Editing 1228: Prometheus

{{comic
| number    = 1228
| date      = June 21, 2013
| title     = Prometheus
| image     = prometheus.png
| titletext = 'I'm here to return what Prometheus stole.' would be a good thing to say if you were a fighter pilot in a Michael Bay movie where for some reason the world's militaries had to team up to defeat every god from human mythology, and you'd just broken through the perimeter and gotten a missile lock on Mount Olympus.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is most likely about copyright and patent, which are temporary government-granted monopolies for authors and inventors. It refers to the cultural hero {{w|Prometheus}} in Greek mythology who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. In this case, Prometheus claims that it is more like sharing than stealing because the gods still have the original fire. By analogy, uploading music, movies, and software is more like sharing than stealing because the authors and inventors still have the original files. Fire-sharing is a pun for {{w|file-sharing}}. "Fire wants to be free" is a pun for the slogan "{{w|Information wants to be free}}."

This could also be a reference to the strict punishments of copyright laws as one could be fined a lot for failing to comply with the copy and Prometheus was also heavily punished by having an eagle rip out his liver every day and the liver regrowing every night.

The title text refers both to {{w|Michael Bay}}, the director of the movies ''{{w|Transformers (film)|Transformers}}'' and ''{{w|Armageddon (1998_film)|Armageddon}}'', who is known for using over the top special effects, and to the novel "Salvation War" by Stuart Slade, in which Humanity goes to war just as described. "Returning fire to the gods with interest" is also the plot of the Terry Pratchett novel ''The Last Hero''; Randall has previously made references to Terry Pratchett.

The title text might also be an oblique reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Hero The Last Hero] by Terry Pratchett, an illustrated Discworld novel in which the last hero, Gengiz Cohen, seeks to return to the gods "what the first hero stole", in the form of a sled full of explosives which he intends to use to blow up the gods' mountain home.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball addresses his Cueball-like friend, who just walked in-panel. Cueball points at Prometheus (who is also Cueball-like). Prometheus is holding his hand to his chin and holding a colorful flaming torch in the other hand.]
:Cueball: Prometheus has stolen fire from the Gods!
:Prometheus: 
::Well, sort of. 
::I mean, when you use a fire to make another fire, the first fire doesn't go away. 
::So really, it's more like "sharing".

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Fire wants to be free.

{{comic discussion}}

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