The Snake Plissken Chronicles "Collared" Escape from New York #3 (BOOM Studios) Writer: Christopher Sebela Artist: Diego Barreto Colorist: Marissa Louise Letterer: Ed Dukeshire Cover A: Declan Shalvey February 2015

Snake is held captive and forced to train the F.R.F. troops for the Twins.

Story Summary

Snake is taken into custody by the F.R.F. troops at Mangrove Park and its inhabitants killed.  He is then fitted with a metal collar that can be triggered to blow his head off if he doesn't cooperate and is told by the Twins and Meemaw that he must train the latest batch of F.R.F. troops in preparation for an invasion of the United States.

At the training camp, Snake makes a deal with another captive named Curtis to attempt an escape. Seeing the broken, half-assed equipment used in Florida, Snake takes a guess that the collars are bogus and triggers his own collar...nothing happens. He and Curtis then begin gathering supplies and equipment for their break and revenge against the Twins.

The revenge doesn't go quite as planned, but Snake does trigger an attack against Florida by the U.S. troops, giving he and Curtis a chance at escape. 

CONTINUED IN ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #4

Notes from the Snake Plissken chronology

This issue begins on the evening of Sunday, October 26, 1997. He is shown training new recruits for the F.R.F. army the next day (Monday the 27th) and sleeping in a room at the Twins' mansion that night. The next morning (Tuesday the 28th), Snake causes trouble at breakfast and spends the day planning an escape with Curtis. All of the dates up to this point I have figured out myself based on the dates of October 21-24 given in the novelization of Escape from New York and extrapolating from there based on the amount of time depicted as passing in the issues of this comic book series. But it seems that writer Christopher Sebela was keeping track as well, as page 14, panel 1 (the next day) is labeled as "Wednesday, 2:11 a.m." and going into panels labeled as Thursday and Friday from there as Snake and Curtis gather supplies for their breakout. The issue ends on Friday, October 31 (which is Halloween, though no mention of that is made in this issue or the next).

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue

Snake Plissken

Curtis

Romulus and Remus (the Twins)

Meemaw

Jeeves

President Sutter (mentioned only)

General Michael Quay (mentioned only)

Senator Hayes (mentioned only)

Didja Know?

The issues of this series do not have published individual titles assigned to them. I assigned the title "Collared" to this issue based on the metal "explosive" collars placed on Snake and others being held at the F.R.F. training camp.

Didja Notice?

On page 1, the F.R.F. soldiers march Snake to a hovercraft in the swamp to take him back to Jacksonville.

Snake and Curtis are told the collars they are forced to wear will blow their heads off if they fail to cooperate. This concept may have been borrowed by the writer from a similar device in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film The Running Man.

Forced to train new recruits for the F.R.F., Snake asks the recruits if they have any questions. Instead of asking about the training, they ask about Snake's infamous past: "What was Leningrad like?" "How much did you get from the Kansas City job?" and "Tell us about New York!" These are all references to events seen or mentioned in "The Bank Robbery" and Escape from New York.

On page 6, Romulus refers to the butler in a rat suit as Jeeves. This refers to the fictional valet Reginald Jeeves who appeared in novels and short stories written by British author P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975), also appearing in radio, films, and television. The stories were so popular that the name "Jeeves" has come to associated with any valet or butler.

In panel 5 of page 6, a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter toy and a Rubik's Cube are seen on the floor of the hallway in the Twins' mansion.

On page 8, boxes of Drix and Beesieoos are seen on the dining table in the Twins' mansion. These are probably meant to be generic representations of Trix and Cheerios brands of breakfast cereal.

On page 9, Remus is straddling a nuclear missile in a manner similar to Slim Pickens' character Major Kong at the end of the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove. On page 13, Snake sits atop the missile in a similar manner as he is removing the warhead.

On page 10, the televised news report about the world war mentions that tensions in Prague have escalated and has a quote from retired five-star general Michael Quay. Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic, which is probably still behind the Iron Curtain in the 1997 of the Snake Plissken universe. The name "Michael Quay" is probably a nod to Mike McQuay, the author of the novelization of Escape from New York.

On page 13, Snake and Curtis steal a Volkswagen Beetle.

As he and Curtis are close to making their break-out from the camp on page 15, Snake tells Curtis he's escaped from worse places. He's probably referring to New York in Escape from New York.

On page 18, Romulus crushes a pack of cigarettes in his hand. The package design looks like Marlboro.

On page 21, Romulus drops a carton of ice cream that has a partially readable label with the name "Ben" on it. It is probably intended as the Ben & Jerry's brand.