I tried to catch up with The Dragon Slayer, but this comic really isn’t for me. I think I’ll just wait for Sleepy’s next project. In the meantime, I still have a number of other comics I’m slowly catching up on.
Africa | Page(s): 408 | Patreon
Africa is annoyed to learn that Faida did know where Mosi was the entire time. Her son then asks why they’re no longer with the hyena matriarch. Here it’s easy to forget that Mosi doesn’t know all that transpired. To that Africa replies it’s a long story, but she’ll tell her son as they do a practice run hunt. She wants to show Mosi a special technique. He notes that there isn’t much left to hunt, and the only predators who seem to be thriving are the wild dogs. He ominously wonders how long will it be before the dogs start hunting them.
While I’m curious about seeing Africa’s hunting techniques, I’m more interested in the fact that his page seems to be setting up some future conflict. Namely, I caught the scene change back to Bibi and Mondo just Mosi ponders about the wild dogs. Could this mean that the two smaller cats will have a run in with Fikra and Kitendo later? Or does this foreshadow something larger, such as the pack of dogs taking more militant action against the other predators, especially if they’re worried about Faida’s plans regarding Bes and his pride.
I feel another point of future conflict could be how Mosi takes the news that Africa left Faida not only because of the safety of Mondo and Safari, but after discovering the hyena wants revenge. While Africa has learned revenge only brings more misery in the long run, her son harbors as much hate toward the lions as he does toward Sabra (and Mondo by proxy). I could easily see him agreeing with Faida and perhaps trying to join her cause in the future, if that is a possible plot line. After all, out of all the leopard family Mosi was the first to listen to and accept what the matriarch had to say.
Lost Scent | Page(s): 75| Patreon
Motte is finally somewhat honest with her feelings. She doesn’t reveal what she’s running from, but only that it’s important to never stop moving. She also admits that Tulpi would likely be lost without her, but in reality the Akita mix might be safer without her large traveling companion. Motte also admits that without Tulpi she probably would have stopped running. Morgan carefully listens and reads between the lines, while thanking Motte for her honesty. The Selkie assures her that both girls are safe with her crew and that the Borzoi mix can relax. As Morgan checks on her crew, a large dog named Arky returns. He’s hauling booze and declares everyone is allowed to have fun again.
At first, I was a little disappointed not to hear about what Motte was actually running from. However, I’m getting the impression that we’ll likely never know until whatever she’s running from finally catches up with the girls. It could be the dogs themselves, or some reminder of Motte’s past that can’t be ignored by her or Tulpi. I had to reread this page several times to figure out what our mysterious girl is actually saying to Morgan.
This is just a theory, but Motte is literally and figuratively running from her past and who she actually used to be. In other words, she’s moving forward in order to change for the better, and she needs someone like Tulpi as much as her smaller companion needs her. Without someone as trusting and friendly as Tulpi to keep her moving, she would have stopped running and perhaps reverted into someone she no longer wants to be. Or perhaps Motte would have stopped running to face that past in a hopeless battle that would have only resulted in her death.
Either way, Morgan is satisfied with the answer while Motte looks on after the Labrador mix rejoins the rest of the group. Her expression is hard to read, but it could be a calm understanding or a realization that she actually can finally relax for a while. I do believe the girls are safe in Morgan’s paws as she doesn’t strike me as the malicious or manipulative type.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 298 | Patreon
The herd’s dame reveals to Iralee that their elders have reached a point where they’re ready to leave for the sky (pass on), but they can’t. Even as the old deer grow weaker while waiting for death, their hearts keep beating. It’s an agonized existence, and the dame’s grandsire is the worst off of the herd. He huffs slowly, unable to move even as his body decays. Iralee looks upon him with a mix horror and pity, as she’s told everyone is afraid to share his fate.
First off, kudos to Reddog who nailed it in the comments section of last week’s post. Iralee is indeed being called because of the old deer in the herd who can no longer die natural deaths. The caller did bring this up to Nero and company on page 132. Seeing it in action is less glorious than imagined. Being unable to die of natural causes sounds like a great deal– until you realize there’s a reason most would desire immortality along with halting the aging process. Living past the point where one’s body would have naturally given out is a curse. Your body fails you, but you can’t die. You’re essentially trapped in a living, rotting shell unable to do anything as illustrated by the dame’s grandfather.
Of course, the obvious question to ask is if mercy kills are allowed. Or would the thought of taking a loved one’s life even to end their suffering be too much to ask? I’m thinking it’s more of the latter, as it would be devastating to be the person to directly kill a loved one. Thus, the plea to Iralee to ask for the sky to help. Other than prayers to Karuna or ending the suffering of the herd with her own hooves, I’m not sure if there’s much she can do to help without Loss.
