TWWR Round up 12/30/2024– Last Round Up of the Year

First, a huge thank you to everyone who voted last week for the comic to replace the slot To Catch a Star occupied. With a total of six votes between this blog, Tumblr, and Discord, What Lurks Beneath won. Though every comic on the list got at least one vote. I also thank you for the wonderful comic reading recommendations through comments left on this blog and through email. They’re on my list and I will be checking them out when I get a chance. I Hope So might be the first The Lion King universe webcomic that has caught my attention in a very long time. Again, thank you for that suggestion!

On a quick side note, I will say that I’m glad I decided not to go with The Dragon Slayer. I had wanted to give this comic a few pages to shake out, and felt it would be fitting to swap out that slot with a comic I’d been already reading for a while. Plus, I wanted to give you guys a chance to weigh in. As for TDS, the comic isn’t bad, and could turn out to be quite good, as I’ve enjoyed SleepySundae’s works. It’s just at the moment the themes of sexual consent (or a lack thereof), and the topic of incest has made me really uncomfortable. I’ll keep reading, but I’m happy not to be writing about these particular pages as King Crisis and his treatment of his daughter, Princess Dandy make my skin crawl.

In better comic news, my Kickstarter copy volume 2 of Oren’s Forge arrived. It also came with Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf. I’ve yet to read this side comic, but I’d been meaning to buy a copy off of Ko-Fi for some time. Since the Kickstarter met its goals, a hard copy arrived. It looks quite nice on my coffee table.

Anyway, today is the final day of 2024. I wish you all a safe and happy New Year! Things for the upcoming year don’t look great, as we’re on a dark timeline. That said, stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, and keep being awesome!

 

Africa | Page(s): 402 | Patreon

As quickly as it began, the rebellion is over. The majority of the hyenas begin to swear their loyalty to Faida, or proclaim they never doubted the matriarch. To further rub it in, Faida has them pledge their loyalty one at a time. The one hyena who attacked, has nothing to say as she recovers from being dunked in the swamp and Nuru looks annoyed, but holds her tongue. Her reaction tells me that she’s not done trying again, yet she’s smart enough to bide her time.

Fikra and Kitendo have seen enough and dash away. They’re certain that the clan will eventually turn on Faida. Yet they’re worried that if the matriarch maintains control, a war between the hyenas and lions could destroy everything and everyone in the crater. This would be made worse because of the drought. Personally, I’m surprised that they don’t see this as an opportunity to be rid of several larger predators at once. If they sat out the war, fewer hyenas and lions would mean less competition for the African Wild Dogs. It could certainly benefit, Africa, Mosi, Mondo, and Bibi. I just can’t see the war being epic enough to destroy more than the combatants themselves, doubly so if the prey animals just run.

Though, I suppose that could be the greater threat. If the prey animals avoid the fighting predators, it might be a while before they return to the crater, which means food becomes even harder to find for everyone else not focused on fighting. I also wonder if Chui being near will add another layer of complexity to the situation when he finally makes his entrance?

While I don’t fully agree with the AWD siblings’ outlook, I do think things are set to take a turn for the interesting. And living in interesting times isn’t always great.

 

What Lurks Beneath | Pages(s): 848, 849, 850 | Patreon

Bluegill ruthlessly gets to the point in her criticisms of The Family. Sure, Hake has had his eyes opened about the cult, but she’s right. He didn’t really care until Tusk was forced into the sea. I appreciate her not letting him justify it as cats going to willingly get their fins. When Bluegill challenges Hake to follow Tusk if he actually believes in the cult ideology deep down, the prince takes a silent pass.

Unsurprisingly, the conversation is so painful that Hake leaves. Though it seems like the Daisy was more than willing to talk politics with a member of The Family who’s just had his faith shaken to the core. Perhaps it was less about talking politics and more about airing valid grievances with The Family. Something tells me Bluegill would find Sturgeon hilarious to talk to since she doesn’t believe in The Tide either. (Though she’s great at keeping that aspect of herself mostly hidden from others.)

Fortunately for Hake, Mollymawk and Kelp finally catch up to him. At this point, what he needs more than anything else is a kind word from kind faces. Remember, it hasn’t even been a single night yet since Tusk was pushed off the island. He had to endure watching the love of his life possibly drown at sea, be ripped apart by sharks, or make it to an island she can never return from. Members The Family insisted Tusk brainwashed him. The queen, his own sister, likely had the power to save his mate’s life, but Trout chose to save her own hide instead. Then the Daisys avoided him, and Bluegill and Bream could only offer weak sympathies before going into criticisms. So yes, it has been a tough night for Hake.

