11. GEORGE PATTON: A man must know his destiny
George Patton (1885-1945) was an American General famous for kicking Nazi ass in WWII. He was known for his no-nonsense, hard-as-nails, foul-mouthed personality and was given the nickname ‘Old Blood and Guts’ by his soldiers. Patton came from a military family and knew from early on that his destiny was to serve his country in battle. He went to military academy at a young age, worked his way up to Colonel and won the Purple Heart in WWI before going on to command the US Third Army as a General in WWII. After surviving the two bloodiest wars in history, Patton died from injuries he received in a car crash, just 7 months after VE Day. Now that’s f’ed up.
I think the idea of a romantic story being told with the words of George Patton, probably one of the most unromantic people you could think of, is pretty funny. It’s what this site is all about!
Discussion (79) ¬
I figure if you miss your destiny the first time during war you could end up on the wrong end of a bullet.
There is no right end of a bullet
Quote aside, I really enjoyed this strip. Thanks!
Of course, like many I suspect, when you think of General Patton, you see George C Scott. Movies are very impressionable.
Thanks David – I haven’t actually seen the movie. Is it any good?
I prefered him in Dr Strangelove.
I guess it was a good film ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/ ). It must be 25 years since I last saw it. It is the movie title image that I remember more than the film itself. One of the many war movies that I watched in the seventies.
Just discovered your site. Cool and unique concept for your comics.
Thanks Chris, and welcome!
This is my favourite Gav! Really love it!
Good to hear Gab.
Definitely my favourite. My eyes fill with water remembering how I met my wife.
Glad u like it Moret – one of my faves too.
dammit! this site just wasted 30mins of my time at work! & i loved every minute of it & im still not done looking at your archives. i started from the most recent going backwards..hehe
ive been thinking of doing the same thing like you, get back to making cartoons for the fun of it rather than toiling at a desk from 8-5 😀
do it – you’ve got my support!
wohoooo! thanks mate! im grabbing a screenshot of this & im posting it on Google+ as a constant reminder! 😀
Obviously I mean no offense to you, Sir Gav, but I believe this may not be the best idea.
Oh, surely, If you can find a true passion, then quit your boring job, and pursue it. I just mean, art may not be your true passion, just because you saw an inspiring piece of art.
Shut your jappering gob. Let the man pursue his dreams. If he fails he tried, and has nothing to be ashamed of.
Sorry, that was a bit harsh. I mean to say that he should follow his dreams if he can. No man should tell another, either implicitly or explicitly, what he cannot do.
I accept your position that art may not be your passion just because you got inspired by a piece of art. But what is true passion? And who are we to tell what’s what?
From all ur artwork, this one is my favourite, its really impress me, that we should dare to take an opportunity in our life
Thanks Gav … 😀
Love this one… Love the site too… Really nice concept and artwork…
Would you have some advice for a person who has dabbled in art for a bit and would like to start drawing from scratch? (Simple tablet, simple practice drills, recommended learning material)?
Get really good with pencil and paper before using tablets/photoshop etc practice practice practice!
I am not sure how easy it will be to find art classes around where I live…
Even if I decide to start learning with pencil, is there a way for me to get my basics right on my own?
I used to do practice exercises like shading different shades with pencil, and lots of straight lines to get better control…. Any chance you could point me to a reference for a step by step self learning/practicing guide?
I really don’t mind putting in the hard work, I just don’t know the best way to begin 🙁
Basics – i guess copy artists you like to start with. If you specifically want to draw comics then MAKING COMICS (Scott McCloud) is a good place to start. Also the DC Comics guides to penciling, inking and colouring books are not bad. Carry a sketchbook around and draw EVERYTHING that interests you.
LOVE your works! Mind create another Steve Jobs strip?
“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” 🙂
That quote’s good but everyone’s heard it, right?
Love this Gav!
Awesome work!
Patton was a thoroughly detestable human being. He was a master of what the GI’s called “chickenshit”, the obsessive quest to punish his troops for the most minor infractions. In Tunisia, he sent his troops into battle wearing woolen uniforms with jacket over long sleeved shirt, leggings and necktie, all with full combat gear, while every other army in North Africa fought in shorts and short sleeves. He was a nasty racist, seeing the Russians as “degenerate Asiatics” and the Germans as the finest of Europe’s peoples, and he wanted to rearm the Germans and send them off to war again with the Russians (reality check: the Russians would have driven us into the sea). He was obsessed with Jews. He distrusted Mark Clark because of his Jewish mother. After the slapping incidents (yes, plural) became known, he insisted it was all a Jewish plot – claiming that the soldiers he slapped were Jews, that the doctors who diagnosed them with combat fatigue were Jews, that combat fatigue was a diagnosis invented by Jews, and the editors who publicized the incidents were Jews, and that he was the target of a vast Jewish plot. Commanding the occupation of Germany, he buddied up to some of the worst of the Nazis. He restricted liberated Jewish prisoners to their camps while allowing all others to exit freely. The last straw for Eisenhower came when he told visiting US newspaper editors that the Nazis were just another political party, no different than the Republicans and Democrats. It’s all a matter of record.
