The Penultimate Triumph

I stand on the scorched field
The last soldier standing, the lonely champion
To claim a bloody victory.

I look at what is lost and what we're losing,
And I see now, clearer than before,
That victory in battle is only
The penultimate triumph.
The ultimate triumph
Is peace.

The March illustration for my Black Book project, this is a little retrospective on the cost of war from an actual war machine, Penultimate Triumph from *TheIronWizard.

A little factoid for those who do not know ol' Penny very well: she was originally christened Ultimate Triumph, an allusion to her supposed invincibleness on the battle field. Certainly she proved invincible, but on the way began to have misgivings about the aptness of her name. Eventually she decided that she was merely the Penultimate Triumph: victory in battle, for the ultimate triumph must surely be peace, and changed her name accordingly.

I don't think this is an actual battle field: more likely this is how Penny saw herself and the destruction around her. If you look closely you'll see remains of war objects from several different time periods and universes. Among them are a sword, a Halo Scorpion Tank (mostly buried) and the skull of a God-Warrior from the Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind manga (for those of you who know the God-Warriors, no, it's not too small, Penny is just that big).

Prismacolor pencils on 9"x12" illustration paper. This picture appears on page 103 of my Black Book. Art are related prose © myself, some rights reserved:
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