I can only hope this conversation leads to the reveal that Mollymawk actually buried Ray at Tusk’s willow tree. Which would at least remove any doubt about Tusk eating her own child, but would also mean she was sent to the sea over nothing. (Unless you argue that burying Ray at the tree is another way of him being denied his fins.)

On a technical note, I absolutely adore the perspective of Hake jumping out of the tree on page 850. In fact, I love how Arual plays with dynamic poses and angles in What Lurks Beneath. It’s another way of keeping a very text heavy comic exciting beyond the already excellent dialogue.

 

Golden Shrike | Page(s): 292 | Patreon

Golden Shrike is finally back, and we jump right into the action of where the last chapter left off. We start with Boneslav going to talk to Nero. The angles on these panels are great, and the third panel uses a fantastic perspective to show the size difference between these two bucks. From their conversation, it’s obvious that Nero still sees Usma as a threat, and fears she’ll lead her father and his companions right to them. Thanks to the power of dramatic irony, we know that Usma is not intentionally leading Antaras to the group. We also know that after her father killed some random deer, along with Gitta and Prue, he’s mostly all alone with Eve (and Loss). The Northerner doe did the correct thing by hightailing it out of there the first chance she had. While I doubt Antaras would have done anything to her as long as she stayed silent and obedient, no sane person with empathy would want to bear witness to such awful acts.

What we don’t is if Usma’s father decided to track her down or move on without her. She could ultimately and unintentionally lead her father right to the group. Though, I’m leaning on the side of Antaras’s business being so pressing that he decides to leave his child behind. After all, if anyone did come after him, he can freely use Loss to take care of them.

Returning to Nero, I can see why he’s hostile to Usma. That said, it’s frustrating that he’s trying to dictate how the group treats her without even hearing her out. It would be one thing to find her story fishy, but it’s a level of something else to treat a small doe as if she were a predator. Boneslav is absolutely correct to call him out on his savior complex. It’s not good for the group dynamics if Nero just seems them as fawns incapable of making the correct decisions, or in need of his constant protection. Even the Stonekrovn has more faith in the group, and he’s at least twice everyone else’s size. At the end of the day, if the Marshlander buck doesn’t learn to trust his sister and companions more, he’s going to get himself or someone else killed with his arrogant and rash decisions.

As for the next page, I have the feeling Boneslav will fill him in on everything Usma relayed to the group during the flashback. Assuming they told the large buck after he dragged Nero away. If Usma knows where her father is going, that saves them some time on finding him after they gain the cooperation of War. Though it is way too early to tell how they’re supposed to deal with something as powerful as Loss.

 

Home | Page(s): 888 – 893 | Patreon

On one hand, I appreciate the daily release of Home pages around the holidays. It’s nice to narrow the gap between the public pages and the Patreon pages. On the other hand, this creates a lot of work for me on a comic I’m just barely tolerating these days.

Considering Marduk’s earlier offer, I don’t actually think Rhov’s fears about the former Sky God being near his children are totally unfounded. At the very least, the gray alien dog would be curious about how a Rifle dog and a Taiga lion managed to produce offspring together. But again, this comic needed to show us Marduk not allowing the Amsundr pack to leave their territory instead of telling us. Kainan’s idea of asking them to leave to visit Ronja is actually pretty sound, but Rhov refuses Kainan’s offer because his parents are old. This is dumb because the problem of his and Feaf’s children being around father’s jealous associate would have been at least solved. They then could have waited for Jahla’s solution, gathered allies, or even asked Ninmah about it back at Solar Stag Tribe. Nope, instead we have another excuse for everyone to sit around and do nothing but complain about their situation. If social media existed in this world, you bet these canines and felines would be on it all day complaining rather than solving their problems.

Speaking of felines, turns out the Zioqas have been on Solar Stag (the planet, not the tribe) this entire time. Amazing that the Asmundr pack has been in their territory for months, and it took one of them this long to reach out to Zahira. That includes the Rabisu, which picked now of all times to communicate with the pack via the Rokrhund translating. Perhaps they should have done this BEFORE they decided to attack the territory in their quest to kill Marduk? Seriously, all of this information should have come before that attack, maybe even not long after the pack was moved to this territory. Having them talk in secret with Dalkhu (the leader of the Rabisu) and Arrow, his Rokrhund translator back then would have made more sense.

