Before talking a bit about the slight differences in today’s comic, I want to direct everybody’s attention to our brand new feature: Good Reads. I read a bit of history, and for the most part the field is cluttered with self-important academics desperately scraping at the surfaces of their subjects with whatever tool they’ve stolen from comp lit or sociology that week. However, every once in a while, a really good one comes around that makes history live and breathe again, and it’s those books (along with a few that happen to be the only books on the given subject) we present on this new page, complete with smug, knowing, brief reviews.
Now then, Welcome to the first episode of our Frederick Summer Special! For those worried about the fact that Frederick and Anne Boleyn are currently caught in a room of their enemies and Newton is about to get punched to death by his ally, fear not… The Saving of The Scientific Revolution will return in September, but until then we thought it would be amusing to take you back to Frederick’s days just after the bestowing of the Chapeau. Each day a new historical guest star, a new bit of heroism collected for future use.
It was hard to pick who to use as the instantiation of Humility. I was sorely tempted to go with Lagrange, but you know what they say about too many mathematicians spoiling the webcomic… so we get Keller instead, who at least talked about humility a lot, and that’s very much like actually being humble, right?
– Count Dolby von Luckner
http://www.ftg-comic.com/2007/07/26/index.php
Of all the bars in all the cities in all the centuries of Italian history, Peter had to walk into the one where Sickingen was wrestling with his new orders from Ignatius of Loyola. Peter unwittingly bolstered the ex-Protestant-Knight’s resolve, and together the two are making their way to do in Galileo’s grandparents. But what has Newton been doing all this time? Is his plan perhaps entirely TOO clever? An unexpected showdown! A glimpse of Muscovite strategy! A man picking a fight with a dog! It’s all in Episode 56: Strategize Globally, Murder Locally!!
– The Count and Geoff
Some of our “heroes” are terrible, terrible people.
–Geoff
Peter burned down so many damn villages trying to starve out Charles XII’s invasion… I mean, it would be sort of disappointing if he hadn’t. To have a Russian leader not respond to invasion by burning large parts of his country and displacing thousands of inhabitants would be like having The Buggles come to town and not perform Video Killed the Radio Star. I guess you could run a war that way, but where’s the heart?
– Count Dolby von Luckner