Here’s some good news for those of you following Oren’s Forge. The comic comes off hiatus on Monday. Volume 3 picks up exactly where the previous volume stopped. It also looks like we’ll be getting to learn more about the bison and the Conclave that was alluded to in the final page of volume 2. The Conclave was mentioned in Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf. I’m excited!
Africa | Page(s): 410 | Patreon
Bibi tosses Mondo into the slightly taller grass and tells him to lie down. She then crouches and looks on afraid. Below them, the two African Wild Dogs are on their way home. Kitendo suggests they stop for a moment, and Fikras shuts him down. They need to return, or else headquarters will think they went AWOL (or AWOO-OL). Her brother protests, saying he has something on radar. Just as the two dogs are bantering, the earth breaks beneath Mondo, and the serval kit falls into a puddle of yellow, muddy water.
I was correct about the wild dogs returning home. The phrase AWOO-OL is amusing to me, and I’ll never get tired of these canine related puns. That said, Bibi now has two problems. Making sure the wild dogs don’t find them and rescuing Mondo. I’d be shocked if the dogs didn’t hear that loud crack. Also, what is that water? Is it an underground river covered by a thin layer of earth, or something else? I suppose that could be from the swamp. Let’s just hope these two small cats don’t up on the radar of the wild dogs.
What Lurks Beneath | Pages(s): 861, 862 | Patreon
As expected, Sturgeon tells Wrasse to return to enforcer duties. She’s about to mention something about Hake, but he picks up on her intentions quickly. She wants Wrasse to keep an eye out for her brother. Also, to provide Hake with food when possible. The older cat obliges then remarks that it has been a bad day and Sturgeon agrees. He then asks about Trout, and learns that she’s fallen asleep from all the stress. Meanwhile, back at the caves, the queen is awake, and looking miserable. As she gets up and talks to Skua, Wrasse continues his conversation. The old enforcer hopes that she finds peace in The Tide’s choice.
With Wrasse back to being an enforcer, Hake will have yet another set of eyes making sure he stays safe out in the forest. The old cat is absolutely right about it being a bad day, as it hasn’t even been full 24 hours since Tusk was sent into the sea. As for Trout’s decision (since The Tide isn’t a god), it’s pretty obvious she’ll never find peace with her choices. She’s speed-running her way to being another Thresher. Instead of her road to hell being paved with cruelty from the start, Trout is just finding her way to that cruelty with reasonable intentions gone bad. Intentions gone bad because she doesn’t have the force of will to resist The Family’s bigotry.
In the immediate, we’ll see how long it takes for her to realize that both Kelp and Mollymawk have left The Family. More reasonable cats may leave, and before Trout knows it, she’ll be surrounded by sycophants. She’s already crossed a big moral line by sending Tusk to die to save her own skin, so I don’t have great hope for her future decision-making.
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 300 | Patreon
Iralee informs the herd that three stars have gone missing from the sky– namely life, death, and war. No one will die until Loss is set free from his leash. Eve isn’t in the sky, so her light can’t reach fawns, which is why they’re stillborn. (And I guess no one knows where War is.) A buck from the herd realizes that if the Caller’s words are true, deerkind is headed for extinction. Another buck insists that Iralee is just talking shit for fame. (The deer version of grifting.) Someone else asks how they’re supposed to put gods back in the sky, and others demand that the Caller leaves. The herd’s sire is worried, but Iralee is unfazed. She even smiles a little at their angry words.
It took until this page to hit me that if Eve and Loss are gone for too long, the deer will eventually go extinct. That makes me wonder if Antaras plans to hold on to the two stars he captured indefinitely, or if he plans to eventually release them. If it’s the former, then the deer don’t have a future. Makes me wonder if there’s a death cult out there that he’s in league with, or if he’s just that selfish.
Either way, I’m wondering what Iralee plans to say to the herd. Will she mention Nero and his group’s plan to get the stars back? Or will she say something else?
Iberon and Siqhaala stop to talk after leaving camp. She asks what’s going on, and the Jaro recounts how he and Ranach visited the former Meteor Tribe territory. He notes that a nova skull had painting on it like the rank he had from his old tribe. Which means that someone survived, and Iberon is determined to find them. So much so in fact, that he’s not returning to Southspear. Siqhaala insists she comes with him, and the pair run off into the night. The next morning in camp, Ateus wakes Ranach up and informs him that Iberon and Siqhaala are gone. At first the former Meteor is confused, but then realizes Iberon left to find Rogio. The Taiga Lion is both confused and angry.
I’m actually glad that Iberon and Siqhaala ditched Ranach and Southspear in order to find the sole survivor of Snowcap Tribe. Sure, there could be more survivors other than Rogio, but none of them seem relevant to the story. The good news is that since Rogio didn’t go very far, so his brother won’t have a difficult time finding him. The bad news is that since the dogs don’t use their nose in this comic, the search is going to take a while. Unless of course Iberon does the logical thing and check his former home first. We’ll see how long it takes for that to happen in this story.
On the flipside, there’s a curious conundrum. Will Ranach continue gathering allies for his rebellion against Solar Stag Tribe, or will he try to find the two missing group members? Since their scents are still fresh, it wouldn’t be difficult to track them down if these dogs’ noses worked properly. But unless the plot calls for it, I doubt that will happen. After all, a side quest to find deserters seems like more trouble than it’s worth, especially if they won’t come back willingly. My guess is that Ranach will press on with trying to get more tribes on his side. Considering they’re in former Meteor Tribe territory, he could also continue his mission and end up at the doorstep of Nordgarde Tribe (along with Iberon and Siqhaala), or visit Whispervale Tribe.
Possibility one puts him on a collision course with his former tribe, his former lovers, his daughters, and the deserters. Possibility two puts him at odds with a tribe that’s theoretically already weary of him. (Considering Ferah is now a member, Keirr overherd Ruette’s conversation, and Fraujar is shacked up with Ronja.) Though I’m not getting my hopes up regarding the outcome of the conflict if it even happens. On the upside, this was a decent page to talk about plot possibilities.
On hiatus:
Lost Scent | Page(s): 77| Patreon
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar | Page(s): 45, 46| Patreon
The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 29, Page: | Patreon
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