TWWR Round up 01/22/2024– This Threesome is About to Get Violent

For this week’s update I’ve finally had a chance to add Lost Scent to the roundup. Check this comic out if you’re not already reading it!

Africa | Page(s): 355 | Patreon

This page really gives off an air of hopelessness. Mondo realizes Safari is just like him, both predator and prey. If our favorite cheetah keeps walking forward, he’ll be little more than crocodile food. Still, the serval hasn’t given up his attempt to snap his uncle out of his trance. He calls for Africa, only to think about her fight with Faida earlier. Even though Mondo considers the leopard to be his mother, he’s likely going to have questions about the mother who gave birth to him. Does he even remember her? This page is certainly suggesting he doesn’t remember Sabra. This conflict is too great not to play out, but the immediate concern is on Safari and if anything can halt his slow walk toward certain doom.

To Catch a Star | Page(s): 431, 432, 433, 434 | Patreon

First off, Sleepy has finally updated To Catch a Star on ComicFury and public pages there are finally up-to-date with those on DeviantArt. She occasionally forgets to keep both sites mirrored, but fingers crossed that CF sees new pages in a timely manner.

Right after the stunning proposal that Backlash become Danger’s political mate, she reveals that she’s also pregnant. That is an extremely convenient situation for Backlash since it has been confirmed by the author he’s gay, and that can be inferred in the story itself. (Every one of his crushes has been male.) The question raised regarding the pack leader is who’s pups are these exactly? Popular consensus seems to be that they are either Ray’s or Takedown’s. The question of timing for the former is important. One of my biggest issues with the last few scenes is how unclear the passage of time has been.

We know after Hearth returned to the Supernova and after Ray was murdered by Takedown, time did pass. Backlash had a massive growth spurt. We don’t know how much time Danger and Ray spent together before he died. It could have been a few hours, days or weeks. If the time they spent together was a few days or a few weeks, it’s possible that the pair had some intimate moments together. We certainly know that both wolves came to deeply care about each other. If they’d consummated their relationship just before Ray’s death and the timeskip, it would theoretically be enough time for those to be his pups. The gestation period for wolves is two months, and we know at least a month has passed after Ray’s death. At this point, it makes sense for Danger to be slightly showing.

If the pups are Takedown’s, timing-wise it would make the most sense as he’s trying his damnedest to become alpha. That said, the implications are unsettling. He’s not an alpha, so that means he either forced Danger to carry his pups, or managed to coerce her into having sex while she was deeply depressed. To Catch a Star has been violent, but there’s never been an indication of sexual assault or harassment in this story. And I doubt Sleepy is going for such a shocking twist. I guess I’ll put this line of thought on ice until it becomes clearer who the father is. Of course, there’s also the possibility of a third, unnamed male that Danger might have had in mind as a mate, but that seems unlikely.

As for Backlash and Danger being leaders, it’s amazing to see Tussle and Sweep happy for their friend. The other wolves are plain confused, especially as Backlash has been gone for so long. (I’m sure some of them thought he was dead.) As expected, Takedown heard the marriage howl and his expression is one of shock and fury. Once he gets back to their camp I suspect things will become violent quickly. At the very least, Danger is giving her new partner tips on how to be a leader, and has his back during disputes. This is good, because these Duskies are not taking kindly to Backlash’s suggestions of anything other than a violent lifestyle.

The Order of the Black Dog | Page(s): Issue 27, page 28 | Patreon

Every so often a page of The Order of the Black Dog comes along, and it reminds me that this comic has some very fleeting similarities with Home. In this case, Julia confesses that she’s messed up multiple times, and how the person she envisioned herself to be like isn’t who she actually is. Mel then comforts Julia, reminding her of all the heroic feats the wolf has pulled off, including being stranded on an alien planet and making it back to Earth. This very much makes me think of the page in Home where Rogio stepped down from being the Meteor Tribe’s Baron, and Roamer told him how heroically he performed. The difference here is that Rebecca Raptor actually illustrates Julia’s heroic actions in the panels, and they actually happened multiple times throughout the comic. In Kique’s work, this page is an unappealing info dump, is filled with self-pity, and Rogio’s actions are up to interpretation.

