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February 7, 2020 |
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Commentary for February 7, 2020: So, this scene is a bit of self-contained little story that will actually be picked up on properly in Chapter 21. For the record, it was actually going to be in Chapter 21 originally, but I decided to move it the start of Chapter 20, because of chronological reasons. Most of this chapter takes place three weeks after this scene and almost concurrently with the events of Chapter 21, so this scene needed to be here. In any case, what happens here is still relevant to this chapter, so it’s not completely out of place. Now, this scene is a re-creation of one originally depicted in Eon’s Comic #61 back in 2003, and it’s fairly faithful to the original version of the scene. The only real difference is the names of a couple of locations. In the original, the prison was called Omega 5 and it was off the coast of Antarctica, whereas here it’s Devil’s Island and the Southern Tundra. I had a major overhaul of the geography of Eon’s World shortly before writing this chapter, which for the most part had existed only in my head (for which I’m thankful, since it means I didn’t have to retcon anything... well, not too many things at least). I decided that rather than trying to rationalise why actual modern day real world nations would still exist fifty thousand years in the future, I would just completely revise the world map with mostly fictional nations, or fantasy versions of real ones. Yes, some are based on real world nations (and there are in-universe reasons for that), but for the most part, it’s a fantasy version of Earth where the map may look familiar, but all the labels on it are different. In any case, one of the decisions I made was to draw on the geography of Sonic’s world/Mobius from various Sonic fiction, mostly Sonic Unleashed and the Archie comics, which is why Antarctica is now called the Southern Tundra. Devil’s Island is also a reference to Archie Sonic, where the Devil’s Island gulag was a prison used by the Kingdom of Acorn to hold a number of Robotnik’s minions after he was defeated in issue 50. There are plenty of other examples, which will undoubtedly come up over time. Now, since the Kingdom/Republic of Acorn does not exist in Eon’s World, Devil’s Island belongs to GUN, and is a much more sinister place than it was in Archie Sonic. I don’t know if it was an intentional reference to Guantanamo Bay back in 2003 when I wrote the story this scene was originally in, but it’s possible. It is a military prison that holds people without trial indefinitely, after all. And the worst part is that Guantanamo Bay is still topical today, almost two decades later. I hope it goes without saying that I oppose the existence of such facilities. If someone is suspected of a crime, they should be tried and if a case against them cannot be made, they should be released. At least, that’s how a free and just society would work. Am I saying societies that operate such prisons are not free and just? Yes. I am. |
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Eon's World is a fan comic created by Bethany Turner. All characters are copyright
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