Terminal Lance
Author(s)Maximilian Uriarte
Websiteterminallance.com
Current status/scheduleActive
Launch dateJanuary 5, 2010
Publisher(s)Self-Published
Genre(s)Humor, Satire, Military

Terminal Lance is a comic strip and website created in 2010 by Maximilian Uriarte that satirizes United States Marine Corps life. Uriarte publishes the strip in the Marine Corps Times newspaper and on his own website, TerminalLance.com. The name is a slang term for a Marine who finishes an enlistment (i.e. terminates) as a Lance Corporal. The system for advancement, "cutting scores" which would lead to Corporal, Sergeant, and higher, is heavily dependent on career-field and seniority—this leads to a large number of "terminal lances" in infantry specialties who might, in another field, have advanced to NCO rank.[1][2] According to Uriarte, he created the strip "to poke fun at the Marine Corps, much like Gunny Wolf in Charles F. Wolf Jr.'s old Sempertoons, but with an emphasis on the grunt Lance Corporal’s point of view."[3]

History

Graphic novel

In 2016, Terminal Lance creator Maximilian Uriarte independently released the 290-page graphic novel Terminal Lance: The White Donkey which he wrote and illustrated. The book was independently published on February 1, 2016, after a successful Kickstarter in 2013. Shortly after, the book was picked up by Little, Brown and Company and retitled The White Donkey: Terminal Lance, and was released on April 19, 2016.[4] Maximilian's second full length graphic novel, Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli was published on July 28, 2020 by Little, Brown & Co.[5][6]

Author

Uriarte at Comic Con Okinawa 2022

Maximilian Uriarte is an American artist, comic writer, graphic novelist, and honorably discharged Marine.

He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, to American parents of Jewish and European Mexican descent.[7] He spent most of his childhood in Corvallis before moving to Portland, Oregon at the age of 16. After graduating high school and taking two years of general education classes at Portland Community College,[8] Uriarte enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 19 as an 0351 Assaultman.[9] He served from 2006 to 2010, achieving the rank of Lance Corporal and fulfilling various roles, including SMAW Gunner, Team Leader, Squad Leader, MRAP Turret Gunner, Combat Photographer, and Combat Artist. He served two tours in the Iraq War as part of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, the first in 2007-2008 (in the Al Zaidan region) and the second in 2009. He began writing and drawing Terminal Lance soon after returning.[1][10] Ironically, Uriarte, who had spent most of his enlistment as a Lance Corporal found that he had been promoted to Corporal several months after his discharge. Uriarte made light of this, joking that the Marine Corps had "had the last laugh here, promoting the creator of Terminal Lance–of all people–I’m sure someone behind a desk had a laugh about it".[11][12]

After ending his service in May 2010, Uriarte transferred his community college credits and (using the G.I. Bill) enrolled in the California College of the Arts, a top-ranked[13] private art, design, architecture, and writing school in Oakland, California. He graduated in 2013, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in Animation.[14] Currently he lives with his wife in Burbank, California, where he works as a writer and artist full time.[3]

  • On May 30, 2012, The Duffel Blog ran a satire piece stating that the creator of the Terminal Lance strip was not Maximilian Uriarte, but instead was Carlton Kent—the former Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.[15] The article joked that Kent had said he created the strip in order to reach out to junior Marines in better ways.
  • Terminal Lance is widely read among Marines, other branches of the U.S. military, and civilians alike, with former Marine General James Mattis even acknowledging that he reads the comic.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Main, Tyler L. (12 February 2010). "Terminal Lance: Being one has never been cooler" (PDF). Hawaii Marine. Vol. 41, no. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2010.
  2. ↑ Sanborn, James K. (23 March 2010). "Caustic comic strip lances enlisted life". Marine Corps Times. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
  3. 1 2 "About Terminal Lance". Terminal Lance. Archived from the original on 16 March 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Uriarte, Maximilian (27 June 2017). The White Donkey: Terminal Lance. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316362832. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ @TLCplMax (December 22, 2019). "This conflict is what the focus of my new book Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli is about. My book is fiction, but this story is very real" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ↑ Uriarte, Maximilian (9 October 2018). Battle Born Lapis Lazuli. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316448963. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  7. ↑ Timberg, Scott (April 27, 2016). "A more honest Iraq War story looks like this: "Sometimes the Marine Corps kind of sucks"". Salon. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "Terminal Lance #339 "Life After EAS: College"". Terminal Lance. 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  9. ↑ Hall, Bennett (9 March 2015). "Tell it to the Marines". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  10. ↑ Moody, Jennifer (29 July 2020). "Art through service: Veteran taps Marine Corps experience for graphic novels". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Terminal Lance #73 "Life After EAS: Irony"". Terminal Lance. 15 October 2010. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  12. ↑ Glenn, Mike (26 April 2018). "'Terminal Lance' and life in the Marine Corps". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "Best Art Schools Ranked in 2020". U.S. News & World Report. 2020. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "Meet three CCA alumni who made it big". California College of the Arts. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  15. ↑ "Terminal Lance Creator Revealed To Be Sergeant Major Of Marine Corps". The Duffel Blog. 30 May 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021.
  16. ↑ "Terminal Lance "Lord Mattis II"". Terminal Lance. 17 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016.
  17. ↑ 2015 - 4th Annual Salute to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans - General James Mattis - Full Version. 16 April 2015. Event occurs at 49:45. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2022 – via YouTube. Mattis praised the comic but humorously quipped "But you make fun of me again and I'll kill ya".
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