Another news segment for the week:
First, if you use Trello as a way to stay organized, it was recently involved in a data leak. Unlike other major data leaks, this one isn’t the worst. If you use Trello there’s no harm in changing your password and setting up two-factor authentication (2FA) if you don’t already use it. If you reused the same email and password combination elsewhere, go ahead and change that too. (And don’t reuse passwords!) Have I Been Pwned? is a great resource for seeing if your email address has been used in known data breaches.
I recently found out the author of The Order of The Black Dog set up an account on DeviantArt, and they post the comic there. If keeping track of their own site or FurAffinity was too much, DA is a good option. This only applies to the latest issue. You’ll still have to visit their website to read older issues.
Africa | Page(s): 357 | Patreon
Little Mondo stands his ground and continues the hissing match with the crocodile. Again, I can’t overstate the bravery of this young serval. As Safari continues to walk towards the open jaws of the second crocodile, he begins to hear the hisses. His happy delusion is slowly morphing into something much darker. There might be a chance for him to return to lucidity and leave the swamp. At the very least, I’m still hoping Africa will show up at any moment now.
To Catch a Star | Page(s): 439, 440, 441, 442 | Patreon
Out of all the comics I read this week, page 442 of To Catch a Star was the most effective and most impactful. Before I can get to that amazing page, I have to unwind the overall scene.
I expected Takedown to either attack Backlash immediately or manipulate him to obtain power until his younger brother was no longer useful. After discussing the issue of meat, Backlash allows his older brother to eat. As he eats, Takedown works on manipulating his brother by bringing up how he used to hunt for him in the past, and the unexpected promotion in the pack. Backlash’s tail droops between his legs as he worries that Takedown is angry. The larger wolf assures his brother he isn’t angry and insists that he’s happy for him. While this conversation takes place, he breaks a piece of the rib off the carcass and appears to swallow it. Backlash says his brother will receive a good spot in the pack. The older brother reaches over for a hug stating if his new Alpha is happy, he’s happy too. It is at this moment that Backlash completely lets his guard down and returns the hug. Takedown strikes and shanks his unsuspecting brother in the side with the bone fragment.
The only surprise here is how Takedown chose to attack his loving brother in the cruelest way possible. Just as Backlash was reassured that everything would be fine and that his faith in his older brother wasn’t misplaced, he learns that he was wrong and everyone else was right about Takedown.
For the longest time I’d been wondering about the pacing of TCAS. It felt odd that the story focused on Backlash’s upbringing and how badly he was treated by his family, when the group should have been searching for the stars. I wondered why the author didn’t delve into his story and the awfulness of Takedown sooner. Now the detour makes sense. With all the malice Takedown is capable of fresh in everyone’s mind, the moment was ripe for a wonderful use of dramatic irony. The buildup of Takedown pretending to be nice to his brother was deeply uncomfortable. It’s one of the few times a piece of media made my skin crawl. I practically held my breath waiting for the violence to occur. When it did, it was swift and brutal. Having a two-panel page was extremely effective as all pretenses of kindness were swiftly dropped. The bold lines and minimal use of color with red and black overtaking everything just accented the brutality of the betrayal.
This scene wasn’t meant to shock the audience, it was meant to shock Backlash. The audience and other characters in the story could see how awful his older brother was, but yet the young wolf had faith in him becoming a better person. Unfortunately, Backlash blinded himself to the red flags Takedown hurled at him. Somewhere deep inside, he knew his brother wasn’t a good person, but he justified the emotional abuse because he wasn’t physically abused. Never mind his brother giving him those two scars on his muzzle as a small puppy, the kid was likely too young to remember that abuse even if his subconscious did.
As for what happens next, I’m going to be shocked if Backlash survives. Even if having his side pierced by the bone wasn’t fatal, Takedown is going to torture his brother emotionally and physically. I can only hope that he drags out the pain long enough for Shadow and Lupi to arrive and help. (The orb has begun to glow.) I doubt anyone is in the pack is going to save Backlash, as they’re all terrified of Takedown– Danger included.
