including “across the chest”.
Yeah, set sabre to: ‘Undress’.
You can adjust the length, not the edge.
Okay, *clearly*, the writers of that comic didn’t date….much. Okay, *ever*.
Utter skeeved-out-ness achieved in three….two….one….BBBBBLEAURGHLBLEAHAUGHRLBLEAURGHBLEAHBLECHEWWWWWW….
::::doing spastic, St. Vitus-esque skeeved-out-get-it-off-me dance::::
Nice Saint Vitus reference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve opened your site twice now and both time a second window opened with a different page in it; this time it was Tutoring and I think last time it was a recipe thing.
Just so you know.
Also, Leia looks great in this one. ^_^
Sounds like you have some sort of malware virus on your computer, Beef. I’ve tried the site and it’s fine. You may have picked it up elsewhere. Run a virus / malware scan on your computer. Also try the site in another browser (one you rarely use) and I bet the popup won’t happen.
I started a Spyware scan right after the second time. I”m going to do a full thing of scans right after.
Thanks for checking. Glad, and horrified and angry as !@#$, to hear it’s not your site! ^_^
Get Malware Bytes, it fixes everything 😉
Scan done; I’m clean top to bottom.
OR ARE YOU
That guy really is a Leia hater.
I love how you dig deep to weave multiple elements together (the novel, the DH adaptation, pervy fanboys) – and it results in a surprisingly layered strip. Or should that be Leia-ed strip?
Badum cha!
Great work as usual, and kudos to Leanne who has made someone with, essentially, a bowling ball for a face, look so saucy in the final panel.
Leanne can certainly sex up the characters when she needs to. Nude Admiral Daala was all my work though! 🙂
The be-toweled Daala? That was nice too 🙂
I was about to ask: “Who drew Leia in this one?” Ha ha.
Leanne. She wowed me.
Me too!
Do you think you can post her sketchbook thumbs for this strip? Research and all?
Yeah, I could do that. 🙂
Too bad the milk cartons stop at the neck, or I’d have another one to make.
Maybe a taller carton (nah my kids would ask to many questions)?
They need to know these things sooner or later.
I would suggest milk jugs – but this comments section has gotten too seedy already.
Ooh that’s dirty, sir. But I believe you’re really on the right track.
Love how Vader apologizes to Leia, and also how he incorporates his coffee cup into his fighting style!
There is sooooo much wrong with this scene, in all the adaptations, squick.
Also, that books is just terrible. I can’t believe someone paid this man to write this nonsense. In fact, as a struggling writer, I’m offended by it. Am I the only one who finds Vader to be way too chatty in those first few paragrapsh? It just doesn’t feel like him to go into all that detail.
Random thought of the day: I always wondered how Vader managed to be in such close contact with Leia in the first film and not get any sort of sense of who she was or that she was force sensitive. (Apart from the whole family thing being a Lucas ass-pull six years later of course.)
Trust me, I’m totally on your side of the court on this one. The dialogue is horrendous. There’s so much wrong with the whole book. I mean, this time around we crammed in a continuity blooper re: Tarkin interrogation… what? as well as stupid dialogue and gratuitous violence against Leia’s clothing. And yes, although my punctuation and grammar are usually on a smoking break when I write on this blog, I too am a struggling writer and I do get very particular about storytelling, character, dialogue, conviction… You name it.
Also, yeah, the thought has occurred to me many times about how Vader not sensing Leia was a stretch of credulity. Star Wars was a story that evolved as it went along.
In 20 years Lucas will release the ‘revised, revised, final cut’ Star Wars and Vader will have one added motion or dialogue acknowledging that he knows its his daughter. This will be released to theaters in 3D or whatever the hot medium is at the time and then spawn a retouch of the other 5 films the same way.
/sarcasm
ha ha if this was fb I would like your comment
“Sarcasm”? No, I think you really CAN see into the future.
“and not get any sort of sense of who she was or that she was force sensitive”
You’re so right. It turned into a bit of a soap opera didn’t it? ‘Make it up as you go along’.
I come for the Star Wars, I stay for the nerdgasm.
AWESOME!!!! I was on the floor with this one!!
It might be strange, but one of my favorite things about Leanne’s art is how she plugs a Neck into a Head! I love the structure of it! When I do it, it’s a little different than how her’s looks.
It’s the BMS style. Leanne has many styles. Some very realistic.
Random question. Are you ever going to make fun of the prequel trilogy? Just wondering.
He probably won’t. He’s a real OT kind of guy. Which is, in absolutely no way, a bad thing.
I approve of this statement.
I don’t think they can be arsed.
Probably not enough of a challenge.
So you draw cut clothes but no blood?
Giggety!
Why do your cartoons only have 3 fingers?
They’re like Mickey Mouse.
Until these two comments, I had NEVER realized that.
I can’t unsee it!
You can try, but it will ALWAYS COME BACK TO YOU! Really, though. F**kin’ blew my mind. I never realized it. EVER.
Believe it or not it is EXTREMELY easier to draw and animate characters with only four fingers. It is much harder whe you try to put up five.
