I’m no further along in processing my pictures from Furrydelphia 2025, or doing the write-up. Let’s hope I can get that done this week. Though that’s for a different blog. As for this blog, I’ve found my weekly groove. The vacation helped a lot.
Now for some housekeeping, I realized I should probably have a section for comics that take a week off, versus a hiatus of a couple of weeks. The “week off” section is perfect for In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar which updates every other week, and for Lost Scent which takes the last Sunday of each month off.
Africa | Page(s): 438 | Patreon
It’s really clever of Africa to use the walls of a gully to help trap prey. Considering Mosi’s injuries, this technique should be helpful to him as well. The idea for this particular scene was inspired by leopards actually doing this to their prey. Here’s the video Arven linked in the artist’s description on DeviantArt. I love when research comes together for fiction.
Unfortunately for Mosi, instead of prey in the gully, he’s found the rest of the African Wild Dog pack. I just hope he can get away without being noticed. Though it looks like they might have heard his rustling. Fingers crossed that being a cat means he can turn around and go back the way he came. Otherwise, all of those dogs do present a threat to him, and he can’t run well.
What Lurks Beneath | Pages(s): 934-935 | Patreon
Of course Egret isn’t willing to reveal what he’s thinking, or has planned. Though he’s not wrong about Sturgeon looking tired. While Kelp’s words about Sturgeon being smart and capable were meant to be praise, they haunt her instead. I admit, I didn’t know what the “crack” sound effect was supposed to represent. For a minute, I thought about how Bream and his mate were cracking crabs open in order to survive before Thresher found them. In order for the Daisys to survive the coming winter season, they’d have to openly defy the Family by eating the little gods. However, a reader pointed out that could be Sturgeon reliving the sound of Ladybug’s leg being broken, and dreading that she’ll have to go through with breaking Skua’s legs. I admit, Sturgeon thinking about Ladybug and the horror of witnessing a cat’s leg being broken makes more sense, especially when she wasn’t present for Bream and his mate eating the crabs.
Of course, her thinking about Skua is going to be the last thing on her mind, considering that Gull is an advisor now. The cats she’s passing by in the first panel of page 935 are Daisys that recently joined the Family. Another astute reader pointed out that one of the cats is Quail. I’d nearly forgotten about him, but a quick check verifies that he’s the same tuxedo cat. Unlike Tansy or Cricket, he’s not had much of an opportunity to pack on much weight. Though they’ve only been in the Family for what, maybe a few weeks at most? Speaking of Tansy and Cricket, I hope they’re okay, and that Gull didn’t try to reserve any special awful treatments for them, seeing how she knows Tansy was made Sturgeon’s Lionheart. Advisors rank above Lionhearts, so it’s now within Gull or Trout’s power to strip Tansy of her rank and possibly banish her.
The queen might be beyond talking sense into at this point, especially with three “yes ma’am” advisors at her side. (Technically Skua is a Lionheart, but since Hake’s banishment she’s been treating him like an advisor.)
The Order of the Black Dog | Issue 29, Page: 23 | Patreon
All hell remains broken loose. At the very least, thanks to some quick thinking by Jackson, a large piece of the Black Idol won’t be running roughshod through the facility. That said, closing the portal means they can’t monitor the Away Team unless the backup satellite connection works. Given how prepared the Black Idol seems to be, who knows if it hasn’t messed with that. Poor Julia seemingly has no way of getting to Mel now that she’s been locked out of the portal room by Jackson.
Prediction time. I think Dr. Njeri will get the backup satellite connection online just in time to see the Black Dog being released and doing her thing on the moon. What that turns out to be is anyone’s guess. Though the issue cover suggests she might devour (or appear to devour) the moon itself, making for one hell of a cliffhanger for the penultimate issue of this comic. I don’t think this will happen on the next page, but may take a few pages to unfold.
Lost Scent | Page(s): 97 | Patreon
Awww! Tulpi questions Motte calling her cute. I’m not sure if that’s a bit of disbelief, or wanting clarification. That will have to wait until some other time. Interestingly, we never get a clear shot of Motte’s face on this page. Instead, we learn that the dogs are crab fishing. Honestly, that caught me off guard, but they’re by a large body of water, have a boat, and all kinds of gear. It makes sense that Morgan’s group would make their living by fishing crabs. Once again, having our girls help out in exchange for free passage to the other side of the strait is a good deal. Surely, nothing will go wrong while collecting those cages. Tulpi won’t regret not wearing a raincoat, right? Right???