But let’s not get too far into the weeds about another comic. Despite Julia’s amazing accomplishments, she’s filled with self-doubt after a lot of reflection. She’s upset at how she handled the situation with Rhoda and Tazim. That said, Julia’s past actions have been largely on the impressive and on the heroic side. She’s saved Mel multiple times, and her most badass moment to date is freeing herself from The Black Idol. Hell, I even wrote about the moment in 2019. Let’s just hope she finds her confidence again in order to face Kenazil and eventually Tazim. I’m positive that Julia AND Mel will rise to the occasion.

Golden Shrike | Page(s): 253 | Patreon

It’s funny, I thought it was confirmed the Stonekrovns didn’t eat other deer. Still, it must come as a relief for the group to hear it again from Boneslav. I also like how Runi and Kasko are trying their best to get along with the young Stonekrovn. Still, he admits that even if the group grew to despise him, he’d still work hard on their mission for the moon and his Mouth’s Tongue. (Man, that feels weird to type that out even with context.) At the end of the day Boneslav is weary of the group, and isn’t so sure he can ever grow to trust them, even as Kasko tries to relate about not fitting in.

Given that other deer often come to Stonekrovn territory just to kill pups, I can understand why the wolfish deer would be quick to judge. I’m actually hoping that they’ll grow to either be more friendly, or true friends just like when Kasko joined Nero and Runi. Interestingly, Nero hasn’t said anything on this page. I wonder if he found the conversation not worth engaging in, or if he has some snarky input on the next page. Either way, the fade to black might indicate a scene change.

Lost Scent | Page(s): 34, 35 | Patreon

I was hoping that we’d get a better glimpse of what Motte is running from, but she’s not very forthcoming with Tulpi. So far we know Motte plans to use the snowstorm to hide from the dogs she saw at the marketplace, and is using visiting Tulpi’s hometown as a cover story. The thing is, she’s eventually going to have to open up to her traveling partner, as the Borzoi mix can’t hide the truth forever. That said, I wonder how open Tulpi has been regarding her own past. It seems like her home life was stable, but uncomfortable even in a seemingly post-apocalyptic world. What on Earth drew her to Motte, a dog who seems to have a rough past? I suppose this chapter will be a peak into the headspace of both these ladies, and I’m looking forward to the reveals.

Home | Page(s): 834 | Patreon

This Roamer and Rogio conversation continues, and it’s fully confirmed that a three-way will likely happen. Of course, Rogio would be the one to suggest it to Roamer. It’s amazing how he correctly identifies how his lover and his lover’s ex still have feelings for each other. Instead of getting Roamer’s opinion on the matter, Rogio goes and pretty much decides that a polycule is the correct solution to this love triangle. They already enjoy each other’s company as friends, so why not bring a sexual element into the picture. Diarko already sees the three of them as father figures, so the cub would be cool with it.

Never mind the fact that, no one in this comic can have Platonic relationships. You either break up with someone and never talk to them again, or you’re right back to potentially banging them. Never mind the fact that Diarko sees Kargo as a father figure (not the others), and still has a mother. At this point it seems like Rogio is using every manipulative trick in the book to sway Roamer’s opinion. Once again, the younger adult is being told by this older male what he should want, and is subtlety being pressured to do so, rather than being allowed to form his own opinions and desires. In fact, there was a shade of this when he dated Kargo. He passively let himself be drawn into Kargo’s vision of settling down to establish their own tribe someday and completely lost his roaming nature.

Worse yet, Rogio drops this bombshell revelation on Roamer, tells him to think about it, then just rolls over and goes to sleep. There’s no “wait, we need to talk about what a threesome relationship would mean!” or anything of that nature. He just looks baffled, and his partner has left all the heavy lifting of this proposal to him. There’s no offer of the two of them talking it out with Kargo, after they talk it out among themselves. Rogio makes the suggestion, Roamer is left alone to deal with his emotions, and that’s that.

We’re just left to accept this polycule will happen despite two parts of three having zero romantic interest in each other. At this point, it’d be better if Roamer and Rogio just had an open-relationship of some sort, as this upcoming three-way pairing is nothing but fan service and adds little to the already lacking plot.