Fun news! Replacing the CMOS battery on my PC fixed some problems, but not the main problem. What were the chances that the battery I used was also bad? There was a possibility, but I decided to give myself a break and dropped my computer off at a local repair shop. It’ll be at least a week before they can look at my computer. So after this short round up, I’ll taking a hiatus for at least two weeks.
Fortunately, I started writing my round up on Wednesday of last week and was able upload some of it to WordPress. I’ll be finishing the final draft on an iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard. As a result I’m only covering two comics this week. (A tablet with a tiny keyboard is not a suitable replacement for an entire PC with a multi-monitor setup.)
Africa | Page(s): 386 | Patreon
Upon hearing Africa’s words, Mosi looks away. Mondo does the same. Finally turning back to face his mother, Mosi reasons that the serval kit is the reason they’re having a talk at the gorge. If Mondo wasn’t there, they wouldn’t have to talk from the opposite sides of the gorge. The young leopard notes that he wants to hug his mother as well. Africa replies that she knows, but she loves both cubs as her children and considers them to be brothers. She also notes that she will do everything in power to raise them equally. Mosi scowls at hearing this and turns to leave. Bibi looks on sadly until inspiration strikes. The caracal proposes a swap.
I completely understand that Mosi’s reasoning is coming from resentment and anger. Again, if Africa hadn’t taken Mondo in, they would have reunited months ago. His presence is keeping them from reuniting now, as the gorge represents the rift in their relationship. That said, what Mosi is suggesting his mother do is pretty messed up. For his sake she ought to abandon the kit. None of this is fair to Mondo, and he had nothing to do with Sabra’s actions. I’m pretty sure if Mosi’s head wasn’t clouded by his anger, he’d see abandoning an innocent kit isn’t right. By subtly making this request of his mother, he essentially wants nature to do what Bes or Chui would have done directly.
The situation feels untenable until Bibi steps in. Her cub swap suggestion is brilliant. Africa can spend one-on-one time with Mosi, and Bibi can relate to Mondo being a similar-sized predator. She can teach him how to hunt birds and other small prey that leopards can’t or won’t go after. I can only hope that all sides involved in the possible kid swap can come to an agreement.
Sometimes I wish Kique would pick a day of the week to update Home versus his 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th of the month schedule. It would selfishly work out for me when writing these round ups. But hey, for the remainder of September Home being on a Wednesday schedule means I can write these on the same day that I write about Africa. (Provided my computer is returned to me in a reasonable amount of time.)
Lifa eagerly rushes to meet Jahla and Argeirr. The three hug and greet each other as Folluin meets a nervous Piccolo. Later, Jahla walks with Lifa and Kainan around the Asmundr territory, and her mother asks if they should meet the others. The Akiulfr replies she has something important to tell Lifa first. Before she can make the reveal, she notices a scowling Marduk in the distance and asks who he is. Kainan explains that he’s a Sky God who has come to live with the pack. Lifa chimes in “More like lead us…”
There’s not much I really want to talk about on this page. We know Jahla was going to eventually visit the Asmundr pack after getting their location from her grandmother. The reunion is touching enough, but as always, way too short. It would have been nice to have a conversation about what everyone has been up to. Jahla hasn’t seen the pack since they were relocated by the Sky Gods months ago, years in real time. Lifa hasn’t really seen her daughter since they came back from the failed expedition when they first arrived on Aedra. Yet Kique is content with having this all occur offscreen as we’re to assume the “later” indicator means they already had a chat. Again, this comic is the king of tell, don’t show.
I also have to roll my eyes at Marduk immediately looking hostile in the distance. Is he upset at Jahla’s arrival or is this his resting bitch pose? For whatever reason Jahla is instantly suspicious of him, despite not having met him. Come now, other than his creepy obelisk and demanding a statue be built in his honor, he’s not really lived up to villain material. Circling back around to “tell, don’t show.” You would think Jahla would be more curious about the Sky Gods given how much she worshiped them, but yet she’s not even met Marduk. It would be one thing if they had a meeting and she found him off-putting, but that hasn’t even happened.