Golden Shrike | Page(s): 328 | Patreon
This is the page I’ve been waiting for. When Antaras does the March dirty, by marking them as sacrifices in exchange for commanding Loss and Eve. While we don’t see the gods being stolen by him yet, we do learn how the March meets its end. It looks like while Antaras was away talking to God, or making his deal, wolves were summoned. Somehow, he was able to communicate with these wolves, and every deer with a blood mark on their head was attacked. Notice the wolves that flank the March run right by Usma and her father. One even looks back them with a wicked grin to check their foreheads.
I guess I was expecting a supernatural feat where Loss appears and steals their souls, not unlike what Antaras has been doing with the ring. Or again, I expected the ice ledge to fall, killing them all. I did not have wolves on the bingo card, and the former God-Caller having the ability to communicate with them, as noted by Doe Prince in the author’s section of DA for this page. Having the March be killed and eaten by wolves is more frightening and painful than what I was imagining. I suspect that Antaras wanted them to suffer before dying, and know that he was behind their demise. Could it be grief turned to anger? Probably. And likely some projection mixed in because he failed to persuade the March from moving forward, leading to Oudia’s death.
Even though he’s protecting Usma, seeing the group she’s been traveling with killed by wolves must be traumatizing. After all, that’s how her birth parents died, and that’s her first memory. The stag charged with keeping her safe, and summoning the source of her trauma must also hurt her deeply.
I feel like the last few panels of this page represents how Usma might feel as a collage of different faces that create a single face. (It’s a very cool effect!) Shock at seeing the wolves, her trauma haunting her with a scary smile, the supposedly reassuring words of a father, but those words only bring horror. This page is excellent, and I’m excited to see the aftermath. Considering all that’s happened, it’s amazing Usma held it together this long. I suspect meeting Nero’s group is the first time she’s probably told anyone else what happened to her.
After burning Marduk’s body to ashes, and blowing the obelisk to smithereens, Father then shows up at the bridge of his spaceship, does the alien encounters thing with his hand, and then leaves. That’s it? Really?
He couldn’t even be bothered to land the ship and check on his supposedly beloved pack? I get being busy, but it’s been months since he last saw them, they were in the clutches of his mortal enemy, one of them is dead, the rest are injured, and he can’t even spare five minutes? Man, Marduk might have been a dick, but he had a point regarding Father.
Not that the Asmundr pack cares. They just see Father doing his Close Enounters of the Third Kind thing, smile and cry as his ship flies off into the clouds. Being charitable, I guess Kainan is at least happy to see Father is well, especially after that disturbing dream he had hundreds of pages ago. Jahla’s likely crying because her faith wasn’t misplaced (except it was because they were dumped on a hellhole of a planet without much thought), and she knows Marduk was wrong about them being abandoned. I’m guessing Father couldn’t get close to them sooner because of the obelisk. For me this still raises questions.
We’re to assume that Marduk disguised as a Sky God took a ship, had the obelisk built to keep Father away, and dropped the Asmundr pack off in the south. That means Marduk has access to a Sky God spaceship. Where did the ship go? Will the others onboard come back to check on Marduk, only to find obelisk destroyed and their leader dead? Could that be a future problem? Honestly, the more I think about it, the more my head hurts. The only way Marduk makes sense to me as presented in Home (and not how he was originally intended to be), is if he commandeered the dog body of someone who was actually supposed to have Khellir’s original role, reprogrammed the obelisk to become a weapon, and just lied to the Asmundr pack about who he was.
This page feels like a missed opportunity to have Father clear up things himself by just landing and talking to the pack. Heck, even talking to Jahla telepathically like he did in Asmundr would make more sense.
Until the next update, folks. It’s supposed to be a four page release, so that’ll be a lot to get through.
Off for the week:
In The Lion’s Den: The Scarlet Uproar | Page(s): | Patreon
On hiatus:
Nothing!
