Agent Smoke

From Comixpedia

[edit] Overview

Agent Smoke is an Chromepunk (aka Retro-futurist) webcomic by Michael Martin. The strip is set in 2062, in a country called Homonia. It follows Detective Inspector Sarah Millman as she investigates numerous "Sex Parks" for evidence of corruption, rape and intentiomal spreading of STD's. Usually whilst posing as a tax inspector.

The strip is "drawn for fun", which means the artwork is quite simplistic, wonky and smudged, also the faces are drawn in a simplified, Anime-inspired style rather than the more complex style seen in Felney 2 or Eugene Manx. As Sarah works her way around the sex parks she joins in with the orgies going on in them, in order for her to perform the "proper test", which is to say no to somebody's advances, allowing her to gauge the "atmosphere" of the park. she also keeps a keen eye out for evidence of STD-infected people being allowed in the park, or the checks not being performed. And of course also makes sure the managers are paying thier taxes.

The comic was originally for the author's "personal use", but he was inspired to put it online after reading Action Porn.

[edit] Characters

Sarah Millman

Born in 2032 in Cambridge, England. She moved to Homonia in 2051 and after the two year "settling in" period before new immigrants can be given citizenship, she joined the police and by 2062 has been promoted to a plainclothes Detective Inspector.

Her first assignment, as people won't "know her" yet, is to go undercover in the sex parks. At the beginning of the story she is single but begins to fall for Valerina Zaleski. She is bisexual, but prefers females.

She drives a 1963 Ford Cortina mk1, albeit modified with a 3-litre V6 engine which runs on hydrogen, and much improved suspension. However it looks very similar to a 2060's car called the Watling Sparrow, so most people don't give this antique a second glance.

Valerina Zaleski

Born in Poland, she also moved to Homonia after "coming out" and facing discrimination. She is the captain of a Zeppelin which is the private transport of Andy Crayne, boss of the Shag Shack. Her sexuality is not elaborated on, but presumed to be bisexual as well.

She has an MG Farina, which is a 2060's version of the MG Magnette mkIV (as the 2060's MG Magnette is a re-make of the original 1953-1956 version).

Andy Crayne

Boss of Shag Shack, the largest sex park in Homonia. He is bisexual, and one of the few actual "Homonians" to have been born in the country, most are born elsewhere and come there after realising they are not heterosexual.

Shag Shack is vast, catering to all "needs", and also has a world-class on-site STD clinic. As a result of this he has become very rich and owns many expensive cars and his own Zeppelin.

Mel

Boss of Mel's Dungeon, an S&M-themed sex park. She is a transvestite

Kim Sung

Actually unseen. He is captain of the Mile-High Club, a vast sex park which is aboard a dual-hulled Wolfenden-class Zeppelin. A hunky fake "captain" wanders the ship and has sex with passengers, but the real one is too busy actually captaining the ship.

[edit] Chromepunk

This is a merging of the ideas of Steampunk with the imagery of the early-mid 20th century. For instance Art Deco and Futurist architecture with 1950's styled Cars (whitewall tyres and tailfins). Zeppelins also feature but are "further on" from those in Steampunk, being powered by Internal combustion or Atomic engines rather than steam.

Agent Smoke itself is set in the 2060's, and hydrogen has supplanted petrol as the source of fuel. The advantages being no carbon emissions are produced, Hydrogen can be created in a cyclical process from water (so is infinte), and cars sound cooler than electric ones (an all-important consideration in the 2060's).

[edit] Homonia

[edit] Geography

Homonia is the country in which Agent Smoke takes place. It is a roughly Britain-sized rectangle of land in eastern Siberia, with one edge on the Sea of Okhotsk forming it's only coastline. The few towns there (research seems to show the whole area has a population of less than 1000) have been integrated into Homonia. The land borders of Homonia are protected by a vast wall with a minefield on the outside, which is patrolled by armed border gaurds. As Homosexuals suffer a large amount of discrimination and violent attacks this defence is considered nessescary. The capital city of Homonia is Turing.

[edit] Political

Fascism

Homonia is governed by a form of Fascism which is an embodiment of the very early aims of Italian Fascism from 1919. These are

- A Republican democracy, though with a one party state

- Seperation of church and state (In Homonia this is taken further, and all forms of religion are illegal)

- A national army (all the branches of the armed forces, and the emergency services and secret agencies are integrated into one body, called "The Security and Defence force" or SEC-DEF

- Progressive taxation

- Development of Co-operatives or guilds to replace trade unions

Homonian fascism also takes the literal interpretation of the Fasces, that the community (state) is stronger, and should be placed above, the individual.

Fascism is often linked with the concept of total war. In Homonia this ideal is turned into "total peace", in which the country is run as if it is at war, but the "enemies" are poverty, disease and crime, and not another nation.

