New Page #29!
Dr. John is a ticking time bomb of fury and he’s about ready to explode.
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Cicero...?
It is no secret that the Revolutionary Era of American Patriots were obsessed with Roman republican ideals. So when Dr. Joseph Warren showed up at the Old South Meeting house to give his Boston Massacre Anniversary speech dressed up as Cicero, it wasn’t nearly as bizarre or seemingly random as it would be to us.
Cicero was a philosopher, orator, and politician, just like Dr. Warren. And just like Dr. Warren, he fought for republican ideals against the established powers that be– Caesar or King George III. Warren’s toga and olive wreath were symbols of peace on a politically charged day when the citizens of Boston and surrounding towns assembled to remember the tragedy that had happened five years prior. Accounts vary as to whether he wore a white or a black toga. A black toga would have been worn for mourning. Which certainly was the reason thousands turned up for the event.
That the British officers attended at all was looked on as poor taste by both Patriots and Loyalists alike. The Boston Massacre occurred when a group of British soldiers fired into a mob of civilians, and five Americans were killed, including a young boy. The British Army had been sent home not too long after the Massacre. But after the Boston Tea Party, Parliament closed down Boston’s port, prohibiting the city from engaging in trade, and the Army was sent to re-occupy the city. As you can imagine, this only inflamed tempers more.
But the colonies were beginning to unify. Rather than leave Boston to suffer her punishment alone, relief came in from not only the Massachusetts countryside, but from every single one of the other twelve colonies. The Colonists were beginning to view themselves as a “we” for the first time.
And on this day, the day that the 5th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre was remembered, the officers in attendance fully expected Sam Adams and Joseph Warren to use the opportunity to incite another crowd riot. Allegedly, there was even an assassination plot against Warren if such a thing were to happen. Many expected the Boston Massacre to repeat itself.
Behind the scenes, Warren and the other Patriots leaders were preparing for war. They were hardly trying to prevent such a thing. In fact for years they had worked to inflame the populace through propaganda, the press, politics and protests. It seemed that at long last their efforts were paying off. The schism between Boston and Britain seemed irreconcilable.
But on this day, Warren and Adams attempted to keep the peace. Adams showed the officers to their seats, extending them a welcome of sorts, even if most of the people in attendance didn’t want them there.
But this tentative peace was only destined to last a few more weeks…
Besides his death at Bunker Hill, Dr. Joseph Warren is perhaps best known for the speech that he gave on this day. I saw a copy of his Boston Massacre Oration inside of the Old South Meeting House. You can see a picture of it here, from when I visited Boston’s Freedom Trail.
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Fascinating! I really love how well you research for this comic! It makes it truly fantastic!
Lora, I am loving your blogs lately. It’s like being back in American History I, only the teacher is cooler and the text is considerably less dry.
As for the comic…..balls out and ready. Not good….
INCENTIVE CAPTION!!
Dr. Awesomesauce: “In my hand, I hold the route to the treasure of One-Eyed Willy. Now, who’s coming with me?”
Beatrice: “I thought he would mention the British…”
You forgot: and there are no tests!
I love how Joseph is coming OUT of the comic in the vertical panel of him… SO COOL! :D
The fourth wall! It has been broken! And of course it would be done by Joseph XD
I know I haven’t been commenting lately, but I’ve been silently reading, and I have to say, Lora, these blogs have been really fascinating!
Thanks, Erin! And glad you’re still reading!
Ah…so we’re finally here. May I say that I started laughing in…what must be satisfaction as soon as I saw Joseph in the complete get-up in the bottom left panel.
But *reads the rest* what’s this? Six balls, eh? O_O That’s not good….
Tensions are definitely high. Yeah, John, piss off the surly guard with the itchy trigger finger!
At least he’s equipped to dig the musket ball out of himself. If… he’s hiding his medical chest under that overcoat!
“Physician, heal thyself”? Hopefully he takes better care of his extraction instruments than he does the amputation gear, if that VI was anything to go by!
ha ha ha ha, I know. So gross right? And yet… I want to own it so bad.
If he’s hiding the medical chest under his overcoat, I daresay there’s a slight chance of it stopping the bullet if that should happen.