Let’s paint a scenario. Kainan asks Marduk why there are no more dogs coming from Earth after being asked to look after them. The former Sky God is evasive. One day, a Zioqa gets their attention, and some of the pack follows them into the forest. There, they meet Dalkhu and Arrow. He fills them in on the story of Marduk being part of the Green Ones and hiding among the Sky Gods. Then, when the pack asks to leave, they are forbidden to do so and all this clicks into place. Mostly.

The problem is that Dalkhu tells Kainan and Rhov that the Rabisu and Zioqa have been on Aedra, and I’m assuming the rest of Solar Stag for thousands of years. They lived with the gods for that long, then Marduk showed up and ruined the land, forcing the Sky Gods to go elsewhere for resources. Did he do this alone or did other Green Ones help him in his destruction spree? As for the Sky Gods, if they had dog companions why did they need to modify primitive dogs on Earth? Why not just transport the Rabisu there instead of leaving them behind? Why were the Shield Wolves even created if they already had guardians? Did Marduk take them or did other Green Ones do that deed? Also, how long did it take for the land to recover? Everything looks healthy on Aedra. Moreover, where are these halls left behind by the Sky Gods? The most we’ve seen are fences left behind in former Meteor Tribe and Solar Stag Tribe territory.

If the rest of the Sky Gods knew about the creations they left behind, why drop off dogs 30 years in the past and leave them to fend for themselves? Why leave behind a single shield wolf? Shouldn’t the leader of Solar Stag Tribe be a Rabisu in that case? It seems like Dalkhu is functionally immortal, as it has been implied in the flashbacks. He’d be more fitting for Ninmah’s role. Right now it seems like these glow dogs are just hiding from the rest of the dogs, but no explanation has been given as to why. At the very least, it seems like Father could have dropped off his favorites from Earth in Rabisu territory. They would have been safe from the hostile Aedra dogs, they would have learned more about the Sky Gods, and Zahira and Zilas would have met other Zioqa. Hell, since I’m still asking questions, how do the Taiga Lions and Forngrym not know about the Zioqa despite living on the same island and the smallest of these big cats being around for thousands of years? Do any of the Aedra dogs know about the Rabisu? Do they know the Rokrhund can talk? Are they still considered food despite sharing a language and intelligence equal to the dogs? I’m sorry, but this story is so poorly planned out that revelations only bring more questions than answers.

Also, if Marduk was part of the Green Ones, how did he get on a Sky God ship, and how was his mind transferred into canine body? Did he trick the Sky Gods? Did no one know who he was, despite being responsible for nearly destroying the natural resources of Solar Stag. This explanation of his true self makes NO sense if you think about it for more than five minutes. The only thing that comes to my mind is that the original Sky God dog sent down to help the Asmundr pack was replaced, as Marduk hid among the pack. Or Marduk did a body swap and hid among the Sky Gods, before helping out the Asmundr pack with another mind transfer, this time into a dog body. Then for whatever reason he wants the pack to worship him instead of Father. While he was at it, he somehow took over the obelisk too. This is still dumb. Marduk’s time would have been better spent shaping the dogs of Aedra to hate the Sky Gods and worship him instead. Why be worshiped by one pack, when you can have entire tribes of dogs and cats treat you like the true god? I’ll say it once more– this is why you should plan your scripts ahead of time rather than writing them on the fly.

Anyway, no one can do anything about the deadly obelisk. So we have a scene change where Ronja admits to Fraujar it’s time to tell her daughters about their father. She doesn’t do a great job and fails to explain how Ranach used and discarded her. Nor did she mention that he tried to kill the entire tribe including her while he knew she was pregnant with his children. It might have helped Naeva to understand why she can’t trust her father and why he’s so very dangerous.

I’ve mentioned it in the past, but it still bothers me that Fraujar isn’t bonding with the girls. He’s essentially their stepfather now. They shouldn’t have to worry about a biological father, when they have a true father right there. But as usual, Kique is awful at depicting family relationships, and even worse with mixed families.

I am not looking forward to writing about the next batch of pages, but I don’t have to worry about that until the 5th.

On hiatus:

The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 29, Page: | Patreon

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

Lost Scent | Page(s): | Patreon