An animation tutor – ex-Disney – years ago said “otherwise the hands look like bunches of bananas”.
hmmm, don’t you think that this might be just a little overboard?
It’s comedy. That’s what comedy does.
Anon Agrees.
Random fact: This site is usually in the top 25 list of the best web comics at topwebcomics.com.
I can believe that!
OK so I got this gravatar thingy, how does it work, I did all it told me to do.
I agree, author = uneducated, perverted, and no life outside his tiny sick fantasy.
Vader is so bad ass! Leia has no business wielding a lightsaber against him, he could have easily cleaved off her head! But instead he shows her whats what, by de-robing her in one quick slice! (All the while holding a mug of coffee!) Epic! And on top of it, neither of them realize that she’s actually his daughter! Holy cow!
I find it kinda goofy/funny that in the ONE(1) strip where Leia has most of her clothes torn off of her, there’s are PILES and PILES of comments!! ROFL!
The fact that we all know it’s her own dad who’s ripping off her clothes makes it more and more funny!! ROFL!!
Yeah. It’s almost a record breaker. I guess we need to invest in more Leia semi nudity in the future. Pity ROTJ is almost a year away.
Please don’t make more almost nude strips, they disgust me. But it’s you strip, do whatever you want.
If you find BMS too offensive then I suggest you go elsewhere. Maxwell, I’m watching you for potential trolling re: previous comments. This is a warning.
I’m sorry, I meant no harm. BMS is still to me the best comic on the web. Sorry if I’ve been a pest, and I hope you will forgive me. I’ll just drop the “what I think shouldn’t be on here thing” right now. Your friend Maxwell.
I’m overly sensitive about my own work, and Leanne’s. As this is just a cartoony parody of Star Wars I don’t feel that anyone should take BMS too seriously. This is not leveled at just one person, but others in the past who have been critical or offended. To be honest, BMS is pretty tame on the offensive level compared to most Star Wars parodies out there. We are mild on the offensive language, we largely avoid toilet humor, and we do not and will not show full nudity. We can’t please everyone’s varying tastes, we can only continue to be a mix of what makes Leanne and myself laugh. It’s best to move away from the nitpicky trivia about the comic itself, and focus, like BMS does, on Star Wars itself.
I was thinking the same thing. I took the time last night (when I should have been working, mind you) to catch up on all the past strips I had missed, and it amazed me that even deep into the ANH strip there was still a barren wasteland where the comments should have been. Is this down to that hacking job, or was there really less interest just a few scant months ago?
It’s due to the site being nuked in February. The database with the comments was killed and the site had to be rebuilt by scratch and all 200 strips so far (at the time) had to be re-uploaded, and new blogs recreated. That is the shitty thing about WordPress / ComicPress. Unless you know what you’re doing on the technical end then you can get screwed really bad by the way they have things set up.
Figured as much. I think I’ll be building my own site then. I looked into ComicPress, but I’m too old to learn new tricks – LOL. Actually, I might just create a sub-site from my main, link to it on FaceBook, and let the comments go on there (if I get any :))
BTW – there’s some awesome stuff in those early strips – I do hope you let Mark or somebody re-run them in the future.
I have no idea how to access “Mark’s” website and only vaguely remember talking to him through email what feels like a year ago when he asked me. Do you have a link to his site and is BMS already running there? If so, I would like to have known about it. I would have hoped they would start from the beginning.
I was talking about Mark Newbold who ran Lightsabre.co.uk until they just merged with Jedi News. He’s the chap who ran the Dork Side for me – jolly nice fellow. He hasn’t run the strip before (sorry for the interwebz confusion), but I thought it might be a nice bit of exposure for BMS when Jedi News/Lightsabre relaunches in May. Combined, they would have a formidable readership.
BMS may help THEM out. 🙂
Mark contacted me early this year or late last year telling me about the site and asking if he could put BMS on it. I agreed but haven’t heard anything since.
I think I’ve seen something about adjusting a lightsaber in a Star Wars RPG supplement, so you can tone the power down for exercise. I’ve definitely seen a ‘sporting’ lightsaber in a Star Wars RPG campaign that wasn’t capable of cutting organic matter but damaged everything else. Both are not in canon and the last one is pretty much nonsense.
So this scene of Vader liberating Lea of her clothes is agreeably nonsense, too. ;-P
Oh, btw.: I’m new to this and I follow the strip (*pun not intended*) for some weeks now. Thanks for this!
I wish, Darklighter would come to fill the plot hole in the novel… after the action of course, later as ever. 😉
But now that you’ve asked for it, where would the surprise be? ;= Seriously though, we have retired Biggs Darklighter indefinitely. If he ever does show up again it will be a rare cameo. There are other background characters that need their time in the spotlight too! 🙂
Odd as this may sound, I think biggs makes a bit of an appearance in each one. Mostly due to your comments. Avatar as it might be, he’s always there. Weird.
BTW Leia’s face is perfect in the last square.
I think her buns are bigger than her boobs.