I don’t have much to say regarding news. For some reason, Asmundr has been uploaded to ComicFury. I wrote a little about it on Tumblr. Previously, the comic was only accessible though a shared Google Drive linked from Home’s ComicFury page.
On a fun note, some pages and dialogue have been edited to fit with Kique’s newer style. I don’t address this in the short Tumblr post, as friends have been pointing it out. The changes in art are for the worst, and noticeable since he’s not changed the art in every page or even in every panel. If you have Asmundr pages from the Google Drive, you’ll have a version of the comic that’s closer to the original once found on SmackJeeves and DeviantArt.
Africa | Page(s): 384 | Patreon
Bibi tells Africa her helping Binti wasn’t hardly anything. Mosi finally speaks up and admits he’s ashamed that he couldn’t protect Binti. He knows Africa is disappointed in him, but he wants her to know that Binti was brave and protected him in the end. Africa lets her son know that she’s not disappointed in him, and that she was a fool for asking him to do what she should have done as a mother. Furthermore, both he and Binti needed her. She wishes she could hug her son. As Mosi smiles in relief, Bibi gives him a “Told ya.” The young leopard’s expression becomes serious as he looks past Africa and at Mondo.
This is what I wanted to hear from the talk. Mosi sharing his true feelings about what happened when Bes attacked, and what’s been bothering him since that tragic day. It also goes to show you the pressure he felt he was under to live up to Africa’s expectations. And to be fair, she put these unrealistic expectations on her son as she struggled to live up to her own mother’s expectations. It took losing her territory, her daughter, and nearly her son to realize this, sadly.
After having that realization, it’s fantastic to see how she’s grown and tells Mosi that it was wrong of her to place her expectations on him. While this conversation is ongoing, I’d love it if she apologized for her comment about killing cubs and Mosi becoming like Chui when he grows up. While she was being honest about males killing cubs that aren’t their own, he was too young to hear it, and it partially led to his animosity toward Mondo. I’m not going to hold my breath in this regard and if that the apology will happen in this conversation, or at all.
On another note, Mosi continues to be a deliberate foil to Chui. He’s lost a sibling and had to grow up without his mother. Despite this, he’s already a much kinder male, as Chui regarded his brother nuisance and didn’t feel bad when he died. Meanwhile, Mosi loved Binti and still blames himself for her death.
Africa has still shown an incredible amount of growth. She’s no longer the short-tempered young mother trying to find her place in the world. She’s matured, and her having this conversation with Mosi further demonstrates that maturity.
To Catch a Star | Page(s): 543, 544, 545, 546 | Patreon
Blaze is shocked to hear about Ray, and she demands to know what happened to him. Danger can only sadly reply that he’s dead. At the news, the old Nova quivers and sits down, as her mate tries to comfort her. As the realization hits Blaze, she asks if the puppies are Ray’s. Danger says “yes,” and the elder Nova asks how they can be kept alive. The blue Nova (who was never named) chimes in and mentions that sometimes Nova puppies are stillborn, and it’s been happening more often. Still, most pups are born alive and perhaps that’s because of the sun. They believe the sun gives souls to the Nova, and the moon gives them to the Dusky. Perhaps the sun will help the pups as they’re both.
As the blue Nova says this, Lupi begins to glow. They then say “Both,” before clarifying that the sun gives souls to both Nova and Dusky, but the sun can’t see below the clouds. Snapping to attention, Cloud orders everyone to get Danger to the sun immediately, as Blaze is shocked by yet another revelation. Above the clouds, Trouble asks Lupi how they knew the sun gives souls to both types of wolves. The sun wolf replies they hear a voice. When Trouble asks whose voice, he’s ignored. So he asks what the moon does, if it’s the sun’s role to give souls to Dusky and Nova. Lupi states the moon takes them back.
I was fully expecting Blaze to be shocked after learning Ray is dead and is also a father. What I was not expecting was the sudden expansion of this world’s lore. It’s a bit late in the story for it, but it’s better than never having said lore revealed. So it turns out that the sun does provide the Nova with souls, but they also provide for the Dusky. The only reason more Dusky aren’t being given more souls at birth is because the sun literally can’t see below the clouds. And by “sun” I mean Lupi’s celestial body, not their current wolf form. Though they did glow, which might mean they ensured Danger’s pups will be born alive.