Iberon admits to Ranach that his family didn’t treat him and Rogio well. The lead wrangler also admits that his little brother meant everything to him. Despite living in a big tribe, the pair often felt like all they had were each other. Iberon wanted to save Rogio from punishment from his father and prayed to a spirit to help. A bear spirit (Bjornsorg or “bear’s sorrow”) came forward and instead of helping, it destroyed Snowcap Tribe. Ranach mutters to an annoyed Iberon that he didn’t mean to kill Rogio.
Hearing that Rogio meant everything to Iberon is pretty messed up. By that I mean, the older brother constantly thinks about and mourns the younger brother who he thinks is dead. Meanwhile, Rogio has NEVER given a passing thought to his brother other than lamenting over the family he may have lost track of after joining the Meteor Tribe. If the brothers were all they really had in Snowcap Tribe, Iberon should mean way more to Rogio than he actually does in the story.
Take that at face value, and it reveals how self-centered this guy is. He only thinks about his needs, his pleasure, and uses everyone else. Hell, he’s currently gaslighting everyone (including the audience) into believing how bad his relationship with Ranach was, despite the opposite being true. I’ll say it again, Rogio only cares about himself and whatever he can do to have his needs met, everyone else be damned.
A more charitable reading of this would be that when Rogio mentioned that someone angered a spirit which led to the destruction of his tribe, Kique didn’t know that person would be his brother. When Iberon was conceived as a character, and tied back to Rogio by being related to him, that was a way of doing a callback. The problem is that on these new pages Rogio now knows it was Iberon. Before he didn’t know who angered the spirt. So the only way around this on the earlier pages is to either believe that Rogio was on his guard with Roamer, OR he doesn’t care about his brother. Either way, by trying to flesh out Rogio’s remarks to Roamer about the spirits hundreds of pages ago, Kique just opened up a new plot hole.
As for the spirit itself, the page is visually interesting. Even so, this huge revelation takes place on a single page. Kique should have spread this event and Iberon’s backstory over several pages. It’s a major reveal about what happened to a main character. It could have been a great opportunity to illustrate how the spirits trick dogs and why some are untrustworthy.
There’s also another missed opportunity. According to the wiki, Bjornsorg used to be a spirit that was kind and fair, but after dogs hunted bears to (near) extinction it became resentful. It only answers prayers with anger (and destruction). A page with a few panels explaining how Iberon learned about the spirit after it destroyed his tribe and how he made a mistake in trusting it could have been a world building callback to when Kargo killed a bear for no good reason. Or even a reminder for the audience of Chieftain Ukraek’s words about the dogs and their genocidal tendencies. It would explain WHY the spirit tricked Iberon. Rather than that cool world building, we just have a page showing the destruction with only the explanation of spirits like to trick dogs.
Thinking about it more, Iberon doesn’t even explain why he didn’t look for survivors, or if there were even survivors to be found. Was he even capable of doing so? We know that Rogio somehow made his way to the Meteor Tribe’s gate and was found by Ranach who nursed him back to health. I feel like if Iberon was able to look, he probably would have found his little brother. This is what happens when a backstory seems cool on the surface, but the finer details are skipped over. Speaking of fine details, if Iberon and Rogio were treated so badly by Snowcap Tribe, and it felt like all they had were each other, why do they keep reminders of their old home in the form of a painted bandana and a painted skull? If life were that miserable, wouldn’t part of them be glad for a new start? Or at the very least, I feel they wouldn’t want to be reminded of their old home. I’ll be charitable again and assume that even if the tribe didn’t treat them well, it was the place where both brothers once had each other.
Anyway, that was a disappointing reveal regarding the destruction of Rogio and Iberon’s old home.
On hiatus:
The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 29, Page: | Patreon
What Lurks Beneath | Pages(s): 857, 858 | Patreon
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar | Page(s): | Patreon
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in the case of rogio/ evil spirit and his brother. im pretty sure rogio was originally meant to be the summoner/ sole survivor. but when his death to the ghoul was retconned. kique didin’t want his holy angel tarnished by a whole village killing past. so he made his brother to suddenly take that chunk of lore off his shoulders. but we also dont want the brother to be too evil either so “i was tricked! boo hoo!”
(thus why rogio has the skull to remind him and why his brother never entered his mind and the 5 other plot holes.)
this raises another question for on who, when meteor was being attacked and that spiked dog was speared, the evil spirit (a dog it looks) made of lightning in the sky is suppose to be. i assumed it was this spirit before the whole bear reveal. (maybe it was and kique changed it.)
I can totally see Rogio side-stepping the truth Roamer in this case, like he didn’t outright admit that Ranach was his ex-lover. It just never ceases to amaze me how many plotholes Kique can poke in his own story.
I thought that spirit was like a war spirit or something. I bet it’s never referenced or brought up again. Or if it is, the explanation is rushed and barely makes sense.