Dr. John’s actual medical chest is on display at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, as part of their Sowing the Seeds of Liberty display (at least, it was a couple of years ago). It’s surprisingly small, for what he was asked to do with it: “Here’s your shoebox, now go heal the Army!” Well, it’s a bit larger than a shoebox, but not much bigger than a breadbox – but it might at least slow down a musket ball. Fish skin amputation kit, not so much.
Smaller size=better mobility. I would say that’s a major necessity for an Army field hospital unit like the one John belonged to. Would we refer to such a thing as a “MASH” unit today?
Love the panel with Dr. Warren climbing through the window!
I think the second-to-last panel has a coloring error though – it appears to be of Dr. Warren (since I think there are laurel leaves on top of the white hair/wig), but that would be his right shoulder, which doesn’t have the black toga on it, and therefore should be in blue.
I noticed that too…it took me a while to convince myself that the last panel was actually Dr. Warren because of the black right shoulder. It was the olive wreath that decided me. :)
Haha ditto, came here to mention it in case no one else did. :)
Oh, my, you’re right! I’ll fix it and repost. Thank you!!
This is the best update ever, Lora, keep up the good work and this is my most favorite page ever.
ha ha, aww, thanks!
Dr Warren in a toga= Instant love and fangirling. This is so fantastic, there are no words. Great job, Lora!
*dies from awesome overload*
*Dr. Warren begins artificial respiration*
*while still in the toga*
Teehee!!!! ^////^ mouth-to-mouth from Dr. Warren!!!!! Dear Lord, let this be while he’s not married!!!!
Umm, he was not married then, but he WAS courting a certain young lady. :)
I am with you on the artificial respiration thing Half Moon. Though, I doubt it will do any good for us, for we will just faint again when we realize what just occurred. Tehe.
Who knows? Mercy could turn out to be “openminded” about THAT sort of thing!
I had to go back and reread today’s page because I stopped paying attention after the toga was revealed.
Just… so everybody knows.
Joseph Warren climbing through a window in a toga? Be still my history-loving heart!
Dr. Joseph Warren, the ORIGINAL cosplayer.
*LIKE*
Second!
*breakslikebutton* Oh, now you give me an idea for AB…..
I already had the idea actually. Just finding my old toga is a problem…
So no stealing! lol
no….you and I can both wear our Nathan tee’s under the togas…..hows that?
Well you can wear a toga if you must…:D I think my brother donated our old toga. Technically it was his; I just borrowed it from time to time.
Okay, can we make togas the official dress code for the AB meet-up? Cuz that would be hilarious.
I actually came up with an idea better than my original, regarding the toga. Everyone get on the dreamer forums and PM me!
love to, but i lost the link. Help please?
http://thedreamerforum.forumakers.com/
Brent is right! This comic and the accompanying blog should be introduced in classrooms.
Of course, that red coat must realize he can only load one ball at a time, right? The he has to reload and all that. Right? Because revolvers weren’t invented yet?
True…but how many redcoats are there?
I counted six — the four up front and two more in front of our crew.
Well, there you go. Six balls and six redcoats.
Wait…crap. *headdesk*
LOL!!!
Anywhere from 40 to 200. LOL. Accounts vary. I didn’t draw them all. ;)
Shock and awe would probably cause everybody to evacuate the building instead of attacking if all the pistols were fired at once. By the time the people had gathered their wits the soldiers would have reloaded and be ready for any retaliatory mob action. They’d probably also be armed with swords, to. That’s what I figure could happen, anyway.
I just know that if I was in that crowd and 40 to 200 muskets suddenly went off my first instinct would be to get the Hammy Even Lets Loose OUTTA there! That is, IF I hadn’t already been shot!
Okay, so is the showing of the six balls supposed to be a threat? Or some sort of evidence that his gun is not surrently loaded? I must reluctantly (and ashamedly) admit that I’m not familiar enough with the details of Revolutionary history to have any idea what to expect from that kind of thing (in my defense, I hated history when I was in school because of how it was taught…I’m trying to relearn most of it now that I understand it’s much more interesting than my teachers made it).
He’s probably signaling that “We’ve got ‘em and we’re prepared to use ‘em!”
It was a threat. He was trying to be menacing. “Get out of line, and I’ll shoot you” type of thing.