We also learn that the moon is responsible for taking souls away. Which explains why everyone becomes Lost when they die. There’s no one to send their souls along. I’m guessing this happened when the Nova destroyed the moon’s celestial body. So the Nova’s selfish actions have several knock on effects. It caused the world to be destroyed and split apart, which meant more Duskies never received the souls from the sun before birth. Additionally, no one’s soul could pass on without the moon.
Both the Supernova and Backlash’s old pack prevented the world from being set right by kidnapping the moon wolf, and killing the sun wolf, respectively. In both cases, they thought they were pleasing their deities, but they were making things worse. The Supernova more so, because their perfect Dusky-free and moon-free world would never work.
Anyway, I’m curious whose voice Lupi hears and what they meant by “So close now…” Is this a result of there only being one more moon fragment and gaining the knowledge of how to use all their abilities? Is the moon calling them? Their celestial body? Or are they referring to Danger’s pregnancy? I have so many questions and I hope more answers are provided.
The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 28, Page 16 | Patreon
Dr. Xijo and other researchers watch the scientist named Khramov from the other side of the glass. The Martian notes his time is nearly up and exposure to the Black Idol must be minimized. Also, his results are even worse than the last person’s. Another researcher tells Khramov to disengage, and then asks who’s next. Metal shutters come down, hiding the Black Idol. As Khramov leaves the chamber, he pats the shoulder of the next scientist headed in. In turn, they pat him on the forearm. Julia is up, and she closes her eyes as she attaches the Shankar Amplifier device to her helmet via wires.
Here, I thought the scientist from the previous page, Khramov, was doing damage to the Black Idol. Nope. Also, because of the limited use of color, I had a hard time telling him apart from Julia. Hell, I didn’t even realize he was a skunk until others pointed it out in the comments section– I thought he was another wolf. On that note, I had to read the page transcript on the website to realize the person in the final panel is in fact one of our main characters. I’ll say it yet again, I know the author’s reasoning for limiting the use of colors in her comic, but I do miss full colors. At times like this, it makes it hard to tell characters apart, especially if they’re all wearing the same space suits and have similar body shapes.
Anyway, I suspect Julia is either going to be successful with the device, or something is going to go horribly wrong. As she’s one of the few people on Earth who has successfully returned to normal after reverting to being the Black Idol. She might have flashbacks to her time as part of this creature. Or I could be underestimating her and she aces this test. We’ll see.
Lost Scent | Page(s): 56 | Patreon
Tulpi snaps out of the trance she was in and Motte calls to her, and asks “What’s the plan?” The two ladies and their pet pig stare down an armed gang of dogs five strong in the alleyway of a town. The leader tells the girls to give up their belongings and in turn the gang will keep their fangs off them. Motte reasons she can handle two of them, and asks her smaller companion how many can she handle. Shocked, Tulpi says none. The Borzoi-mix asks the Akita how fast can she run, and the reply is not fast at all. Starting to panic, Tulpi grabs Motte’s front leg and asks the larger dog if she’s going to leave her.
I thought this was a flashback chapter, but no, Tulpi was just having a flashback while on their journey. Somewhere along the way the girls made it to a city or town, where they’re now in trouble. That explains the silhouette in Tulpi’s eyes in the previous page. I can also see why she’s always worried that Motte will leave her behind, as her own family did the same to her. As for this situation, I can’t see how they do anything but run, as five well-armed dogs versus two are not good odds. Best case scenario, they lose some of their items. Or the town guard shows up in the nick of time– if there’s a town guard.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 279| Patreon
Runi tells the bucks that she’s going to take a walk and to carry on. As she walks in the rain, her shrike joins her. She asks the bird if it’s taking breaks from bird conversations as well. The doe then muses that those conversations have to be more interesting than what she’s surrounded by. Still, the situation isn’t all that different from when she was at home, and all the other deer her age were bucks. Unfortunately, the chatter is making her homesick.
