Thanksgiving is this week in the United States. So to everyone stateside, I hope you have a wonderful or at least relaxing holiday!
Africa | Page(s): 397 | Patreon
It turns out the hyenas are indeed feasting on the elephant that was wounded earlier. There’s enough meat here to keep Faida’s clan from starving. A much better catch than the corpse of a malnourished cheetah. (RIP Safari.) Better yet for the hyenas, there’s not a lion in sight, Chui is off elsewhere, Africa is busy bonding with Mosi, and I doubt the wild dogs are going to do anything else besides watching. What could possibly go wrong for the clan?
On another note, as beautiful as this single panel page is, it’s also gruesome as Faida’s clan has worked over the elephant’s corpse quite well. It goes to show you that even as one life passes on and provides life to many others, the scene isn’t a pretty one.
To Catch a Star | Page(s): 595, 596, 597, 598 | Patreon
As the broken world is flooded with a blinding light, it looks as if both Lupi wolves successfully made contact with the final star. As the light continues to spread, we get what is probably our final look at Backlash and Shadow. They are both Lost and stuck on the ledge of a larger island, but even in death they’re still together as family surrogates. It’s a wonderful detail that Backlash is resting against Shadow. I will note that in the first panel of page 596, Shadow seems unusually large, as the ledge she and Takedown originally fell on wasn’t that small. Perhaps that’s a bit of a nitpick, as these two haven’t been seen for over 100 pages, and it’s been that long since Sleepy drew that ledge. Still, it bothered me just a little.
I’m glad to see both sets of Lupi back in the surreal world, which just might be the sun’s realm. Just as with page 208 we Lupi’s Dusky counterpart in the water reflection. It is curious that while on those earlier pages we saw both Lupi wolves as how they appeared in the legends. Here, they’re in their current forms. With Moon Lupi looking quite nice as an adult. I like their new reincarnation’s design versus the other moon who died. Makes me ponder if each iteration of Sun Lupi also looked slightly different. I wonder if the difference here is that Lupi’s last interaction with the sun was in a dream vision, while they’re here in the flesh? Did the previous Moon Lupi dream at the same time while they were being held prisoner by the Supernova? Either way, the celestial body of the sun is finally speaking. It might be time for Lupi to make their wish to restore the world, as I’m guessing it hasn’t been made just yet.
The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 28, Page 29| Patreon
There’s not a lot to say about the final page of Issue 28. The story has come full circle as the hedgehog scientist’s doppelganger returns to the facility via the underground elevator. She passes the eye scanner, no one is the wiser, and the Kae-Kariin have added another agent to their list of infiltrators. I can only speculate that this hedgehog was chosen to be replaced after Okpara was captured, and it could be the doppelganger’s job to silence her forever. After all, dead people are really good at taking secrets to the grave. This particular doppelganger is a replacement, and we saw the Kae-Kariin leader having one of the pale children doing the job of kidnapping, instead of a regular Kae-Kariin such as Okpara.
This makes me think these are special replacements that operate differently from the regular Kae-Kariin who disguise themselves via glamour technology. Instead of essentially wearing a glamour, these particular Kae-Kariin are biologically changed in order to be harder to detect, and given a victim’s memories versus being raised from childhood to take positions of power among the Earthlings. If this creature isn’t there to kill Okpara, I suspect she’ll sabotage the facility, much like we saw with Kaz’s replacement (done by different creatures!) in Issue 15. Heck, maybe she’ll do both!
We won’t know how that shakes out for a few weeks as The Order of the Black Dog takes its regular hiatus between issues.
Lost Scent | Page(s): 67 | Patreon
What I like about this page is how busy it the scene is. The Zone is a crowded bar, and the dogs are hustling and bustling about. While Tulpi is curious, Motte is all business as she looks for the Selkie. It appears to be an extremely uncomfortable place to hang out if you’re an introvert that likes to keep to themselves. I’m glad the authors were able to convey that feeling through this page.
That said, now I’m curious if this Selkie is actually a sea creature or just a really adept dog at sea. The patrons of The Zone seem to think she’s a real creature. The Labrador type dog in the final two panels is quite intriguing. I’m tempted to think she could be The Selkie, but that might be too easy of an assumption to make. She could know of the Selkie at least. The focus on her character design and her dismissing the other dog, tells me she’s at least important to this scene. We’ll find out next week how well she plays with Motte and Tulpi if they cross paths.
On a less significant note, I wonder if the ale the dogs are brewing at the bar is any good? The regulars certainly don’t think so!
Remember last week when I complained about Jahla not doing anything useful for her tribe? This week is even more of a demonstration of her being an unfit leader. Thakir brings his concerns about Marduk and the Amsundr pack up to his Viscountess, and she doesn’t even have an idea or comforting words. The scene feels like it’s meant to show Thakir pestering her and not providing any good advice, but he’s looking for guidance. And his questioning isn’t wrong. If everyone in Havenreach joins Asmundr, they will live under the supposed threat of Marduk’s obelisk. And there is a chance that there might not be anything of use in the scrolls.
That said, Jahla isn’t completely wrong in saying that they can’t leave Asmundr to their fate. After all, it’s not just a random pack, it’s her family. What bothers me more is her lashing out, and not even considering taking the time to think things through. This is such a departure from Jahla’s character as someone who was good at sitting back and thinking of the bigger picture. Like in Asmundr, she knew that her mother would need her aunt, and went to look for her. Or that for better or worse in early Home, she decided to spare her pack the pain of discovering what really happened to Zilas as she didn’t want more conflict. Again, she had been primed to take over the Asmundr pack as a leader with Rhov, but here she’s completely incapable of leading Havenreach.
What might have been a better plan would be to attempt to return to Solar Stag and talk to Ninmah, to ask if her grandmother knew anything about Marduk. Ninmah knows Father, so there’s a chance she’d know something about the other Sky Gods. Better yet, she could ask Avanti to work with either Thakir, Romé, Argeirr, or Folluin to translate the scrolls while she headed to Solar Stag. Who ever wasn’t helping with the translation could attempt to relay a message back to Asmundr about what Jahla was up to. Again, we’ve seen plenty of times that the pack has been allowed visitors, and those visitors were free to leave. This plan isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than watching this tribe’s Viscountess sit on her tail all day and complain that she can’t think of anything. At the very worse, I feel as if Solar Stage might attempt to turn her away, but at least she would have tried something.
This page is just Jahla lashing out, her and Thakir being unable to come to agreement, and the last panel suggesting that Romé either has an idea or feels bad. I’m pretty sure he’s going to go after Jahla to comfort her and tell her she’s doing everything right as her designated yes man.
On hiatus:
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar | Page(s): | Patreon
Golden Shrike | Page(s): | Patreon