The Party

Homonia is ruled by the Radical Nationalist Party or RNP. This is the only political party. Rather than having one single absolute leader as is traditional in Fascism, the party has a ruling council of 10 members. One of these is randomly designated "head of state" upon formation of a new council for purely ceremonial purposes. The rest of society is divided into party members and citizens.

Membership to the party is voluntary, but encouraged. Party members pay a small fee, and are obliged to "set a good example" by not breaking the law, being patriotic, attending party rallies and conferences and wearing thier party uniforms (a black shirt and a black armband with yellow fasces) when nessescary. Party members are also encouraged to improve themselves, and so are able to go on training courses or win scholarships to universities if they show enough talent and ability. The most important part of party membership is voting. Major decisions to be taken by the government are decided upon by a poll of party members, and then enacted by the ruling council. elections to the ruling council also take place every few years.

Citizens of Homonia who are not party members have no vote, they are assumed to be disinterested in politics. They are, however, still regarded as full citizens and have the same rights as party members, except of course the right to vote. They may wear party uniform and even attend rallies, though must pay.

Only "pure" Homonians, ie those who have not worked against the state by committing Crime, spying or sabotage, can be citizens. "Enemies of the state" have thier citizenship removed for varying periods of time and essentially become slaves. Obviously those who are not citizens can also not be party members

Homonian Constitution

The Ruling council of the party may enact new laws. However they may not go against the Homonian Constitution. In brief this states:

- Current scientific consensus on matters regarding life and the universe are the truth, until science finds new information. All other forms of belief (ie religion, creationism, spiritualism) will not be tolerated. - The policies of freethought, the belief that society must be run in the most efficient and logical way without allowing judgement to be clouded by religion, emotion or tradition. This also applies to encouraging scientific endeavour without allowing it to be held back by considerations such as ethics. - Automatic gearboxes and sat-nav are crimes against humanity.

Science & Religion

Scientific research is subject to almost no restrictions in Homonia and most major science companies have large laboratories there. Atheism is emphasised by most places being named after famous Atheists or Scientists (even if those scientists where religious). For instance Bradlaugh Mansions and Rushdie Avenue. Religious people, if found, are deported to either thier country of origin or a nearby safe country where they may claim asylum from the "evil persecuting atheists".

"Atheistic religions" such as certian brands of Buddhism would, in a more 'airy-fairy' system, be termed as a "grey area". However as Homonia is ruled by cold logic and efficiency they are seen in the same light as islamist terrorism, and banned on the principle that adherence to anything other than atheism and the Homonian state is likely to make a person eventually become a traitor.

[edit] Life In Homonia

Homonia prides itself on allowing people to freely say what they think (except for encouraging religion). Whilst "working against" the state is heavily punished, mere criticism of it is permitted. Though the answer to critics is usually "why not join the party and push for change then?"

Health care follows the NHS system, meaning most treatments are completley free. cosmetic surgery for purely vanity-related reasons is banned, to free up all medical equipment and staff in the country for proper medicine (however cosmetic alterations for Transsexuals are seen in the same light as reconstructive surgery, such as after burns or serious accidents, and permitted).

Electricity and running water are extremely cheap and high-speed mobile internet/phone/TV and Radio is available anywhere in the country for free. Most people in Homonia live in high-rise tower blocks to give a maximum population density in the land available. These "streets in the sky", and all other streets, are patrolled by "bobbies on the beat" to combat crime. All religious festivals are banned, and an analogue of Christmas and Bonfire night is rolled into one as "Homonia Day", the date of the founding of the country.

Decadent acts, such as feasting, orgies/casual sex and "going for a spin" in the car just to listen to the engine, are regarded as patriotic acts, as they are proof that Homonian society is happy and free. The one Nazi policy Homonian Fascism does steal (or rather, steals back) is Kraft durch Freude - Strength Through Joy.

[edit] Envrionmental

Homonia aims to be a carbon-neutral country, though mainly to avoid having terms dictated to it by oil-producing nations.

Most buildings and vast tracts of countryside contain many solar panels and wind turbines. Additional electricity is also produced by nuclear power stations. Some electricity is used to break down water into oxygen and hydrogen, the latter used for powering internal combusion engines.

Many aspects of homonian life are integrated into either energy production, or minimal consumption. For instance all lights in the country are either "energy saving" bulbs or advanced LED's. Wind turbines and "invisible" solar panels cover buildings. Some rooms in buildings even have Venetian blinds with solar panels on the outside, so when the room is empty the sun shining on the window can generate electricity. Even some slaves in prison are subjected to the Victorian punishment called The Crank. Except rather than the cranking being pointless, it is harnessed to a generator which adds it's energy to the national grid.

Homonia also attempts to recycle the maximum amount of paper, glass and plastics possible. All are thrown into one rubbish bin for sorting by slaves later, rather than having several cumbersome bins and asking citizens to do the sorting themselves.