The Order of the Black Dog | Page(s): Issue 27, page 30 | Patreon
As this issue crawls to a close, Mel and Julia continue with the summoning ritual. Part two involves drinking a liquid concoction that probably tastes extremely foul judging from the girls’ reactions. A bit of humor before things possibly go downhill is nice. Since we’ll have to wait another page to see if the ritual works and how it may or may not go, there’s not much else to focus on. Could the mannequins turned away from the girls with various broken body parts symbolize anything? How about the abandoned mall with cracks in the ceilings and floors? I feel like the obvious reading to this page would be the ritual might be about to leave both, or at least one of them emotional less than whole. Or the dilapidation could represent a point of mass destruction and of no return in this story. Or the scene is just meant to be extra eerie and nothing more. I guess we’ll see sooner or later.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 255| Patreon
The suspense continues as Antaras and Usma finally reach Helevise’s location and can only stare in shock. Whatever happened must be devastating as Antaras walks forward with wide eyes, and Usma can only utter “no…” over and over again as she begins to cry. We’re not privy to the reveal just yet. Unless DoePrice does something cruel like switch scenes again, we’ll finally learn what happened to the old caller. I’m going with the Occam’s Razor theory that she’s dead, and the two have come across her body. Looks like the reader theory of a forest fire is not panning out, as the red color was just the setting sun and mood building.
If Helevise is dead, the bigger question is what killed her. It’s implied that Loss has run off, so deer won’t be dying of old age any time soon. In this case, was she either killed by a predator, an unfortunate accident, or perhaps she was murdered? If it was murder, who could have killed her? Nero’s group hasn’t found War yet, so that’s not a factor. Maybe Eve did the deed?
Lost Scent | Page(s): 37 | Patreon
Tulpi leaves the cave in search of Motte in the midst of the blizzard and begins to have a panic attack. She fears she’s been left behind, and I’m guessing this is a fear that runs deep. Deep enough for her to not wait until the storm clears before setting out. It probably has to do with Tulpi’s partially explained past and whatever difficulties she dealt with at home or shortly after leaving home. I’m fairly confident that Motte hasn’t abandoned the Akita-mix, but is still doing whatever caused her to leave the shelter in the first place. At this rate, I can only hope that Tulpi runs into her and doesn’t find herself in more danger because of the storm or the original dogs Motte was worried about.
I’d also like to gush over how well the background and lighting have come together. Between the blowing snow and the harsh, cold colors, you can get the sense of how chilly and miserable the weather must feel. Motte has to have a good reason for leaving the shelter in such terrible conditions, otherwise I’ll also have to question her judgment as well.
As nice as it is to see the Asmundr pack again, this scenario is a head scratcher. We have the pack under attack by at least seven strange glowing dogs. Which gives us the introduction of another dog breed without any set up or foreshadowing. Interestingly enough, they have long fangs and glowing parts of their bodies just like the Akiulfr. Unlike the descendants of the Shield Wolves from Asmundr, their toes and backs glow either blue or yellow, instead of just having a blue glow on their temples. According to the Home Wiki, they’re called Rabisu and they’re extremely rare. They live underground in tropical areas, and are mostly hairless save for their tails and manes. Though judging from the page itself, they seem to have as much fur as any other dog in this comic. Also, Marduk seems to no longer be hairless.
The reason I’m stuck on the lack of foreshadowing regarding the Rabisu is because there were opportunities to hint at their existence earlier in the story. Maybe someone sees an Akiulfr and mentions seeing a similar type of dog or wolf, and wondering if they’re related. It’s feasible Ninmah could have mentioned it to Jahla during the supposed threat of war against the Akiulfr. It just seems odd to have these new dogs introduced without any build up and then to have them randomly attack Asmundr dogs. In a span of 30 years on the island no other dogs or felines noticed them? The lead Rabisu went straight for Marduk, so perhaps he knows about them. If he did, Kique should have made him allude to the glow dogs sooner. As it stands, this scene is less of a twist and more conflicted added just to have something happen. I don’t have faith in Kique as a writer to keep this scene relevant or to tie it to anything meaningful that may have happened earlier in Home.