Meanwhile, Boneslav asks Nero what Runi likes. He answers food, and getting thoughtful about everything as his shrike pulls on his ear. Kasko ruefully mentions that she doesn’t get thoughtful about balls and muscles. The Stonekrovn suggests they should get her something, and the Woodlander perks up and chimes in that it should be something she really likes.
It’s a bit sad to see Runi homesick about the conversation she used to have with her Marshlander friends. On the one hand, it’s good that the little group is so tight now that it reminds her of home. On the other hand, it’s just a reminder that some female company might be a welcome change of pace for her. Let’s go Usma. (I’m still holding out hope that she’s going to join Nero’s group. Any day now. Yep.) In terms of art, I absolutely adore the second panel. The way the rain hits Runi’s pelt, the colored line art, and her cheerful expression as her silver shrike joins her is perfection.
I also think it’s sweet that the boys want to make her feel included, and want to cheer her up. They’re knuckleheads, but they all have good hearts. Let me state it once more, I love scenes like these where the characters bond, and we get a sense for their group dynamics. (The author writing the next comic I’m about to critique could take some serious storytelling lessons from Doe Prince.)
As the revelation that Feaf is about to have children with Rhov sinks in, Zahira tears up. She manages to utter a “I’m happy for you, truly” as she’s overwhelmed by the news. Feaf then tells the Zioqa that she wants her to have the feather. After all, there’s no reason why the Golden Lioness wouldn’t bless both felines with children from their canine partners. The Taiga lion notes that no one deserves to have the chance to have more children than her and Raimo. Zahira takes the feather in her paw, thanks Feaf, and the two hug.
The following day the daily routine of the Asmundr pack is interrupted when a familiar howl rings throughout the territory. Lifa and Piccolo stop in their tracks and look behind them to see Jahla and Argeirr have arrived for a visit.
First thing’s first. I’m going to continue with last week’s line of thought. This page was definitely created to address criticism that it should have been Zahira and Raimo blessed with the feather and pregnancy, not Feaf and Rhov. We have no indication that Feaf and Zahira grew close or spent time together since they reached the Asmundr pack, so again the Taiga Lion talking about their situation feels so weird to me. This is why relationship building (as in the bonds between characters, not just romance) is so important. It makes scenes between characters more meaningful. Take away that relationship building and scenes like these come off as jarring.
Yet, Kique and his defenders will tell you that it happened off-screen. In other words that means they don’t deem character relationship building as a worth anyone’s time. That’s not how a long, sprawling story should work. This comic is nearing 900 pages and most of the essential events happen off-screen. It would be nice if this author would at least put in this work, instead of focusing on the romance between his favorite characters. Or at the very least, keep his cast small.
Anyway, a deserving couple gets the feather. I’m guessing the Golden Lioness also helps out Zioqa? Also, I guess we’re not going to talk about the fact that they were native to Earth, but are also here on Aedra? Circling back to what I brought up earlier, you would think a conversation between Feaf and Zahira would have happened. After all, Zahira had no idea there were other felines out there, and Feaf didn’t know about the Zioqa. Again, the author has decided that these are scenes that don’t need to happen because he doesn’t feel like writing them.
Mercifully, this painful scene ends, and we have Jahla visiting Asmundr as a follow-up to page 865. Not only does she visit, but she brings her brother along. Let’s see how well the character moments between Lifa and her children progress in upcoming pages. Also, will Rhov avoid his ex, and avoid sharing the news with her? I’m betting he will, and that the two won’t even interact despite them at one point being future leaders of the pack. Will that leadership honor go to Feaf now that she’s Rhov’s mate? Has Kique even given these implications any thought?
Anyway, I do like the final panel. It’s nice to see Argeirr. And their poses are a decent change of pace regarding perspective. It looks like Jahla’s howl is parting the clouds. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but the effect is cool. This is the first time in a long while I’ve enjoyed the art in a particular panel.
On hiatus:
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uprising | Page(s): | Patreon
on home, so is everyone just happily moving in and living with the supposed evil alien dog? everyone’s just relaxing and faking worship, but nothing else.
It’s such a weird scenario. You would think we’d at least have an example of someone in the pack trying to get away and being punished or frightened into staying, just to understand the supposed danger Marduk represents. Instead, he’s just making them build a statue, but otherwise they’re free to do whatever they want.