I REALLY have to question Alan’s decision to take Bea to this thing!
What else are you going to do for entertainment? No YouTube, Angry Birds or Words with Friends…
Give her some flip and let her loose on John! ^_^
….I just had an idea for one Hammy Even Lets Loose of a fanfic………
Does John currently have a girlfriend, to? If so and Brent’s scenario happens then maybe her and Bea could end up having a Rival Angels-Sabrina VS Brooke style catfight! Mraow! Mraow!
…..until they sober up and begin tearing Sam and Eb apart for, er……”providing” them with said flip.
That would be an appropriate follow-up. Serve ‘em right. Still, we would have had a good rousing 18th century catfight, and THAT’S the important thing.
That panel where there is a silhouette of Joseph Warren is kind of scary. It looks like Sleepy Hollow.
The British officer obviously did not know what to think about Joseph Warren entering by way of the window. That “what the heck” look on his face is priceless!
:)
And finally, we see Joseph Warren with a Toga. It was not what I was expecting, however. Anyhoo… It is great-looking anyway.
Oh my god me too! One of the top Tim Burton movies ever! AND it’s only 23 years down the line from the past-present too! (That being 1776 to 1799)
Perhaps Bea will eventually meet up with a younger Ichabod Crane, and maybe THAT’S where he got some of his radical, newfangled ideas for crime solving from!
He wants to play marbles? Right now? This seems like a wholly inappropriate time to be playing games.
Oh wait, those aren’t marbles. Those are musket pellets! He gonna kill some peeps!
The little marshmellow treats? Those bastards…
Ha ha ha ha! It took me a moment to figure out what you meant! Then when I figured it out, I busted out laughing!
“It’s not gonna be an oration! It’s a toga party!” (with apologies to the creators of Animal House, and anyone else who knows the reference)
Great Caesar’s Ghost! If anyone mentions “Toga” one more time I will scream!
TOGA!!!
He asked for it, didn’t he? :P
The “T” word! AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!
@Brent: Thanks for helping me get it out of my system. I feel much better now. lol Ow, my larynx! Bad idea!
lol What’s crazy is, based on all responses, you’re supposed to be the sane one for our little family here. ^_^
Sane?. ‘Fraid not. ANYBODY who is so devoted to a storyline about a time-traveling teenage girl and constantly makes even halfway serious blog comments about is in serious need of psychiatric help. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go prepare my lunch of leftover liver and fava beans served with a nice Chianti. *repeatedly flicks tongue while making slurping noises*
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! *hugs his feet and gets dragged off as he walks away*
Also, I meant “comparitively” sane, since your responses are usally the most cognizant and educated and least full of fanboy/girlish squealing (which isn’t to say there’s none, of course……oh look, a horse)
Ah, well, I appreciate the compliment, but remember Hannibal Lecter was also known for giving “cognizant and educated responses”. We all know the rest. And unfortunately It seems that prolonged exposure to “The Dreamer” has pretty much turned me mad as a (tricorn) hatter. But it’s a “rational” sort of madness, like with Dr. Lecter. Muahaha! Seriously, though, how can anybody hug their feet and get dragged off AND walk away at the same time? Sort of confused about that.
And guess where AC3 will be set? YEAH! I hope we get Nathan as an NPC.
Okay, can I read the whole revolution’s story somewhere? Preferably not boringly written? I know nothing of the details, just “yeah, America didn’t like England bossing over him, threw some tea in the sea, then there were fights and stuff and they won in the end and made Washington Pres.” We didn’t learn much about it here.
Where is “here”?
It depends on what part of the war you’re interested in. There were 10 years of growing hostility leading up to the first shots fired. Then the war lasted eight years.
A great intro book that’s easy to read about the events the lead up to the Revolution (from both the US perspective and the British perspective) is Countdown to Independence.
A great easy to understand book about the year that The Dreamer takes place is 1776.
And a wonderful little memoir by a Private who served from the start of the war until the close is Narrative of a Revolution Soldier.
And if you learn better through fiction, check out Johnny Tremian about Boston during the era that this issue takes place in.
I hope one of these works out for you!
I am so excited for that game…I nearly went into a coma yesterday when I saw the leaked screen caps. I can’t stop thinking about all of the people we may get to meet in their video game form! :)
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