Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 26

This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the first Maniac page:

CONCEPT: This is everyone's favorite page and also the one with the most embarassing error! The concept here was that it would look like a cheap 'Book World' type advertisement; I don't know if anyone has seen these, but they always have especially fake looking pretend books with the real cover image slapped on front of them. The big issue in my head was Maniac's picture, which no one ultimately cared about. It's from a scan of the "Biggest Fan" prop from Wing Commander Prophecy, but I have no idea if Electronic Arts had any right to reproduce a picture of Tom Wilson. My alternative was to use the 'fish face' Maniac image from Wing Commander I (from after Halcyon tells you you can shoot him down) -- but the project would have lost something not nodding to the FMV somewhere (and this is just such a cool picture).

REFERENCES-

• "Troy Carter" - Catscratch from Wing Commander IV, now a Major General. I actually ran into some flak from Wing Commander fans for NOT killing the kid. Most people just hated him, but AD explained that Wing Commander IV's narrative works better with him dead, as later scenes with Sosa lose some context without his death. Still, I thought it was too good a joke...
• "Armstrong and LaFong" - I love this joke and I get the feeling everyone else hates it. Armstrong and LaFong were alternate names for Blair, used in Super Wing Commander and the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide respectively. This is actually addressing a real book, since the conceit of that latter guide is that now-octogenerian LaFong has written his memoirs and you're reading them. Sorta contradicts Blair's death, too, if they're the same character...
• "Michael Gallagher" - Trelane from the CIC. I like how he has absolutely no attribution; he must be some 28th century celebrity.
• "Dr. Silas Torg" - Doctor Torg was the anti-war college professor who nearly gets into a fight with Bear and company at a bar on the moon in Fleet Action. Gee, it sounds crazy when describe it that way.
• "U. of Central Florida" - This is where Wing Commander novelist Peter Telep teaches writing. He tries to reference it in all of his writing...
• "unlikeyhood" - Is this Torg's passive-aggressive way of reminding everyone that Blair is dead, or is he still alive and just unlikely to write a memoir (like Neil ARMSTRONG)?
• "Live big or go home" - 'Go big or go home' was a slogan used for a year of EA Sports games.
• As you can see, this paragraphs is describing the events of Wing Commander I and III as though Maniac were the hero - which is exactly what Maniac would do.
• "Me: The Life and Battles of 'Maniac' Marshall" - The title for his book comes from the Wing Commander Prophecy official guide, which claims he is (in 2681) thinking of writing it.
• "Wild Eagles" - Maniac's doomed squadron from Special Operations 2. Their exploits were getting killed and spied on a lot.
• "Rosie" - Maniac's very-brief love interest from the Wing Commander movie.
• "Enterprise Press" - This publishing company put out Colonel Hart's memoires, referenced repeatedly in the Authorized Combat Guide to Wing Commander III.
• "50c/8,000cat" - Note that the exchange rate is constant!
• "President James Taggart" (On the cover) - It seemed only appropriate that Paladin would go even farther in politics.
• Excalibur Art - Maniac flew an Excalibur at Kilrah too, so I decided to use the silhoutte. Boy, I said once I saw the finished art, that looks sort of like a penis. After giving it some more thought, I realized I'd made the right choice.