TWWR Round up 05/20/2024– The Kids Are Okay

This roundup went out a day later than I intended. I was caught up doing a number of things for my birthday. I suppose the upshot was not having to write about Home on my birthday.

If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, Panthera Arven teamed up with other artists to create a Multi Animator Project (MAP). It features the song “Nothing Left to Lose” from Disney’s Tangled. The animation is based on her characters from Africa. Mosi is seeking revenge for what happened to him as a cub, and Bibi tries to talk him out of it.

Africa | Page(s): 372 | Patreon

Mondo continues to hide behind Africa as Mosi walks off. The serval cub thinks back to the time when Africa yelled at Faida about how she’d been searching for Mosi for the past five months. He finally walks up next to his leopard mother and asks if that was her son. As Africa looks away she says that he’s not just her son, but he’s also Mondo’s brother. Pinning his ears back and looking down, Mondo takes on a pensive expression. The leopard tells her small son that she knows he’s scared and confused, and that she’s sorry about Sabra. No number of apologies will ever be enough. An old cheetah taught her that different kinds of animals can come together and become family despite originally being enemies. As she imparts these words of wisdom to Mondo, the pair walk by Safari’s corpse.

The highlight of this page was Africa expressing the fact that she indeed considers Mondo to be her son. It’s one thing to raise him, it’s another to see him as your own child. So much in fact, that in her mind he and Mosi are brothers. It doesn’t matter that the serval’s biological mother ruined her family, Sabra’s kit is now Africa’s son. As for Mondo, I’m pretty sure he’s having a difficult time accepting Mosi as his brother, given how the young leopard tried to kill him. Still, Africa did learn the lesson of accepting that others can be family regardless of species. It feels like she’s fully learned what Nadira was trying to teach her back when she was a cub under Giza’s care. Safari also helped in that regard.

To Catch a Star | Page(s): 499, 500, 501, 502 | Patreon

At the Supernova’s base, the moon opens their eyes as they realize something has changed within Lupi. Back under the clouds the sun continues to cry out sadly at the loss of their friends. Back above the clouds, the moon sets their gaze forward and utters “It’s time…”

Elsewhere in the Supernova territory, Hearth tells the new recruits that the members of the pack they were separated from are okay. The red Dusky is about to thank the sun in the sky before glancing up at it in disdain and thanking Hearth instead. The chosen Supernova vows to get the pack away from the cult, and before anything else can be said a howl disrupts their conversation. They look on curiously. The moon has escaped and Scorch’s eyes narrow in anger as he hears this.

The moon, having easily broken out of their containment dashes away from the territory. Several cultists attempt to stop the wolf, but are barely able to slow them down. The moon wolf isn’t phased by pain and is determined to get to Lupi.

First, it’s fascinating to me that the moon wolf’s pelt changes colors depending on if they are above or below the clouds, just like Lupi’s. It’s not surprising given they are the moon. I find it interesting that their above the cloud colors make them resemble a cool-colored Nova, despite being a Dusky. Perhaps, that’s why the Supernova are prejudiced against other Nova with cool colors– they share colors with the moon wolf. Given the moon looks like a Nova above the clouds, and the sun looks like a Dusky below the clouds it goes to show you both types of wolves aren’t so different after all. I wonder if anyone in this comic will have this realization.

As for the moon possibly meeting Lupi, the only thing that’s changed is the sun has become a fully developed wolf. They have a full range of emotions and have experienced love and loss. It’s possible that Backlash’s old pack killed the sun so many times that they never had a chance to develop into the person they were supposed to be. Meanwhile, the moon was captured instead of being killed and reborn. So they kept whatever personality and development they had. (Notably they appear to be on the older side.) Now that the sun has reached an important milestone, perhaps it’s time to fully save or restore the world?

As for the new recruits that regret joining the Supernova, I’m glad to see that one pup is indeed alive and well. I was worried for a moment.

