Five years after launching "Terminal Lance," a regular cartoon strip lampooning and grousing about enlisted life, creator Maximilian Uriarte might — just might — recall his time in the Marine Corps a bit misty-eyed.
"I'm still very cynical, very pro-[end of active service]EAS, very pro-getting out of the Marine Corps, but I guess when I look back at the Marine Corps now, it's more nostalgic for me than frustrating, he said. [as compared to] when I was active duty and didn't want to be there," he said. " ...When I was active duty and didn't want to be there. You kind of miss the Marine Corps a little bit because of the fun you had with your friends."
Even so, the veteran Marine's wit is acerbic as ever and has grown increasingly more sophisticated over the years — as have his tools. When Uriarte began his strip, then a lance corporal himself, he used pens, pencils and paper. A single strip took hours, he recalled.
Nowadays, he creates his comics digitally. Uriarte believes the strip has developed a set style and is less up-and-down, artistically, than in earlier years.
Marine Corps Times began publishing "Terminal Lance" the same year he posted his first comic online. Over the years, his audience has grown from about 80,000 page views in 2010 to millions.
As for his humor, Uriarte said it has matured, though it remains lewd, vulgar and sometimes generally not safe for work.
"You know, as far as the artwork goes, the artwork isn't bad. Some of the writing — a lot of it feels juvenile to me," Uriarte said of his early work.
The Iraq war veteran was angrier back then, unhappy with the Corps and ready for an exit strategy. Today, he focuses more on honing his jokes.
In the years since departing the Corps, Uriarte moved to the San Francisco Bay area and earned a bachelor's degree in animation. When he's not keeping his fingers on the pulse of enlisted life in the Corps, Uriarte focuses on finishing a graphic novel, "White Donkey," incorporating his beloved characters from "Terminal Lance," Abe and Garcia, into a more realistic narrative.
Here's a look at five years of "Terminal Lance" in Marine Corps Times.
