I used to walk past abandoned trucks out in the woods, so I wanted to capture something of that.

The M9 Armored Combat Earthmover looks super cyberpunk to me, probably because it dates back to the 1980s, still in use. My inner Gibson fan wanted to include some kind of rusting, surplus military equipment in this rural cyberpunk comic, possibly a hovercraft. But I figure this fits the superfund site backstory nicely, since it’s supposedly rated for protection against chemical and biological agents.

Also, like most military vehicles, the M9 has a cult fan following, making it pretty easy to find photos from a variety of angles, along with photos of model kits, which in this format are just as good.

I have a (headcannon-only, at the moment) idea that these machines were upgraded a third time to house AI pilots on a similar level, perhaps a bit smarter, than the bodyguard. And that they might have been left with the chassis when the work was paused, then delayed and delayed, until they finally gave up on remediating the site. One possible resolution for the story might involve the bodyguard making friends with one, who is able to contact a human tech (a former site volunteer) who lives nearby and maintains the abandoned AIs as best he can. He might end up serving as a mediator between the robot and the outside world.

You probably shouldn’t tap the trees in a superfund site for sap, but that feels like a fairly cyberpunk sort of resignation/indifference to circumstances. I know some folks who do sapping IRL and they say animals often try to get into it – cows in particular are very clever with disconnecting hoses and such to get access to the delicious sugar water. They didn’t have any stories about deer but I bet it’s happened.

I’ve almost run through the backlog of art for this silly rural cyberpunk webcomic. I’m hoping to make a few more, but the schedule might get a little unreliable for a bit after page 25. If want to read the rest of it you can find it here: https://jacobcoffinwrites.wordpress.com/president-deer-adventures/

If you’d like to read the related-but-mutually-non-canonical short story version, you can find it here: https://en.scrappycapydistro.info/harbour it’s in the first edition, on page 3!