Prometheus
Prometheus
[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.

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 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 file-sharing . "Fire wants to be free" is a pun for the slogan " 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 Michael Bay , the director of the movies Transformers and 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.
[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.