Food is grown on multi-storey Hydroponic farms, giving double or triple the crop production for land area used. Some of these farms are housed inside mountains to keep food supplies going even in the event of a global cooling catastrophe such as a meteor strike or supervolcano. Others in simple greenhouses. By allowing conditions to be regulated means crop production can be kept up constantly, and "tropical" as well as "temperate" crops can be grown next door to each other, reducing the need for imports. Compost for crop nutrition is also provided as part of the national recycling process, as organic matter is seperated from rubbish and sent to compost factories.

Homonian built cars are also designed to last as long as possible, rather than be exchanged for "the new model" in only a few years.

[edit] Transport

Rail

The public transport system of Homonia is nationalised and integrated, for instance buses are timed to arrive a railway stations in time for passengers to catch trains, also passengers can buy a ticket to a destination and then use any type of public transport to get there (bus, intercity train, inner-city monorail or airline). Most people live within the major cities and travel on monorails, which are underground in the city centres and overground in the suburbs. Inter-city railways are MAGLEV bullet-trains capable of up to 300mph. They are 3 times the width of a standard gauge train and have double-decker carriages. The cost of constructing such a large system is alleviated somewhat by the use of slaves to build and maintain the lines.

Road

Cars, Buses, Trucks and other such vehicles in Homonia are mostly direct copies of British designs of the 1950's and 1960's. Also many of the old British names such as MG, Austin, Morris and Riley have been bought up by "Homonian Leyland", the Nationalised car company. The cars are powered by hydrogen gas rather than petrol, and are more reliable than thier past counterparts and usually have powerful heaters to combat the cold climate. But in general "feel" are much the same to drive.

Most cars built in other countries are electric, almost silent and weighed down by mollycoddling safety devices. Homonian built cars have "enforced" popularity by not having any purchase tax payable on them (as the company is owned by the government). Whereas buyers of foreign-built cars must pay 25% of thier value to the government. Few people actually own cars as there is little need, and cars are mostly seen as something recreational, to "go for a spin" in rather than as a means of essential transport.

Hydrogen gas is difficult to store and can even 'leak out' of containers, as the atoms simply move between the atoms of the container. Practically, this means filling stations are very common throughout the countryside and cities, which has the upshot of providing many more jobs. Cars have to be filled up much more often than current-day petrol powered ones, but the fuel is provided very cheaply.

Compulsory concessions to safety are almost nonexistent. Seatbelts are common but airbags etc are often nonexistent, as they make car interiors ugly. Also protruding badges and ornaments are allowed and pedestrian impact protection is limited to telling people not to walk in front of moving cars. However for reasons of style, with a useful safety aspect built in, all cars in Homonia must produce 90 decibels or more from thier exhaust pipes.

Air

Air transport in Homonia is by Zeppelin which in 2062 has supplanted the airliner as the principal means of intercontinental travel. These vast craft are filled with Helium rather than Hydrogen, and are usually powered by Hydrogen internal combusion engines, or in the larger models Nuclear reactors.

Other countries gradually began to use Zeppelins after Homonia took the lead, due to the rarity and expense of Hydrocarbon-based fuels, and the relative inefficiency of Hydrogen, which rendered the aeroplane a very short-ranged vehicle. Also by the 2050's the "they explode" mentality left over from the Hindenburg disaster has dissipated, and Zeppelins are seen as a far safer means of air travel than the jet.

Sex parks

These buildings, unique to Homonia, are essentially vast rooms with padded floors where people can go to pay an entry fee and have sex with anyone consenting, usually resulting in a vast orgy. They also feature on-site STD checking centres (with mandatory checks every 3 months before admission is granted) and free protection available.

Most other countries use these places as an example of the "degredation" of Homonian society. Where Homonians themselves view them as an example of progress, freedom and "two fingers up" at the homophobic countries which they left behind.

The largest one, located in Turing, is called Shag Shack. Other ones may have themes, such as males or females only, S&M, bisexuals only etc. Mile-High Club is a special sex park which is built in a vast dual-hulled zeppelin. This one normally goes for 6-hour long flights but occasionally for long cruises, or even a long round-the-world flight twice a year. This trip is viewed as the "ultimate decadence" and free places are given as prizes to people who are consdiered to have served the country in a special way.

South Homonia

In 2060 Zimbabwe has expanded across all of the countries immediatley north of South Africa, but is ruled by a despotical tyrant similar to the present-day President Mugabe. The New United Nations (a completely reformed body founded in 2023) is hesitant to do anything about it. Homonia decided to take the initiatve and invaded. Ostebsibly to "liberate the people", though really to simply test it's military forces.

A major programme of building and reorganisation followed to bring the quality of life in the region up to at least the standard of South Africa, if not Homonia itself. As the country already had a "built in" population most people there are heterosexual. South Homonia also has a limited toleration of religion not found in Homonia itself. As the country is hot Homonian Leyland builds many convertible versions of Homonian cars to suit the climate.

[edit] Links

Agent smoke is part of The Felney universe

Comic:http://www.fagshategod.co.uk/comics/asmoke/