It’s probably a good thing he died when he did, before he had a chance to team up with that other sick narcissistic reactionary, MacArthur, to screw up America for generations to come.
What a romantically wonderful interpretation of Patton’s quote!
I love this!!!
This strip is actually how the couple in ‘The Wedding’ by Nicholas Sparks met and started dating! I actually thought the quote was by Nicholas Sparks until I saw the name at the end 🙂
reminds me alot of Train’s musicvideo for “Marry me”
this is it incase u want to check it out; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZt2cILcCU
its very similar with the coffee shop and the women who works there! 🙂
dropping by accidentally, I love your meaningful comics. thanks so much
Doesnt work. I am trying every hot chick I see but I still am full of “Nos” !
“MR MINT”
I love it! Just found your site, can’t remember how — now I’m reading every single one, after reading #100.
You are a gem.
The next frame is the pretty waitress being found in a shallow grave.
The breath freshener is a really nice touch XD
Does anyone know the source of this quote? The one reference I can find is from a book written nearly a decade after his death and the comment is much more extensive than the line written here, which makes me think this is the friend’s artistic license with Patton’s words. I’m just curious to see if there is any good info on this quote out there.
Hi Gav!
Enjoying your site, keep up the good work!
Just wanted to add that Patton, against the popular stereotype, was a romantic beyond any doubt. While I would not count myself an expert on Patton, I’ve read most of the serious works on Patton’s life and I can confidently tell you that Old Rockin’ Dave’s view of him lacks perspective. Patton’s uniform orders were meant to foster an attention to detail and a professional attitude among his soldiers. Patton’s troops suffered a lower casualty rate than other forces. Third Army was also the first to see black troops go into front-line combat- the 761st Tank Battalion performed superbly (read Patton’s Panthers for a better look at this bit of history). Whatever his personal feelings about race, and Dave is right that Patton was a man of his era in this regard, he sent them into combat with these words:
Men, you’re the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren’t good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don’t care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to your success. Don’t let them down and damn you, don’t let me down!
Anyway, Patton the man was, as with all men, more complex than his legend would have it.
Thanks again for your work!
Patton’s poem, ‘Through A Glass, Darkly’
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.
I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.
I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.
Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I’ve called His name in blessing
When after times I died.
In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.
While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.
Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite’s leveled spear.
See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.
Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.
Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.
I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.
Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy’s field I lay.
In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.
Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.
I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.
And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor’s Star.
Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it’s quivering gloom.
So but now with Tanks a’clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell’s ghastly glow.
So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, — but always me.
And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o’er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.
So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.
This is exactly how my grandparents meant – they are both passed away now. This comic really touched my heart!
And my grandfather fought in WWII – this is just perfect
I have been following your work for sometime now. And I have to say (as if everyone around here hasn’t already) that this is different than anything I have ever seen before. Such a simple concept, such a beautiful implementation.
You sir, are an artist, in every sense of the word! 😀
These are great! I’m really enjoying reading these!!
I have a question: How did you make the rain? I love the varying degrees of opacity which give the illusion of depth, but how did you make them all perfectly parallel to each other?
I have read all of your comics and absolutely adore them, they make me forget about the outside world for a while 🙂 Theyre amazing and you do a great job. Thank you 🙂
This really moved me, I know its an older post but my great grandfather actually marched with Patton. The stories he told made it more real, and this just brought a tear to my eyes and made me smile at remembered stories told in his last days.
Thank you.
This strip is actually how the couple in ‘The Wedding’ by Nicholas Sparks met and started dating! I actually thought the quote was by Nicholas Sparks until I saw the name at the end 🙂
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They don’t look like it, but I had to ask: is this the same couple from the Litany against fear strip?
Cool story with nice graphics. Well done.
That quote is so good. I hope people do like him
Hlw
Wish You Happy Teej wishes
Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.
But sound aloud the praises, and give the victor-crown
To our noble-hearted Firemen, who fear not danger’s frown.
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Thank you Gavin for your “GEORGE PATTON: A man must know his destiny” comic post
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The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes. Tony Blair
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That’s so cute! I hope every man has that bravery to find his half. People these days are so weird. They see a cute girl, instead of talking to her, they keep silence and regret after that. Or they see a girl, they take picture and ask other people on internet for her social account.
very good. Thank you for sharing!……….
Os doy las gracias por la información! Yo estaba buscando y no podía encontrar. Usted me ayudó!
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