Continuing Strained Analogy Theatre.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Fighting Fate.

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The way he keeps acting like this is some sort of awesome accomplishment...

The Mystery Business(TM) Era; Part 18: Captain Mitty Does His Duty, And The Feckless Liberal Learns A Lesson.

Zed's Iraq tour was the first true Captain Mitty storyline, but it must be pointed out that he is largely out of focus for it--an important background detail of the storyline, one who allows the entire thing to happen, but not the main character. No, that is Jan, filling the old propaganda role of the skeptical liberal journalist who comes to realize just how vital this war is, how evil our opponents are, and how dedicated our troops are. 

I noted last time that this was accomplished with a  handwave--Jan's father just fixes it, because he can, that's what he does--but I really should zoom in on how forced all this is. While a weak explanation is made of Jan doing this to support Zed, there's very little explanation of how this does this, precisely, and again, once they're over there, Jan largely winds up doing her own thing and having troops tell her that everything she knows is wrong. It's quite clear from a textual standpoint that Jan is in Iraq because she's the sort of character you need over there, and Muir's explanations of the hows and whys are flimsy. For that matter, Jan's storyline is fairly bland. She meets interchangeable troops who are all happy to be there, and annoyed at the perfidious liberals insisting that they aren't. She sees it demonstrated that the native Iraqis are being treated well by them, and in no danger from them. She discovers that local insurgents are vile scum not worthy of her regard. And she discovers the United States press are nakedly biased and laughably incompetent. In essence, everything that Muir had been stating was the case prior to the storyline is confirmed to be exactly correct during it.

Saying this was a tone-deaf and deluded take doesn't cover it. After all, even Muir seems to regard his Iraq War boosterism with a certain level of embarrassment these days, even if it's with the usual qualifiers and avoidance of any real introspection that you'd expect from him. But remember, Muir was writing this in 2007, the year where the occupation truly unraveled.  Muir wrote of a deluded press misleading the American public about what was a massive success just as that press began to produce stories that showed that things were going worse than all but the most skeptical of critics had imagined.

And so, by itself, the main storyline was just a dull, mendacious propaganda piece that was flimsily constructed and monumentally ill-timed. Even Jan's move rightwards was simply Muir doing what he'd been doing prior. No, the importance here lies largely in two areas. One obviously is Zed's continuing move towards becoming the Captain Mitty he is today, which we do see throughout the tale. But more importantly, Muir was about to add a new character, one who would stick and be a significant part of the Transition Era and the early portions of the Compound Era. The exceptionally odd figure who is... Naomi.

The Family Dynamics Just Keep Being Awkward.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Breaking Through.

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At this point, I think it's safe to say this going places Muir doesn't even realize it's going.

He's A Bit Stuck On This One.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Lost City.

Somehow, this manages to be half-cooked and disjointed even among strips where Muir has given up being anything but half-cooked and disjointed.

Aiming For Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hitting Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Silent Avenger.

Ugh.

Breasts should not move like that.

We Are Deep Into Feverish Free Association Now.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Invisible Hand.

We're just getting smashed over the head with movies Muir liked in his twenties at this point.

This Is Undoubtedly Proof Of The Conspiracy Against Him!

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Hidden Dangers.

A less paranoid man might realize that this is because he's chosen a fundraising model that closely resembles many forms of financial fraud and adjust his methods accordingly, possibly by seeking out a respected organization to handle this for him.

But obviously, Muir knows better than that.