Drummer Hoff fired it off.
And so we’re introduced to the motley crew that will construct and fire the “Sultan”.
The art is stiffly whimsical in a stained glass style that is makes one nostalgic of the 60’s.
The text is rhythmical, based on a march.
The names are alliterative, each man and their rank.
The cannon is creates a big explosion, and nature returns to reclaim what’s hers.
This ending is both definitive and ambiguous.
Was it fired but once? What happened to all the characters we met?
Looking at the publication date, it foretold our hubris as we were stumbling into Vietnam.
Is it subtly subversive against the military industrial complex? Highlighting the wasted efforts of men and capital?
Or is it doubly subversive, inducing children to march to the war beat while assuaging its mildly pacifistic parents?
All we know is that the birds win in the end. But at what price?