The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 28, Page 2 | Patreon

The scientist woman continues her journey, having made it to a subway car. As she texts her mother, the shadowy figure continues to tail her. The hedgehog notes to her mother via text message that she’ll only be visiting for a week, and she’ll be there soon. She passes by a man as she exits the subway car with the cloaked figure following a safe distance behind her.

So it looks like at least one of my guesses from last week was correct. This scientist hedgehog is actually on vacation. The fact that she’s being followed makes me worry that she may not actually make it home to see her mother. Or maybe she knows she’s being tailed and plans to lure the stalker out. Either way, it’s too early in this chapter to tell.

Golden Shrike | Page(s): 265 | Patreon

Nero insists that his new tine is a big deal because he might be in a growth spurt. With a full crown he’d be able to return the lost stars to the sky without issue. Runi retorts the last thing her brother needs is an even heavier head. As the buck pouts, Boneslav takes a dig at the Marshlander by agreeing with Runi. Annoyed, Nero shoots back that no one asked the Stonekrovn. As the group presses on, day quickly fades into night.

Ah, nothing like seeing Nero’s ego being taken down a few pegs. Sure, his tiny new tine is a thing, but it’s hardly impressive right now. Let’s hope this stag eats a few more slices of humble pie before they even think about approaching War. Though, knowing Nero, perhaps the star will find his arrogance amusing.

On a side note, I’m absolutely in love with the background and colors on this page– especially the transition from day to night.

Home | Page(s): 855 | Patreon

Ferah places a paw on Brutus’s neck and pulls her sword free. The dying King’s Hall Hound can only stare in shock. His body falls backwards over the cliff as lightning flashes in the background. One of the raid leaders, Onofre, looks over his fallen comrades. He gives the order to retreat. As his forces leave he gets a good look at Kargo and gasps in surprise. Once the raiders leave, Ronja sighs in relief that it’s over and Fraujar claims “for now.” He then tells Ronja that they need to talk.

This disappointing raid is finally over. For all the hype building up for months about the attack and even sending in a powerful dog like Brutus, it was over as quickly as it began. No one from Norgarde was seriously injured or killed, meanwhile the raiders faced quite a few losses. Not only that, but their strongest dog was killed and that was the main impetus for a retreat. I guess these combined tribes really did just have a single set of spiked metal armor. Maybe Brutus was the only one who prayed to the gods hard enough for said armor. Now he’s dead.

Still, it is hard to believe that even with their superior numbers, they’d scatter after the death of just one dog wearing the only spiked armor they had. In the end, that spiked armor did him no good, considering how little of his body it actually protected. It’s a frustrating end to what should have been an exciting action scene. Instead, we had to endure five pages of stiff poses, poor battle planning, and lackluster action. Story-wise, I suppose you could say the raiders were so poorly organized that you have to wonder why they even bothered mounting an attack. They should have just let Norgarde move up the mountain in peace and further isolate themselves from everyone else on Aedra.

In terms of the larger picture, it is clear Kique wanted to have a big, epic battle as Meteor Tribe transitioned to Norgarde Tribe. However, the stakes were never meant to be high. The poor planning on behalf of the raiders was to ensure that none of the main characters were ever in any danger of dying. For whatever reason, this author has an aversion to killing off important characters. Zilas was barely a main character, and while Kargo died, he ended up being revived in the most baffling way possible. If none of these action scenes are going to have any consequences, they shouldn’t be in the comic. (As a sharp contrast, two main characters were just killed off in To Catch a Star and the story continues.)

Sure, Onofre might report Kargo to the Capital, further solidifying Solar Stag Tribe as one of the villainous forces in this story. Even so, I doubt much will come out of that report any time soon. Bounty Hunters coming after Kargo might be the only consequences we see. If they’re as well organized as the time they went after Southspear Tribe, there’s nothing for Norgarde to worry about.

On hiatus:

Lost Scent | Page(s): | Patreon

In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uprising | Page(s): | Patreon