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Brad Garver's avatar

I am very excited to finally get my hands on Free Planet.

Your views on the Russian Revolution are very interesting. I admit I have not read much about it. I have read a lot of books by people who lived under the Soviets (Anthem, We) but I know they have a bent. A lot of people died during the Bolshevik Revolution right?

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Aubrey Sitterson's avatar

That's a very difficult question to answer succinctly because a lot of it depends on how you measure it and the context applied. For instance: What are the starting and stopping points of the Bolshevik Revolution? Are we including everyone who died under the later Stalinism? Are lives lost during the then ongoing World War I included in the count? What about people who died from starvation and other related struggles not technically part of the revolution? Additionally, all those numbers need to be taken in context with Russia's massive population, the quality of life endured by Russians prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, and the monumentally more significant loss of life associated with the World Wars.

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Brad Garver's avatar

I was thinking only of the post WWI and pre WWII death. It is very complicated. Stalin is not talked about enough in school's today, at least not California. It is something I'm going to have to read more about.

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Aubrey Sitterson's avatar

Ah-ha! In that case, I think it's important to draw a distinction between the October (i.e., Bolshevik) Revolution and the Russian Civil War that followed. Folding deaths from the civil war into the revolution would be, in my view, misleading as it would attribute that monstrous loss of life to only one side in the conflict.

A lot of confusion comes from ambiguity around what the "Russian Revolution" refers to and bad faith efforts to score ideological points. To my view, the broader Russian Revolution includes the February and October Revolutions as well as the Civil War, but only the October Revolution could rightfully be called a "Bolshevik Revolution."

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Brad Garver's avatar

I think that is a good distinction.

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Andrew, bub's avatar

TFAW Universal City Walk? That’s just around the bend from a Bucca di Beppo

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Ross Binder's avatar

Very excited for FREE PLANET #1 to come out. Is the ashcan/preview edition of issue #1 the entire comic or only part of the full #1 issue?

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Aubrey Sitterson's avatar

Both the ashcan (407 copies, A cover with burst) and the preview (1200 copies, B cover with burst) are the full #1! However, the ashcan also contains the backmatter, while the preview edition does not.

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Ross Binder's avatar

Got it, thanks! Sounds like I got a copy of the preview edition then. Excellent stuff. Still excited to buy the regular release and support the book that way as well. I'll gift it to a friend, perhaps...

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Aubrey Sitterson's avatar

You DEFINITELY want the regular release version. The backmatter, rather than being incidental or supplementary, is a crucial part of the narrative and will inform understanding and perspectives on a brand-new character introduced in issue #2!

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Ross Binder's avatar

Ohhh! That's great to know. Really looking forward to the regular release version now. Thanks for that clarification!

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