Stargate: Insurrection #3 – PizzaRat dot Net

The cover to the third issue of the toy comic series, “Stargate: Insurrection.” It’s a closeup on the face of the Eldritch form of the character Anthony Cage; superimposed over the three eyes of the face are the surviving Stargate team members, Col. William Stryker, Maj. Ellen Cooper, and Dr. Randall Stryker. Cage’s human form is visible at the bottom of the image, and at the bottom-left corner is the text, “A toy comic by Phil Wrede.”

A page devoted to summarizing the events of the previous two issues. Stargate Command was invaded by the forces of the government’s “shutdown team” (led by tech billionaire Alexander Weir, “played” here by an action figure of Walton Goggins from the Fallout TV show). The SG team managed to escape the Cheyenne Mountain site before the operations were shut down. Due to the actions of the shutdown team, the gate sent the team to an unknown, unidentified planet. While exploring that mysterious planet, the team encounters Anthony Cage, as well as a number of mysterious human-like beings, all of whom reveal a number of unnerving Eldritch forms.

On a dark path running through the village on the mystery planet, Randall and Cooper help to hold Wright up, after the injury he suffered by the Eldritch in the previous issue. Col. Stryker brandishes a rifle as he stands behind Cage - still possessed by his own Eldritch form - who barricades the SG team members from their antagonists. The title of this issue, “‘Step Into Liquid’ (Part III),” is visible at the top of the image. Cage again tries to order the team to run, but they are too suspicious to accede.

Cooper and Randall help Wright to sit on the back of the M.E.L.P. while Cage tries to help the Eldritch see reason. They view the SG team as possible aggressors because they’re strangers who came through the Stargate (which the SG team assumed was all but nonfunctional, after discovering the bare glyphs on both the ring and the DHD in the previous issue).

Gathering his strength, Wright can’t stand to hear Cage and the Eldritch argue anymore, and he sits up straight before firing off a shot from his pistol.

Wright’s bullet hits one of the Eldritch and is completely ineffective. They are incensed at the attack, and Cage reluctantly summons more mystical energy to fight them off.

Channeling his magic through his own pistol, Cage shoots at and fatally wounds two nearby Eldritch, who collapse. He can barely stay on his feet, he’s so exhausted from the effort.

As more Eldritch pour onto the street, Col. Stryker catches Cage before he falls. Wright berates their new, reluctant ally, and Cage reiterates that he’s too fatigued to continue the fight.

Cage’s magic, he explains, is drawn from the “essence of life,” and once it is expended, it takes time to renew. Without a second of hesitation, Wright tells Cage to drain his own life force, and channel it through his magic, to protect the rest of the SG team. Wright’s own wound from the previous issue, he knows it to be mortal, and he’d rather sacrifice himself than die uselessly. Cage agrees.

Back on Earth, at SGC in Cheyenne Mountain. General Jack O’Neal (“played” here by an action figure of Pedro Pascal), Richard Woolsey (“played” by an action figure of Robert Picardo, who played Woolsey in real life in both SG-1 and Atlantis), and Sgt. Louis Jones face off with Alexander Weir, who threatens extreme retribution if they do not comply with his government shutdown team.

In a flashback, Weir explains that his near-total domination of the tech sector left him bereft of new horizons, new worlds to conquer. So, when the president (seen here only from the back) made him an offer he could not refuse…

…Weir admits to genuine excitement, at the thought of getting to remake the federal government in his own image, according to his own wishes. In the present, O’Neal and Woolsey try to make Weir see sense, but he will not accept their interpretations of reality.

Another soldier radios Weir, reporting that the Stargate in the base of Stargate Command will not activate. Weir’s escort draws his gun on the prisoners, and begins to march them down to the control room.

Returning to the alien planet, Cage finds himself overwhelmed with the life energy he has drained from Wright, and begins to cast another spell. So much of Wright’s essence has been drained that his face is only a fleshless skull (so, he didn’t survive the process).

Cage casts a mystical wall of green flame and energy, cutting himself and the SG team off from the Eldritch. The spell is so powerful that a bright light cuts into the sky from the ground.

As the SG team’s eyesight clears, Cage runs past them one by one, linking their hands into a chain, and leading them to safety. Wright’s body, and the M.E.L.P., are abandoned in the rush.

Cage leads them team back to the Stargate through which they arrived, and somehow, at the touch of his hand, he brings it to life, generating a portal to some… other destination.

Cooper is, naturally, worried that they might be following Cage to someplace worse than the world on which they currently stand. The Strykers, conversely, only want to escape the Eldritch horde, and gain some time to plan, and learn.

Cooper’s objections are outvoted, and the team steps through the Stargate, emerging… several miles away, in a hilltop forest overlooking the Eldritch village.

Cage explains that, even though the DHD has no glyphs, it can respond to his mental commands. He thought about his home (and, with this, he gestures to a nearby cabin), and thus, it opened a passage to the nearest-by gate.

None of the surviving SG team members are enthusiastic about their predicament, but they agree to go into Cage’s home, at least to rest and refresh themselves.

The credits for the comic, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art (as well as the U.S. National Archives), the use of fonts by Blambot, the creators of the Stargate film, and the SG-1/Atlantis TV series, the ownership of the Stargate IP by Amazon Studios, the use of stock visual effects by Action VFX, and that the figure (and certain background) photography/script/lettering were by me, Phil Wrede.

Well, the… stuff… really hit the fan in this month’s issue, didn’t it? In true Stargate fashion (I hope), things go from bad to worse about halfway through the pilot episode!

That’s not to say that six issues of my comic will “equal” one episode of a TV show; I don’t think that math would hold up very well, and I would like to tell most of this story before I get to the age my grandfather was when he retired. But, we’ll just see what happens.

Anyway, you might be wondering about the Eldritch (or, you might already be over them. If so, this comic might not be for you, but I have lots of other comics you could enjoy!). Some of the credit definitely goes to the first promotional photos I saw of the Ghost Viper (the GI Joe figure from which the demon wolf and snake heads, and corresponding arms, that define everybody’s Eldritch form, except for Cage). The snake head in particular was so evocative of the Goa’uld to me that, in a flash, the pieces of the Stargate story that I’d had swirling around in my head for a while finally started to come into focus. It’s a pretty safe bet that, without the Ghost Viper, I wouldn’t have this Stargate comic to share with you!

Next month… expect some actual answers about this strange planet (but not its name. You’ll have to wait a while longer for that)!

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