Here’s a fun fact. In the first Patreon version of this page, the “click” onomatopoeia wasn’t present. Too many readers expressed confusion about the sixth panel when Feaf asks about the clicking sound. Kique edited the page to reflect this sound in the fourth panel. This illustrates how poorly he plans out these pages and finds himself having to edit them later. It also shows how he just hesitates as a comic artist to play with sound effects in general.
Other things that bothered me include:
-Kainan doing the overused running pose.
-Niita’s raised hackles make it look like she has a ridgeback.
-Feaf holding a knife despite her claws and fangs being more effective than any knife.
-The lazy attack pose in the penultimate panel.
-The lack of atmospheric lighting despite the full moon.
The only thing I liked about this page is sometimes the characters actually opened their mouths when speaking or shouting. It happens so infrequently that it’s refreshing when it does occur. Anyway, I guess we’ll see if Marduk becomes Rabisu chow next week, and if the Asmundr pack is in any serious danger. Hah, just kidding about these dogs being in danger. You should know this comic well enough to know main characters almost always escape conflict largely unharmed.
Where does the click even comes from? I honestly don’t get It. Also‚ how can Feaf talk with a knife on her mouth? The rabisu are really ugly tbh‚ I hope they kill Marmaduke tho fuck that guy
Now with Goldenshrike‚ I think Helevise have been killed by a deer with a crow halv. Someone wanted to prevent her from talking to Antaras about stopping what he is doing. Maybe some deer want extintion!? We see Helevise seeing a crow in the air and she believes it was her daughter’s but it was most likely a trap. There’s also Dousa who is seen peeping into Iralee’s conversation and we later see a bird also spying Iralee and Helevise. So my guess is Dousa and someone else‚ I wonder if the heels are ok since we saw a dark figure approaching them.
I guess Kique added the clicking because he thought it would be cool? It’s just weird. Like Feaf talking while holding a knife. It’s a shame Marmaduke (LOL) probably has plot armor for now.
Considering yesterday’s update of GS, I think you might be on to something… It would be wild to see deer (cultists maybe) wanting to see extinction, but the possibility is pretty realistic.
What bothers me is that if Kique had actually bothered to write out his script, the Rabisu could’ve fit right in!
Picture this: the Rabisu are attacking other dogs (instead of ghouls since that plot just got dropped) so when the Shield Wolves and Ulvsbane arrived on the planet, they were immediately banished or the gods separated them from the other dogs for their safety since the dogs already had a prejudice about any creature who looked different due to their history with the Rabisu.
The main characters then could make it their mission to help rebuild relationships between the long-fanged creatures and the other Tribes by going to gather everyone together to take the Rabisu down.
Jahla could still make Havenreach but she would A. Have the idea on her own and B. use it as a safe-haven for any creatures who were discriminated against and it could be were the planning for the war against the Rabisu would take place.
Ronja could journey to MT due to hearing how strong they are but find out how horribly females are treated as second-class citizens. (No SA though, just females being unable to hold positions of power.) She could escapes with the females to Havenreach with the help of Kargo and Roamer (though Ronja would lead the mission) while the remaining MT males (apart from Rogio) would side with the Rabisu (with insider info) when the fanged dogs promised to help them get the females back. South spear would also team up with the Rabisu.
Rogio could pretend to side with the females and manipulate Roamer/everyone before killing Kargo (the strongest warrior) and severely injuring Ferah into a coma (the main strategist) in an act of betrayal and revealing his true colors. Then the war would start with the Rabisu summon gong demons/dark gods to destroy the others. Fighting would happen, dogs would die, etc;. Main theme would be about overcoming prejudice as the crew also learns that but all the Rabisu are bad as an insider (taking the place of Romé) would give them info after seeing what the Asmundr group have been doing to help mend relations.
(Also the Capital and Marmaduke wouldn’t exist in this version due to them not really having a point.)
If at least *something* was the main theme, then the story would be a lot more coherent!
I love your version of this alternate story! It’s a lot better and actually has a theme that makes sense. When the fans create better stories than the author himself.