In terms of the art, I can at least respect that Kique tried with perspective in the second panel. That said, Jahla’s face looks wonky in the fifth panel. One eye is lower than the other, and I had to triple-check to make sure her head wasn’t tilted. Nope. If her brow was supposed to be arched in a perplexed expression, it doesn’t look right either. I suppose it would be nice if these pages weren’t rushed and small mistakes were caught, but it’s Home so keep those expectations low.
Going back to Jahla and Marduk, if they talk I can’t imagine their conversation being anything but rushed. Since Marduk is being painted as a bad guy, she’ll continue to be instantly hostile or on guard. I also wonder if Lifa and Jahla will talk about the Akiulfr island or if that entire plot line is dead?
On hiatus:
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uprising | Page(s): | Patreon
jahlah: hes just standing there … MENACINGLY!
i like that others pointed out how jahlahs being very judgmental off looks, just like how others are to her and argierr.
In a better comic she’d likely give him a chance for that reason alone, but this is Home we’re talking about.
I’m not surprised Kique didn’t bother checking to make sure Jahla’s face wasn’t wonky in Panel 5, or that he rushed Jahla and Argeiir’s reunion with Lifa, their mother who they haven’t seen in MONTHS (or years for readers). He rushes through important things like world-building and character growth, and yet he doesn’t rush the Roamer x Rogio stuff, as usual.
And of course he’s playing up on the “Marduk is evil” BS. He has to keep hammering it in and remind us that he’s evil, and we all know why. Dude’s so petty. Anyone who leaves him after a breakup or a disagreement with him gets their character either retconned into being evil, or they vanish from the story never to be seen or heard from again. Marduk, the Bayou dogs, and now possibly Feomeh, Diarko’s mother. I’m surprised he has kept Ninmah around, since she’s based on a character a fan made as the mother of Ranulfr. But whether that person is still a fan of Kique’s or not, I don’t know.
I heard Feomeh was the character of someone Kique knows but is not affiliated with him anymore, but I don’t know if it’s been actually confirmed somewhere. If it is true, then that’s probably part of why Kique separated her from her son, aside from, ya know, giving Roamer and Rogio an excuse to become fathers, something they never fucking earned. And if it is true, who knows when Feomeh will appear again.
You would think at this point Kique would be done with having co-writers, or giving friends oocs roles in the comic. As almost all of these relationships end with a falling out, but the man can’t seem to help himself.
Yeah. Also, like red dog said, it’s very hypocritical of Jahla to be suspicious and judgmental of Marduk before talking to him, considering how other dogs of Aedra treated her and Argeirr with contempt simply because they’re wolves. Or half-wolves, since their mother Lifa is a dog and Ranulfr a Liulfr. But since he’s the retconned OC of his old co-writer, her instant suspicion of him is justified. 😑
Somebody else brought this up on Tumblr about how unsympathetic Lifa’s was to Jahla telling about Rohgir’s sudden species-supremacy (which he had never shown in Åsmundr, it just came out of nowhere since the beginning of Home) and how he gave her the scars on her muzzle. “Maybe he’s just under a lot of pressure”? “Stress can make us act in strange way. Talk to him, I’m sure you can make him turn around :)”?
Much like how Ronja and Rogio spoke of how Roamer disobeyed Ronja and killed a raider in cold blood without remorse like he “stole a coworker’s lunch” (as one commenter had put it), Lifa is acting OOC and is completely downplaying Rohgir’s unsettling and dangerous behavior. 🤦♀️
*Lifa was to Jahla telling her
It’s just amazing how Kique doesn’t consider his own world building or the consequences of his characters’ actions. It’s just I need Marduk to be a bad guy, so everyone has to distrust him whether or not it actually makes sense. He did the same thing with Kargo when he wanted the audience to hate him and love his RogioxRoamer pairing. (That didn’t work, obviously.) Here not even all of Kique’s loyal ComicFury readers are onboard with Marduk suddenly being evil. As you and Red pointed out, Jahla should know that feeling better than anyone, unless the point was to make her a hypocrite (which it wasn’t).
And yeah, I’m glad everyone called Lifa out on how bad her reaction to Roghir striking Jahla was.